After the storm (17 page)

"I don't
get you."

"Nothing's going on per se, but I know she doesn't like
me."

Her
mother was quiet for a long moment. "I have been suspecting
something was not quite right, especially during the period that I
was with you after Aleena's birth and she hardly came to visit." A
worried frown furrowed her brows. "Since when has this been going
on?" 

Yemi
sketchily told her mother about Mrs. Kadiri and then about Leila,
trying not to give away too many details, but her mother still
looked disturbed even with the little that Yemi told
her.

"And you
did not think to tell me this before you got married?"

"I
didn't want to get you worried."

"No,
dear, that's not the reason," her mother said, shaking her head.
"You did not want anyone telling you what you didn't want to hear.
You listened to Akeem because you wanted to believe what he was
saying."

Yemi
didn't bother trying to deny it. "I'm sorry, Mum," she said
quietly. 

"I'm not
condemning you. I know how it is to be young and in love. But Akeem
wasn't entirely right in saying that you should forget about his
mum. Especially not when you live in such close proximity." She
looked pensively at Yemi. "What about your sister-in-law, Nadia?
How's her attitude?"

"Pretty
much the same." Yemi grimaced. "I'm glad that she is married now
and away from the house." She exhaled deeply, feeling very weary of
all the trouble. "What am I going to do, Mum?"

"Domineering women like your mother-in-law don't like being
thwarted. You will have to go out of your way to befriend
her."

"Mum, I
have tried…" Yemi said almost desperately. She told her mother some
of the things she had done to break the ice and how Mrs. Kadiri had
snubbed her every single time.

"You are
still going to have to try some more, dear," her mother replied
gently. "And pray also. She is a mother, and hopefully she will
come round with time."

∞∞∞

Akeem
dismissed his driver early and gave him some money. The guy was
profuse in his thanks and looked pleased to have been given an
unexpected half day off as well as some extra cash.

He took
over the wheels of the Range Rover Sport. He liked driving anyway.
It was his crazy schedule that made it necessary for him to have a
driver, and he had hardly had time to drive this beauty since it
was custom built for him three months earlier. He revved it up a
little and enjoyed the feel of the powerful engine beneath his
feet.

The road
was surprisingly busy when he got on the motorway, which was odd
for a Saturday evening. The traffic was practically crawling. So
much for him driving his car today, he thought to himself ruefully.
He was about one hundred yards from a set of traffic lights, but
the lights had changed twice from red to green and back again
without making much difference in the flow of traffic. It was a
good thing that he was not in a hurry anyway. He and Fadel had
planned to meet at their club, and he was actually a bit
early.

He
remembered the happy expression on his driver's face. At least he
had done some good there. He sometimes had to take some ruthless
decisions as a businessman, but he also tried to do some good
whenever he could also. It was a principle he had learnt from his
father.

"Always
try to help people whenever you can," his father had often said. "I
don't know how it works, but fortune always seems to smile on a
generous man."

Fortune
was definitely smiling on him right now. Ka-Tell, the newly
established telecommunications arm of KH, had been awarded the
telecoms license after a very stiff bid. The news was all over the
papers and on the television channels, and the whole of KH was
receiving very positive media attention.

The cost
of the license alone had been astronomical, and many initial "would
be" bidders had balked at it and withdrawn for the bigger players
to battle it out. Akeem wished his father was around to witness it.
He was going to give the project his all to make it a success, as a
tribute to the man who had encouraged him and believed so much in
him. He looked forward to having a son with whom he could enjoy the
same kind of friendship. A boy he would encourage to know that
nothing was impossible so long as he believed in himself and in his
abilities to make things happen. That principle had always and was
still yielding positive results for him.

He knew
his wife still didn't agree with him totally. That was okay by him
too; he was not out to force his views on anyone. But although he
refrained from telling her so, he knew he was surer of his
convictions than she was about hers. She said she believed in God,
but could not convincingly talk about her faith and at times
appeared outright uncertain. But he hated to upset her and steered
the discussion away from areas that he could see she was
floundering in.

His mind
went back to the license. It was going to be a huge project, and
they had a deadline from the government on rolling out the new
lines; otherwise, the license would be withdrawn. But he was
confident that he would meet the deadline.

Convincing his brother to support him had been even more of a
challenge than the actual bid itself. Adil had pointed out that
they already had enough financially rewarding investments and
didn't need to go into such unexplored terrains—and definitely not
one as capital intensive as telecoms. But Akeem had kept on talking
with him until he had reluctantly gone ahead with the idea.
However, he had made Akeem very aware that he was the one leading
KH into telecommunications. Akeem understood what Adil meant. He
was telling him that any problems or losses would be laid solidly
at his feet, but he was not bothered. The only word in his mind was
"success." The conviction was so strong that he could almost taste
it.

Akeem
looked ahead at the road. Some traffic management enforcement
officers had arrived, and the traffic was beginning to move now. It
was still a bit slow until he got to the next roundabout and took
the first exit.

About
twenty minutes later, he parked his car outside the club and walked
inside. He scanned the tables. Fadel had not yet
arrived.

Akeem
saw the maître d' coming towards him and was not surprised when he
congratulated him on obtaining the license. The club had an
exclusive membership; the management knew each member and what they
did, but they were very discreet, which was one of the reasons
Akeem had maintained his membership with them over the
years.

"The
usual?" the maître d' asked Akeem after he took a seat.

"Not
this time, Max. I'm driving myself."

"Can I
serve you something new, then? It's actually a cocktail of drinks,
but no alcohol. I can assure you that you will like it."

Akeem
agreed to try the drink and had to admit that Max was right about
him liking it. He was just about to call Fadel when he saw him
strolling in.

"The man
of the moment!" Fadel slapped hands with him before sitting down.
"Well done, man! I'm so proud of you!"

"Thanks
a lot," Akeem replied, unable to keep the smile off his face. It
was really true that people smiled effortlessly when they were
happy. "And thanks for the support."

"Your
old man would have been so proud of you. I can just imagine him
saying, 'Well done, my boy,'" Fadel said, mimicking Akeem's
father's voice.

Akeem
laughed. Fadel got the expression and voice perfectly. "Yeah, I've
been thinking about him too. We discussed this quite a bit while he
was alive, but the government was dithering then on whether to go
on with the privatisation or not."

Fadel
made a face. "The former president was slow on so many things. This
current president knows what he is doing, and many of his policies
are very favourable towards businessmen."

"I
agree, and that is why I supported his bid for presidency." He took
a sip of his drink. "I'm definitely supporting his bid for a second
tenure."

They
continued talking about the government and its policies and how it
affected them. Akeem didn't like politics, but having a cordial
relationship with politicians was healthy for his
business.

"Are you
still going to use Sonakson as the vendor for Ka-Tell?" Fadel asked
after a while.

"Yep."
Akeem nodded "Ericsson and Huawei came up, but we think Sonakson is
the best for what we have in mind. They have not done any major
work over here, but BT used them, and their track record is
impressive. We are still working on some of the details involved,
but everything is coming along fine."

"I'm
happy for you, man. I know it's going to be a huge task, but if
anyone can handle it, I know that person is you."

"Thanks." He leaned back in his seat. "When's Sara coming
back from the States?"

"In a
week's time," Fadel replied. "She said she's having such a ball
that she's not missing me. I had a good mind to tell her she could
stay back for another two weeks."

"Don't
kid yourself; she just might extend it to a month."

Fadel
grimaced. "She could do that too, even if it's just to prove a
point to me."

Akeem
laughed. "Good for you." Yemi didn't like going on holidays without
him. Maybe he needed to encourage her some more. But on second
thoughts, maybe not. He preferred her attachment to him. It was
sweet the way she wove her life around his. He didn't want them
living separate lives.

A few
minutes later, he looked up and saw a man smiling as he approached
their table. His face was familiar, but it took Akeem a minute to
recall his name. He had done some contracts for Zenith Oil a few
years earlier but had worked more closely with Fadel. In fact,
Fadel had been the one to introduce them. The man was with a pretty
woman, probably his wife.

"Hey,
nice seeing you guys here!" The man smiled broadly upon getting to
their table. He slapped hands with Fadel and then turned to Akeem.
"It's been such a long time, Akeem! Congrats on the
license!"

Akeem
smiled back. "Thanks, Emeka. How have you been?"

"Good,
good!"

"You
definitely look like it," Fadel teased. "Doesn't he,
Akeem?"

Akeem
nodded. "He does. He needs to share his business strategies with
us."

"I'm
just a poor sod trying to keep his head above water!" Emeka
laughed. "You guys are the ones making things happen!"

"Don't
believe him, Akeem. He is only trying to deceive us!" Fadel
quipped.

They all
laughed, and Emeka turned to the lady beside him. "Meet my cousin,
Coral."

Akeem
and Fadel exchanged pleasantries with the woman. Akeem hid a smile
when he saw Fadel checking Coral out. No pretty lady passed his
cousin by. He was not surprised that Sara was constantly trying to
let him know that she could live an independent life without him.
She had built up an invincible defense mechanism around herself to
protect her feelings just in case Fadel ever strayed, and Akeem
knew he had done so a few times.

But
Coral wasn't looking at Fadel. She had her gaze fixed on Akeem. He
could see her looking him over appreciatively. He caught Fadel's
eye, and Fadel shrugged slightly, with a mischievous glint in his
eye.

"Hey,
Akeem, hope you don't mind me talking to Fadel privately for a few
minutes," Emeka said apologetically. "I'm not sure when I will get
that chance again."

"No
worries," Akeem said, sitting back down while Fadel and Emeka
walked away. "So how are you doing, Coral?" Akeem asked. He guessed
that she was about his age or maybe a little younger.

"I'm
good. I'm on a short working holiday here. I'll be going back to
Port Harcourt in a week." She smiled, revealing beautiful, even,
white teeth. "Fancy meeting you here. I've heard a lot about
you."

Akeem
smiled. "Good things, I hope?"

Her eyes
were playful. "All good, or have you been doing anything
else?"

"Nope,
I'm always good."

She
stared him in the eye. "I'm sure there are people out there who
would not mind you being naughty occasionally." She smiled slowly.
"I know I wouldn't."

Akeem knew she was flirting with him. It was there in the way
she had openly checked him out when her cousin had introduced them.
It was there in her eyes now as she looked at him, suggestion in
her eyes.
Sorry, Coral, I'm already taken
and completely satisfied
.

"So what
do you do?" he asked her.

Her
expression showed that she knew that he had deliberately changed
the topic, but she was smooth and rose to the occasion. "I have a
spa in Port Harcourt, and I'm looking to open another in Abuja very
soon."

"Interesting. My mum operates a couple of spas here in
Lagos."

"Yes, I
know. That's why I am keeping my distance from Lagos for now. I
can't compete with a Kadiri." She laughed, flashing her pearly
whites again. "But I plan to visit one of them before I leave
Lagos. Maybe I can get a few ideas that I can use for
mine."