I watched Sa'ad walk into the room with Layla on his heels, it's our first meeting with Falmata and Layla who will be taking care of the details of our wedding. They get information from us and detail our actual planner, more like middlemen.

"Assalamualaikum ladies." He greets, Layla comes close to me, hugs me close giving me a whiff of her Chanel No. 5 and a kiss on my cheek. I kiss her left cheek and she moves on to Falmata. They hug each other for much longer, then sit next to one another whispering as they brought out their tablets from this handbags they've both begun carrying everywhere.

"Let's set an agenda for this meeting. Layla and I already have an agenda and we'll just read it out." They read out lists of things they wanted to confirm with us, like the designer of my dress, Sa'ad's tailor and the wedding photographer were on top of the list.

"Let's start with the designer of your dress. The wedding dinner dress." I flicked through about five good designers in my head. I said them out loud and they both shook their heads very solemnly.

I looked to Sa'ad to back me up, but he shrugged with a face that said, deal-with-this-yourself.

"Midarl." Layla finally said. Falmata nodded very firmly, giving me an idea that they must have decided on this before saying it here. I shook my head, the designer is good at ready-to-wear dresses, not bridal wears and I told them so.

"You always say that we should give a person a benefit of the doubt, look at this dress she designed for a bride in the United Kingdom." Falmata pulled up pictures of a bride dressed in orange applique lace and a wide long veil pinned to her silk scarf. Orange on a bride would have looked frumpy but it looked absolutely fetching, especially with the tailoring. Nearly perfect.

"I still say no. I'll be wearing a white dress after the Fatiha is called, let her design that one." Falmata rummaged in her wide bag, coming up with a slew of pictures I didn't see before. These girls came prepared.

"Still saying no?" I shook my head slowly, pictures of brides, of women in unconventional colors that made them look perfect and in their element.

"Yes. We'll use Midarl." Falmata and Layla slapped their hands on one another in happiness and jotted things down with their tablet pen. We moved on to photographers.

"Let's use EOI pictures for the female events, BH images for the pre-wedding and Najwa pictures for the main wedding photography." I looked towards Sa'ad and he shook his head.

"I'll have to come in here ladies. I want BH for the main wedding photography. Amanso is good but his wedding photography lacks substance. I want Labeebah and I's wedding pictures to feature the love and laughter, to include the light that our guests are going to bring. It's not just me and her that day, it's the union of four families, I want to see their joy in the pictures." Layla and Falmata had confusion that mirrored mine on their faces. Sa'ad is pretty flexible about things so when he says no, there's always a good reason that isn't just casual, you must know that he has thought deeply about it.

"I don't understand." Falmata says slowly, she and Layla pull open Instagram and begin to compare pictures on the wedding pages of both photographers and it finally occured to them what Sa'ad was pointing out.

"I see what Ya Sa'ad is saying. It's very evident." Layla who had been speaking turned to me and asked if I had any problems with it and when I shook my head, they got up and said we were done for the day.

When they left, leaving Sa'ad and I in the room overlooking the man-made lake in the villa. I smiled at him and he smiled back, we sat there, basking in the comfort of our silence until Munir came in all trussed up from playing football.

*******

"Huda, I haven't seen you in so long. Don't let's waste time talking about those people. Please." I pleaded.

Huda dried the glasses she had rinsed, poured three mouthfuls of grape wine in each glass and brought it to where Rabiah and I were sitting. Rabiah adjusted her small watermelon stomach and accepted the glass, taking a sip almost immediately she leaned back into her seat.

"It's not about those people. You know it's not. It's about you getting closure, ending that chapter of your life before you start another." I rolled my eyes as much as my sockets would allow at Huda's statement, I frowned when I saw Rabiah nodding her head in agreement.

"Not you too. You're agreeing? To this nonsense idea?" She nodded, took another sip of her grape juice and swallowed it like water. "Well, it's not a nonsense idea. It's going to be hanging over your head, instead of you to just enjoy your wedding planning and your marriage." I let out air through my nose and looked away to the windows that didn't shield the scent of daises from coming into the room.

"I'll think about it. And ask Kaka." Huda hummed and brought out a box from under the table out glasses were on. She stretched out and handed it to me and I took it with a questioning look.

"Those are the list of lace designs I've brought out. I designed them, but I need you to choose one for your pre-wedding laffaya, your wushe Wushe laffaya, one lace for the wedding dinner and one other one." I nodded. Kaka had commissioned Huda to design several laces for me and this was Huda's answer.

I took out several swatches of beautiful laces, in different colors. Those in white had color cards under them to change their colors.

"How rare is this lace?" I asked before I began picking. Huda hummed and told me one would be coming out next year's February, one other would be coming out in December of next year.

"Kaka said no need to waste money because you won't like it. How does she know you so well?" I laughed. Maybe because I'm so like her daughter in character that she anticipates how much I like things.

"By the way guy, when are you giving me diamonds oo, this one you became a diamond company's ambassador. Their first ever black, Muslim, African ambassador. Let's not even talk about the millions in ya akant, let's talk about the diamonds. When is my share coming?" Huda who had taken a swig of her drink hummed quite loudly, agreeing with Rabiah who had given the idea.

"I am sent in something to be designed solely for the three of us. Our own charm something." I say 'something' because I don't want to give my idea away. Let them wait till the package reaches them.

"Huda, see o, our life is going to be changed forever, we have one diamond procuring person sitting with us." I laughed out loud. The British company's email came one afternoon and Opeyemi Mukhtar's call of her screaming reached me. It's a major breakthrough because other brands reached out almost immediately, I've been sifting through each brand for those with actual fit for me, which I never did in my early years. I took on nearly and every company that came my way, now,  I don't want to do anything that I'll regret later.

                                           *****

Kuje Maximum Prisons.

"Abdullahi Babagana. You forget me?" Shock coursed through Abdul's thin body, his hands that held the wheel chair shook visibly. If he were not stuck in a wheel chair, he would have jumped out of his seat.

He watched the dark skinned formerly handsome man that had a huge burn scar that scarred the left half of his face, making him talk from a part of his lips. It didn't make him less venomous though, it added to his fear of the man in his front.

"Ped…Pedro." Pedro chuckled with evil intent, his thick baritone that would have comforted others scratched Abdul's heart. Abdul shifted himself, the tires of his old wheelchair dragged on the concrete floor, just like the scratching of his heart.

"E shock you?" Pedro asked. Laughing as evily as he could, his loud laughter was like a warning bell for Abdul. The plates Abdul had been tackling was far forgotten, his heart palpitated in his thin chest.

"The people wey send you message, na them send me message too." Pedro laughed some more, seeing as Abdul's face transformed very quickly from shock to fear.

*****

How are you all doing? 😌💃🏽💃🏽💃🏽💃🏽💃🏽

I'm doing excited (because that's the only thing I can call how I feel) because it's my birthday in two days. 😌😌

We have a new character and here comes in the flesh, Abdul's nemesis. 😅😅

I also hope you left a comment and tap the orange star at the end of the chapter. That would even make me more excited 😁

See you all soon.

TheOmoope 💙💛🙃