Within these walls

Chapter 17

"Guess what," I asked enthusiastically.

"What," he replied absentmindedly.

So, it has been a month of dating AbdulJalal and I am in cloud nine. A day after the concert, I told him that I needed some space to think. I will contact him after I was done thinking. First, I wasn't thinking about anything, I wanted to date him but I just felt the need to keep him on his toes. So, the plan was to get back to him after a week, but I disgraced myself and called him after three days and said yes.

"You are supposed to match my energy and not sound like I am disturbing you," I whined.

"Okay, Lee what?" he said in an exaggerated tone.

I just rolled my eyes and went on to speak. It was around 10:00 p.m and I had just gotten into bed where I usually speak to him till he falls asleep. Crazy how things change when you let someone into your life, you will not catch me under the covers before midnight unless I am sick or angry, but because AbdulJalal sleeps earlier, I am forced to accommodate his timing.

"So, I got a job offer. Head of the production for this firm that is interested in pulling resources to tell Northern stories."

"Babe, this is amazing, a step towards your dream of film making. Congratulations." He cheered.

"I know right, I am so excited but also scared. I mean what if it flops and they decide to withdraw from the whole idea of telling Northern stories?"

"But what if it succeeds? Life is all about risk Lee and you will never know how good something might be if you don't take the leap of faith. Let's even assume it flops, it would be a learning experience and when something of that calibre comes again you will know how to avoid the mistakes that made it flop," he encouraged.

"That is true. There is another problem sha, how do I tell AK? I feel like a traitor, leaving the company now that my career has picked up. AK gave me a job when I had just ideas and no experience, he allowed me to implement my ideas even though some of them were crazy. I just feel like a traitor leaving now."

"Babe, this is called growth and it is part of life. AK cares about you and part of that includes wanting you to grow. This is growth and it is a big deal, I think he will be more excited for you than you are giving him credit for, speak to him Lee."

"Okay, I will speak to him."

The plan was to speak to AK the next day but I have been too scared and kept postponing it. It has been three days now and I have given my word to the new employers that I will be starting in two months.

"What is that nonsense smile on your face? It is AbdulJalal you are chatting with, right?" asked AK that walked into my office.

"Mind your business," I rolled my eyes.

"So, AbdulJalal said you wanted to tell me something but you are scared. I told him that is ridiculous. But you have also been acting weird recently, so, I am all ears, I promise not to kill you," he said while taking out a chocolate bar from my fridge.

AbdulJalal is annoying but I guess I needed this push to talk to AK.

"Do you want to sit down?" I asked

"Salima, you are scaring me. What is it?" he asked.

"So, remember how I have always wanted to go into film making? I got a job offer with a production company as head of production," I said looking at AK that was busy eating his chocolate and looking at me.

"And? What is the bad news that was scaring you?" he cajoled.

"That is it, I wasn't sure how you will take it."

"This girl, you don't have sense o. This is good news, amazing news actually. I know how passionate you are about creating and getting an opportunity to do that on a large scale is something to be proud of," he added.

"I know right, I just feel like a traitor leaving you when my career is starting to pick up. You gave me a job when I had no experience and I will forever be grateful. All the experience I had that made me qualify for this new job is because of the risk you took on me and I am very grateful AK,"

"So, do I get a share in your salary?" he asked and laughed.

"Lee, in your boyfriend's voice. I am so proud of you and will never hold you back because of sentiments. You are brilliant and deserve to go ahead and shine. Will I miss having you around? Most definitely, you are very efficient and in that your small head lies a huge box of creativity, I am so glad you are going to explore it. Salima you are that child I got as a teenager because with the way you stress me, I can only be your daddy and not your brother. What kind of father will hold back their child from achieving greatness? Go out there and be a rockstar, I will always be here cheering for you. I also need you to make more money, so, I can start chopping your money please," he added with a laugh.

I was finding it hard to hold back my tears. To be honest, deep down I knew that AK would be happy for me, I just didn't know how to bring it up.

"Abeg abeg don't cry, let's meet tomorrow and see if any of your team members can take over or we need to put out a word for a vacancy," he said while walking out.