7/8
REPLACEMENT GIRL
CHAPTER 7
*HUMAIRAH POV*
Immediately we arrived at the address 15 minutes later, Sam pu-ll-ed over and I took the pizza package from the back of the van to the gate of the house. Two knocks on the gate brou-ght the gateman out. He was in his uniform and had a stick with him. He wasn’t smiling.
“Yes, what can I do for you” He asked.
I wasn’t expecting him, I wasn’t expecting anyone but the person that placed the order which was Ahmad Jaafar!
“Ehhrrm” I cleared my throat. “Is your boss around? I brou-ght him his Pizza”
“Okay, bring it let me take it to him” He said almost snatching it away from me.
“No!” I quic-kly drew the package back in an instant. “I nee-d to see him first”
“Why?” He wrinkled his brows.
“Because,” I began thinking of the kind of lie to tell. “Because, because that’s our protocol!”
“What protocol? Come on, hand me that thing!” He said.
“No!” I protested.
“Then leave here right now” He said.
“No, plea-se just call your boss… plea-se!” I begged him. And just as he opened his mouth about to talk, a voice chimed in from inside the gate.
“What’s going on here?” The person said, and verily it was Ahmad Jaafar!
My heart began racing nitro. I had wanted to see him, but now that I was about to my heart was telling me to run back to the van. I was scared. What if he bullied me? We crushed his car huh? Wasn’t that what he said that day? What if he remembered and decided to punish me here? My head was filled with so many strong questions!
***************
*AHMAD POV*
As soon as I left Naziha in the room, I ordered for Pizza from Kumbashi Restaurant which was owned by my mother’s friend, Halimah Kumbashi.
“Hello, this is Kumbashi Restaurant’s h0tline. What can we do for you?”
A girl’s voice blew from the phone immediately I dialed the restaurant’s h0tline. The voice sounded somehow familiar, have I heard it before? I guess not!
“Ermm…” I cleared my throat while contemplating on what to order. “Pizza, plea-se!” I finally concluded, after all it had been long since I last ate it.
“Pizza? Okay, your address plea-se!” She said after wasting some seconds perhaps penning down the order.
“House number 57, Peace Garden!” I said and ended the call. My stomach was alre-ady rumbling. I was so hungry!
Minutes later, I was patiently waiting for my delivery to arrive when I started hearing some noise outside. It grew wi-der that I had to go and check what was going on. It was Mubarak and some people by the gate.
“What’s going on here?” I queried moving closer to them.
“It’s the delivery girl” Mubarak said.
“What?” I checked outside the gate and saw a young girl holding a Pizza box – mine! I was very hungry so I collected it from her and handed her the cash. “Thank you” I said and headed back inside.
Naziha was still in the room enjoying her chat with her friends, and that made me to wonder why she wasn’t hungry. Or was she just pretending?
“Hello dear, Pizza is here” I dropped the box on the be-d close to her and quic-kly opened it. She smiled and huffed.
“Smells good” she said.
“Yeah, now get us some drinks let’s eat”
“Alright, I’ll be right back” She said as she stood and left the room. Seconds later she returned back. “Ta-da! It’s the company’s Lemon jui-ce” she said as she handed a can to me and sat down.
“Thank you” I said.
“You are welcome” She beamed.
Thus, silence crept upon us as we began eating. A silence I later decided to break. “Naziha, I meant it when I said I am getting us a cook” I said chewing what was in my mouth.
“I am sorry for my response earlier, but you can do that. Say hi to FIRSTLADY on plus two two eight ninety one fifty four three thousand to be added on a story group No offence. I just nee-d some time alone. I wanted leaving to Hannatu’s house for some time but I don’t want you to feel different that’s why” She huffed and continued. “I just nee-d some time alone, Ahmad”
“I un-derstand, my love” I held her hand. “I love you, Naziha”
“I love you too, Ahmad” She uttered.
And that was it, I made up my mind to get us a cook – but from where? Aunty Halimah’s restaurant? Perfect! I would call her later, we really nee-ded a cook!
***************
Uhmmm, I’m so surprised he didn’t even remember Humairah! And talking about a cook, who could that be?
Yeah, we are getting to the main story little by little.
CHAPTER 8
*AHMAD POV*
Standing in front of me was a tall Chinese man from our Supply Company. According to him, my father s£nt him to replace me. But replace me? How?
“Take it up with your father, we spoke this morning” The Chinese man said in his Chinese accent with two securities behind him. They were here to take my office but I wasn’t willing to adhere.
“Wait, Mr Wuzie Mu” I said swiveling on my swivel chair. “I hope you are not mistaking my office with that of the Managing Director, because I am the…”
“I am sorry Ahmad Jaafar, your service is no longer nee-ded” The Chinese man said as he quic-kly ordered the two securities to take me out of my office.
“Okay… okay, I will leave” I said with my hands up in surrender. Hence I took all the necessary things I nee-ded from the table and left to my car outside. If my father was the one that s£nt them to me, then I should go and see him myself.
I drove to his mansion as fast as I could and parked my car in the parking lot. He wasn’t surprised to see me when I bounced into the living room. He was watching a Telenovela with my mother.
“Ahh, har ka iso (So fast)!” He said as he smiled and turned to my mother. “I think I told you, he will surely come down here”
“Is this a game or what?” I snapped at him.
“Ahmad, mind your ton-gue. He’s your father!” My mother chimed in angrily.
“A father that doesn’t care about what his son cherish!” I said frowning my face.
“Kai (hey) Ahmad, ni uban ka ne (I am your father)! So mind your ton-gue. If you are hurt about getting thrown out of your legitimate office then do as I said. Divorce Naziha and marry another woman!” He said.
“I will not!” I squealed.
“Then, wannan ya rage gare ka (that’s left for you). No work no salary!” He said giggling.
To say I was hurt by his words is an un-derstatement. I felt like punching him in the face if he wasn’t my father. He thought the money he was giving me was what was keeping me alive but I would certainly prove him wrong.
“Dad, I rather remain jobless than to suc¢v-mb to your car-nal de-sire. I am re-ady to face difficult days for Naziha!” I uttered.
“Saying and doing are two different matters, Ahmad!” My mother chimed in. “You say you can handle difficult times? You? You only know how to say the word. Have you ever seen a difficult day in your life?” She added.
“I started seeing difficult days the day you and dad infuriated Naziha here. So there is nothing I don’t know about difficult days!” I said as I quic-kly turned to leave. “Goodbye to you both!”
“Ahmad, come back here this instant…” I could hear my mother yelling at me to return back but I didn’t. I left angrily.
…
Immediately I drove back home, I went to Naziha and told her everything that had happened. She wasn’t happy at all, she even started talking about poverty – that she didn’t want to live in poverty.
“I have about N150milion in my bank account, so st©p talking about poverty. The only thing is we should minimize how we spend these days” I said.
“Minimize?” She wrinkled her brows.
“Yes, my love” I amicably said.
“Whatever!” She rolled her eyes.
I only shook my head with a bitter smile and left the room to the kitchen. Aunty Halimah had provided us with a cook alre-ady and the girl was very young, she could cook perfectly. It was the same girl that delivered my pizza that day.
“Hi, Humairah” I said immediately I bounced into the kitchen, she was cooking lunch. It smelled good!
“Welcome, sir” She coyly said..
“Not done yet?” I asked.
“Yes, sir” She gave me the best smile ever. “I am waiting for the water to dry”
“Alright, I will wait” I beamed and left the kitchen.
***************
*HUMAIRAH POV*
“What’s going on here?” A voiced chimed into our conversation from inside the gate. It was Ahmad Jaafar!
“It’s the delivery girl” The gateman said.
Thus, before I knew it Ahmad Jaafar was alre-ady by the gate. I was totally scared and coy. If he knew who I was then he would definitely kick me away. But guess what? He had only collected the pizza package from me and paid me off with a “Thank you” before going back inside.
He didn’t seem to recognize me, or was it hunger? I wondered with a sigh of relief as I returned back to the van. “Is everything okay?” Sam asked with a suspicious gaze.
“Just drive!” I squealed.
“Alright” He started the car and drove us back to the restaurant.
I couldn’t st©p thinking about Ahmad Jaafar, not when his thoughts continue to linger in my fragile mind. I couldn’t concentrate on my work again. There was only one way for me to keep his thoughts away, at least not all, and that was to mastur-bate myself. So I went to the washroom and did what I thought was the best while envisioning him in my mind ma-king love with me.
…
The following day, I was hoping to receive his call again but instead I received the call of my madam.
“Come to my office, now!” She said.
I didn’t hesitate to do that. As soon as I was in her office, she asked me to sit down in one of the visitors’ chairs facing her which I did.
“I un-derstand delivering food is not what you wanted but yet I gave you, so now are you willing to change to something else?” She said with a smile.
“No!” I protested. “I am okay with it”
And why shouldn’t I be okay with it? After all, it was my only hope of seeing my prince charming again or wasn’t it?
“Alright dear, you can go” She huffed as she took the telephone to make a call.
“Okay, ma” I said as I stood to leave.
“Hello Ahmad!” I heard her said as I walked towards the door. “I am fine… Yes… But sorry to say, the girl I was hoping would do the job says she’s okay with her pres£nt job… Alright, I will keep searching… plea-se greet Hajiya and Alhaji Jaafar for me… Alright, see you later… Thank you!” She ended the call.
I gulped standing perplexedly. Did she just talked to Ahmad Jaafar? I should have asked her more about the job she offered me before shrugging it off. Now what? Was Ahmad nee-ding a Nanny for his children or a cleaner for his house? I mulled over.
“What are you still doing here, Humairah?” She asked.
“Actually,” I turned with a gritted teeth and gently walked back to the chair I was sitting in. “I was hoping if you could tell me the kind of job it is” I enquired.
“Cooking” She cleared her throat and continued. “Ahmad and his wife nee-ds a cook and also someone to help them with house chores. The person would be independent from me and would be paid N70,000 monthly by Ahmad…”
“I am in!” I cut in without a second thought.
“Are you sure?” She asked.
“Yes!” I nodded my head.
“Okay, but is the salary okay with you because you are going to do alot there?”
“Yes, it’s okay with me” I said. She really didn’t know that I could even do the job for free. Yes, for free so far I would be around Ahmad Jaafar all the time!
“Okay, you can go for now. I will talk to your uncle’s wife first. You will hear my feedback from her” She said smiling.
“Thank you” I took my bow and left.
After work, I went back home so exhausted thinking I would have a peaceful rest only to be summoned by my uncle and his wife for an uncalled interview. It was about my job switch.
“Humairah, are you insane? That’s Ahmad, the boy that hit us with his car and insulted us that day” My uncle said.
“Yes… yes, I know, but plea-se I nee-d to do this. He’s offering a hvge amount of money”
“What if he humiliate you, Humairah? He blamed us for his broken car that day, remember?” My uncle uttered.
“Yes, but he didn’t recognise me I swear” I said trying to convince him.
“But what if he later does?” Aunty Aminah chimed with a wrinkled brow, she hadn’t been talking since.
“He will never recognize me, In Shaa Allah (God’s Willing)” I hopefully said, and that was it. They both approved the job switch and thus I had my beautiful sleep.
…
The next day, I went to work as early as possible. And by 12 in the noon, Ahmad Jaafar c@m£ to pick me up. He was surprised to see the same pizza girl as his new cook and whatever! He drove me to his house and I got to meet his wife, Hajiya Naziha. She was fair in complexion unlike me, and she was more beautiful than me in every other way. I was nothing compared to her. She was Kanuri by tribe and I was a combination of Hausa and Igala.
My first day at Ahmad Jaafar’s house wasn’t that bad. I literally thought I would be slee-ping over in his house but that wasn’t in our agreement. He told me his driver would be bringing me and taking me back home everyday. I didn’t protest against it because I was new. Maybe someday I would do that!
Tbc