FORMAL MEETING
1385 Words
Chapter 4:
Ammar's POV
I got in my car about to go and see the girl 'I' allegedly like. I put the key in the ignition, the car roared as I turned the key. I didn't notice Ahmad coming till I saw him in front of me.
"I will drive you there" he offered. Yeah right like hell he would.
I ignored him and tried to close the door but his big figure was standing in the way.
"Come on Ammar please. I am sorry. Just let me drive you there. " he pleaded. Without a word I came out from the driver's seat and went around to the passenger seat in front. We drove in silence.
I have not spoken a word to Ahmad since that night. Alright maybe I actually did speak to him. I yelled at him but that still didn't make me feel better. Ahmad can be very annoying and he knows the right place to prick when he wants to annoy me.
We arrived at the house in no time and rang the bell after parking the car in there compound. A young lady opened the door and welcomed us in. We were soon joined by Alhaji Haruna in the parlor as the same lady served us snacks and drinks.
We had a little chat with him and he asked a lot of questions that actually felt like a job interview. I tried to answer them politely and not give away the fact that I was kind of forced to come here. He asked job related questions, personal questions, future plans and the like. I was so nervous. I guess that's what fathers do when you come to ask for their daughters' hand in marriage. He finally got up to leave after a whole lot of interrogations.
He told us he would call his daughter so I tried to mentally prepare myself. I have no idea what to say to her I just hope she will reject me. Its kinda comforting having Ahmad here after all.
While we were waiting for her, Ahmad received a call from his friend and told me he had to go but will come back and pick me. He was about to leave when we heard a knock on the door that led inside the house.
Ahmad opened the door and let the person in.
She entered with a salam and we answered her in unison.
"Ah, Hafsat we meet again" Ahmad exclaimed
"Good afternoon" She greeted him with smile.
"Afternoon. As much as I would love to stay its unfortunate that I have to run."
"Oh too bad."
"Yeah. Okay bye. See you later. Pardon my brother thou he's a tad bit slow"
With that he left before I could react to what he said. She took a seat which I noticed was the farthest away from me.
"Assalamu alaikum" I said after the long silence.
"Wa'alaika salam" she answered back.
Silence
Think fast Ammar. Think.
Don't be rude and say something now.
"Do you like cars?" I really did think fast. Smooth bro. Cars?
How about 'how are you?' 'how was your day?' 'since you just graduated, which hospital are you going to apply to?' but I had to start with cars.
She just gave me a weird look and thought before answering "uhm not really. As long as it's comfortable, has four wheels and can take me to my destination. I'm fine with it." she answered casually. She seemed comfortable and looked really beautiful.
Despite her composed self and nice character and beautiful face and statue
I'm still not the slightest bit interested in her.
"How about sports?"
Questions I ask on a date. I mentally face Palmed myself.
"I like sports " she answered politely.
" Which?"
Maybe we could have a conversation after all.
"In primary school and high school I played football and volleyball with the boys. I alwa.. " She replied with so much enthusiasm. Then suddenly held back.
Okay now she's a tomboy. I prefer Barbie-like girls though. A girl that does mostly only girl stuffs.
" Tomboy? " I scowled.
" N... No its just games I enjoy" she answered a bit offended.
Was I being too judgemental?
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to - "
" It's okay"
Silence
Awkward silence.
"What's your birth date? Place of date? " I finally broke the silence. Yielding to my parent's advice that I most keep a conversation going. They said 'Ammar, you shouldn't sit there looking at her like a bazooka while you say nothing. Keep the converstaion going. Get to knkw her'.
What do they take me for? I can be fun too. They know nothing.
They are funny thou.
She looked confused for a while then answered "October? October 24th" she said a bit skeptical.
Doesn't she know her birth date?
Someone knocked the door and She answered with a 'come in'. A ten year old boy appeared whom I recognized as Ali, her brother.
"Adda? " he called her innocently
" Yes Chote, come"
Chote?
"Salamu Alaikum. Good afternoon" he squatted with so much traditional manner and respect to greet me.
"Wa'alaika salam. How are you Ali? " I gave him a genuine smile. As I stretched my hand to shake his.
" Fine. Alhamdullilah." she shook my hand with smile.
"Ali do you need something? " His sister asked.
" Adda can I use the TV here? The girls are watching Indian movie in the other sitting room and I can't use Baba's cause he's also watching something and its time for the new documentary on discovery Channel. They have been advertising it. Remember? The one we said we would watch. Its today." he squeaked with a thick British accent.
"uhm yeah. I remember. How about the parlor upstairs? Or my room?. "
" Mama and Anty are watching in the parlor and your TV is connected to the parlor so yeah." he replied sadly.
She turned to me with pleading eyes and asked while trying not to meet my eyes. "I'm sorry. Do you mind please?" she pleaded. I gave Ali a smile and nodded. He quickly switched on the television.
"Thank you so much. There are just too many people in our house these days." he whined. I smiled. He tuned it to discovery Channel and for a while we just watched the TV. Ali began to tell me what type of a program it was and how much he loved watching documentaries and knowing about new fascinating researches. I asked how he got a British accent and his sister answered.
"Since Chote basically grew up in London and only did his last year of primary school here, he's still got his strong accent and he's still finding it hard to speak fluent Hausa."
" Chote?" I quirked my brows.
" Oh, I call him Chote. I'm not sure of the full meaning but its like saying younger brother in Hindi or just little." she explained.
Fan of the crazy Indians I see.
We didn't talk much after that and just watched the program on TV. Ali did most of the talking as his sister seemed more interested in the documentary than the person who came all the way to see her. I texted Ahmad to pick me. Magrib prayer came along while waiting for him so Ali accompanied me to the masjid. Ahmad came with his friend Sufyan just in time for magrib so we prayed together.
We were three now with Sufyan so someone had to sit at the back but I wasn't in the mood so I asked him if he could sit at the back cause I wanted the front sit. Ali who was there waiting for us to leave was fascinated by my request.
"You don't sit at the back too?" he squealed from behind me. "Adda too never sits at the back of the car." he added.
"why? " I was curious
" I don't know. She said it was scary or something" He shrugged and Ahmad chuckled.
"Alright Ali. We are leaving. Goodnight"
"Goodnight" he replied and waved at us before he turned to leave.
Sufyan and Ahmad teased me on our way back home. All I wanted was my bed at the moment.
- Writer
