Thorns and Berries

Chapter Thirty-Six

She couldn't believe, yet, she has to believe that the day had come. While the stage was being prepared for the show, she had revised and rehearsed her script over and over again after Mr Osaze had informed her that she would be going first. Ummulkhairi and Sandra had spent the previous evening at her house the day before, assisting her piece all her valuable pieces into a proper writeup. Hameed too, had spent quality time assisting her that evening in her room ( aunt Basma had gladly convinced him to come in), much to the awe of the ladies, who kept teasing and wriggling brows at her. She did not blame them, though. Who would not be, after being aware of her horrible history with him? No one would've thought they would come to be friends someday. Very close friends, at that.

That evening, she had halfheartedly placed a call across to Salma after much persuasion from the girls, and after exchanging awkward greetings with the new bride, they had talked about her work and Salma had wished her good luck on her competition.

"I'm sure you'd do great. You're an amazing person." She had said and a minute later after they bad ended the call, Husna closed her eyes and breathed deeply, doubting they would go back to the wah they used to be. At least not anytime soon.

"Show's up, Husna. Your time starts five minutes from now." Mr Osaze said to her as he came closer. Then whispering to her, he added. "At least win this for you father. He deserves it. Just this once. I'm counting on you, girl."

••••Three months pro••••

She had never thought she would come back here to the Indimis to have high-tea with Hameed, his mother and another of his brother whose name was Umar. And as they chatted and laughed away in the young evening, she marvelled to herself about how fast time flies. It was already three months since she won the competition against Jide in the office and gotten a promotion with an office of her own. Her father had never been prouder. Mr Osaze too, had been both thrilled and proud of her that he had taken her for an expensive mouth licking Igbo meal of ofada rice and ofada stew the next day. Ummulkhairi and Sandra wouldn't stop squeezing her with hugs and kisses and Hameed had spoilt her throughout that week with gifts upon gifts and outings she had lost track of. The rest of her colleagues had been on her neck the rest of the week, showering her with endless praises and encouragements.

Jide, on the other hand, had been so green with envy and enraged by her win that he had stormed out of the office building. That was the last any of them had seen or heard from him. She hated that she was the reason for his resignation at the media house and even though she knew it was not her fault, she could not help but feel sorry for him and pray that he finds another better job. He was a great TV host, that, she knew of and she disliked to see good talents get depressed and go to waste. She knew the main reason she has won the duel and gotten more YouTube views than him was because she had hosted Hameed who had played a hard catch for them, for so long. His female fans had been so ecstatic to see him on the show and had all tuned in to watch live.

And talking about Hameed, the young man had resumed his new job at his father's company a day after she won the competition and like he had always assured her, he was doing quiet well there. Whenever he was off duty and she equally was too, he would take her on dates or to visit quite places of solitude. Last month, he had traveled with her to his penthouse in Dubai for the weekend. The fun they had had, she found hard to forget. Every moment had been perfect with him these past few months and she hoped to see and feel more of what she was already feeling, in future. Ummulkhairi and Sandra had been on her neck, trapping her with never-ending questions of when Hameed would officially ask her to be him woman and admit he was in love. They had been playing pretence couples for long already. When were they planning on making things real?