When Stars Collide

Acid Story

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"So, you won't be able to open until in about six months from now?" Hibba nodded and set down the tray of  strawed tumblers filled with watermelon juice. She sat beside Chichi who was lounging after coming in from the very hot sun blazing outside.

"I have to plan, have an active busniess plan, do good, well informed feasibility studies and in this Abuja, I have to find somewhere that is around a work oriented area that is also a place people can just drive by to buy cold and hot drinks."  Chichi nodded and leaned forward to take a sip of the refreshing watermelon juice. She tasted a hint of lemonade and quizzed her brows in Hibba's direction.

"I added a dash of lemonade. You know watermelons go sour quickly right?" Chichi nodded her head slowly, understanding dawning on her. "I used the fruit itself to make pops for Ummi. She's becoming so picky with fruits and vegetables these days." ChiChi laughed out loud, making Hibba hiss, Ummi's pickiness had become a source of concern for Hibba for weeks until she learned how to make pops and solved the problem.

"Would you consider selling the pops this dry season?" Hibba agreed with a nod, she had flitted the idea around in her mind for days and Chichi speaking them out loud seemed to make them permanent.

"I want to, but I need to take off the option of pickup from my delivery options." Chichi who knew why agreed wholeheartedly. The letter had been dropped off only because Hibba's home address was on the internet, for the whole world to see.

"How far the apartment?" Chichi rooted around her bag and took out her tablet, after a few presses, she handed it to an eagerly waiting Hibba.

"Since you said you didn't have time, I went there on your behalf. The place is gorgeous and the people are my dad's colleagues, very straightforward people, they just want someone who can watch over the house for them while they're away. The two room boy's quarters is for you if you agree to their terms." Hibba nodded slowly as she flicked through the pictures on ChiChi's iPad. The boy's quarters looked brand new as though it had never been lived in before so she asked.

"They wanted to give it to their brother, but who knows what they heard, they decided to find a reliable outsider. When I went to them sef, they were happy the person was coming from me and me knowing you was a plus, they said your character is enough for them." Something occured to Hibba as Chichi rambled on about the houses, so she asked her.

"Do they know I'm Muslim, a single mother and Fulani for that matter?" Chichi rolled her eyes. "I told them everything, the man and his wife, they're professors who lectured in Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria for years guy. They are not tribalists." Hibba hung her head in embarrassment.

It had almost become her modus operandi; try as much as possible not to expect too much so as not to get let down in the end. She made sure not to trust too much, not to want too much from others, only relying on herself. She was ashamed of thinking less about a couple she'd never met.

"It's okay Hibba. This country makes it hard to trust people, I understand you. Don't beat yourself up." Hibba leaned in on Chichi and they didn't speak for a while.

"Where's Nana and Ummi?" Chichi asked as she finished the juice in her glass and got up to prepare noodles, she had brought sausages, greens and carrots to take noodles in Hibba's house because her own mother was diabetic and she didn't want to flaunt food that were forbidden to her mother in front of her.

"They went on an errand for Nana's mother. Do you even know what Nana's parents did? I feel like tearing them apart." Chichi stopped at the door of the kitchen, the big yellow popular supermarket bag clasped in her hands.

"Don't tell me they took the money we gave Nana?" Hibba was so angry as she had been stewing over it since Nana cried about it in the morning of that day.

"They sent half of it to Nana's sister to do her graduation." Chichi shouted in the typical Nigerian manner portraying excessive disbelief.

"Why?" Hibba spread out her hands in shock too. She had no idea. Hibba got up and followed Chichi to the Kitchenette, standing on tiptoe to hand her a packet of noodles from a high counter.

"Cook this one along Abeg." Chichi nodded and opened the pack, adding it to the ones she put to boil.

"That one is their own, if they don't want their child to get a good education, that's their business, not ours. We've done what we can." Hibba sighed and leaned on the door jamb of the Kitchenette, considering several matters. Nana was heartbroken in unimaginable ways and even Hibba felt some pain for her.

"Heis! What about Salman? What are you doing about him?" Hibba rolled her eyes but she didn't turn away, she adjusted herself and said after careful consideration.

"He said they've found the person who sent the letter. That I shouldn't worry about anything, he also said he plans to do right by me. I don't know what the hell that means anyway." ChiChi's answer was to throw a hefty chunk of sausage at Hibba, it landed smack on Hibba's forehead and Hibba hissed in pain.

"You dey craze oo. That mam really adores you. He really does, and he's not one to let you eat dust from his family. You even, is not someone to take rubbish lying low, if them craze for you, you sef craze for them." Hibba cracked and laughed out very loudly. She waved her hands at Chichi while still laughing very deeply.

"You and Nafeesah are the same. Birds of the same feathers, flocking together. You both seem to forget one every important thing, no hand has been asked and we're currently not in a relationship." Chichi server the noodles she had finished cooking while they discussed and handed Hibba a hot plate that wafted a tempting scent.

Hibba led the esy back to the living room and just as they sat to eat, her phone rang loudly, jarring them. Hibba picked her phone up and stared skeptically at the unfamiliar number, but remembering that Nana and Ummi were out, she swiped and brought it to her ear.

"Are you Miss Abubakar?" Hibba's heart stopped, lurching very hard in her chest as she listened, then her head began to feel light-headed, her ears buzzed as well. She barely got the information from the person who called, only noticing that Chichi had taken the phone off her ear.

ChiChi got up, rushed into the room, passed Hibba a black hijab and helped her wear it seeing as she didn't speak or even move.

*****

"What? Subhanallah!"

Ayman got up and tapped Salma who was flipping through his smartwatch trying to set it. Salman looked up and asked with was going on but Ayman rubbed his hand down his face in anxiety making Salman shake.

"Acid? Ya Allah. What hospital are they in?" At this time, Salman had gotten up and was panicking, the anxiety he was feeling written all over his face.

"Ayman, what's going on?" Salman asked immediately his friend dropped the call. Ayman shook his head sadly before saying what had happened. Nafeesah, who he had been saying for over a month had called him immediately Chichi called her.

"I'm getting that girl arrested. Nothing under the sun will stop me." Was Salman's oath after hearing all that happened. They both left the house with a lot on their minds.

*******
Hello special people. This is a hi-bye situation.

See y'all soon. 👉🏼👈🏼
TheOmoope 💙💛🙃w