In My Heart

What Proposal?- Part 5

Inna was getting better and they had been back home for three days, but Jalillah was not ready to leave Inna and go back to work. Madam had visited them a couple of more times at the hospital and when they came back home. She told Jalillah to take as much time as she wanted, but Inna insisted that she goes back to work. After much persuasion, she decided just to stop Inna from worrying she would go to work. She had asked Merro to give her a call if Inna was in any discomfort. Jalillah had a lot of catching up to do, but work was as usual. Her colleagues were very sympathetic about Inna's condition, and some even offered to give the traditional medicine for heart attack. Nothing had changed with Mo, she still felt the same about him, and for some reasons he was snubbing her as well. She has put up a tough exterior and worked hard to take her mind off Mo or what he thought of her. Occasionally she saw Jay visiting Mo at his office and the two leaving for lunch together, but she convinced herself it was none of her concern who he was with or anything he did.

Jalillah was finding delight in other things and people around the office. She was now sharing her office with a new intern Emeka. Emeka was a pleasure to have around. She guess he should be a couple of years younger than she was. He was on summer break from university and his parent did not want to seating around and so they asked him intern at the Barma Corporations. He was studying finance and his family, very close friends of the Barma's had one of the largest law firms in the country. Both his parent where Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), but he told Jalillah

"I could not stand anything law again, I breathed it all my live, so I rebelled and studied Finance instead of Law." 

He was well mannered and Jalillah though all the prep school he attended paid off. He introduced Jalillah to the Ipod and sent her good music, some not so good though. After a week with Emaka, Jalillah thought if I had a younger brother I would have love him to be like Emeka. Every morning he came in very cheerful with two large cups of smoothies, one for him and the other for Jalillah.

"Thank you Emeka, you don't always have to get me something"

"I insist" he'll reply.

"That's what I'm here for, since no one takes me serious enough to give me any proper job"

Jalillah could see that Emeka was getting board. She suspected it was a way of his parent punishing him for not wanting to studying law. So instead of letting him join his peers at some expensive holiday resort, they brought him back from England and asked him to work.

Jalillah decided she was going to take Emeka out for lunch, and not his usual sand sandwich. They went to a buka in the city and told him to order anything except sandwiches.

"I could order jollof" Emeka said "but that is too safe innit?"

"Anything but sandwich will do"

So Emeka ordered plantain, beef stew and beans.

"It is good" He said with a mouth full of food.

"Wait until I introduce you to masa, and miya"

"What's that?"

"I'll show you some other day"

Jalillah had always imagined having a brother. Being an only child was not particularly the best, so she finds true friendship a precious gift to her. She looked at Emeka nodding his head to whatever he was listening to with his headphones, and she knew they will remain good friends even after both of them left Barma corporations. Jalillah was carried away with work the next day when AK popped his head and said to Jalillah

"Hey stranger"

"Hey AK" Jalillah said with a smile

"Can we go for lunch? A friend of ours has opened a new spot"