Chapter 11 XI

The week has gone by so fast. The game made by my group and me has gone viral in a week. I am so happy that words cannot describe it. I am working in my office when Emma barges in, looking like she wants to kill someone. "Hey!" I say confused as to why she walked in like that. "I can t believe she is back," Emma says, pacing up and down my office. "Who is back?" I ask. "That slut!" she growls angry. "Which slut?" I say totally confused. "Anna Huston," Emma says with disgust. "Who is that? And why are you calling her a slut?" "She is the slut Austin cheated on me with." "Wait! He cheated on you?" I say, guessing that s why they broke up. "Sorry, I should not have brought my problem to you. I should go," she says walking toward the door. "No, no it s fine, I am here to listen," I say, walking towards the door to stop her from leaving. "Thank you." "Why don t you sit down and calm down a bit then we can talk about it," I say leading her towards the couch. "Alright, if you say so," she says taking a deep breath. "That s good, now sit down while I get you some ice cream to cool off." "You have ice cream in your office?" "Yes, I have a refrigerator in my office." "Why?" "Because any time I have a mental block while working, an ice cream tends to help me get back on track," I say handing her ice cream while sitting beside her. "Oh, thank you." she says taking the ice cream from me. "You are welcome. Are you calm and ready to talk about it?" "Yeah, and it s like this. You remember the other day I said Austin and I use to date?" "Yes, I recall." "Okay, I was coming to work today and bump into her." "I am assuming her is Anna Huston?" I ask wanting to be sure. "Yes" "So, let me get this straight. You bump into the woman your ex-boyfriend cheated on you with, and you are angry. I can understand that but what I don t understand is you said she is back, back from where?" I say trying to fully understand what s going on. "You are right. Maybe I should tell you the story from the beginning." "I would love that," I say, getting comfortable. "Austin and I dated for a while. I think maybe a year or so. We broke up three months ago because he cheated. Austin cheated on me with Anna. After it happened, Anna moved to England for a modelling career and now she is back." "I m sorry about that. But don t worry about her, she is not worth your time." "It s fine. It s all in the past now, and you are right she is not worth my time," Emma says smiling. "She is not, and if she bothers you just give me a call and I will deal with her," I say winking at Emma. "Thank you. I would love that, and your wink is so horrible. Don t ever use it again," Emma says laughing a little. "Any time, and leave my amazing wink alone," I say laughing. "I will after you learn how to do it better. It was great talking to you. I think I should get back to my office," Emma says standing up to walk out. "I love my wink the way it is, and I am here for you any time," I tease, walking her to the door. "Okay if you say so, bye," Emma says walking out. "Bye" It s lunch time. I obverse my prayers before leaving my office. I am on my way to the elevator when I meet Ismail on the way. "Are you going for lunch?" I ask him while we step into the elevator. "Yes, and you?" "Yeah, I am going to this amazing Nigerian restaurant. Do you want to come? The food is delicious," I tell him. "I don t mind tasting more of your country s dishes because—I won t lie—the last one I ate was magnificent," he says smiling. "Oh my God, did you just praise my cooking?" I respond grinning, while placing my hands on my chest in a dramatic way. "I think I did," he says winking while stepping out of the elevator. "Oh yes you did," I say following him still smiling. We step outside, and we have a car already waiting for us courtesy of Ismail. We hop into Ismail s white range rover and I give the address of the restaurant to the driver. We arrive at the restaurant. It has a Nigerian flag in front with the cultural theme all around inside. It s a buffet so we join the queue to get our food when something amusing happens to me. A guy comes out of nowhere to cut the queue. Before I can speak Ismail beats me to it. "Hey, excuse me! We re here before you. You can t come in and just cut in," Ismail says, tapping his shoulder. But the guy says something that angers me. "Hey, oyinbo, no touch me. I no day understand wetin you dey talk. All I know say I wan chop." (hey, white person, don t touch me. I don t understand what you are saying. All I know is I want to eat.) he says in Pidgin English. "He said you should go back to the end of the queue because we came before you," I say this time before Ismail gets a chance, looking at the guy with disgust because he is pretending not to understand English. "You no hear wetin I talk? I say I no dey understand wetin you dey say." (Did you not hear what I said? I said I don t understand what you are saying.) he says still pretending. "Of course, you dey understand wetin I dey say. How you come pass your interview for embassy reach here? No, do that one with me. I know I say you dey understand wetin we dey talk, so if you like yourself pack up and go back. If not, no be me go fight you. You see these people way dey my back? Na them go fight you because no be only me you chance, na all of us you chance." (Of course, you understand what I am saying. How did you pass your interview at the embassy to get here? Don t try that with me. I know you understand what we are saying, so if you care about yourself, leave. If not, it won t be me that will fight you. You see these people behind me? They will fight you because you are not only cutting in front of me, but them as well.)" I say in a stern voice trying my best to contain my anger. "So, you dey speak broken?" (So, you speak pidgin) he asks shocked. "I look like white pickin where I no go know how to speak am? (Do I look like a white child that wouldn't know how to speak it?) I say putting up a hard front. "Ehm..." he says, but I don t allow him to finish his words before I cut him off. "Just they go back you don already embarrass yourself finish." (Just go back because you have already embarrassed yourself) I say while he walks away not saying anything else. I get food for Ismail and me, making sure to get what I think he might like. Ismail does not say a word until we get to our seats. "Wow, what were you guys speaking out there? And what did you tell the guy that made him leave so quickly?" he says looking a bit confused but happy. I explain to him what we said in Pidgin English. "Oh, I understand, but is that your language?" "No, it s not. It s a general language, everyone speaks it in Nigeria. My tribe is different." "Oh, yeah, that s true. I remember during your sister s wedding your family members were speaking something different from what you spoke earlier." "Yes, it s different." "What is your tribe called again?" "It s called Idoma. I am from the Benue state," "I-do-oo-ma," he says trying to pronounce it. "No IDOMA," I say giggling. "I-do-ma and stop making fun of me, it s not my mother tongue," he says smiling while pronouncing it right. "Masha Allah! You got it right, but you can t blame me that you sound funny saying it," I reply smiling. "No, I sound amazing saying it." "You can tell yourself that, but we all know the truth." "Whatever." "Okay, so can we eat now?" I say picking up my fork. "Yes, we can as soon as you tell me the names of all these dishes, and I must say they look nice," Ismail picks up his fork with a big smile. "Thank you. I got us jollof rice and chicken, two different types of pepper soup and puff puff." "Alright, which should I start with?" he asks getting ready to eat. "I got you two different types of pepper soup because I did not know which one you would like. This is the inner part of the cow while the other is the outer part of the cow. Which do you want? Both are nice, though." "Can I try it first?" "Sure, try the inner part first." I say placing the bowl in front of him. "It s nice," he says after eating a piece from the bowl. "Now try the other," I say placing the other bowl in front of him. "It s nice too," he says after trying a piece from the other bowl. "I know, so, which do you want to eat?" "Both." "I am not surprised, and you can have both," I grin. "Thank you," he says eating his meal. "Don t mention it," I say enjoying mine too. While eating, Ismail says something that takes me by surprise. "The company is travelling to a few countries to advertise its new app for travel agencies, and we are picking a few interns to come with us," Ismail says. "I thought the company is a game company and which interns did you pick?" I ask praying deep down he picked me, even though technically I am not an intern. "Yes, it is. But we are planning to expand into other sectors, and we are starting with the travel agencies app. And I have not picked interns yet." "Are you going to pick me?" "I don t know." "What is it that you don t know?" "It means I don t know if I will pick you or not, and even if I did know I wouldn t tell you," he says smirking. "Why?" I say wondering what is going on in his head. "Because it wouldn t be fun," he says grinning. "You are not serious," I say knowing he has planned something. "Watch and see." "Alright, and where are you guys travelling to?" "Iceland, Italy, France, and Greece," he says. I don t say anything for a few seconds because I can t believe they are travelling to one of the places I have always dreamt of going to. I don t even realize I lose my cool and start begging Ismail to pick me. "Please pick me, please, please, please pick me. Do you know how much I want to go to those places? I know you don t know, but that does not matter, please just pick me," I plead. "I will think about it," he smirks because he likes that I am begging him. "Alright," I say trying to keep it cool.