Being Mrs Dantata

06

On Monday morning, Zayd personally dropped Amal off at work.

She met Catherine in the lobby of the headquarters and she smiled widely. "Hi, Cath."

"I shall watch you round the clock, Mrs Dantata." Catherine said, pretending to be stern. "One slight slip and I'm sending you home in the first car I can find. Am I clear?"

Amal nodded, nearly laughing. "Crystal clear, Catherine." She stepped forward and threw her arms around the other woman. "You look beautiful."

"I always do." Catherine pulled back to look at her. "You're doing alright, abi?"

"I am, I promise. Like you said, you'll watch over me round the clock and you'll send me back once you see that something's wrong."

"Exactly." Catherine finally smiled and linked their arms. "Come, let me take you to your office."

"Thank you, Catherine." Amal gave her another look over. "Your gown is really pretty. Come and dash me."

Catherine, whose black dress accentuated nearly every curve, laughed as they made their way up. "Get out, Amal. See how you're talking as if you don't look really beautiful too."

"Nothing compared to you though."

"Abeg no dey whine me jor. Did Zayd drop you off?"

Amal nodded. She acted as though she didn't see people glance her way. "He did. He was hell bent on doing so and who am I to complain?"

"Wahala for who is not married to Architect Dantata."

"Shut up jor."

Catherine laughed. "It's so nice to have you back, Amal."

Amal grinned. "Trust me, Catherine, it's nicer to be back. Let's have a lot of fun while working today."

"Na you know that one sha. I have a lot of work to do."

"We'll be fine."

"Amen."

In Edo, Hanan walked into the room she had shared all her life with Hauwa and fell face first on her bed with a heavy sigh. Hauwa, who sat behind her desk typing away on her laptop, smiled and turned her head to briefly glance at the younger one. "It's stressful abi?"

Hanan's reply was muffled. "You have no idea."

"Now you can see why I redeployed and had them post me to Zenith bank here. Moving to a new place is stressful."

Hanan sat up. "It's so stressful. The fact that Daddy wants me back in Abuja by Friday is making everything worse."

"You'll be fine." Hauwa sent the document via mail to a branch manager in Benin and then turned the swivel chair around so she could fully face her sister. "We can always trust you to be fine."

Hanan did not want to hear that encouragement. "Do and be going back to Benin. Stop leaving your office for too long because you don't want to pay house rent and buy food with your own money."

Hauwa shot her a nasty look. "I will beat you o!"

Hanan laughed. "It's true though. You were the one who told them you wanted to be transferred to Benin and when they granted your wish, you came back to tell them that you want to come back to Ekpoma."

"I will soon ask them to post me to Abuja." Hauwa threatened. "It is like you want to keep living with me all your life."

"I don't mind." Hanan was more than happy to entertain the idea. "You are a good cohabitant and it'll split my costs in two. You know you're the working class lady. I'm just a corper."