Twist of Infinity

FIRST IMPRESSIONS AND WHAT NOTS

Imaan dropped out of the Corolla and said her thank you to the Bolt Driver. People in Abuja really do things differently, if this was Kano a Napep would have sufficed but two days in Abuja and her eyes is yet to see a Napep anywhere. Her uncle had laughed when she told him it was okay, she'd find a Napep this morning to go to her father's office.

So she overslept this morning and her uncle left without her but he ordered her a bolt, he only called her and told her the description of the car and that he had paid for the service. He also added that he'll order another one again when she is done.

Her mind travelled back to the person that came to pick her up from the airport the day she arrived. He was a nice person and apparently he was her father's assistant. They had a nice conversation on their way to her uncle's house and it was a good first impression.

She hoped she'll get to meet him again seeing as she was late and her dad should already be in a meeting. She was going to need some company because she lost her phone a few days before she came to Abuja, she only had a small Nokia phone with her. She took out her tiny diary from her bag and rechecked the address to make sure she was at the right place. It seemed her dad rented a residential flat and made it his office because this didn't look like an office and to top it, it looked exactly like a house.

She knocked on the gate and waited for someone to answer when she noticed a car beside her, the car was still and tinted, it looked like it had been parked out there for a while. Her eyes caught her reflection on the glass of the car and she realised she hadn't had the chance to look at the mirror before she came out, so she moved to the car and crouched down to look at the glass to adjust her veil on her inner cap and took a pin out from her bag to pin it down. It was better this way, she thought. She took out a lip balm from her bag and rubbed it on her lips, then finally took out her powder puff and started dabbing on her face.

Halfway through that, the glass started sliding down and she stayed rooted to her spot, eyes wide opened. There was a man seated at the passenger's seat of the car and she wanted to disappear into thin air so bad. She was so embarrassed that she stepped back and almost lost her balance in the process. The man in the car was looking at all of this with amusement in his face and she couldn't help but feel warmth covering her cheeks.

"I think you put too much powder on your forehead." He said pointing at his own forehead and her eyes looked up as if trying to look at her forehead and slapping her hand on her forehead. "Don't worry, you look gorgeous." His accent was neither Nigerian nor British nor American, then it can only be one thing. It's the accent of a really educated Nigerian.

She was still embarrassed but the compliment traveled directly to her heart and she smiled. Still unable to say a thing. The gate suddenly opened and the gateman apologised for not being close but she rushed inside without embarrassing herself any further.

She entered the office reception which looks like a living room that has been turned into a reception and she saw the office workers going up and down, some cleaning and others spraying different types of room fresheners and she scrunched up her nose in disgust. There were so many smells that she couldn't actually pinpoint one.

What the hell was this circus?

"Go ahead and call him." Her father's voice boomed from the corner and she turned around to look at him, he saw her and she could swear he had forgotten that she was supposed to be here. "Khadija, I have some guests now. Do you mind waiting?"

"No," She shook her head. "Hope everything is okay Baba?" He looked frantic but he nodded.

"I have an important guest and when he walked in a few minutes ago, the office was smelling of lavender and he is allergic to the smell. So we had to get rid of it but-"