Being Mrs Dantata

18

"The last trip I made was to Edo. I went to see your family."

Hanan stilled. Slowly, she raised her head to look at Zayd. It was Thursday, the 29th of April and they were seated in his office at Architected by Zayd Dantata. He had picked her up from Zayd's with the excuse of having a project he wanted her to work on with him. Since every other person in the Interior Consultancy Unit was busy, they bought it.

Upon arrival at his main company, she asked him to hold off every conversation so she finished her report for a renovation project Jonathan should have handled but handed it to her because he had too many unfinished projects.

Zayd stared back at her from behind his desk. He leaned back comfortably in his work chair. "I did promise to let you know where I went before Ramadan ended and we are already halfway gone so..."

She stared at him for a moment longer before she smiled and turned back to the open laptop on her lap to complete her report. "That's a very funny joke, Sa'ed. You really had me there."

Zayd pursed his lips. "I'm serious."

Hanan continued typing. "Not sure that makes me believe you either."

"Why do you think I'm lying?"

She raised her head briefly to glance at him. "If you really did go to see my family, I would have known about it. They tell me everything, especially when it involves my future." She returned to her work. "So like I said, you had me there for a moment."

Zayd raised a brow. A near minute went by before he began.

"Your house is the fourth one by your right on Dr Oriafo Street. It's actually located on Akhdinenor off Power Line but your father said you write Ikekogbe on all official documents because that was the original address used before Akhidenor really got popular among the natives and visitors alike."

Hanan had stopped typing. With a face that was as white as sheet, she raised her head to look at him. Zayd continued.

"The closest landmark is Eguare Secondary School and right now, there are uncompleted structures there, courtesy of your state governor who does not want to finish what he started."

He made a face as he recalled how awful the structure looked.

"It's not like the architectural plan makes sense in the first place." It never failed to make him angry. "I mean, who constructs a so called stadium in a secondary school football pitch? Weren't his advisors smart enough to rebuke the idea?"

She couldn't say anything. There was no way he had seen all those online. He had definitely gone to Edo state. Only a person who visited her side knew those tiny details.

"The chief that stays on the same street as your family claims to be fixing the road but he's doing a bad job." He leaned forward and rested his forearms on the desk with a smile on his face. "Do you believe me now or should I go on?"

When she stayed quiet, Zayd nodded and continued.

"You live with your family in a storey building with four three-bedroom flats that are all occupied. Your father owns it. The walls are army green in colour and the interior is so much nicer, all of which was done by your father with advice from your grandfather. You and Hauwa share a room that's painted plum purple on your side and blush pink on her side with your names put on the wall in gold letters to show who owns which bed and table." His expression made him look ready to melt. "That's cute by the way."

He went on to tell her everything about the places she had grown up in and details about her life that people did not know; where her father worked (he went as far as describing the office), the hospital and department her mother worked, Hauwa's work place, notable places in Ekpoma (most of which he did not like because they were so crowded, especially in the evenings), her father's house in Benin and the one that was nearing completion in Auchi because her grandparents had recently moved from Benin to Auchi so the entire family was moving with them too.