Who is Anisa Haque?

Chapter 29 - Long Overdue

The Cafe at Dunes was buzzing with its usual 8pm Crowd; Bubbly friends grabbing a bite after work, young couples seeking romance on a modest budget, tired expats longing for a taste of home.

And then there's me, single Private Investigator hoping to squeeze some information out of a super annoying client with serious family issues.

I grimaced uncomfortably as I walked in, recalling the awkwardness from the last time I was here: December 18th, our cousin Zulai's 30th birthday. 

Her husband held a little lunch for her closest friends at this cafe and as thoughtful as that was, he made one tiny mistake. The lunch was going perfectly well until he dropped a bomb to his wife on her 30th birthday;

"Happy Birthday ZuBaby! By the way, we are moving to Lagos!" A simple sentence with heavy repercussions. He was asking his newly wedded wife to move her life from Serene Abuja, her home of a million years to the Chaos of Lagos at a lunch table with all her friends on a very emotional milestone birthday where she already feels lost and insecure!

Poor guy should have thought it through! He was hoping it would be a pleasant surprise; an opportunity to start a new life just the two of them! He didn't expect his wife to burst into tears and run out of the restaurant!

What happened next? Let's just say the "party" ended up with us, the guests chasing after the birthday girl on the streets of Maitama followed closely by a waiter from Dunes with a POS machine.

"Are you people acting Telemundo?" asked the perplexed waiter as he zapped 56,000 from my Mastercard. He caught me. I can't run, I was the slowest of the bunch! Have I told you how unfit I am?

Thankfully there was no sign of that particular waiter tonight. My eyes pranced around the room, scoping all the men for the prettiest of them all.

Suddenly I became aware of a human walking too close behind me.

'Good Evening,' a chirpy waitress greeted as I turned, fists clenched and ready to sucker punch the devil invading my personal space. 'Mr Amana is expecting you... in the private room.'

*

'Must you always seek privileges wherever you can?' I started as soon as I saw Khalifa. 'I mean, it's a bloody cafe. Eat outside like a normal person.'

'A pleasant evening to you too, Miss Anisa,' he bowed slightly, waving the waitress away. 'We can move to the main cafe if you want. Its just more secluded in here so no one can overhear us.'

'Lesson number one, your secrets are more likely to leak in secluded private places than in the public spaces. Merely accessing a private room sparks people's interest in you. But if you shrug it off in public, people won't bat an eyelid. Even if they overhear you they don't know the context and they don't know it's worth. Sneaking around means you have something to hide.'

Khalifa sighed, clearly regretting this little meeting of ours. 'Would you rather we go outside then?'