Thursday the fifth of October dawned bright and beautiful, I watched from a small upstairs patio of the Transcorp Hilton Abuja.

I watch the sun rise carefully, as though some sort of hesitation held it from coming out, peeking from behind the dark clouds of the night before.

I sigh again and pray for the memory of Baaba, that Allah may grant him the highest place in Jannah. In Sha Allah.

The door to the small patio sounds a knock and i quickly wipe my tears. "Come in." Rahma walks in with a clipboard in her arms, still dressed in a tracksuit and white hijab. We've been here since four am.

"What's the update?" I ask facing the sun, I don't want her to see my eyes, my tears were for Allah alone.

"Everything is set ma. The caterer has given confirmation, food will be here at exactly nine-thirty." I nod, then I find out she did not see me nod.

"Alright, thank you Rahma." I croak. She walks to me and taps on my arm.

"Ma, I'm proud of you. I'm proud of what you've achieved." I nod with a large lump in my throat.

"Thank you too, for everything." I put out my hand and hug her. It's probably the first time I've ever initiated a hug with any of my employees even though we have a good relationship.

"We'll meet here at nine. Sharp." She nods and walks away. Her sneakers squishing on the tiles floor.

******

"Ukhti." I hold out my hands to Zeenah who comes into my arms immediately.

"I'm so proud of you. Congratulations." I nod at her. "Allah Bada sa'a. " I mutter an Amen.  She smiles warmly at me, making me stumble.

"It's all praises to Allah and Baaba, I'm grateful. Wallahi." She nods again and holds out her arms, I step into her arms, my plump body a contrast to her slim one.

"Baaba would have been proud. Definitely." She croaks out, her words muffled.

"I'm glad." I pull out and gently pat her face dry. Our quiet staredown is cut by Maama's appearance.

"My babies." She stops at the last stair leading to the parlor we're in.

We greet her in unison, both struck dumb by her beauty. She's wearing a vibrant purple Ankara made into skirt and blouse with flowers cut our from the material to make a circle around the shoulder of the blouse. She looks stunning.

"Why are you staring fa?" I shake my head incredulously, she's so beautiful.

"You're so beautiful Maama, Ma Sha Allah." She smiles and extends her veil to the back of her neck properly.

"Thank you Nabeela. I just felt, I should do this, Hassan would have wanted us to be happy and remember him with joy." I nod with another lump in my throat. I remember not to cry as I lined my eyes with thin malachite.

We walk outside to the idling Mercedes Benz on the driveway. Zeenah sits in front with the driver, while Maama and I occupy the backseat.

As we drive out of the compound, Maama asks of the guest list and how I managed it.

"Well, the wife of the vice president is coming and I know she doesn't see eye to eye with some people, so I put her on the table with you and some of her friends. Is that okay?" She nods and pats my hand.

"Don't let anyone, anyone make you feel less. You're a woman. You're powerful. You're magical and that's why you're you." I nod and lay my had on her shoulder gently.

"Let's go and do this. Innit?" Zeenah hoots in excitement and I laugh out loud.

*****

Adeel Baba Hassan.

"So, we grew five percent in one quarter. Placing ourselves at  a strategic point to take over AliNet next year." I lean back in my expandable chair and watch the slides move as CEO Zainab Abubakar talks.

"CEO?" She stops for a moment. Looking at me expectantly.

"I'd like to know the takeover can happen without having to do a hostile takeover?" She nods and turns back to the slides.

"As I said here...." She explains her point clearly and I see it now.

I watch my p.a scribble on a piece of paper and pass it to me.

We need to leave in ten minutes.

I  assent and he begins to carefully pack the folders in front of him. The CEO rounds up her presentation and we all clap.

"Gentlemen and Ladies, at this juncture, I have to leave. I'd not expected myself to stay till this point but I just had watch your superb ideas." I watch as the CEO's face lights up. I heard a few things about the men here undermining her and her abilities, making her work harder to prove herself.

"Most especially CEO Zainab, I'm awed by your work here. It's great. And I'm grateful you're head here." She smiles more, covering her face with her hands.

"So, we'll see you all, next quarter. " I shake hands with the men in the room and walk out with my p.a and Vice president strategic works in tow.

"Prepare the car please. Beela and Maama will have my head on a platter if I'm late."  Aliyu chuckles beside me. He's the V.p strategic works.

The car comes around and I get in with Aliyu beside me. My P.a gets in the front seat.

We drive through Wuse 2 and come out at another part of Garki where the event is holding.

I step out of the car with rush, loud music is playing from the venue meaning the event has started.

Damn, I'm in trouble.

Once I spy Maama, I walk straight to her, refusing to greet anyone I meet on the way.

"Adeel Hassan. Is this what we agreed?" I hug her to myself and apologize.

"Please don't. Apologise to your wife for coming late to her event." She points out Nabeela to me. I look at her and damn. I hiss out breath slowly. She looks beautiful.

With an orange gown that would look garish on anyone with another skin complexion, she looks queenly.

I walk slowly to her side. The mocktail event is still on. She's standing with the advertisement company's head in an animated conversation.

I reach them and all I can hear is talk about how the new makeup line is making a buzz everywhere. She hasn't even released the line's name.

"Nabeela." I rumble behind her, she turns to me with a wide smile allaying all my fears of coming late.

"You're here." I stretch out my hand and hold hers in mine. I put out my left hand to the man standing next to her.

"Mr Baba Hassan. It's a pleasure." I nod in return and shake his hand harder.

"Bob Izuwa. How are you doing?" He's one of the many people I know that run million dollar empires and still have a good head on their head.

"Fine. Really fine. I'm happy to be here. Even if it's to purchase luxury makeup for my wife." I watch Nabeela's face frown, I'd come to stand in front of her.

"My line is for every woman, regardless of her budget. Billionaire to the one who has only five thousand to purchase makeup." He nods and laughs.

The sax guy stops playing for a moment while the host, one of the country's top comedians tells us to get ready to move into the Hall behind the mirrors. Transcorp Hilton is fashioned that way.

I hold out my hand to my wife.

"My lady?" She blushes and her cheeks widens into a deep smile.

******

Hi y'all

How are you all doing? My exams are overrrrrrr🤸🏿‍♀️🤸🏿‍♀️🤸🏿‍♀️🤸🏿‍♀️🤸🏿‍♀️🤸🏿‍♀️🤸🏿‍♀️🤸🏿‍♀️🤸🏿‍♀️. Ikr, I feel so much better.

Also, soiled is at 50k🤸🏿‍♀️🤸🏿‍♀️🤸🏿‍♀️🤸🏿‍♀️🤸🏿‍♀️🤸🏿‍♀️. Another milestone. Thank you all. God bless you all for reading.

This is the cover for Letting Go that goes live on the 26th of July. That is eighteen days from now.

God bless you all, see you soon.

Theomoope.