When Stars Collide

Meeting Nafeesah

"Did you know? That if a man takes you to a wedding, he wants to marry you?" Hibba stopped Chichi from applying the powder laden brush to her face and burst into laughter.

"Where did you get that crazy fact from? Besides this is not a wedding, it's a double date." Hibba answered with great difficulty. The makeup session Chichi was performing on her had turned into an inevitable comedy show.

"I think I saw it on one relationship problem blog like that. The complaint of one lady was that her boyfriend took his supposed ex fiance to his family's wedding. The relationship counselor then said if a man takes you to a wedding, he wants to marry you." Hibba could not stop the laughter that bubbled again.

"What kind of warped sense of humor is that? Men are so unpredictable that what you think they mean is not what they do." Chichi agreed and set down the brush, picked up a lip liner and began to shade the outline of Hibba's rosebud lips before adding shiny pink lip gloss.

"Smack!" Hibba complied and smacked her lips together, showing off her beautiful face to Chichi who clasped her hands enraptured by Hibba's beauty.

"You're stunning, looking all takeaway and all." Hibba chuckled and got up, picking up the Dahlia flower
patterned midi pleated skirt she had laid out to wear. She bought it and a lotus patterned one at a thrift store in Maitama and had kept it to wear to a special event ever since.

"This your skirt is gorgeous oh, I want to borrow it." Hibba gave Chichi the side eye and walked away. When she returned, Chichi nodded with satisfied smile on her lips, she told Hibba to do a three sixty turn with a crook of her finger.

"You look good, the colors you chose are great." Hibba had paired the skirt with a light blue long sleeved body suit and a black silk polyester scarf.

Just as she sat down, Chichi asked, "where is Nana, I don't see her around?"

Hibba smiled at her and said with excitement, " She went to write her Post utme." Chichi goggled at her friend in pure surprise before jumping up in happiness, sharing in Hibba's excitement.

"I'm so happy for her. I thought she said her parents said no? What changed?" Hibba's excitement died and she shook her head.

"It's a long story. She was supposed to go to do her post utme but her parents had not received salary for over five months, their boss finally paid the other day; her mom is a headmaid while her dad a security guard. They paid them, but laid them off, now they're looking for a job, I promised to pay half of her acceptance fees and half of the tuition. They allowed her to go." ChiChi's excitement deflated as she thought of things deeply.

"I'll pay the other half of the acceptance and school fees. I just want to see that bright girl go back to school, she deserves it very much." Hibba nodded but got up after fastening the hook of the low heeled sandals she had pulled on.

"Ehn, what did I hear you say? Oh my goodness. Thank you. I didn't even process it quickly." Chichi laughed and the gloomy air seemed to dissipate. Just as Hibba exchanged her keys and handed Chichi her own bag, a car horn sounded from the gate.

"That's our cue, let's go. Salman is here." Chichi took her own bag and looked around the room to see if she forgot anything. Seeing that she didn't, They both left the room.

"So, Nana will bring Ummi home after her exam?" Hibba nodded as she locked the door with a firm click.

"Her exam ends right about-" Hibba looked at the watch strapped to her left wrist for the time, "Now. She'll soon return, pick Ummi up and get her lunch. That's about it." Chichi nodded and hugged Hibba bye at the gate, though as they parted, Salman came out of the car.

"Isn't that him?" She whispered at Hibba who nodded with a smile. Salman came forward and exchanged pleasantries with Chichi who could not keep down her excitement, she kept pinching Hibba in happiness. Just as she left, she leaned towards Hibba and said, "He's very handsome, you took your eyes to the market."

*******

"Hello, welcome to Grill land. What is your reservation name?" A deep voice answered the restaurant host from behind the standing Salman and Hibba.

Salman turned around and greeted his friend with a warm smile and a pat on the back. He then put his hands together and greeted Ayman's date, a chubby dark skinned, beautiful woman with clear skin and a pair of glasses on her face. She greeted him back with a smile that made Hibba shake her head and want to pinch the deep dimple that appeared in her cheeks.

"You're so pretty." Ayman's date gasped at Hibba. Hibba looked herself over and said with a deep breath. "What's your version of beauty of you're calling me beauty. You're a queen. Damn!" They both laughed and introduced themselves with smiles.  Ayman's date was called Nafeesah Bukar.

"Let's go in. We're blocking others." Hibba and Nafeesah stepped up to one another and began walking in, leaving Salman and Ayman to stare at themselves in shock. They asked each other with their eyes; 'Who's the one on the date here?'

The restaurant was a former warehouse turned into a beautiful restaurant. Each table had a cooker that supplied heat to the food they placed on it, it was decorated in muted tones of burnt orange and white and some blues.

"So, what do you do?" Nafeesah asked immediately they set down their bags and sat. Hibba paused in the motions of hanging her bag unto her seat and told her with a smile that she worked as a political analyst and owned a busniess.

"I am a book keeper." Hibba frowned. "Isn't that like an accountant?" Nafeesah shook her head firmly.

"I'm not one of those figure falsifying people. I'm a book keeper, I run an online business called The savvy bookkeeper. I help mostly small businesses run their books and tell them where they're making busniess mistakes. I'm like a mini financial advisor, just that I book keep too." Hibba's fascination with Nafeesah grew and they discussed, forgetting totally about the men who had become involved in a discussion of their own.

"Ladies?" Ayman called out when the food came, then the ladies stopped discussing, they'd been showing each other pictures on their phones. They're ordered a four part grill plate. It had chicken, beef, fish and crabs.

"What would you like Hibba?" Hibba asked for a bit of fish and crabs, added chips from the basket of fries sitting on the table and began eating almost immediately. She wanted to ask Nafeesah something but stopped when she the look on Salman's face, shame colored her face when she remembered that this was a date for Ayman and Nafeesah.

"How's Maheera?" Ayman stopped cutting into his chicken and told Nafeesah about his over one year old daughter. Hibba watched as Nafeesah's face grew animated.

"What's your ten year financial plan? What's your plan for the future?" Nafeesah asked and turned back to her food, she found Hibba watching her so she winked at her. It seemed like she asked that question many times and graded the men she asked based on that one question.

"Well, in about three to four years, I'll be opening a flying school here in Nigeria here with this man. I intend to make our plans work, get good money out of it to give my family a good life." Nafeesah's lips hooked into a small smile, Hibba saw it and shook her head as she focused on her food intently. It looked like Ayman had passed his test. She just felt somehow since she had never asked Salman for his future plans, she didn't even see herself in his future.

*******
Heyo people? How have you all been?

I'm so sorry. I know ift feels like I haven't been updating, but I've been so busy with real life stuff that I didn't just have the time to write.

I see all your votes, I see all your comments, I'm grateful for them. Thank you all so much.

I'll update more later today or tomorrow (it was supposed to be a double update but🤧)
See y'all soon 😘

TheOmoope 💙💛🙃