EPISODES 7,8,9
EPISODE 7
“If possible we will like the registry and traditional marriage to be fixed before the New Year.”
The elderly couple exchanged glances. There was a moment silence. Everyone looked at them in anticipation.
“Very well,” Ajibade directed his satisfactory gaze at them, “If it is what you want.”
Foluke jumped up and flew into his arms, “Thanks daddy.”
“Anything for my baby.”
The young man got to his feet, “We have an appointment with the Event Planner this morning.”
“Yes, we do,” she released her father and helped him to his feet.
“Hope you will visit before you leave for the U.K?” Ajibade beamed.
He nodded, “I will definitely visit,” he held his fiancee by the waist.
“It is a good thing that you will be completing your service year before the wedding,” Jibike grinned at her eldest daughter and got up.
Foluke smiled back at her.
Funmike backed away from the doorway, turned and walked towards her bedroom. She was very happy for her elder sister.
“Funmike…”
She halted at the sound of her name.
.....
She met her parents’ stare. Their look seemed to say ‘What are you doing here?’ She turned her head and met her sisters’ glare. They were not happy to see her either. For as far back as she could remember, her parents preferred her absence whenever they were entertaining guests.
“Is she your sister?” he poked his fiancee on the shoulder.
A pretentious smile replaced the angry look, “Oh yes, my younger sister,” she glanced at him.
“Unbelievable!” his shocked gaze scanned her, “Why is she so fair and… and so thin? No resemblance whatsoever?” turned to his fiancee.
Funmike eyed him.
Foluke coughed, “She is the carbon copy of an old aunt.”
“Oh… I get it now. Recessive Genes.”
“Come darling, we are running late,” she held him by the elbow and stirred him towards the front door.
He threw her a final glance and followed his fiancee out.
Funmike watched them leave. He wasn’t the first person that had been perplexed about her non-existent resemblance with her family. He won’t be the last either.
.......
“You know the rules,” Jibike glared at her.
“Whenever we have visitors, you are supposed to be in your room?” Ajibade stared at her like a pest. He wished he could spank her, but, she was no longer a child.
Funmike felt the wet stinging tears that blurred her vision. She drew in a shaky breath. She dreaded the tongue-lashing that would come next.
“That young man is going to marry your sister. How do you think he felt when he saw you?” he barked.
“Do you know how embarrassing it is to keep explaining to people why you don’t look like us?” Jibike yelled.
Folake eyed her elder sister.
Funmike took a step back, overwhelmed with distress. As usual, they thought of themselves. Do they even care how she felt? She would do anything and pay any price to look like them? Why couldn’t they love and accept her just the way she was? She was their daughter for Pete’s sake!
Dante’s image flashed through her mind’s eye. She sighed with relief. At least, how she looked didn’t bother him and he cared about her.
EPISODE 8
“Why are you ashamed of me? Why do you treat me as if… as if something is wrong with me?”
“Fumike, we…” her mother feigned a smile.
“You don’t like to be seen with me. You… you don’t want people to know that we are related, why?” she cut in, tears streamed down her face.
Jibike glanced at her husband. He cleared his throat.
“It is not… We just want to…”
“I am fair and slim, why do you punish me for mother nature’s crime?”
“That’s not… Punish you?” Ajibade frowned.
“I watched you treat Foluke and Folake like eggs for years. You treat me like a parasite. It’s not my fault that I look different. You make me feel like I shouldn’t have been born.”
“That’s enough!” nose flared, eyes red. Her words reignited his guilt.
She exhaled with shakes, dropped her head, slouched her shoulders, she headed to her safe haven- her bedroom.
Jibike watched her. They had never been able to come to terms with the fact that she was their daughter. At times, she wondered if God was punishing them for something they couldn’t even remember.
Folake hissed and returned to the sitting room. She cared less.
.......
She walked out of her Supervisor’s office feeling elated. The first chapter of her project had been approved. She hoped to defend her project before the first semester examination. That way, she would be able to concentrate on her studies and hopefully graduate with a first class degree. The vibration of her iphone got her attention. She pulled it out of her brown hand bag and picked the call.
“Hello…”
“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you…”
She recognized his voice and started to laugh.
“How old are you now? How old are you now?”
“You sound terrible.”
“Ouch!”
“I am also a terrible singer.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”
She giggled and climbed down the stairs. The white lace skirt swirled above the ankle length brown boots.
“How does it feel to be twenty-three?”
“Don’t know, nothing is happening. Except that my project is moving forward.”
“Yipee!”
“You sound like a girl.”
“What?! Heavens no! Hell no!”
Tummy aching laughter flooded her.
........
“I am a full blooded man. Can’t be sounding like your kind, emotional see-saw, wavery beings.”
“What?! Excuse me.”
“Your birthday gift is right here in Abuja.”
“Sinister,” she narrowed her gaze.
“Not quite.”
“Wicked.”
“Wicked is good.”
“Since when?” she made her way out of the building.
“When you come to Abuja, you will get your gift.”
“Send it.”
“No way.”
“Suit yourself.”
“How is my girl?”
She sighed loudly, “Can’t wait to move out of that house.”
“I feel you.”
She boarded one of the cabs heading to the campus gate.
“I saw your sisters’ birthday pictures online.”
“Hmm…”
“You share the same birth month.”
Yep, but, different dates.”
“Oh… November children.”
She chuckled and alighted from the cab.
“My birthday is three days before Christmas.”
“Old man,” she walked towards her hostel.
“Twenty-nine is a bloke’s age.”
“Eeeh!”
“I am a young…”
“Let me call you back,” she saw a black Range Rover jeep parked at the hostel gate. It belonged to her father.
..........
She took a deep breath and approached the car. Her heart beat erratically. She couldn’t fathom the reason why he came. She hoped all was well.
“Here is the celebrant,” Jibike saw her through the side mirror and got out of the vehicle.
“Birthday girl,” Ajibade climbed out.
She stopped in her tracks when she saw her parents. It was the first time they were visiting her since she got admission into the school.
“Happy birthday!” they chorused and grinned at her. When her blank stare became awkward, her father cleared his throat and dangled a set of car keys.
“We got you a car,” her mother squeaked in excitement.
“A car?” she looked around and saw a deep blue Toyota Camry parked in front of her dad’s vehicle. She glanced back at them wondering if her outburst a few weeks ago initiated the sudden gift.
Were they trying to buy her forgiveness? They had a very long way to go. How do one make up for twenty-three years of neglect? She was glad that they were ready to at least try.
EPISODE 9
She loaded the bags into the navy blue Toyota Camry one after the other. She closed the boot and wiped the beads of sweat on her forehead with an handkerchief. She planned to drive home that day for the Christmas holiday. Her elder sister’s introduction ceremony, the traditional wedding and the Registry was taking place in two weeks. The twenty-five year old must be estatic. She smiled to herself, locked the car and sauntered into the hostel.
“Funmike!”
She heard her name and glanced back. The corner of her eye caught the sight of her sisters coming in through the gate. It was the first time that either of them had visited her in school.
She turned around and approached them. Both were clad in knee length sleeveless velvet dresses. The body hugging outfit emphasized their curves and revealed an unreasonable amount of cleavage. The blue, red colour matched their blue and red striped pencil heeled shoes.
Her light brown eyes turned green with envy. She coveted their physique.
......
“Don’t bother coming home for the holidays,” Folake stood akimbo. She directed her gaze at her younger sister.
“I don’t want my in-laws asking unnecessary questions,” Foluke chimed in. She threw a quick glance at her elder sister.
“Questions?” her puzzled stare met irritated dark ones.
“One look at you and they will assume the worst.”
The fact that her sister didn’t want her at her wedding broke her heart.
“Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately?” Folake eyed her, “You look like a sickle cell patient and dried up like someone with AIDS.”
Her lips parted in shock. She felt pained and fought back the tears stinging her eyes.
“Exactly, my in-laws will just conclude that we have a genetic illness in the family.”
She pressed her lips together and stared at them through blurred vision.
“Just stay off the grid, its my wedding, no one will be allowed to ruin it.”
She remained mum and watched them leave, cat-walking and swirling their hips with each calculative step.
.......
She sat on the leather chair, wet face, red eyes.
“Hello.”
“Dad it’s Funmike.”
“How are you dear?”
“Am fine. Daddy, Foluke doesn’t want me at her wedding.”
“Oh… well, you know, it’s her wedding. She is allowed to do whatever makes her happy.”
Her jaw dropped in shock. She couldn’t believe that he would support Foluke, “But I am her sister.”
“Yes, you are, but, you know the way people react when they see you with us.”
She closed her eyes. The ache in her heart magnified.
“My family once accused your mother of having extra marital affairs. The DNA test you did vindicated her.”
She opened her eyes and sighed.
“If our in-laws see you, they might get unnecessarily apprehensive.”
She frowned, “How long are you going to keep hiding me from the world?”
He groaned, “I will credit your account today. Just go on a vacation, okay?”
Her chest tightened in pain. His refusal to acknowledge her before their in-laws and the whole world gnawed at her. It was worse than her elder sister’s rejection.
To be continued…………
