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"Meeting dismissed." 

He rubbed his temples with the pad of his thumbs and leaned back in his chair, waiting for the projection team to leave the conference room. The moment the last person shut the door behind them, he slumped into his chair tiredly and sighed. 

He had began his long day by settling a fight between his secretary and his personal assistant. The day had gone on to spiral into nonsense by the reports of low sales of the customized flour they pushed into the market. Then, he found himself in a meeting with the sales team first for three hours and then the projection team for another three. 

He opened his bleary eyes and felt his way to the bottled water on the table in front of him and took a deep gulp. He got up and began to walk out of the room, leaving his personal assistant to follow him. 

"Call Tahir for me hand me the phone. Meanwhile, reschedule the meeting with the reporter from Busniess Times, I'm not in the mood to discuss today or any day this week." His assistant nodded and handed him the sleek fruit brand phone that was now ringing with a call put across to his friend Tahir. 

"Assalamualaikum." AbdulRahman smiled as he pushed the glass door to his office and went in, pulling at his tie as he did so. He walked to the very edge of the office and looked out to the outside where the sun was setting over the capital city slowly. 

"Walaikum Salam AbdulRahman. Ya Kake?" AbdulRahman chuckled as he told his friend that he was fine. Tahir had suddenly turned from that friend who cussed out his friends when the calls connected to a calm, level headed person who asked how everyone was doing. AbdulRahman could dare say the events of his life had changed his friend for the better, though he still preferred his outgoing and rambunctious friend to the overly quiet person talking to him. 

"I just finished a long meeting and I wanted to know, are you up for a hike? I've not exercised properly in a long time." He said to his friend and knowing Tahir, he said yes almost immediately. They both fixed a meeting point and AbdulRahman packed his briefcase, handed it to his personal assistant who had come into his office and as he walked out of his office, he shrugged off his pinstriped navy blue suit, revealing the white shirt he wore inside. 

In the ride down the elevator to the lobby of the fifteen floor office complex, AbdulRahman used his right hand to massage his neck. He had rested his head on his very uncomfortable chair, he made a mental note to tell someone to change the chair he sat on in his conference room. 

Outside the air-conditioned lobby, his four wheel bulletproof ride was already waiting, his driver in the front seat and a police escort in the passenger seat. 

When he stepped into the car and his assistant wanted to get in with him, AbdulRahman stopped the young man and gave him the rest of the day off. He waved bye at younger man and was driven off. 

*

*

AbdulRahman strapped his hat over his head further, shielding his dark brown eyes from the low heat of the evening sun and grunted as he navigated the trails in front of Tahir. 

"Did these trails get steeper or we're the ones out of shape?" Tahir asked as he panted, gasping dramatically for breath. AbdulRahman couldn't laugh, there was a pressure in his lungs so he flunked down and sat his butt on hill, they'd reached a flat side that overlooked a highway that led into the capital city. 

"We're out of shape. I've not stepped into a gym since I returned, I've been from work to mosque to sleep. Nothing else." Tahir who had finally gotten his breath back nodded, he took his hat off and let the billowing evening breeze go through his damp head. Seeing how comfortable Tahir was, AbdulRahman did the same, only his own hair was in springly curls that he refused to go see his barber for. 

"Won't you cut this your hair? Or you're just walking around showing off your genes?" Tahir, staring at his friend's hair asked with a sneer. 

AbdulRahman shook his head and laughed, instead of getting mad at Tahir's ribbing. "Well, I cheated on my barber, so I'm waiting for my hair to get full again before I go to him." Tahir slapped his hands on the stone ground and laughed very hard. Their barber, an idoma man who owned one of the best barbing salons in Abuja, was very Pocky about who cut his clients hair and if he found out his clients cut their hair elsewhere, he would nag them throughout their session. The only upside to his job was that he was really good at it. 

"I'll go sometime next week. By that time, he'd have missed me too much to notice." Tahir's laughter bloomed again and let it out, laughing so hard he couldn't sit still anymore. 

"Well, in his defense, he can't be letting you, his number one customer that brings everyone in Abuja to his salon go away. Have you seen his prices lately? His success has gone to his head." AbdulRahman wore his hat back and began walking, wondering why Tahir was complaining about prices when the last time he cut his hair in London, he'd paid thrice the amount he usually paid. 

"Speaking of hair cuts, when is Osman Babaji's wedding again?" Tahir stopped walking and contemplated. 

"From Thursday next week. Though our presence isn't required until Friday at the daurin aure and the dinner on Saturday night." He nodded and continued to scale the trail that led to the hill top. Suddenly he heard the pounding of steps and Tahir was in front of him. 

"Are you going to use Babaji's wedding to enter the social scene again? That is such a lovely surprise!" AbdulRahman rolled his eyes at his friend and refusing to respond, he slowly and painstakingly got to the top of the hill where wind whipped past his ears and the sound of the highway was muted. It felt like it was just him in the world and it made sense to just stand there and allow the billowing wind to dry the sweat that had accumulated on his tee and cargo shorts. 

"Alhamdulilah! I thought I would die breathless." Tahir screamed as he reached the summit of the hill. He walked to AbdulRahman and tapped him, interrupting the zen moment

"Hey, AB! I'm proud of you. You have done so well this whole time and truly, Allah doesn't burden a soul more than he can bear. May Allah recompense you your losses, it's hard and really, there's no word for it, but May Allah truly give you peace." AbdulRahman set down his hands and said a heartfelt ameen to his friend's prayers. 

As they walked down the hill, they huffed and puffed tiredly and Tahir kept talking about how he was going to slam himself like a log of wood unto his bed once he got home. 

"I'm so tired! I don't even know why I followed you." AbdulRahman shook his head as he bent to pull the straps of his hiking shoes. He was tired too, but Tahir was a whiner. 

Just as he was about to lift his head up, he heard Tahir scream a greeting excitedly. He sighed with his head still down and wondered who Tahir could be happily greeting. 

"Aha! AB! Is this you?" The timbre of the voice of Adnan Gidado filtered into AbdulRahman's ears and his head snapped up so fast he wondered how he didn't get vertigo from it. 

"Gids Gids! How you dey na!" It was a battle of exclamations and loud greetings, back slapping before the pair stepped back to look at each other. 

"It's been so long AB. Wallah, so long, you just went off the radar and when you came back it had to be this geezer here that you first spoke to?" AbdulRahman shook his head with a splotch of laughter bursting out of him. He refused to discuss with his friend, turning instead to greet his wife who was standing there waiting for her husband to finish. 

"How are you, Amarya?" She nodded as she greeted AbdulRahman back with slight smile. Adnan had gotten married in the time AbdulRahman was away and he remembered sending his youngest sister and a gift to the wedding. 

"I'm fine, Alhamdulilah, thank you for asking. How's work?" She asked and AbdulRahman nodded, thanking her for her tact. Most people straight up asked him for his wife like they didn't know she was late. 

"What are you both doing?" Tahir asked as though he didn't see Adnan and his wife in their hiking wear. 

"As you can see," Adnan started very sarcastically with his lips turned down in a playful sneer, "we're hiking."  AbdulRahman shook with suppressed laughter. 

"Sorry oo. Hikers. Anyways, Amarya so you enjoy punishing yourself like this instead of staying at home?" Adnan refused to let his wife answer Tahir, he touched his wife's arm before saying to his friend. 

"Just how did we meet? On the hike trail. If you'll excuse us, we still need to reach the hill's summit." They turned in sync and began to leave. 

"By the way, AB, if you'd like to join us, we usually jog with other people after subh prayers each morning for forty-five minutes. If you want to keep fit without the hassle of a public gym, shoot me a text." AbdulRahman was about to nod when Tahir snickered in mocking laughter. 

"You don't even just punish yourself by hiking, you even run each morning." He made a face of punishment and shook his head in distaste as though he couldn't imagine doing it. 

"Try it once, maybe you'll lose some of that belly fat you're carrying around and find yourself a wife." Adnan, ever calm in the face of irritation turned and left, his wife in front. Tahir turned to AbdulRahman in indignant anger. 

"Hey! Do I have belly fat?" He cradled his flat belly, making AbdulRahman burst into loud laughter. One of Tahir's weaknesses was looking for a complete six pack of abs that he couldn't work out for, so he wished for it the most. Adnan had pinched him where it hurt. 

"Tahir, your stomach is flat enough let's go." Knowing Tahir's temper, he could go back to confront Adnan and it would not end well. 

"That man just called me a bachelor and you think I'm going to let it go? I'll go tell my mother to find me a wife, it's time I'm married!" AbdulRahman shook his head as he navigated the trail, Tahir still mumbling behind him about the sort of woman he would like. He almost laughed at how Tahir called Adnan, 'that man' as though they had not gone to the same school in Australia for their First degrees. 

He liked the ribbing, the friendship, he liked that he was almost the only one who could stand Adnan and Tahir in the same place. 

He most of all wanted that companionship. 

*****
Who has guessed how Our babies are going to meet? Don't say I didn't show you how oo😜

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TheOmoope 💙