Clueless Love

“How long do you think it is going to be before he comes?” I ask wondering if he is coming at all, because an hour has gone and there is no sign of the man.

“He should be here any minute according to our observations. He comes here every day by 9:00 p. m. and it’s 8:50 p. m.”

“Alright, but do you know something.”

“What”Belongs to (N)ôvel/Drama.Org.

“I don’t even know what he looks like.”

“Really?” Ismail asks surprised.

“Yes, I have never seen his face, only his back.”

“Oh, that’s right. But don’t worry when he comes, I will point him out for you.”

“There won’t be any need for that because he is here,” I say, seeing the scary man whose nose I broke, walk in beside a man who looks like his boss.

“Really, how do you know?” Ismail says and is about to turn his head, but I stop him before we draw attention to ourselves.

“Don’t turn, it will look suspicious. I can see the scary man from last time with someone who looks like his boss,” I say, seeing them walk in together.

“Oh, does he look like an older version of all those Italian men on the cover of a magazine?” Ismail asks using the funniest way to describe him.

“Yes, he does,” I chuckle. “but why did you describe him like that?”

“I don’t know, it just popped into my head.”

“Really?”

“And I think it’s because you love that type of magazine more than anything.”

“I do not.” I say smiling, because I do love magazines with Italian men on the cover, but I doubt it’s as much as Ismail says.

“Umit, you have more than 100 magazines with Italian men on it. I am even beginning to doubt you love me as much as you love them,” Ismail says trying to sound hurt, but I can tell he is joking.

“Maybe I have a lot, but not 100 and I love you. I don’t love them, I just admire them,” I murmur, thinking a 100 is a bit of an exaggeration.

“Umit, you have more than 100, and I don’t want you admiring any man except me. You should only admire me, me, and me alone.”

“I will my love, but why are we having this conversation right now? Shouldn’t we be watching Mr Alberto?”

“We are, but I wanted us to not look suspicious and look like we are having a normal conversation.”

“Oh, and I can’t see them anymore,” I look around, but there is no sign of them.

“I can see them; they are right above us. They are taking a left turn, and they just entered the third door on the right.”

“Alright, so what do we do now?” I ask having no clue what to do from here.

“Now we are going to wait and see if anyone else enters the same room or comes out. If someone who looks important goes in or comes out, it will tell us if he does his deals here or not.”

“Yeah, and if it’s only waiters that go in and out, it could also mean he just comes here to drink.”

“Yeah.”

“Alright then, let the wait begin.”

Ismail and I have been waiting for more than an hour now. No one has gone in or out of the room Mr. Alberto entered, not even waiters. I am about to tell Ismail that maybe he just comes here to drink when a door above us finally opens. I pray it is the same door Mr. Alberto walked into.

“Ismail someone opened a door,” I say getting his attention away from his phone. I can’t see above me because of where I am sitting, but Ismail can.

“Mr. Alberto is walking out, and he is with someone I did not see him with before.”

“Does the man look important?”

“He looks like the man on the cover of your favorite novel. What is the name again…?”

“Bullied to love.”

“Yes, that one. He looks like the man on the cover.”

“So, you are saying that he looks like a mafia leader,” I reply understanding where Ismail is going with his explanation.

“You could say that, and the aura around him also feels powerful. So yes, I think he is a mafia leader.”

“Maybe he came to buy guns from Mr. Alberto, and he came earlier, that’s why we did not see him walk in.”

“It is very possible, but we can’t be too sure. But In Shaa Allah tomorrow we will know. We can leave now.”

“Ameen, but maybe we should wait until after they have left,” I say feeling its best they don’t see us leave.

“Alright, we will.”

Ismail and I leave a few minutes after Mr. Alberto and his friends leave. I can’t thank Allah enough for making the night go successful without anyone recognizing us. I just pray tomorrow will go even better than today.

DAY 2

The following day comes faster than I wished for, not that I don’t want all of this to be over with as quickly as possible. I can’t just stop thinking about the dangers involved in what we plan to do today. Ismail and I are on our way to the bar, we plan on placing the bugs in the room we saw Mr. Alberto walking into yesterday.

After driving for an hour or so, we arrive at the bar. We walk in but unlike yesterday no one is staring at me. Today I made sure to blend in by dressing in a pair of black jeans, a black top, black ankle boots, a camouflage jacket, and a baseball cap. What I wore yesterday was ok, but it was because I had a hajib on that I drew attention to myself. My hair is not showing and fully covered because I have a hijab cap on under the baseball cap.

Ismail and I go upstairs making sure no one’s looking at us. We came three hours earlier than Mr. Alberto usually comes to have enough time to place the bugs and leave before he gets here. We walk the same path he did yesterday and stop at the door he entered. Ismail tries opening the door, but unsurprisingly it is locked. This room must really be an important room for it to be locked.

“I am not surprised it’s locked, do you know how to pick a lock?” I whisper praying he does because I don’t.

“No, I don’t,” Ismail replies. I look at the door and I notice that the handle is not turning down at all.

“Let me try something,” I say moving forward. I turn the knob in the opposite direction. Instead of turning the knob downwards, I turn it upwards, and the door opens.

“Wow, where did you learn that?” Ismail asks softly, keeping watch to make sure no-one notices us entering the room.

“We have a door like that back home in Nigeria.”

“Oh, alright. Now we need to place the bugs where they might likely sit down so we can hear their conversations clearly,” Ismail says walking towards a couch, hiding miniscule microphones on it.

“Yes sir,” I answer doing the same thing Ismail is doing but I am placing cameras instead of microphones.

“Do you realize you never called me sir, even though I am your boss?”

“Technically, you are not my boss. You are just the CEO of the company I work for now. And I did call you sir, the day I found out you were the CEO,” I recall how I wanted the ground to swallow him whole when I found out he was my CEO, and he loved it more than anything.

“Oh, that’s true, and I can remember how much I loved it. You sounded so beautiful calling me ‘SIR’, and I am your boss’s, boss’s, boss’s, boss, so I am still your boss.”

“Of course, you loved it, and whatever boss.”

“I like it when you call me boss, it sounds very nice,” Ismail smirks.

“I don’t know what I will d… Ismail did you hear that?” I whisper, hearing voices. But I can’t tell if they are just passing by the door or coming in.

“Yes, we need to hide,” Ismail says looking around.

“Where, and quick, their voices are getting closer,” I also look around for a place to hide.

“Quickly in there,” Ismail says, pulling me by my jacket into a room just as the door opens and a few men walk into the room. Subhan Allah (Glory be to Allah) that was close! Alhamdulillah (Praise be to Allah) Ismail pulled me inside before they walked in.

I realize that we are not in a room but in a closet. there is hardly any space between Ismail and me. I can hear his heartbeat and smell his amazing scent. I can even feel his breath above my head. I have never been this close-up to Ismail, and I am scared I might do something I would regret. Ya Allah, what is going on? Is this a test to see if we will do the unacceptable, the sinful? Ya Allah this is a very big trial, because I won’t lie… I am human and I have desires. Every bone in my body is daring me to hold Ismail, but I won’t for the sake of Allah. The fact that he is the man I am in love with is making it ten times harder. Subhan Allah (Glory be to Allah) I can’t wait to get out of here before I lose it. I am even feeling hot when I am sure the place is fully air-conditioned.

After what seems like hours, but I am pretty sure were mere minutes, Ismail and I finally step out of the closet. Those were the longest minutes of my life so far. I can tell Ismail was struggling as well by the way he was breathing. He has not even looked in my direction since we came out. Ismail and I are about to walk out when I realize something.

“Ismail, did you notice that while we were in the closet those men did not sit here.”

“They probably went to the restroom.”

“I don’t think so because as soon as they walked in, they walked into that door over there; and don’t you find that a bit odd?” I think there is something we are missing.

“That’s true, but where could they have possibly gone to, or does that door lead to somewhere else?”

“I imagine that is where they actually have the meetings, not here. It makes sense as to why those three men walked in here but did not sit down.”

“Yes, it would. Do you want us to find out?” Ismail asks, walking towards the door that is meant to be a bathroom, but I have a feeling it’s not.

“Yes, we should, but we have to be extra careful. We don’t know who or what might be behind that door,” I am very scared we are putting ourselves into a very dangerous situation.

“You are right. We never know what we might find, but In Shaa Allah, we will be fine.”

“Ameen,” I say, and as soon as the words leave my mouth, Ismail carefully opens the door a tiny crack. I closed my eyes, too scared to see what is there.

“Umit, you can open your eyes.” I slowly open my eyes, and you won’t believe what is in front of me right now. It is not what I expected to see, but I am happy it is not a gun pointed at my head. There is an elevator behind the door, like an actual elevator. What in Allah’s name is going on? Why is this elevator here? Does it lead up or down? I can’t lead up because there is no floor higher than this one in the building. Mr. Alberto is leaving me full of surprises, and we need to go and see more by using this elevator to wherever it leads too.