We are currently in Italy. Ismail and I are having dinner outside at this beautiful restaurant. The sky is so beautiful, with all the stars shining so bright. I am wearing a satin burgundy mermaid gown. This is our last week in Italy. We spent the first two weeks working and the last week is spent like a vacation.
“So, I have been meaning to ask you,” I say while eating my steak.“What?” Ismail asks.“How long have you known Udar was in love with Fatima, and you didn’t tell me?” I ask trying to sound indignant.“Why?” Ismail says chuckling, “Am I supposed to tell you that?”“Yes, you are supposed to tell me,” I reply, “Because… we’re friends,” I say realizing it is true. Having gotten to know Ismail better over the past weeks and especially during this trip, we have gotten close, and I enjoy his company more than I ever thought I would. When I think of howWhile driving back to the hotel Ismail gets a call from Udar telling us that Fatima has fainted, and they are in the hospital. I ask the driver to quickly drive to the hospital, wondering what could have caused Fatima to faint. I pray the whole way to the hospital, hoping that nothing serious has happened to my best friend.We arrive at the hospital and quickly walk inside and ask for directions to the room number Udar gave us. We take the elevator to the second floor. That is where Fatima’s room is. We arrive at the room and Ismail is about to knock on the door, but I stop him. I can hear their conversation and I think we should not disturb them.“Udar, you called me your love,” Fatima sounds very tired and rundown.“Yes, my love. You are my love. Fatima, you are the love of my life. I have never loved anyone as much as I love you. I love you so much that seeing you faint in my arms was a wakeup call for me to tell you how much you mean
While driving back to the hotel Ismail gets a call from Udar telling us that Fatima has fainted, and they are in the hospital. I ask the driver to quickly drive to the hospital, wondering what could have caused Fatima to faint. I pray the whole way to the hospital, hoping that nothing serious has happened to my best friend. We arrive at the hospital and quickly walk inside and ask for directions to the room number Udar gave us. We take the elevator to the second floor. That is where Fatima’s room is. We arrive at the room and Ismail is about to knock on the door, but I stop him. I can hear their conversation and I think we should not disturb them. “Udar, you called me your love,” Fatima sounds very tired and rundown. “Yes, my love. You are my love. Fatima, you are the love of my life. I have never loved anyone as much as I love you. I love you so much that seeing you faint in my arms was a wakeup call for me to tell you how much you mean to me. I don’t know w
We are in Paris. I just finished praying Fajr (Morning prayer) not too long ago and am waiting for room service to bring my breakfast when there is a knock at the door. I open the door and ask for my breakfast to be placed on the table on the terrace.I am about to start eating when I notice a letter and a box with a beautiful looking black rose, my favorite. ‘I wonder who sent it. I guess I should open the letter to find out’. I open the letter, and it reads:As-salamu alaykum, my beautiful African queen. How was your night? I hope you slept as well as I did, and I hope you like the flower I bought for you. I know it’s your favorite. I also got you a few things I think would look lovely on you. Look inside the box and let me know if I am right. I pick up the box and open it to see the finest bracelet I have ever seen. It is a rose petal diamond bracelet framed in rose gold. There are rose gold pave diamond knot earrings, and
Ismail and I have arrived at the hotel where we are meeting the owner to discuss our app, but he or she hasn’t arrived yet. I am about to suggest to Ismail that maybe we should leave, when a guy who looks like he just rushed out of bed walks up to our table.“I am so sorry for being late Mr Uthman, I had an unexpected issue I had to deal with,” he says with a thick French accent while adjusting his tie. He is tall, over 6 feet, has black hair, a lean build and doesn’t look older than 26 or 27.“It’s fine, Mr. Baron,” Ismail answers.“And who might this lovely lady be?” Mr Baron asks, checking me out from head to toe with lust in his eyes.“I am Miss Isa,” I say primly, trying not to sound hostile because I don’t like the way he is looking at me.“If I had known such a pretty lady was waiting for me, I would have come sooner,” Mr Baron says smirking.“I
A week has gone by so quickly. I am exhausted from all the meetings we had. It is Saturday and I have been sleeping all morning, although I woke up for Fajr. I am trying to pretend that I can’t hear Emma banging on my door for me to wake up, but too late for that because I am already up. I walk lazily to my door and open it before she breaks it down.“Umit, why are you not dressed,” Emma says walking into my room.“Because I was sleeping before you decided to wake me up,” I answer going back to my bed.“You can’t go back to sleep. Have you forgotten we have to go shopping today,” Emma says pulling me up.“I didn’t forget, I just want a few more hours of sleep,” I try to lie back down.“I know you are tired but today and tomorrow are the only days you are going to be free before the gala. So, please get your lazy body off the bed so we can go,” Emma says pulling me up with
Emma hired three makeup artists, so no one has to wait for the other. Two hours later, we are completely transformed. I am wearing a silver-grey evening dress in tulle, with 3D salmon-colored leaves embroidered and an overskirt. I am also wearing a silver hajib, the jewelry Ismail gave me, and elegant high heeled strap lace sandals. Fatima is wearing a salmon-colored dress in lace with crystal embroideries and a pleated skirt. She is also wearing rose gold ankle strap heels, diamond love knot earrings and a salmon-colored hajib. Emma is wearing an off-the-shoulder nude dress in embroidered tulle, embellished with blue and nude patchwork lace embroideries and sequins. She is wearing champagne glitter ankle strap heels and white gold round diamond stud earrings.“Hmmm, Umit, I like your jewelry. They are lovely.” Emma says smiling sheepishly.“Thank you, Ismail gave them to me,” I smile.“I know,” Emma smirks, “And I just
The weather is really warm today, even the sand feels warm under my feet. I wish I could dip my legs in the water, but it’s too cold so I won’t. The sun is warm today, making me feel very relaxed. I don’t mind coming here every day to relax.“The weather is really good today,” Fatima says beside me.“Yes, it is.”We are walking down the shore of Vik black beach in Iceland. The beautiful black sand is to die for over here. We arrived in Iceland a few days ago. Fatima and I are walking down the beach after a long day of meetings.“I wonder why Udar is taking so long,” Fatima says. Udar is picking us up from the beach.“Maybe something came up. I’m sure he will be here soon.”“He should hurry, I am tired.”“Are you sure it’s because you are tired or there is another reason?” I tease Fatima.“What are you trying to say?&rdquo
While shopping Aunt Maria asks me something unexpected that throws me off guard.“So, what is going on between my nephew and you?” she asks me, smiling sheepishly.“I don’t understand what you mean, Aunt Maria,” I reply totally confused as to why she would ask that.“Really? Because if I didn’t know better, I would say you guys are dating.”“Oh My! Why would you say such a thing, Aunt Maria,” I say feeling shy and confused as to what made her think that. But maybe she thinks that because of how close Ismail and I are.“Because of the way you treat each other.”“And how do we treat each other?” I wonder if she has another reason and it’s not because Ismail and I are close.“You treat each other like you are in love. You guys buy each other things when you go out, which is a sign you are thinking of one another while you are out. You are alwa
I can’t believe today is the day, the day I have been waiting for. Today is the day Ismail and I get married. We came back to Nigeria for a month for the wedding. Technically, we are married as we had our traditional marriage back home in Nigeria, yesterday. Our traditional wedding was so beautiful, and I was so filled with joy yesterday. Ismail and I looked the best of the best, we both looked gorgeous.I wore my tribal attire for the wedding. My tribe or my native language is Idoma. We have a particulate color combination that represents my tribe. It is black and red, and it is worn for special occasions like weddings, Idoma meetings and burials. I wore a white lace blouse and a black and red wrapper with beading appliqué. My head tie and shawl were of the same Idoma attire I tied around my waist. The jewelry I wore was a white three-row African beads necklace and white African beads earrings. I wore diamond crisscross strap, block heel, sandals. Ismail wore a
2 MONTHS LATERIt’s been two months since everything happened and life has been good. Fatima and Udar are married now, and I couldn’t be happier for them. Fatima has started her own company, and she is doing well. I am so happy for my best friend. Udar supported her all the way, and they are both happy together.Emma and Austin are also doing fine. Everything is working out well for them and Emma has adjusted well into her family’s business, which is also growing. Austin helped Emma through her transition as CEO, and they are happier than ever. I am so happy that my friends are all doing well and have found their own happiness.I have opened my own company and Alhamdulillah (Praise be to Allah) I am doing well. Ismail has been amazing these past two months. He visits me in my new office every spare moment he has. Ismail made sure my office was not far from his, so he bought the building my office is in, just a few blocks away f
I can’t believe I am in the hospital again, watching as one of the people dearests to me battles for their life. I can’t imagine my life without Umit. She is my everything and that’s why I wanted her as far away from me as possible, but she won’t listen. Her fearless desire to help me could have cost her life. How I wish she did not have that fearlessness in her. But I won’t lie, that is one of the things I admire about her. She is the most fearless, courageous woman I have ever met in my life. Her amazing will to help is something I will always love about her. Ya Allah, please save the love of my life.I can still remember when I first moved into Aazim and Waheeda’s house and found out she was living there. I was annoyed that we would be sharing a roof, but I was also happy because I saw it as an opportunity to tease her more. Teasing Umit was something I always found fun to do. I loved it when she got all angry because she always looked c
“Umit, are you seeing this, what could be down there?” Ismail is as surprised as I am.“I wonder too. But first let’s take pictures, it might come in handy later,” I take a step back to take a good picture of the elevator. I also close the door and take a picture of that. You never know what might be useful later.“Are you sure you want to do this?” Ismail asks, stepping into the elevator knowing we are taking a big risk.“Yes, let’s go,” I say, stepping into the elevator. The elevator’s door closes, and we press the only button.The elevator takes us deep down. I don’t even know if we are still above ground, but I know for sure we went down far before coming to a stop. The elevator door opens, and we step out of the elevator. What is in front of us is something I could have never imagined in my entire life. I walk forward to see if I am really seeing properly because I can’t be
“How long do you think it is going to be before he comes?” I ask wondering if he is coming at all, because an hour has gone and there is no sign of the man.“He should be here any minute according to our observations. He comes here every day by 9:00 p.m. and it's 8:50 p.m.”“Alright, but do you know something.”“What”“I don’t even know what he looks like.”“Really?” Ismail asks surprised.“Yes, I have never seen his face, only his back.”“Oh, that’s right. But don’t worry when he comes, I will point him out for you.”“There won’t be any need for that because he is here,” I say, seeing the scary man whose nose I broke, walk in beside a man who looks like his boss.“Really, how do you know?” Ismail says and is about to turn his head, but I stop him before we draw attention to ours
It’s been a few days since David said he found something. I won’t say he found something useless, but neither will I say useful. He just discovered something odd that day. David was monitoring the locations of the places Mr. Alberto was going to through the GPS tracker. When he said he found something, he realized that Mr. Alberto was going towards the outskirts of town. We followed him and thought he was going to a club on the outskirts of town. It’s normal for Mr. Alberto to go to a club, but what makes it odd is the fact that this is more of a small bar, and not even a busy one at that. There is no security at the door to ask you for their ID’s and there is no line of people waiting to enter. It’s really a small bar, and what makes it odd is that he goes there every day. Mr. Alberto is a well-known person in society and could get into any club here in San Francisco he wants to. So, the question we are asking ourselves is why does he go to such a smal
We ate dinner not too long ago. I prayed Isha (Night) prayer and went outside to the backyard. I am sitting down, looking at the stars. While I am admiring the stars, someone comes and takes a seat beside me.“What is this beautiful lady doing here all by herself?” Ismail asks.“I am just looking at the stars wondering how it would feel again to live with less worries in the world,” I say clearly affected by the compliment, but I have a lot on my mind right now.“Don’t worry, In Shaa Allah, everything will be over soon” Ismail says smiling reassuringly.“Ameen,” I say smiling a little, understanding that he is trying to cheer me up.“Speaking of over… I am sure that by the time you are able to go back to work, you will have finished your internship at my company,” Ismail says, sounding a bit sad.“Most likely,” I say also feeling a bit sad. Because now I kno
“How are you doing my dear? I hope you are doing okay? Have you eaten? Have you found somewhere to pray? Do they have a mosque so you can pray? I hope where you are staying now you are not finding it too hard. My baby girl, I hope everything is fine?” There is only one person in the world who will fire all these questions at once.The woman who made me into the wonderful woman I am today, my number one person in the world, my mother. She was the first person I called because apparently when no-one knew where I was, Waheeda decided to call my mother, crying that I had been kidnapped and How she didn’t know what to do, and she didn’t know if I told my mother anything before I went missing. I laughed when I heard it because how will my mother in Nigeria know my whereabouts, when I am staying in America. I am sure Waheeda was just confused and did not know what to do and that’s why she called my mom. I don’t blame her; I probably would have don
We both finish eating breakfast and walk to David’s study. We walk in and take our seats. Once we are all seated, David is the first one to speak up.“Thank you both for coming...” David says, but Ismail cuts him short.“Why are you being so formal? It’s not like this is a business deal or something,” Ismail chuckles.“Shut up and let me talk, Ismail,” David replies.“Sorry, go on,” Ismail says making a hand gesture, smiling sheepishly.“As I was saying before ‘Mister I know it all’ spoke. I want...”“I am not ‘A know it all’. I just asked why you spoke so formal,” Ismail interrupts again.“Ismail, let the man talk,” I say holding back my laughter, because seeing the two of them bicker is fun to watch.“Thank you, Umit, and Ismail don’t open your mouth until you a