"We're going to Ibadan next week, Thursday. We'll be back that very day. The flight leaves at nine am." Tahir narrowed his eyes at his friend, before saying sarcastically, "Now that you've found a wife, we won't hear word again abi? Hei, Ya Allah, so, like this, AbdulRahman has had two wives and I who moans to you about getting married can't keep a woman." 

AbdulRahman picked his stress ball and threw it at his errant friend, Tahir being himself shouted in pain and faced his eyes heavenward, "You see the pain I'm going through, the pain they're inflicting on me because I'm single. It's unfair, send me my wife." 

AbdulRahman rolled his eyes, his eyes only going through the itinerary he'd planned with his mother, four uncles and two aunts. Amina informed him that he had to bring aunts to the introduction of families  because that was their custom. He would rather not stress his aged aunts. 

"How many of our friends did you invite?" Tahir asked. AbdulRahman stopped looking at the screen of his iPad and looked at Tahir incredulously, eyes raised and hands thrown in question, "Just you?"

Tahir made a face of disgust and brought out his phone, called a number and waited while it rang. "Assalamualaikum Osman? Ya Kake?" He asked the man genially, he waited a beat before responding that his health was good. 

"Well, on Thursday, AbdulRahman is going to Ibadan to request his wife to be's hand in marriage, you're free, right? And you'll come with us? We're meeting at the private hanger at the airport, the time is eight am. Don't be late." He received the affirmation of Osman and ended the call happily. 

"Why did you do that?" AbdulRahman asked his friend, he was doing do much to tamp down on his growing anger. The anger he had no idea why he was feeling, or he knew, it would mean that Osman and the rest would know that he was incapable. 

"You don't have to walk this road alone, we're here for you. If this is how you'll push away that woman when you marry her, you're better off not even wasting a breath to see her parents. She doesn't deserve a husband who is closed off to the world." AbdulRahman picked his phone and threw it in the direction of the glass that separated him from the world, the glass did not break, but the phone could not withstand the impact of the throw, it shattered to pieces. 

"Tahir, please, leave." Tahir got up, adjusted his suit and began to leave, at the door, he turned around and said, "Those words hit home for sure, you cannot be carrying around all this trauma, it's unfair to her, it's unfair to us your friends. We miss you, we miss you beating us at table tennis, I know you're dealing with an unspeakable pain, but you should know that you have a community of people who care about you. You don't have to do this alone, AbdulRahman Barkindo." 

AbdulRahman didn't look up, nor acknowledge his friend, only lowering his head unto his desk trying to decipher that emotion he'd just shown. Everything since he came back was okay, he didn't feel so much pain anymore, so, he thought, what part of him did that person who would willingly shatter a phone due to anger come from. 

He looked up to the door and found that Tahir had left, he willed himself to pick up his other phone and call his friend back, but stopped halfway and began to look through documents on the new flour mill being built. 

He called in the team members, they arrived and the first person who presented was stared down by AbdulRahman till he lost his courage. 

"You're saying, that you thought it best to use substandard products for my mill? Who employed this man?" He asked the team lead in a calm tone, the team lead got up and said HR did, AbdulRahman picked up his office phone and asked the said man to go pick up his things and go home. 

"Don't come to work tomorrow, Human Resources will send your severance package to you. Have a good day." He turned to the rest of the team, who were now shaking in their chairs. 

"The rest of you, if you mess up, you're going to be replaced, I hope you're assured of that? I give you twenty four hours to find a lasting solution, if not, I'll replace you with the teeming unemployed people in the labour market. Please leave my office." Everyone shuffled out quickly, they all looked at each other in surprise, their boss never shouted at them like that, he would admonish lightly and they would correct errors, they'd never seen anyone sacked over the views they presented. 

AbdulRahman took his hand to his throat and released a button there. He was tired of being strong, all he wanted was to curl up in bed and watch the world pass by. He didn't understand many things, how he had to be strong and capable even on days he didn't feel like it. He didn't understand it and wanted to shout from the rooftops that life was unfair. 

His intercom rang as he massaged his budding headache away, he hissed as he leaned up to receive the call from his secretary. 

"Sir, Your sister is here." AbdulRahman slapped his head in exasperation, he pulled himself before asking with great patience. "Did I not tell you, that my immediate family is allowed into my office as long as I'm free? Do you need someone else to start your job tomorrow?"  His secretary jumped from the gritted, angry tone that came from the intercom, quickly waving AbdulRahman's sister in. 

"Hamma. What's up?" His sister appeared his door, leaning on the door jamb in brown abaya with silver embroidery and a brown scarf that was the same shade as the abaya. 

"I'm fine, Tauhida, come in." His sister walked like she owned the room, a testament of being a Barkindo, they were raised as royalty, their mother always said enter a room elegantly and with power, they never forget Elegance and power. 

"Hamma. Is everything okay?" He raised his head and looked at his caramel skinned sister, who was younger than him by about six years. 

"I'm fine. I'm just having a bad day. It will get better, In Sha Allah." Tauhida nodded and set her small shoulder bag on the table,  walked to his side and pulled his hands from his temple, pulling him up and getting him to stand. 

"Let's go get some good shayi, we'll talk and everything get better? Okay?" He sighed and turned off his computer system, put his ipad away and followed his sister.

Her car, a new Bentley continental GT, clinked as she pressed the key fob, he got into the driver's side because she suddenly threw the key in his direction and went to the passenger side. 

"How do you take your children around in this small thing?" She turned to him sassily as she fixed her seatbelt, "Simple, I don't take them anywhere in it. It's my comfort car, you know I have several SUVs to pick from if I want to go out with my children." AbdulRahman absentmindedly nodded and drove out of the car park. The streets were empty, so he stepped on the accelerator and the vehicle gave the slick rumble of an amazing engine, for a moment, AbdulRahman felt some of his tension ease away. They reached tea shop in no time, they parked and got in. 

They were served their teas nearly ten minutes after they sat, they sat in silence watching the flowers swing in the afternoon breeze. 

Tauhida took a sip of her boba tea in a plastic cup with a straw before asking her brother who was brewing his Earl grey tea the question that had bugged her all week. 

"Do you like her?" He nodded at her, lifting his tea cup to take a sip. They'd gotten their tea culture interest from their mother who forced them to learn how to brew tea, he did it on days he was worried. 

"She's so smart Ma Sha Allah, beautiful, respectful of others, just perfect for me, I worry though, am I such a good man? Will I make a good husband?" 

Tauhida took another sip of her boba, blowing air into the straw just to watch the boba seeds float around in the cup. She set her cup down and sighed. 

"Hamma AbdulRahman, have I ever told you? Your name is a mouthful. No? Well it is." She stopped speaking and collected her thoughts. 

"I saw you with Ya Nai'mah, you were perfect with her. You made effort to be a good man, a better father and the best husband. You made me search for someone who wanted me for real, I saw how you treated Ya Nai'mah and I wanted that for myself, that's how good you are. I know life has hit you hard, but you've done so well yourself, taking each day at a time and turning lemons to lemonade. 

I hope you don't fret so much, I hope you know that as long as you're honest, loyal, intentional with her, nothing can come between you. Not even the thoughts in your own head." 

Tauhida watched her brother crack a smile at her, his tea now hot enough to drink. He took another elegant sip and she picked up her phone to stealthily take a picture of him. 

She sent it to the family's group chat and waited for responses. She watched him look at his Richard Mille watch and set down his almost empty tea cup, he took out his membership card and handed it to his sister, patted her shoulder and turned to leave. 

"Where are you going?" She asked him in slight panic, he smiled at her and said lowly, "I'm going to see Attahir." 

A few hours later, two kaftan clad figures got out of AbdulRahman's Mercedes AMG coupe. Tahir whistled happily as he shut the door slowly, the car was a sweet beauty.

"Whose wedding is this, Tahir?" 

Tahir adjusted the silver cufflinks of his dark blue Kaftan and looked AbdulRahman up and down before responding as though a lemon tart was in his mouth, "You're the one who came to beg me, if you won't do as I wish, go to your house oo." 

AbdulRahman pursed his lips and followed his friend into the party venue, trying to place the name of the groom to no avail. He took out his phone and typed a message in the group chat asking whose marriage it was, AbdulMalik, a second generation rich boy who had gotten his act together when his father died answered him that it was a friend of theirs, who owned a chain of BDCs, was the groom. 

Immediately they entered the main ball room, people came from all directions to greet the duo, more for AbdulRahman than Tahir though they stopped to shake his head and exchange pleasantries, they wanted to ask AbdulRahman for tips on how to conduct business. 

They finally reached the round table for friends of the groom, placed near the front, he sat heavily in tiredness. "Tahir, see why I hate going anywhere? I'm not a celebrity but see that treatment, I hate it." Tahir nodded sadly but perked up in excitement when he saw someone. 

"My mom is here. She's with her friends though, I'm going to greet her, maybe she'll introduce me to someone's mother, they should like me enough to recommend to their daughters." AbdulRahman rolled his eyes as he got up and followed Tahir, he had to follow, Tahir's mother was a friend of his mother's and he would be walloped if his mother heard the child she raised didn't exchange proper pleasantries with her friends in her absence. 

"My darling AB!" AbdulRahman mentally shrugged, he couldn't help that all his friends parents loved him like their own. Tahir's mother looked him over just like his own mother would with a fond smile. 

"You look so good, I wouldn't know about that though, you haven't come to see me in forever. And your friend, hmm. He moved out of the house. Did he tell you?" AbdulRahman turned to Tahir who was hiding his face in shame. 

"Mummy, he didn't say a word to me. I'll talk to him." Tahir's mother nodded her head very firmly in belief that whatever AbdulRahman said would force Tahir back home. 

"This is my friend, Mrs Adepoju. Say Hello to her." AbdulRahman's head whirled and his thoughts became jumbled up as he laid his eyes on a dark skinned, slightly older version of the woman who'd agreed to marry him. For a moment, his mouth became dry from fear until she smiled at him. 

"How are you, my dear?" He nodded mutely, trying to muster some courage. 

"How was your trip, ma?" He asked after thinking deeply of what to ask. She smiled and said Alhamdulilah, then a light bulb went off in his head, he immediately blurted it out. He had nothing better to say, anyways. 

"I'll come see you tomorrow morning ma." She smiled disarmingly and AbdulRahman felt all his tension go away. 

"May Allah spare our lives beyond then." He muttered an Ameen and tried to focus on getting out of there asap. His future mother-in-law must not think he spent his evenings partying. 

*****

The buzzer sounded and AbdulRahman drove his Mercedes C300 into the compound, parking his car under the parking tent, he stepped out of the car, adjusting the light blue getzner he'd worn a few hours after Subh prayers. As he poked his head and leaned back into the car to carry the tea set his mother had helped him buy and express to the house earlier that morning as gift to his future mother-in-law. 

He looked down at the tinted mirrors of his car, using it as a faux mirror to check how well placed his cap was. He nodded to himself and began to walk towards the imposing house. 

He knocked the door and was surprised when Amina's nephew opened the wide door with an expectant look ok his face. 

"Assalamualaikum!" The little boy shouted, as enthusiastically as he could. He suddenly smiled brightly, suddenly becoming less tensed. He put out his hand to be shook and Khalid slapped his little hand unto his. 

"Welcome. Put your shoes in that rack." He nodded and put his shoes in the finely made seven step shoe rack at the door. 

 He walked in further, his gift dangling from his fingers. He sat down quietly, waiting for the one he'd come to look for to arrive. 

"How are you?" She asked as she walked into the room, wearing a dark green ensemble he couldn't describe. 

"I'm fine ma, good afternoon ma." She smiled at him again and he realized that Amina was such a younger version of her, even down to her smile. 

"How is your mother? I hope she's fine, I was told she was supposed to be at the party yesterday but didn't come because she was indisposed." He nodded, feeling grateful, his mother had suddenly developed a cough a few days before and he'd quickly had a covid test taken, her results came back negative thankfully. 

They exchanged pleasantries for a moment until silence reigned, Khalid's playing and the television showing a cartoon. 

"What are your plans for my daughter, because, left to me, I'd rather she stays here or at home with me. We haven't gotten tired of feeding her." 

AbdulRahman suddenly felt cold from her words, all the things he'd planned to say suddenly went up in thin air. 

*****$**

We're going to Ibadan🥳🥳🥳
There's a picture of the tea set AbdulRahman brought in the multimedia

I hope you enjoyed the chapter? I hope you left a comment? If you didn't 🌝, please go leave one, tag a friend too please. This one is for my darling, Hajjo. Happy Birthday my darling 💞

See you all soon, God bless you 💕

TheOmoope 💙💙