Chapter Twelve

The weather was hot and Sabeerah was irritated with everything, not that this feeling was an uncommon occurrence but today was an exception.

"Sarah how long have you been working with me?" Sabeerah asked lightly tapping her nail on the huge mahogany desk in her office.

The girl swallowed nervously. "Three years now ma'am."

"How much longer do you think you'll keep working with me?"

"I hope for many more years ma'am." 

"You have very high expectations from yourself Sarah and it's sad that I don't share such delusional thoughts so if you want to keep working with me, you'll better get your ass out of here and go find the name of the bastard who's trying to snatch the Fadlore farmhouse from our company. Go, now!"

She screamed and Sarah scampered off looking very terrified.

"The poor girl." Matt commented looking at the door Sarah had hurried off through.

"Shut up Matt!"

He laughed and then walked up to sit directly opposite her.

"Take in a deep breath." He said calmly.

"I don't want to take in a deep breath. I am pissed off Matt, fucking pissed off!" She snapped before beginning to gently massaging her forehead.

Sabeerah finally resumed work after a lot of struggle with her mom, she'd managed to get a one week break and it was her first day back in the office. Before she'd left, the company had been trying to acquire a loan from the bank and she'd given clear instructions to the workers that it was to be followed up carefully.

During her illness, her father had flown to Ghana for a CEOs seminar leaving Aakhil alone in charge, and yet again he'd ruined something, he got the loan declined.

"How the hell did Aakhil do this? Is he trying to run the companies down or what? We were so close to acquiring the loan, so close Matt!"

She stood up and was pacing about angrily, she'd long dumped her heels and she was walking about barefooted.

"And the only good thing left is to get Fadlore, but that bastard whoever he is is trying to take that away. We need that loan now!" Sabeerah groaned running her hands through her hair, her veil had been long discarded to the floor.

Matt simply stared at her, he was used to her attitude when she was worked up, she paced, screamed, threw insults but she'll soon calm down and think rationally for a solution. The phone on her desk rang and she groaned even louder.

"Please be good news." She put the phone to her ear, "yes?" She snapped.

Sabeerah listened to the person at the other end for awhile, her expression tightened with the longer the call took, she finally slammed the phone down.

"Aaaaaaaahhh!" She screamed stamping her feet on the floor and running her hand on her face.

"What is it now?" Matt asked.

She yelled out profanities as she collapsed on the couch. "Apparently the orders for building materials that were supposed to be delivered to Port Harcourt on the 16th didn't arrive, turns out the truck was attacked. Why didn't you tell me this Matt?" 

She stood up and turned accusing eyes at him.

"You were too sick and I told your brother, your father has been unreachable."

"Well the stupid housing company in Port Harcourt just cancelled the orders due to extensive delay, as if we had any choice! Oh Allah! I feel sick, that one was a very huge deal."

"There's no point in looking at what we lost, just calm down and think of something." Matt said.

Sabeerah nodded. "True, true. Firstly, I need to get in contact with the director of the housing company, do whatever it takes then I'll go to the bank myself, yes I need to do that."

She was taking excitedly now and waving her hands as she spoke. "Everyone loves discount, I'll offer the housing company a discount and make sure they can't refuse. The issues with Fadlore will be sorted out once we get the loan, we'll have a higher money to offer that they will have to sell the farmhouse to us."

Matt smiled at her, "that's the spirit."

She began putting on her shoes, "get ready Matt we're going down to the construction company, let's get the next batch of building materials ready to be transported and where in hell is Sarah?"

She paused. "oh yes, I sent her on an errand. God! need more than one assistant." She smiled at Matt, "be a darling and call Tuya in here for me."

He sighed as he stood up, he walked out of the office and came back in with Sabeerah's secretary behind him.

"You could have easily done that with the telephone on the desk Matt." Sabeerah said eyeing him, he scowled at her.

Tuya was a smartly dressed middle aged woman, she walked briskly towards Sabeerah.

"Ma'am?"

"I need you to call the security company to ready some men that'll escort our transport truck to Port Harcourt, make it quick!"

She picked up her phone and walked out screaming behind her. "Come along Matt, we have so much to do and such little time."

It was as if her energy picked up as soon as a solution to her problems presented itself, she was speeding along the tarred road and she kept talking to herself. Matt had some papers on his laps that he attentively went through.

Sabeerah slowed down the car as she almost passed her favorite cafe, sweets were her guilty pleasure and Khair's Treats sold every bit of it.

Matt looked up and groaned. "No, no we still have to go to the bank today, you yourself said we have much to do with little time."

"I know Matt, I know but it's sometimes impossible to drive past Khair's especially with how much I'm starving now." She brought out her card from her purse and hurried out of her car, her strides were long as she made her way to the cafe.

The doors slided as she approached and she got in, the cool breeze in the cafe embraced her. Sabeerah walked towards the ice cream spot and picked for herself and Matt then she made her way to the snacks.

She was pointing towards a tres leches cake when she felt a hand tug at the end of her sleeve, she looked down and saw a girl about the age of five staring up at her with a smile, Sabeerah frowned at her, pulled away her sleeve and then went back to picking out snacks.

"I like your dress." The girl said pulling at her sleeve again.

"And I hate yours, shoo, go away." She replied turning away from the girl.

"I sent her to tell you that but it seems a mistake now because apparently, you don't like kids." She heard someone say behind her and she turned back to see a man smiling slightly at her, he was familiar looking and Sabeerah couldn't for the love of God remember where she'd seem him before but the familiarity about him was nerve racking.

"Well it wasn't cute, I don't like kids or strange men talking to me." She eyed him and then turned back to the attendant. "Add two Oreo cake loaves and a box of Swiss roll with whipped cream." She said before scrolling through her phone nonchalantly, she was aware of the man still standing behind her.

"I'm a little hurt that you called me a strange man, with the history we have that is."

She snapped her head back to actually look at him again, he was unarguably handsome, tall and dark skinned. The little girl was no longer next to him, Sabeerah sighted her sighting in a corner with a woman who looked to be her mother, she was feeding her.

"You didn't actually hire a kid you don't know to come talk to me right?"

He laughed softly. "If I say yes, would that make me more appealing to you?"

"It'd make your a psycho, and I don't know you from anywhere so stop talking to me."

She glanced at the attendant, he was still packaging her stuff.

"Our first and only meeting is so embarrassing, I honestly don't want to talk about it."

He said looking sheepish.

Sabeerah eyed him warily, "you are wasting both of our time, except I'm mistaken to think you are as busy as I am."

He sighed. "Fine, few months back I'd come with a friend of mine to see you and you'd called him a sexist and he had insulted you in return." He covered his face with his hands, looking genuinely embarrassed.

Sabeerah could only stare blankly, this was Suraj? The man she'd told her mother she was willing to marry if they found him, here he was standing in front of her and she hadn't even recognize him, now that she'd seen him again and he seemed real, she wasn't sure if she liked him enough to want to marry him anymore.

"You don't remember?" He asked mistaking her blank expression for unrecognition.

She shook her head before pushing her phone to him. "Put your number."

He looked at her  surprised, then with a small smile he began to type in the number, when he was done he handed the phone to her, she collected it and turned away from him.

"How much?" She asked the attendant, he told her the price and she gave him her card and when the payment was done, she picked up the bag and turned to face him.

"Why are you still here?" She asked him in a mild angry tone.

"I'll walk you out." He offered.

"No, thank you. I'm with someone."

He turned to look around, "I don't see them."

She pointed a finger at him. "Don't follow me." 

She walked away with his soft laugh lingering behind her.

"What took you so long?" Matt asked.

"I'm your boss Matt, don't question me." She threw the bag at him and then settled down on the driver's seat, she drove off without looking back.