When Stars Collide

Re: Meeting Salman Baanziye

Hibba shut the door after herself, patting herself on the chest before running out of the main house and unto the street. Ummi had cried herself hoarse when she found out Mardiyah was not going to be caring for her anymore and it broke Hibba's heart to hear those hoarse tears that turned to hiccups and then a cough developed.

Hibba had to go get drugs and surf the internet for remedies for heartbroken babies, because she had no idea what to do or how to start. She finally got a nanny- a sixteen year old girl who just left secondary school- Nana who began to watch Ummi, but it did not stop the tears. Ummi refused to understand that Mardiyah was far away in the United kingdom for school and would not be back in a long long time.

"Maitama main busniess district! Maitama main busniess district!" At the bus stop, Hibba jumped into the sixteen seater cramped bus that would take her to the main business district where her PPA was.

The Public Relations company called, Noor PR was owned by Adetutu Adebayo who ran it alongside her huge lace, Ankara and atampa store in a nearby complex but both businesses never overlapped one another and employees were treated properly.

While on the bus, Hibba texted Nana who promised her Ummi was doing fine, already taking her morning nap, when she received that message, she stopped worrying and started to check out her plans to begin her business in about a month. She had made a logo on one of those free online apps and now she was designing an online flier she would share to Mardiyah, her friends and her office people.

The bus slowed into traffic just before they reached Maitama and everyone- most of them needed to resume at eight or eight thirty- hissed. They had anticipated beating the traffic on this aspect of the road. Now, all they hoped was a miracle to get them out of the traffic.

Hibba pressed her phone's power button, turning it off, she had just sent the logos and flyers she made after much trouble to Mardiyah to pick one in readiness for the busniess launch in a month.

Soon, the bus moved and immediately the bus stopped, Hibba stepped off and began the brisk walk to where the office was located. Immediately the she pushed the door open, she met all the employees at the reception all abuzz with little discussions on everywhere.

Hibba quickly joined a group, they were the only service Corp members in the room, two ladies and two men, altogether four. "Chichi, wetin dey sup?" Hibba asked the only other female, Chinyere, Chichi for short who was Igbo, a graduate of the University of Lagos.

Chichi wrinkled her nose in a little bid to make Hibba fear less and Hibba exhaled slowly. Her heart had been in her mouth when she saw everyone at the reception, now she could rest easy.

"Oga said she wants to see all of us, so everyone is here waiting for the top people to finish their meeting, so they can address us. My own there is, if they knew they were not ready, why did they bring us all here, I need sleep and I like to use this time to catch up on my sleep." Hibba chuckled and sat down beside Chichi, knowing how true it was. If they really wanted to discuss with them, they could have sent out a memo like they used to, or call them when they finished with the meeting or as usual, someone had delivered the message wrongly and they were all waiting, wasting precious time.

"No vex, oya quick quick, make I block you, sleep small." Chichi nodded and leaned on Hibba's shoulder, closing her sleepy eyes and falling asleep almost immediately.

Hibba took out her phone, texted Nana again and replied messages on her messenger app in a bid to pass time.

About thirty minutes later, Hibba shook Chichi awake quickly when their bosses walked into the reception from the inner offices. Hibba cleared her throat and adjusted the white scarf she had wrapped around her head that morning, hoping it still looked smart, sneakily looked at the small mirror affixed to her phone's pouch and nodded when everything was still the same.