Chapter Five

Sabeerah intentionally took her time before coming down, she didn't bother changing out of her casual wear. She just wanted to get this meeting over with, if he was who she wanted, let the marriage whatever begin.

She headed into the mini parlor and as soon as she stepped in, her eyes met with a man seated on the couch.

He had smooth dark skin and beautiful face, her lips involuntarily lifted up in a smirk, she'd met different men from different places, very handsome ones, princes who'd been interested in her so him being good looking wasn't endearing, it was just a bonus.

Her mother expressed her distaste in Sabeerah's outfit and tardiness with her eyes.

With a tight-lipped smile she said, "Sabeerah, come and sit."

The other man probably her to-be husband's friend turned to look at her, she saw him gulp before smiling at her awkwardly.

Sabeerah sat next to her mother.

"You could've dressed better than this you know?" Her mother whispered to her furiously.

"You kept telling me to hurry up." Sabeerah whispered before focusing on her visitors.

"So Hassan, how are you?" She asked him boldly, she wasn't going to act all shy and blushing like most Hausa men wanted their future brides to... She wasn't even sure if he was Hausa.

"I'm fine, how're you?" Someone else answered, her face expressed her confusion. She turned to the guy she thought was the friend, he was Hassan?

The dark skinned one looked amused, he'd realized her mistake, she glowered at him before turning to Hassan... He was fair skinned like her with an okay looking face.

"Well I'm Sabeerah AbdulMalik like you already know and I'm interested in knowing you better so we can see if we're compatible enough to be married and if not, it'll just be another waste of my time obviously." She deadpanned. The guys looked shocked at her openness, Hassan's friend looked like he had a hint of admiration for her. Good!

"She doesn't mean it like that." Her mom intervened with a fake smile as she glared at Sabeerah, she shrugged nonchalantly.

"It's okay." Hassan said fidgeting.

"So can you tell us a bit about yourself Hassan." Her mother asked him. Sabeerah noticed he looked over to his dark skinned friend who gave him a nod of encouragement.

Lacks confidence!

"Well I'm Hassan Bashir, I'm from Gombe state, I'm the third child out of ten. I am a banker and I own my apartment at Jabi." He smiled with mild pride at the last part, Sabeerah looked at him with a small smile.

Lacks expressivity!

"Can I know your siblings names?" Sabeerah asked, she wanted to ascertain their genders.

He stared at her dumbly before his dark skinned friend subtly nudged him.

"Oh okay, let's see... My father's first wife has Zarah, Ibrahim, Suwaiba, and Fadil. My mother has me, Jamilah, Mussadiq and Hamdala. The last wife has Firdausi and Taheer."

Comes from a polygamous family.

"The two children before you are?"

"Ibrahim and Suwaiba." He answered promptly.

"Okay." Here comes the tricky part, "between the husband and the wife, who do you think should cook?"

"The wife of course!" He blurted looking at her as if she was crazy for asking... Her mother sighed beside her.

Sexis... Too quick to judge.

"Oh okay, let me rephrase that... The husband and wife are both working but the wife's work is much more stressful so to avoid cooking, she gets a house help... What do you think about that?"

Hassan looked confused, "a married woman getting a house help to cook her and her husband's meal? She's a lazy wife, I mean is that even normal? Wives are the ones who cook, it's always been so."

Sabeerah took in a deep breath, "Another scenario, two people are vying for a top position at a huge company... The woman has better qualifications than the man but then the man gets the job, why do you think that happened?"

Hassan took his time before answering, from her side eye Sabeerah saw his friend looking at her with curiosity etched on his face.

"I think the position was given to the man because well, he's a man. Men are natural born leaders, they know how to head a corporation and even though the woman had better qualifications, she's probably just book smart, she doesn't have what it takes to lead the company because well, women are obviously more emotional.

So it takes a strong voice to lead, that's the man, the woman will probably rule with her emotions and also from statistics men have higher rate of success than women..."

"That's because people like you refused to give the women an opportunity to prove themselves! Can you listen to yourself? Do you know how you sounded? You..."

"Sabeerah!" Her mother said in an authoritative voice.

Sabeerah took in a deep breath to calm herself, today hadn't been good... She'd found out Aakhil was in Lagos partying and just taking a break leaving her with the work, she didn't mind, it was his loss but when her father had showed up in her office to tell her that he needed her to start grooming Aakhil because he'll soon resign and leave Aakhil in charge, she'd almost run mad and before she could say anything, he'd received a call and left her office.

"You're a sexist Hassan." She said looking at him directly in the eye.

"I am not." He argued, "I respect women and I appreciate their efforts and..."

"That's not what it's all about Hassan." His friend spoke up for the first time, her eyes snapped over to him.

"Bro, the top belongs to the men and we all know that, isn't it enough that women are allowed to work? Now they want to lead..."

"Kindly see yourself out." Sabeerah interrupted, Hassan looked at her, shocked.

"What?" He asked.

"I'm asking you to leave." She said in a lazy tone as she leaned back on the chair.

"Why? Wait, I'm not surprised, I was told you're a bitch! Stupid, entitled tight ass... I wasn't interested in this whole shenanigan so don't think so mighty of yourself, you're too old for me, twenty eight and still choosy with who..."

"Hassan that's enough!" His friend said angrily standing up. Sabeerah simply laughed.

"Leave my house now or else I'd call security and it won't be funny." Her mother said.

"I knew you rich people were like this, flaunting your money everywhere, I hope you buy your mannerless daughter a husband that'll cook for her, massage her feet, lay his life for her, worship her and turn to her personal puppet or you can just get her a gigolo, they're actually quite rampant in Abuja."

"Shut up!" His friend barked before pulling him away angrily, Hassan stumbled behind him.

Sabeerah took a sip from her mother's glass of wine.

"Well that was quite entertaining."

"That was embarrassing, I'm going to have a word with his mother, she didn't raise her son properly and we deserve an apology." Her mother said.

Sabeerah stood up, "like I said, that was a waste of my time... I have work waiting for me in my room. Goodnight Umma, you'd spare yourself these issues if you just stop husband hunting for me."

She picked up the wine bottle.

"This is just a small glitch, it doesn't mean I'll quit." Her mother promised.

"Do whatever you want Umma, do it." She said swaying the bottle as she took the stairs.