NIGERIAN SWEETHEARTS; An Arranged Marriage

CHAPTER 4__Project Jamilah

This chapter is dedicated to SadiyaJada. thanks for your comment.

After different outings with Hauwa to clear my mind from that visit to the presidential villa, and I still couldn't stop thinking.

"Hauwa, he doesn't even know I exist,"

She put a spoonful of icecream in her mouth and sucked on it.

"On the bright side, you can't blame him for deciding to uproot you and jumble your life. He's innocent in all this".

She seemed really okay with this. Who's side was she on?

"And I'm telling you babe, there's something going on, they want me for a reason''.
You could say I had become obsessed, I couldn't stop piecing every word from that visit, and dissecting it.

"Of course they want you for a reason."
She looked at me like I was crazy. "Why else would they have chosen you?"

She didn't understand me.

"Like a deeper reason, its like a political move" I tapped her wrist.
She cocked her head. " Hmm"

"I just wish they would have been straight with me , you know. Not hiding facts"

"Well, you said the first lady let you listen in on the conversation, yes?"
"If she was hiding something, she would not have done that , would she?'

I leaned on my elbows and fisted my hand under, my chin deep in thought.

" I don't know, maybe it was all part of the plan "

Hauwa snickered at me

"Milah, now you're just being paranoid". She trashed our forgotten snacks.
" Let's go".

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"So you're to be back in 2 weeks?"

"Yes, for an inner cabinet meeting with the president and his advisors."

"Inner cabinet meeting, what does that even mean?"

"Well, it means you're now an important person."

"Important" . I bit my lip. "I haven't even met this Ali yet, I don't even know how he's going to react to the news".

" Speaking of your future husband, where did his sister say he is now?"

"Zahra, that's the one. He's supposed to be in Mauritania now, something about reigniting closeness with the West African States".

" Well, let's shop for your inner cabinet look. Something conservative after all you'll be meeting various state advisors."

'Oh, and we should also get books on African countries and culture, I would like to refresh my knowledge. I don't want to appear dumb and ignorant when the President's son comes back, "

"Somebody wants to impress their future hubby, Ali Asmau Bashir".

I rolled my eyes .
"Its only logical, he might be sapiosexual".

So after the banter, we settled on what and what not to get.
Time flew uneventfully until the date of the cabinet meeting.
On that day, I went to the Government House with only the driver Ade.

I was warmly welcomed by the rest of the cabinet members, all old, paunchy bellied, graying men.
They must have been earlier notified of my coming as nobody appeared shocked at my presence, given I was the only female and the youngest person here.

I had always been quite the socialite and it wasn't long before I had memorised names and families of the men present. You could say we were all getting along. Everybody kept asking me mostly irrelevant questions about my life and I may not have liked it but I was diplomatic about even the uneasy questions, I didn't know what I was here for.

When we arrived in the large room, we all sat surrounding the President making a semicircle in very plush comfortable armchairs. The president was laughing with someone on his laptop, must be Skype. At that point, I felt very relaxed and comfortable.

"Ahh, Ali is greeting all of us", the President raised his head.

"Kana lahiya", a lot of the men said. How is he

" See for yourself "
And just like that , the huge white screen behind President Bashir was filled with his sons live video as the President turned his laptop so Ali could see us as well.

To say I felt self conscious of my appearance was an understatement.
I suddenly wished I had worn something more formfitting, more flattering. I had a curvy body and I wished I wore something that may have hinted at it.

Zahra earlier, had told me that Ali was in Saudi and so when I and Hauwa went shopping, we decided on a conservative look to get in the good graces of the elder statesmen. I never had an inkling that Ali would see me today, albeit through Skype, which had to be insanely clear by the way when I didn't need it to be.
No help there.

I had to say, he looked good.
Modern and dark, and he had this smile that seemed lazy and sweet at the same time. I was generally attracted to dark men.
He looked casual, so casual. He was wearing a grey vest, and his elbows were leaning on the table that his computer must have rested on, making his biceps appear on full view. I could see contours. Contours.
I was so gone.

It made me think he must be extremely free with these men, who by the way were totally, not so secretly looking between me and the screen. I figured they must have be aware of the plans. They were trying to gauge some sort of response from us, some attraction maybe. The President himself wasn't an exception.

I very gently crossed my legs which rode my skirt up a bit and I swung my feet slowly. I had read somewhere that brightly painted toenails could be attractive, well, this was me trying it out.
It seemed Ali had noticed that there was a woman present in the room. He fell silent and watching me said

"Salama alaikum". Hello
I bowed my head and replied
"Alaikum salam". Hello
Was my voice husky enough? It sounded croaky to me.

It seemed my one second of fame was over, because with a lighter voice , he continued with the other men;

" Kwana biyu" . long time , no see.
"Ina madaicin ka, babar". I've missed you greatly, my fathers.

I felt annoyed, strangely enough. Was I so insignificant, so mediocre to be overlooked so quickly?
I knew I was beautiful and garnered appreciative looks from people.
When he finally said goodbye to the men, he did not spare even a single glance my way.

Without further ado, the meeting started, and everybody picked a file out of the folder boldly marked CLASSIFIED being passed around. My curiosity was piqued and thoughts of Ali forgotten. I hurriedly pulled out my file just to see

PROJECT NAME ; JAMILAH MARIE ABUBAKAR
CODENAME; NIGERIAN SWEETHEARTS
CAMPAIGN; ESTABLISHING THE BASHIR LINE IN PRESIDENCY WITH ALI ASMAU BASHIR AS FUTURE PRESIDENT

Okay, stop, what was happening here?

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