LET ME LOVE YOU

chapter 1 - #oncloudAA

Aya

WUSE 2, ABUJA.

"What is she still doing wai?"

I placed my black iPhone 11 Pro Max to my ear and asked my personal assistant, Linda, the whereabouts of my younger sister, Fatima Zarah as the phone rang in my ears.

"She's taking a shower, ma" Linda replied.

"Is she trying to change her skin tone?" I wondered in amusement, making Linda chuckle. The call I was making wasn't picked like I hoped it would be, but then, not surprised. It was my older sister, Maryam, whom we call Adda mimi, and she literally holds the record on having the most missed calls which she never returns. If you were at gunpoint and asked to call someone to save yourself and you choose to call Adda mimi, just rest assured that you're dead.

"Tell her to hurry up or by Allah, I'm leaving her!" I instructed as I dropped the phone somewhere on the bed and took a seat to clip my Cartier bracelets on.

Today is the day. The day of my unveiling as brand ambassador and influencer to Oriflame -a Swedish cosmetics and skincare brand I've been obsessed with literally from my childhood, so I was taking my immediate younger sister and baby of the Yusi household, Zarah as my date. That was no doubt the biggest achievement of my influencing career, I've had fairly big Nigerian brands that were so interested in working with me, which did send my flying over the moon, but Oriflame? That was a dream come true, for the first time in my career and life in particular, I've been recognized internationally, and that too by such a massive and famous brand.

If I were told to guess when I'd have a chance to represent big brands like that, I'd probably say in the next 10 or maybe even 20 years, it's just not something I had the slightest thought of happening, at least not so quickly. When Oriflame reached out to my management with the proposal of the multimillion naira deal, I cried like my soul was leaving my body, so many emotions rushed through me all at once, I was overwhelmed, excited, happy, nervous, anxious and giddy just to name a few. Aya is the kind of person who people always doubted and thought had nothing to offer but a pretty face, so I can't even sit down and begin explaining how much it means to me to prove everyone wrong, to show them that I am more than just a girl with a pretty face.

"Finally!" I sighed as I noticed Zarah's silhouette walking into my room "why can't I see through you? Don't tell me you spent over an hour in that bathroom only to look the same as you did this morning" I teased.

"Just let me have my moment!" She whined "how do I look?"

I scanned her from head to toe and a smile grew on my face in approval of her outfit; a simple white floral maxi dress and a pastel pink hijab that she neatly tied around her head, paired with a few Swarovski crystals and pure white Biubiu sandals, which made me laugh as a ridiculous thought of her getting the shoes ruined somewhere on the road crept into my head as it had rained heavily on that day.

Instead of talking, I gave her a chef's kiss Because she did look pretty, she definitely won't embarrass me when we walk into ICC and strut that red carpet, it was more like she'd take all the attention.

"Thanks Adda. you look gorgeous too" came Zarah's voice with a small smile plastered on her face. I stared at myself in the full length mirror and realized that she wasn't lying, the custom made Tubo dress was literally a dream come true, the top part was covered in gold and black sequins while the bottom part was a gorgeous black silk done into a perfectly imperfect flared two step tier (picture above). A goldish beige hijab was neatly tied over my head, leaving no hair in view except for the edges I laid and a pair of black Bottega Venata Lido sandals adorning my feet. Vugo slayed my face to perfection using warm nude tones, the kind that makes you look magazine shoot ready.