Love At First Chat✔

Chapter 20

Amira wandered around her house in boredom, seeing as her mum had grounded her. She was slowly losing her mind because she couldn't stay indoors all day. Her mum had even ordered the gateman not to let her out.

It was almost twenty four hours since Hassan left and he hadn't called her to say whether or not he had landed. She was worried about him—thoughts of him in a plane crash flooded her mind and she became restless. An idea popped into her head and she rushed upstairs to get his flight details.

She dialled a number and a lady picked up.
"This is the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, how may I help you?"

"Good day, I'm Amira and my fiancé was on a flight to Melbourne almost twenty four hours ago. It took off at 8:00pm. I was wondering if it has touched down."

"Yes madam, the plane landed safely at about 10pm yesterday."

"Okay, thank you." Amira hung up and sighed a breath of relief before opening her WhatsApp. Even though he hadn't called her, he should be able to receive her messages.

'Hey babe, how are you? I guess you've touched down yeah? How was your flight and why haven't you texted or called me? Call me when you see this.' - Amira.

She took a seat on the couch directly opposite the television and tuned it to Disney junior. Team umi zoomi was being aired and she jumped up to sing with them.

"I'm bot! I can show you anything on my belly belly belly screen. Skyscraper, taxi, traffic light!" She wiggled her butt and jumped on the couch.

"Umi friend, that's you! You got mighty maths power too. Let's see your mighty maths power, count down with me...5 4 3 2 1!"

The sound of her ringtone interrupted her and she pressed pause on the TV before attending to her call. It was a foreign number.

"Hey Hassan! Where the hell have you been? I've missed you."

"Hey Amira, this is Ashlynn." A thick American accent sounded through the phone.

Amira paused for a second before breaking into a grin. "Girl what's up?"

"Good good. How's Nigeria?"

"Boring as usual. How's Kamal? Khaliq?"

"They're all fine. I was just wondering, are you spending the winter in Arlington?"

"I don't know, you'll have to ask my mum."

"Sure. That aside, I saw your video all over Instagram. What exactly happened?"

Amira rolled her eyes. Of course she had to be calling for gossip. She sat down on the couch and told her everything that happened, including how she met Hassan and how he had come to ask for her hand in marriage.

"You bitch! So if I hadn't called, I would've found out about your wedding on Bellanaija yeah?"

"I was going to eventually tell you. I just haven't had time."

"Oh, well mum is calling. I'll call you later and congratulations on your soon to be marriage. I'll make sure to fly down."

"Alright bye." Amira hung up the phone and smiled mischievously. She could ask her mum to let her go to America and then she'd fly to Melbourne from there.

She grinned and walked to the garden to play on the swing, completely forgetting about her cartoon. She had stayed for a while before she heard a honk at the gate. It was her mum, obviously, because her father was never home. If he wasn't in Lagos, he was in Port-harcourt and if he wasn't in Port-harcourt he was in Kano. He was everywhere and at times, he'd even travel out for work.

She jogged to the car port to greet her mum. "Mummy, good afternoon."

"Afternoon, how are you?" her mum replied, stuffing her things in her handbag.

"I'm fine, Ashlynn called."

"Oh, how is she?" Her mum closed the car door and started walking inside the house.

"She's fine. She called to ask if we were coming to Arlington this winter."

"I forgot to tell you. We are going to the village to celebrate Christmas with your cousins." Amira's maternal family was mixed, but they had more muslims.

"What cousins? Mum it's December and I'd really love to be with Ashlynn. I don't want to go to any village. What if they kill us? Or use us for rituals?"

"Can you shut up Amira? We are going to the village in two weeks. If you were planning on going to America so that you'd fly to Australia from there, sorry! Mission unaccomplished."

"But mummmmm!" She pouted.

"What is it?"

"Ashlynn already bought tickets to Nicki Minaj's concert. How will I tell her she wasted her money?"

"I don't care!" With that, her mum went upstairs to her room.

Amira groaned and kicked the couch. "Rubbish!"

She went upstairs to her room and locked the door behind her. If her mum wasn't going to allow her go to America, then she wouldn't eat. After thinking for a while, she went downstairs to pack a few cans of soda and cookies from the kitchen then locked her door again. The chocolates Hassan got her were also in her room so she wasn't afraid of dying from hunger. She plugged in her earpiece and drowned out the noise from her surroundings.

     After a while, her mother knocked on her door but she didn't reply because she had earphones on and Burna Boy's 'on the low' was playing on the loudest volume.

     When her mother got tired of knocking because the door wouldn't budge, she called Amira's phone.

     "Hey mum!"

     "Open the door."

     "I'm sorry but I can't."

     "Are you stupid? Ever since you started seeing that Hassan you've become so disrespectful!"

     "I'm sorry, but I won't come out of this room or eat until you get me a visa and flight ticket to America."

     "Are you kidding me? Stay in there and don't eat." Her mother hissed and hung up the phone.

     Amira grinned mischievously. If her mother thought she was stubborn, then she'd show her who the real stubborn one was.