HER

Epilogue

The trucks that had their things packed up had already left the previous day. The house was empty and Richard had finally let Gabriel, the driver pry his keys out of his hands. It took two hours of convincing from almost everyone present.

"No dent, no scratch, or you'll be jobless and on the streets" he had threatened

Rahmat couldn't resist chuckling as she stood in the empty house. They had taken Gabriel because Rahmat didn't know how to drive yet and she would be needing to get to work. And Richard may not be able to take her everywhere she needed to be,  with moving the fashion house to Port Harcourt and all.

"That's it, all gone" Richard said walking down the stairs

Rahmat stood where the living room used to be.

"I'm going to miss this place" Rahmat sighed

"The house or lagos?" Richard asked

"Both"

"I will too, but it's another person's property right now"

They had sold the house regardless of the opposition they'd gotten from both their parents. Their argument was valid, they wanted them to keep the house in case they ever moved back to Lagos. They considered it, but the offer they'd gotten within the first week that the house was on sale made them sell it. If they were going to survive without his parents help they at least needed something to survive on until he got the shop running again.

Getting the shop running was proving to be more of a challenge than he thought. So he bought Rahmat's idea to do a grand opening, which Off had agreed to cover. So far rebranding the line had cost him a lot of money.

"Fuckers, let's get going. I'm not your fucking chauffuer" Mark yelled from the door

"Can you believe Mark is driving?" Rahmat said as they walked out to meet him

"Yeah... i never thought I'd see the day, he doesn't like it much"

"He is going to miss you"

"I know"

".... Not that he'd ever admit it" Rahmat finished

"He'd rather cut off his own arm" Richard concurred smiling

"What are you two fucktards smiling about.... " Mark began furiously

"Wow, buddy ease up on the insults Okay ?" Richard said opening the back door of the car for Rahmat to get in. Richard got into the passenger's seat beside Mark.

"Why would you leave me in here with your fucking bags" Mark said as he started up the engine and backed out of the driveway, towards the gate.

"You're like a girl" Richard commented, " So dramatic. It wasn't that long"
Mark  slammed his foot on the brake almost immediately and almost sent Rahmat flying out of her seat.

"Jesus Christ Mark!" Richard yelled, " are you okay Ace?" He said looking back.
Rahmat was the only person in the car without a seat belt.

She nodded, shifting so the hat she was directly behind Richard's chair, he reached for her hand and she squeezed his shoulder as if to tell him 'I'm still here dummy'

"I told you I fucking hate driving" Mark said flipping the gate man off, " And that dude totally caused it"

"Mark would you turn on your blinker so that others would know where you're going?!" Richard yelled

"What's their business with where I'm going" He said managing to avoid crashing into a car that was coming from the opposite direction. The driver in the car yelled obscenities at Mark and Mark flipped him off

"Dear God I'm going to die" Richard mumbled and Rahmat chuckled.

Mark had not regard for traffic signs or speed limits, "I'm trying to get you to the airport early" he yelled back every time Richard had something to say about his driving.

When they finally got to the airport Richard couldn't help but heave a sigh or relief.
Fareedah and Rahmat's parents were already there and so were his mum and dad.
Richard thought they were taking this moving thing too seriously, they were moving to a different state, not dying. His mother had acted like he'd broken her heart and his father was more than happy that Richard had decided to stop using his money, he didn't support the move, but he thought it was great that Richard was 'growing up'. Rahmat seemed to understand their stance,  like she always did. He'd been an only child all his life and up till August when he got married he'd been living with them.

Rahmat's father seemed to me be taking the whole moving thing much better than his parents did.
"I knew the day that she married you that she wasn't just my daughter anymore. She was somebody's wife too" he said to Richard,  "Treat her right. Allah sees all" he said
Richard was surprised.  He'd admitted to himself a while ago that Rahmat's dad what never going to like him, but the man just said a few sentences, that had no threat laced in it. Maybe things were looking up for him.

Or was it laced with a threat and he didn't just notice

Whatever...

By the time they called for the boarding of their flight they'd said their goodbyes over a thousand times. They were ready to go.
Hauwa had arrived the airport shortly after they did, Rahmat was currently facetiming Shola on Hauwa ' s phone.  Shola looked like she was in an on call room. There were bunk beds and scrubs hanging on the wall.

"I'll come for graduation, and Hauwa ' s wedding..." Rahmat was saying into the phone.

When Rahmat finally ended the call, she hugged Hauwa and then her parents. Then her sister.

'"Come to PH on one of your holidays okay?" Rahmat said to her sister
After he'd hugged his mom his father groaned,  "Get going already, I have to get back to work" he said

Richard cocked his head to the side and laughed, "Really?"

"Yeah" he said and they hugged. Richard hadn't hugged his father in years. Maybe since he was a kid even. He patted his back, "I'm proud of you" he whispered

"Thank you, dad" Richard replied.

Mark was the last person Richard greeted, he wasn't ready for Mark to get all dramatic on him.

"Hey buddy" Richard said

"Shut up" Mark retorted

"Don't skip your meds" Richard muttered

"Shut up you're not my fucking mom"

"Mark I'm serious"

"I'll seriously pummel your face in right now"

"You don't mean that"

"Get out of here!"

Richard held out his fist and they fist bumped followed by a weird sequence of shakes and claps that only both of them, seemed to understand.

"See you soon Mark. We'll call when we land" Richard said the last part aloud so not only Mark heard it.

"Fuck you Johns"

"Same here deepshit"

Within the next few minutes they were on a plane to Port Harcourt City.