Beyond

CHATS AND CHILLS

-5-

CHATS AND CHILLS

∞

An hour had passed since the start of the game, and Fatimè was leading by ten points. As the game had reached its conclusion, they decided to call it a day. Panting, Fatimè sat down on the floor to catch her breath.

"Okay, that was refreshing," she said, taking a deep breath.

The evening sun casts a warm golden glow over the basketball court, painting the surroundings with a soft, tranquil hue. A gentle breeze rustled the leaves of nearby trees, providing a soothing respite from the intense physical activity

Kamal, who had left to fetch some water, returned and handed her a bottle. "You deserve that award. You are that good."

Fatimè took a sip of water and sat back to relax.

"Now I owe you a lunch date," he said with a smile.

Fatimè smirked, "Did you lose on purpose so you could take me out again?"

Kamal chuckled, "Nope, you are just that good."

"There's no way I am going out with you again if all I know is your name and also the fact that you like to appear and disappear."

Kamal laughed, "Fact number one about me: I love to travel. In my 33 years on this earth, I have gone around this whole country."

"What?" Fatimè looked surprised. "How is that even possible?"

Kamal grinned, "Yep, I have been to all 36 states in Nigeria. As for the countries in the world, I'm still on that, but I hope to visit at least a hundred."

"Wow, you love traveling," Fatimè remarked with genuine curiosity, "What kind of work do you do that gives you all this free time? Or are you a pilot?"

Kamal smiled at the question. "No, I'm not a pilot. My father planted the love for traveling in me. He's a retired soldier, so we moved from state to state and I always looked forward to it. I own a haulage and logistics company with a side of drop-shipping."

Fatimè let out a scoff. "That's it? Come on, I do details."

Kamal chuckled, "Fine. We transport goods and services from one place to another. We also move goods from the ports to the warehouses and stores across the country but that's not all, we also partner with suppliers and directly ship products to customers."

"That's drop-shipping?" Fatimè asked.

"Yes. When a customer places an order for a product, we contact our suppliers and we drop ship it. We coordinate the delivery from the supplier to the customer using our services. I have been thinking about expanding though."

"Oh?"

"A taxi-hailing company. We already have the infrastructure in place." Kamal explained, "So we are using our existing fleet of vehicles to offer rides to customers.

"So who does all the work while you travel about?" Fatimè inquired.

"When I started, it was just me, myself, and I. But with time, I trained and built a very efficient team that could handle everything. Now, I can travel as much as I want, although I have to supervise and all that," Kamal explained.

Fatimè was impressed. Seeing people achieve so much at such a young age always wowed her.

"So besides traveling, what else do you do?" Fatimè asked.

"Photography. I love taking pictures. I also enjoy coding, cooking too; trying out new recipes from cookbooks. Sometimes, I imagine if I did not love my job so much, I'd probably be a chef. Oh, and I like to draw too whenever I get the chance. It helps me de-stress," Kamal replied.