"FOREVER AMEN - CHUI..."

END OF A FRIENDSHIP.

Tuesday morning and the first person Nilla meets at her office doorstep was Wambo. She already knew what it was about. “ Hello my good friend Wambo, how have you been, mamana?” Nilla said, pretending not to know the reason behind her friend’s frown. “ Just open this door and get in, silly little girl.” Wambo said. As soon as she opened the door, Wambo started scolding her as if she was her child.

“ Nini, you promised to give him a chance. Besides, after the good talk we all had in your kitchen yesterday, I really did not think you’d have a complete 360!”

“ Wambo, my good friend, I cannot force love, I can’t. I do not even like him.”

“ No one ever starts off liking someone they never knew three days before they met, Nini. That’s common sense.”

“ And sticking around someone waiting to at least like them is also stupid. That’s common sense too.”

Wambo did not like being challenged. For whatever reason, she always wanted her words to be final.

“ Ohhh! I see, you’re a grown girl now. You have forgotten I spent time helping you with your English-speaking when you were too shy to speak in English in front of people? You forget I polished you, when even you deemed yourself not fit to stand before proper humans. Today, Nilla Jibawi, you deem yourself woman enough to answer back at me however you want.” Wambo said as she let out a subtle laughter to cover her mean words.

Nilla, not having gotten time to grow, nor to properly socialize with many people in her early years, could easily be swayed by the desire to please others. Sometimes, she would put herself last just to please people. She went quiet. She did not know what to say. She also felt bad that Wambo felt the way she did. Wambo had genuinely helped her before, yet, she somehow felt like her friendship with Wambo was not good for her and was not what she wanted. How could she be so selfish? How could she turn her back on someone who helped her before? She felt bad for making Wambo feel the way she felt.

“ You are sure I will grow to like him? I am just scared of wasting his time. No need to feel hurt, as if all hope is gone mamana, come on…” Nilla said as she reached for Wambo’s hand. Seeing that her manipulative tactic had worked, Wambo lowered her voice while trying so hard to convince her friend to accept Nick. What could be the reason? Nilla did not understand. Wambo made her swear that she would give it a try, one last time, and, if, by two months, she still didn’t like the man, she would call it quits. Nilla agreed.

Nilla was already regretting her decision. She sat around to sulk when her office phone rang. “ Hello miss Nilla, Mr. Cohen is asking to see you.” It was Robert’s personal assistant. Robert was asking for Nilla. She went upstairs to his office. Robert had been trying to reach her, but her phone was off.

“Are you okay? Why is your phone off since morning?” Robert said.

“ Since morning? It is only….” Nilla said, looking at her phone. It was already half past eleven! She had not realized how long Wambo had spent in her office. She had not done any meaningful work that morning. She had always known that play should always follow work, yet that day, Wambo had yet again destructed her off the main goal, this time, while trying to convince her to start a relationship with a man who looked like a sacrifice the gods had rejected.

“ I’m sorry, I must have forgotten to switch my phone on, pardon me, Mr Cohen.” Nilla said as she made a silly face while taking her phone off airplane mode.

“ You really hate your phone, why? Why! I have always wanted to ask you this question! I have never seen anyone who doesn’t care for a phone like you, really. Anyway, Brian just called, he will be coming home tomorrow.” Robert said. Nilla had been busy with other things and, in the process, forgot that Brian had told her before that he would soon be home for the holidays.

“ Oooh! I had forgotten! Thank you so much! Also, how did he get your number?”

“ I gave it to him."

“ When did you give it to him, Chui?”

“ We are boys, you know. That’s our secret.”

“ Nyenyenye…. "

Nilla always said that whenever something was not making sense to her or whenever she felt like she was not satisfied with an answer she received . They were both happy that Brian was coming home for a period of one month. Nilla was pleased since she would get a free cook and someone to clean the house. She would rest for a whole month. She decided to head for the door after talking to Robert.

“What’s your plan today? Robert asked. “ Add some style to my breathing in and out. Why?” Nilla replied. They agreed they would go shopping and have dinner at Nilla’s place. Sounded like a great plan.

Nilla had barely sat down in her office when Nick called. He sounded excited that Nilla had decided to give them another chance. Nilla had to act respectful and pretended to be warm since she never wanted to upset her friend Wambo.

“Hello Nick, I will not be available for talking for the next three days, I will be busy with my family. Can we please catch up later?” Nilla said.

“ Hey Nini, it’s okay. I understand. Does that mean we have a date on Friday ?” Nick had not learned that one of the things Nilla loathed was him trying to force her to meet with him.

“ Sawa. Bye.” Nilla said and immediately hung up without waiting to hear whatever Nick had to say next.

Evening came and Nilla was planning to leave for home when she got Robert’s text. “ Wait for me, on my way to your office.” Wambo, on the other hand, was also on her way to Nilla’s office when she saw Robert knocking at Nilla’s office door. Curiosity had her staring from her office window where she decided to see how long Robert would take in Nilla’s office and, as well, wonder what the owner of the company could possibly be saying to Nilla. It was rather odd. After about twenty minutes, Wambo saw Nilla and Robert walking out. They definitely talked like they were close. She still stood by her office door, which was slightly open enough to allow her to peep but not be seen. Nilla and Robert left for the stairs down to the parking as Wambo followed from a distance as she attempted to put the puzzle pieces before her eyes together. More shock was when she saw Robert opening his car door for Nilla. She was confused and wanted so badly to know what was going on. She decided to call Nilla.

“Nini, I’m at your office. Where are you?”

“I’m sorry I just left.”

“Didn’t answer my question, where are you?”

“ On my way home.”

“Then you’re not so far. I’ll drive you home. No need to take the bus.”

“ Thank you my good friend, but I already have a ride. See you, bye.”

Wambo was in disbelief. She knew for sure that Nilla was too naive to have anything between her and the boss. So what exactly was it? She gave Julia a call, and they talked about it over and over, trying to figure out what was going on between Nilla and the boss.

Nilla and Robert had come from shopping and decided to fix dinner, after which, they would catch a movie. Nilla’s phone rang and it was Nick. “ Hey, how’re you? I know you told me not to call you, but I really want to know how you’re doing. I’m thinking of you right now.”

“ Yes Nick, I told you not to call me because I’m spending the evening busy with family. Can we please talk on Friday?”

“ Actually, your best friend told me you weren’t really busy, and that maybe I should up my game to get you more interested….”

“My friend? Ooh, Wambo, ohhh I see, but I am busy Nick. Really busy, especially right now.” Wambo had decided to push Nick to give Nilla a call, just to confirm whether she was with Robert at whatever place she was. “ Thank you for checking on me, but she’s wrong, and I am genuinely busy…” Nilla responded calmly. Before she was done with the call, Robert walked in the kitchen. Nilla politely excused herself after wishing Nick a good night. Wambo called immediately. Nilla did not pick up. She was feeling worn out from the constant pestering her friend had been doing for the better part of that day, and she felt like she was not going to be a monkey in her friend’s circus. She switched off her phone.

Nilla and Robert decided to talk about the art of 'women-sampling' that Robert and his friends had been doing within countries.

“ You know it’s not as bad as you make it seem, my dear short friend.” Nilla had suggested that Robert was an active field marshal who had no discrimination when it came to sharing himself among women. They laughed their lungs out. Robert had gotten used to her brutal side and seemed not to care about it. “ It’s just fun, you know. I go, have my fun and come back to the harsh reality of the world, dear Nini.”

“ What’s harsh in your world, Chui? Frying an egg?” Nilla asked.

“ So you think just because I’m old, life’s not hard on me?”

“ Old? Indeed! By the way, how old are you, Chui?”

“ I’m 42. Maybe your father’s age?”

Robert said jokingly. Nilla changed the topic as she did not want anything mentioning her demon of a father on a very good evening like the one they were having. She wholeheartedly loved having Robert around. She had always thought that he was a combination of calm, funny, caring and, of course, very humble. He was the first man she ever willfully wanted to be around. Time flew so fast with Robert around. She felt so safe with him. He had earned her trust. Nilla wished a day would come when she would be there for him just as he had been for her. Robert had taught her, guided her, accepted her and importantly, gave her a different view to the side of men, a side she never thought existed. He was her person. After a long night, they retired to bed. Robert slept in Brian’s room and Nilla in hers.

Wambo had eagerly been waiting for Nilla the next morning. She stood at the window that was at the back of her office, so she would have a clear view of Nilla getting up her office. To her surprise, she saw Nilla in the company of two other people and Robert was one of them. As soon as she was sure Nilla had settled in her office, she went knocking, looking for the latest news.

“ Ladies and gentlemen, behold, Voice of Africa!” Nilla said. Voice of Africa was always used to refer to anyone who could not just sit down for long but yet, loved to walk looking for new news from others. “ Cut it Nini, where were you yesterday? And do not even lie to me because I asked Nick to call you, yet you turned him down again.”

Wambo immediately got at it.

“ I was busy… really busy with personal things.”

“ You and the boss, that was the personal thing?”

“ I’m sorry what?” Nilla responded in a combative and disgusted manner. How could she think such a thing? Let alone say it out loud? Robert was kind and her love for him was for someone she really respected and revered. How could Wambo think like so? Wambo had never seen that side of Nilla. She knew she had overstepped, yet she did not care enough to apologize. She kept going.

“ I saw you two leave in his car, called you, and you lied to me. This morning you walked in together. I just want to know what’s going on between you two.”

“ I don’t owe you an explanation.”

Nilla was boiling in anger. Wambo had hurt her. She carried on with her work as if Wambo was not standing in front of her. Her morning had begun with a kiss from the devil. “ Alright, when you’re done being a baby you can look for me.” Wambo said as she walked out. For some reason, Wambo always thought that she was the only one who was supposed to fart and the rest of the world was supposed to smell it. Yes, she had taught Nilla about some aspects of life. She had taught her how to apply her makeup, how to behave as Nilla still had a lot of the village in her. Wambo's presence had been so vital in her English journey as she had created time daily before, to practice with her, but at what price? Many times she would be called a cypress hollow and just because she wanted to fit in, she had to accept it. One day, she had mispronounced a word in the company meeting and Wambo led people into laughing at her. She had felt embarrassed and, since she wanted to show her gratitude, she still had to stick around Wambo. Nilla always knew that she could never try fitting the shoes of those who had held her hand in her rough journey. This is why she always took the back seat whenever it came to those who had helped her out in life. However, Wambo was becoming bad for her mental state. Her spirit had not approved of her for a long time. She began to think.

Nilla had a knock at the office door, it was Brian! She got up and held him so tight. “Son of mama, how did you know your way here?” She said as she held her brother who, by then, had really increased in height and had a very deep voice.

“Daughter of mama, Chui directed me here, where is he?” Brian answered as he rubbed his sister’s hair. “ Take the stairs and ask for Mr Cohen’s office, you’ll be guided. I have got work to do, guess I’ll see you once you two are done?” Nilla did not want anyone thinking of her and Robert the way Wambo did. She knew very well that people at the Plutex company were always ready to look for any rumor and run with it, whether true or false. Yes, she got her job when she was not qualified, but she had taken time to improve her skills and was doing better. Although her job position skills were mostly learned online and not from any specific college, she had gotten better. She had also learned a lot from Sarah. Who had held her hand through her fear and impostor syndrome. She was also planning on joining a real university where she would get a certificate and, finally, earn this position that Robert had given her.

Brian was with Robert for the whole morning and the two only called Nilla to ask her whether she wanted lunch with them. Nilla lied that a delivery had already been made for her and that she was okay. Of course, she would have loved to join her people in Robert’s office, but again, she was scared of what people would say. Robert’s office was upstairs, and those who sat on the open section where the stairs were situated could clearly see anyone go up to the offices of the most senior officials, a risk Nilla was not going to take, two days consecutively. She had promised herself that she would be calm and wait to meet the boys at the end of work. Robert and Brian had their lunch delivered to Robert’s office and Brian kept going on and on about school.

Evening came, and the whole family met at Nilla’s office. They were on their way out when Nilla’s eyes caught Wambo’s. Nilla did not like it. She, however, kept walking, following her boys who were a few steps ahead of her. As if to bully Nilla, Wambo kept walking fast to catch up with her. Her aim was to make Nilla uncomfortable. Wambo stood by her car in the parking and stared loudly at Nilla and her crew. Nilla knew she was watching all this while. As always, Robert opened the door for Nilla as Brian sat in front with the driver. They went home and Nilla knew that her friend was so angry and mad at her for reasons she would never know nor understand.