₦airaland Forum

Chapter 6

The inside of the car was pure leather and wood; leather upholstery, and wood dashboard. She caught his eyes on a can of Red Bull on the car’s bottle holder and smiled. “Yea, that’s what I had to take before I could sum up enough courage to walk up to your gate.” She said. Abdul just smiled but didn’t say anything. “Now you see why I’m so hyper.” She added.
“Hmm! Hyper.”
“Let’s just say I wouldn’t have invited you for a drink if I was just me.”
“Are you trying to say…” Abdul was saying and got cut off.
“No. Don’t get me wrong, you’re hot. Ahh! What am I saying?” She said and hit her forehead with her palm. “What I mean is that I…I am a very reserved girl. I keep to myself a lot.”
“That’s interesting. Tell me more.” Abdul said and shifted in his seat.
“Hmm! Let’s get to the bar.”
“Okay.”

……….

She parked the car on the other side of the road from a cream colored two-storey building that had a lot of tinted glass work here and there. She killed the engine and turned to face him before saying, “It’s actually a hotel, but I really like their bar section.”
“Oh! Cool.”
“I used to come here with my little brother, but he is not in the country anymore.” She said and stared into space for a couple seconds before slowly pulling the key out of the ignition. “Okay. Let’s go.” She said with a smile.

They got out of the car and she led the way as they walked through wide opened gates to the back of the building. Abdul thought it was strange there was no security guard at the gate.

The outside bar was at the back of the hotel building, with about a dozen palm trees running on either side of the length of it. There was an elevated platform close to the left wall, where a band would probably play on special nights. The place was scanty with just a few occupied tables, and service girls with red t shirts on cramped together talking and laughing at a little shed at the extreme end of the bar.
She looked behind at him and smiled as they approached a table. “Thanks for accepting my invitation.”
“Well, I am happy I did. I love the place.” Abdul said as he took the seat opposite from hers. One of the service girls was approaching their table now and she leaned forward to ask him what he would like to drink. He said Guinness stout, and she smiled and said she drank the same brand. She placed the order, and the waiter disappeared. She was back in about 5 seconds and Abdul and Mariam had to laugh at the speed of service. Abdul guess she probably was in a hurry to get back to her gossiping clique.
“So, what do you and your friends do?” She asked after taking the first sip from her glass cup.
“Well…Umm! We are job seekers for now.”
“How long have you been home?”
“After national youth service, I would say…8 months.”
“Hmm! That’s kind of long.”
“Yea, but we are actually planning to set up a business, that’s why we have been a bit relaxed about getting a regular job.”
“Cool. So…what’s up with the business?”
“Mmm! We are kind of having some problems starting off.” He said before taking down half the content of his glass cup.
“Let me guess; finance?”
“Yep!”
She looked up in the sky for a while before answering. “This is just my opinion, but I don’t think money should stop you from starting off any business.”
Abdul looked her straight in the eye. “As you said, it’s your opinion.” He said. She smiled and took a sip from her cup. The foam smeared her upper lip, and she licked it off with her tongue. Abdul found the gesture very sensual.
She stared straight at him for a while, with an expressionless look on her face, and then she said, “Okay, let me put it this way; there should be a couple of things you can do to get that money.”
“What? Oh! Okay.”
“There’s got to be some skill or talent that you posses that you can exchange for money.”
“Hmm! I don’t know, maybe if you know me a little longer you can help me in recognizing that.” He said and twisted his neck to one side then the other. “I guess there should be, but the money we need is really huge.” He added
“Do you smoke?” She asked.
“What? Is there a smoking contest coming up?” He said and laughed, but she didn’t join him.
“No. But I am weighing the options of making you my next boyfriend, and I am just trying to get some facts.” She said with a straight face. Abdul got a bit uncomfortable, and shifted in his seat.
“So…” He started to say but his voice trailed off.
“I actually wanted to offer you a cigarette.” She said and took another sip from her glass.
“Oh! I don’t.” He said and laughed out of relief that she was just joking with her earlier statement. “I get it, you were just being…” he was saying and his voice trailed off again when he saw that she still had a straight face. He took a sip from his glass cup and leaned back in his seat. He looked her straight in the eye, and after a couple of seconds, she burst out laughing. He didn’t join her, it was his turn. After a while, he just smiled.
“I’m really sorry I did that to you; I guess it’s still the Red Bull kicking in, I really am not like this.” Abdul just shook his head with a smile still on his face.
“So…do you smoke cigarette?” He asked her.
“No. But I carry a pack of cigarette around.” She said and leaned forward “but it is not actually tobacco in them.” She added and winked.
“That’s interesting.” He said with a puzzled look on his face.
She leaned even closer and put her index finger on her lips before saying, “It’s weed.”
“How’s that possible?”
“I have this young dude opposite my house.” She said and started going through her bag. “So…do you smoke weed?” She said, with a mischievous smile on her face as she held up a stick of cigarette.
“If I am smoking it with you, I am game.” He said and took a long look at her as she lit the thing. “My friends would really love to meet you.”
“Why?” She asked, as she took two quick drags from the weed to help the flame catch on.
“Well, because they smoke a lot of weed.”
“Well I don’t smoke a lot of weed. I just smoke enough to keep me sane.” She said, and exhaled. The weed aroma hit Abdul and he couldn’t believe he was actually about to smoke weed with a girl he met a couple of minutes ago. She smiled at Abdul and took another drag. “That’s actually why I come here.” She said and passed the cigarette-weed to Abdul . He took it, examined it with a smile and took a quick drag before returning it to her. It was dark now, and apart from the red light bulbs attached to the palm trees, there was no other source of light at their section of the bar. He could hardly see her face.
“My lover actually showed me this place a couple of years ago. She was really a crazy girl.” Mariam said and smiled.
“You said she? Do you mean…?” He said, stopping halfway.
She laughed a little bit before answering. “Don’t worry, I’m not a lesbian. Or I’m no longer one. In fact, I never was. I kinda just experimented.”
“So what did you discover?”
“I discovered that there’s nothing like a man’s touch.” She said and smiled at him letting her smile say more. Then she cleared her throat before talking further. “I really don’t like to bullshit; I like getting straight to the point, so I am going to say it the best way I can.” She said and picked up her glass cup with the same hand that had the weed, took a sip and placed the cup gently on the table, then looked directly at Abdul before saying, “I like you.”
Abdul didn’t say anything. He was trying to figure out if she was playing around again. She dropped her glass cup, took another drag from the weed before passing the weed to him.
When Abdul didn’t say anything for a couple of seconds, she spoke. “I really am not like this; but I guess you have this magic the way you bring me out of my shell.” She said and gave Abdul a look that said- ‘I’m serious’.
“Well, that’s interesting.” He said and took a drag from the weed before passing it back to her.
“I’m not saying I want you to take me as your girlfriend or anything like that…hell, we just met today.” She said and laughed and coughed a little. Left over smoke in her lungs choked her. She kept quiet for a while then cleared her throat. “I don’t care if you have a girlfriend. You don’t owe me anything. I just would like to be able to see you every now and then…you know, come over and just hang out.”
“That’s no problem.”
“I bet you are going to tell your friends the minute you get home that a girl asked you out.”
“I am not going to lie and say I won’t.” Abdul said and they both laughed.

End of part 1

Lovely writeup.

Akposb:
He collaborates and mentors young writers. He has been a target of criticism for this action. This is the consequence of people's desire for a celebrity in whatever field.

Hmm! Thanks for this addition.

The world's most successful author, James Patterson doesn't actually write his own books.

He just writes outlines of stories, and he gets an army of writers to write the actual novels, in his writing style.

He has stated that he is simply more proficient at dreaming up plots than crafting sentence after sentence.

He made $95 million from his book sales in 2016 alone. What an interesting way to make money.

Neduzze5:
You can open an USA PayPal account via which you can receive your funds or you make use of exchangers on Nairaland.

There's Clone2020 or Justijesu

Okay. Thanks. This is definitely not for me tho.

Neduzze5:
Iwriter remains one of the best sites for freelancers starting out in the writing industry.

Unlike the likes of Upwork, Freelancer and Fiverr that needs you to keep on applying for jobs, Iwriter lets you delve straight in and begin writing.

However, it's always challenging getting jobs on Iwriter as a Standard writer and during the day time.

So you may need to sacrifice your sleep and make sure you get that dough.

Tests are simple and just once on Iwriter unlike Upwork.

Your rates increase the higher up the rungs of the ladder you climb and you could soon be making up to $10 per 300 words.

As a Nigerian on Iwriter, how do you get paid?

EvaJael:
Sorry I've been away for a while. I'm back now. Updates will resume tomorrow. Thank you all for your patience and for commenting even when I wasnt here. Special thanks to queenitee,hadampson,samesquare,kayo80,johnsown1 and oluwatymylehyn for always checking up on me to know how I've been. I love you guys so much and I'm so happy to know I have people who care about me.
My graduation was on Saturday and so I'm freer than before. I hope I don't disappoint.
Thanks once again

Welcome back Eva.

From Nigeria with Love

Chapter 5

Abdul lay in bed, playing with thoughts of what was to come. Even though Wole had freaked out at the idea of the heist, with their gun handling skills from the past, he knew they could pull it off successfully with no causalities.

Power outage made him hiss and sit up in bed. He walked over to the wall and turned off the switch the CD player was connected to. Whitney Houston’s ‘where do broken hearts go’ had been playing on repeat for the last hour or so before the power cut. Although it was meant to be a sad song, it always made him feel good.

He looked out the window for a second before getting back in bed. Restless, with his face to the ceiling, he watched the fan blades lose speed; following one blade, round and round until it came to a stop. Dust had made the white blades appear brownish, and he thought he would have to take time out during the week to clean it.

He got off the bed again after a couple of minutes, and his phone fell to the fall. Apparently, it had been on his lap. He cursed under his breath and picked it up. That had been happening a lot lately, and he feared the phone would give up on him soon. He stood there, examining his Infinix phone, trying to remember why he had got out of bed and then he heard a knock at the gate. It sounded faint, and distant, and he wasn’t sure if it was his house gate. Then he heard it again. He was certain the second time around.

He checked his watch and concluded it couldn’t be his friends. They normally drove down to Bimpe’s house after church for lunch. They rarely got visitors, so he was wondering who it could be. It probably might be one of Lawrence’s wild ‘one-night-stands.’ Maybe she forgot her purse or something, he thought to himself.

He picked up the closest t-shirt he could find, and threw it on. The white top was an odd combination with the brown Ankara pants he had on, but he shrugged and walked out of the room. Abdul felt uncomfortable as he made his way to the gate, and found out he was wearing one of Lawrence’s tops. His muscles looked like they were going to rip the top to pieces any moment.

He opened the gate without asking who it was and saw a figure backing him. Wow! Nelly must have had this girl in mind when he made his Apple Bottom jeans, he thought to himself. She turned around, her hands folded across her chest, with an angelic smile on her face. She was about 5ft8, caramel complexioned, and the tight fitted jeans and t shirt she had on made her hour glass shape very visible.

“Hi? Sorry to bother you, but I …Umm! I kinda came to apologize.” She said in a low voice; taking her time to say every word.
“Apologize?” Abdul asked, with a puzzled look on his face. He was stunned both by what she had just said and by her beauty.
“Umm! Yes. My brother and I drove past here yesterday.” She said, motioning the movement of a car down the street with her right hand.
“Drove past here? I don’t get you.” Abdul said. He was so mesmerized by her looks that his brain couldn’t quite process what she was saying. He looked behind her and saw a metallic grey Ford Mustang parked, with the engine running.
“We kinda…or rather, I kinda splashed muddy…”
“Oh!” Abdul cut her off before she finished. “Now I remember.” He made a playful frown with his face, which quickly turned to a smile. “No problem. Shit happens.” He said and stepped outside the gate, staring at an old Peugeot 504 sedan car with tinted glass as it drove pass them.
“I could have come over to apologize right away, but there was someone in the middle of the road, looking really pissed.” She said and Abdul started laughing. “It definitely wasn’t you.” She added
“Don’t worry, he was just being overdramatic.”
“So…where are the rest? I would like to apologize to you all.”
“They’re not home right now. But I’ll pass the message to them when they get back.”
“Are you guys’ like brothers or something?”
“No. We are friends; very good friends. I guess you can call us brothers.” He said. He was thinking of inviting her in, but he didn’t know how she would react to the offer. He noticed the Peugeot had slowed down a few meters from where they stood, and when he looked at it, the driver slowly drove away. He turned his gaze back to the beauty in front of him, but so many thoughts were running through his mind and he couldn’t come up with something to say to her.
“Okay. So…what’s your name?” She asked.
“Oh! Yea, sorry, my name is Abdul.” He said with an outstretched hand. She shook his hand with a smile on her face. “My name is Mariam. I actually stay down the street.” She said, pointing to her left. “But you know it’s a very long street.” She added.
“Yea, it definitely is. It should probably be called a road…or a drive or something.”
“Do you mind if I have your number.” She said very fast.
“Not all.” Abdul said and collected her phone to punch in his number. “My phone is inside the house, so I will call my number from your phone, and store it later.” He added.
“Okay, cool.” She said. She was checking him out as he punched in the numbers into her phone and she quickly looked away when he raised his head.
He put the phone to his ear for a few seconds before saying, “Yep, it has gone through. I will store your number when I get back in. You are Mariam, right?” He said as he handed her the phone.
“Yes. And you are Abdul?”
“Yes.” He answered with a charming smile on his face.
“Okay. Please don’t forget to tell your friends I said sorry…especially your ‘over-dramatic friend’” She said with a comical look on her face. Abdul laughed lightly, and as he watched her go, wishing she could stay and keep him company. And just like she read his mind, she turned around and started walking back towards him.
“I still feel a pint of guilt in me.” She said with a smile forming on her face. “I’m sorry if I appear weird.”
“It’s okay.”
“Can I take you out for a drink or something?” She said. He didn’t see that coming, so he was quiet for a while. “It’s just this bar I like to go every now and then. Please don’t think I plan to kidnap you.” She said with a little laugh.
With a smile on his face, he said, “It’s cool. I’ll just go in and change.”
“Please don’t; I love what you are wearing.” She said.
Abdul took a long look at what he had on. “Are you sure? You don’t have to be polite.” He said.
“No. I’m serious…I like the combination.”
“Okay.” He stared into space for a few seconds before adding, “I’ll just run in and grab my phone then.”

Chapter 4

Abdul didn’t feel like staying around after she left, so he rushed his beer and left the bar minutes thereafter. He met her at the park’s gate as he was leaving.
“You’re still around?” He said as he approached her from behind.
She turned around startled. “Yes. I guess so.” She said with a smile. “My brother was meant to pick me up here, but I can’t find him anywhere and I can’t get through to him.” She said and started fiddling with her phone. She looked up again after a while and the worried look on her face slowly turned to a smile. She was about to say something but something behind Abdul had captured her attention. When he turned around he saw Lawrence, Wole and Bimpe smiling at him from inside the Mazda.
“Hello?” Lawrence waved at Lilly from the back seat. She waved back with a forced smile on her face.
Abdul thought he could talk Wole into dropping her off. “Excuse me a minute” he said and walked over to the car.
Just as he bent over to talk to them, Lilly shouted out, “Abdul, I’ll catch you later, my brother’s here.” She raced over to a black Ford SUV that was driving up behind them. Abdul turned around fast enough to catch her wave. He waved back and got into the Mazda with his friends.
……….
After dropping Bimpe off, the boys drove back to the house, parked the 626 outside their house gate and let loud music from the car fill the air as they talked about their future. Wole started throwing pebbles at a lizard on the wall and it just kept moving around in circles but never leaving the wall.
“I think we just have to be persistent and not give up.” Wole said “like this lizard…” he continued and paused for a second to suck in air before throwing another rock at the lizard “it just won’t leave the wall.”
Lawrence laughed and mumbled something under his breath. Abdul just smiled at Wole’s comment from where he sat on the boot of the car.
“Guys! Wake up.” Wole exclaimed. “Let’s think of something else to do…I am sure we can find another way to get that money.”
Lawrence took one long drag from his cigarette, squashed it on the wall, and let it fall to the ground. The bud landed in a puddle of water, and made a hissing sound. “We do have a plan…Mr. O’s plan.” He said, as he played with his mustache. Abdul nodded gently, but didn’t look up from his phone. He was seated next to Lawrence on the car’s boot, and Wole was standing opposite them.
“Come on! Let’s be realistic here.” Wole said, looking from Lawrence to Abdul, then back to Lawrence. “We aren’t criminals.” He said in a low voice.
“Yes, we are not. But we are rebels…and, as Mr. O explained, we would be doing the whole country a favor.” Abdul said, with his eyes still fixed on his phone.
“Then what exactly is the motivation behind the plan?” He enquired. When Abdul didn’t respond, he snatched his phone and ran off.
“Hey!” Abdul exclaimed and was about to jump off the car before something caught his attention. From the corner of his eye, he saw two cars approaching them from the right side of the street, at top speed. Wole also looked, and slowly got out of the way with a frown on his face. Lawrence sat up to get a better look at what was going on.

Their street was wide; every street in the estate was made that way. Occasionally, people took that advantage and drove past in top speed. A white Honda Accord and a black Toyota Camry were neck to neck, and the Camry got ahead of the Accord just as the cars drove past the chatting buddies. In the process of overtaking the Accord, the Camry went through a puddle, splashing them with filthy water.
“What the…!” Wole exclaimed and stood in the middle of the street with his hands in the air, facing the direction the cars had gone.

Lawrence and Abdul were laughing now as they examined the damage that had been done to their clothes. “On the contrary” Lawrence said with a smile on his face, “we might need drivers like that in the very near future.”

Nice to see my friend Evajael's story, Hidden Diamonds is still on the chat. Great story from a very talented writer.