THE FIRST WORDS I heard from my brothers were about how my dress stopped above my knees. "Did mummy let you dress up like this?" Odion, the oldest of the twins by five minutes commented with an ugly frown between his rough brows. He had his door open, with half of his body protruding out as he scrutinized me from my head to my toe. Everytime my father and oldest brother were not in the house, he took it up himself to act like the man of the house, faking strictness and issuing commands to me, because his power started and stopped at my side.

I rolled my eyes deciding not to indulge him as I got into the oldest car in our compound. My parents had me believe that the vehicle was just something they could not get rid of because of the sentiment they had towards it. It was their first vehicle as a couple which my father bought back in the early 2000's. He often reiterated about how my mother was the charm who came to his life to make him prosper, or some cliché line along that path. It was sweet, but annoying, when they cozied up with themselves just to prove a point to us. Between both my parents, my father was the most romantic.

I missed his presence.

"Hey, I am talking to you," Odion pushed himself into the space between the driver and the passenger seat in an attempt to scold me over my own dress. Nobody gave him any word when he decided to wear ashewo shorts for outings, and here he was complaining over my simple dress.

I ignored him, talking to Akhere, the younger of the twin who wore an amused look. Unlike Odion, he had a bigger frame and was more jovial than his twin. Half the time, children ran away from Odion but stayed with Akhere who played around with them. He also had the most record of the Ighodalo boys who had dated most girls. Uyioses nickname for him was the Edo demon with fine brown skin. "Why are we not taking daddy's Hilux or Jeep. This car is so old, it could break down on our way there."

Akhere was about to answer my question when his twin beat him to talking, still pressed about my outfit.

"Are you not like twelve, you shouldn't be dressed up like this." Odion went on, throwing shades at my age when he was only three years older, while wearing scrunching his face at me. "Look at your arms just bare and how your laps are out there, glaring for all of the boys at Wellington to see." He emphasized on boys for a long time, ending with a short tongue tick to portray his disapproval.

"Odion, drop it na. Mummy did not say anything, and it doesn't concern you."

He faked disbelieve, "Drop it?" His voice rose and octave, "No, I will not. As the oldest man of the house at the moment..." I sighed and looked out the window momentarily, prepping myself for his 'oldest man speech'. "...I have the responsibility of ensuring you are responsible. Plus mummy does not know boys like I do and you are too young—"

Akhere turned on the engine of the car, possibly to distract himself from the laughter that hung around his lips. He had his cheeks puffed with air and made low sounds in his throat.

"What the hell man, you are supposed to support me."

"Sorry, you were doing good until you mentioned too young," the younger twin chuckled.

Odion sat upright, turning his attention fully to him, then cocked his head with a side look that showed he was ready to bite of Akheres head. "You don't think she is too young?"

It was as if the statement was the only trigger needed to ensure the explosion of Akheres dam of laughter. "Have. You. Seen. Oze?" He beat the dashboard with each syllable, and none of us staring at him thought anything was funny. "She is an old ass woman."

"Hey!" I hit his seat out of refelx.

"But it is true," Akhere laughed harder. "During grandpa's remembrance everyone asked you to mingle with others your age, you went to the room instead and was reading Daddys newspaper. Also when we are dancing you always chose the mama mama dance, then later say that you have back pain, and your clothes? To be honest I am proud of you for dressing this way today." He laughed some more.

Odion would have none of it though. It was not enough to convince him to let me be, even though I wondered why they would never see me as a normal girl. One thought of me as old, the other thought of me as too young. Where did I stand? I would have relied on Uyiose, but his idea of me was worse than Odion's.

"Still, you and I know what that school is like. With that dressing, all those boys without sense would be flocking to Oze, and we are not there to protect her."

Akhere laughed again, not as extra as before. "Boys without sense? You mean the very definition of you when Aisha wore something like that last year abi?" This time, Odion threw a punch, hitting the shoulder of his twin.

"Ooouch," Akhere doubled over, using his body to press the horn.

"Can we go now?" I questioned, "Ike is waiting to go with us."

That was enough to make for the driver move the vehicle. Odion grumbled about having to be the one to open the gate, mentioning that Akhere cheated in their game of rock, paper, scissors to choose who drove, which made me wonder where Mr. Adamu was. But all of that thought vanished as soon as we started making our way to the house of the Akubundu's. My stomach suddenly carried the entire zoo as we drove through the quiet neighborhood.

All of the animals in it made so much noise they completely drowned out the voices of Odion and Akhere arguing of something I was sure was mundane. Anything that did not involve me was mundane, that was a mantra for this holiday. A girl was always the main character of her story, and this was my story. I planned to ensure it was a very happy and sweet ending, with Sopuluchi being the very center of it.

As we neared the house, I began to straighten every crease I thought my dress had accumulated over the ride. I patted the edges of my hair to find that none of them had been flying loose. Sometimes, these hairdo had minds of their own and could easily disgrace you at the slightest inconvenience. I checked that the purple nail polish I had on were not beginning to peel off, even though there would have been no way I could have brushed it up in the moving car.

Shortly, the car parked right in front of a white duplex building. In front of it was a short gate that did not do much in concealing the inside of the compound. From the car, I could see the two pet dogs of the Akubundus, April and Murphy, one a black rottweiler, and the other a white furred breed I still did not know.

"Get Ike, will you? We don't have all day." I was not sure which of them said it, but I nodded, got out of the vehicle and walked to the gate.

"Murphy," I called to the rottweiler, who recognized me since I had been over to the house a few times. He galloped towards the gate, followed by April too, both barking loud enough to call the attention of the people in the house. The thing was I could have called Ike on phone, in fact he did say I should do just that. But I wanted to act out the 'oh, it is you. I will get my stepbrother' love scene I envisioned in my head. Even though it was not my original plan to getting the boy, I called this the bonus. By fate, and God's direction Sopuluchi would be closer to the door, being the first to come out, and then he would see me and become mesmerized. Boom, love begins. I get to have a novel type of summer experience with the love of my life, and everybody wins.

Did I get my prayer? Nope. The first person to come out was their gateman, Mooshod, and while I was still extending my greeting Mr. Akubundu came out of the house. He was dressed in a grey suit pants and white shirt, with a briefcase and a suit jacket in his hand. At first, he did not seem to notice me until I called out.

"Good Morning, Mr. Akubundu. You look quite lovely this morning." It was a good thing to compliment your soon to be father-in-law.

"Ah, Oze. How are you?" His eyes caught sight of me and even though he wore a grin, his voice did not sound glad to see me. I could guess from the reaction that Ike had definitely not told him I was coming.

"Very well." I wore a small ingenuine smile, thinking of ways to scold my best friend. The last time this happened was during the weekend when his father refused to let him go stay over at his mother's place. Ike's mother was a flight attendant which meant she was not always around, so he stayed with his father most of the time. He always said that if it were his decision, he would rather live alone than with his father and stepfamily.

Mr. Akubundu nodded, adjusting his suit jacket in his hand. "Well, that is good. Jamuike is going with you today, right? He did not inform me of that arrangement." He added, frowning deeply. "Anyways, Moshood would get him for you." He turned to the gate man, giving him a confirmation with his eyes. I thanked him and proceeded to walk back to the vehicle as Mr. Akubundu headed to his own car. Bonus plan failed.

Sad over not having my ideal scene play out, I opened the car door and took out my phone from my bag. Odion and Akhere questioned at the same time, asking why my friend was taking time.

"That is what I want to find out to," I replied to them without looking, going straight to Ike's messages.

Come out or I will leave you behind.

"You were there for over half an hour." Odion spoke from the rolled down window of the car.

"It was less than ten minutes. Plus, I am sure you saw me talking with Mr. Akubundu." I responded, scrolling aimlessly through my social media pages.

I was still at that when I heard my brother call out the name of the person I had been wanting to see. Everything after that went in slow motion while my heartbeat beat faster. I raised my head to see the most beautiful light skinned boy bounce towards the opened gate. His thick dreads that sat atop his head glistened underneath the still warm morning sun, he was dressed in a simple blue unbuttoned vintage shirt, a white singlet and jeans ripped at his knees. Everything about him was perfect already but became more so as his eyes twinkled and a smile danced up his face, showing the best set of white teeth. I could only stare.

My heart felt like it would jump out my chest as he approached the vehicle. I watched as he went straight to shake the outstretched hand of my brother in the passenger seat. He leaned on the car window, thereafter, resting a knee on the body of the car. I could not get my eyes off him, taking note of every little details. Like his ears were slightly smaller and he either had pierced them or wore a magnetic earring. The tiny golden chain around his neck shone as bright as it could, he wore three black knuckle rings on the hand I could see. And finally, he had small birthmarks close to the side of his lips.

I watched as his lips moved, switching between smiles and words. I had only ever heard about kisses from my roommates who had tried it out, but one thing I was certain of was that if I were ever opportune to, I wanted Sopuluchi to be the one.

Someone cleared their throat beside me and I jumped, also ready to fight whoever disturbed my day dream.

"Welcome back to earth, simp." It was Jamuike. Unlike Sopuluchi, he was dark skinned. And where his stepbrother was pushing to be the height of my brothers, he was fighting to be taller than I was. He had his hair in a trimmed low cut, and wore his everyday t-shirt and faded jeans, with his school bag slung over his shoulder. "I got your text, even though I know you did not send it immediately you got here."

"I so did," I did not maintain eye contact, "And you have some explaining to do. Your dad did not know you were going with me." I whispered, trying not to attract the attention of Sopuluchi because I was not prepared for it yet.

"So? Let's go or you'll be late for registration." He did not waste time opening the door and greeting my brothers. I groaned silently and was about to enter the car when Sopuluchi looked and talked to me.

"Hi Oze," he stood upright now, his eyes glistened. "I like your outfit."

If Ike had not dragged me into the car, I would have stood on the spot, seeing fireworks as Sopuluchi headed back into the compound in another round of slow motion.

He liked my outfit. 

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I wanted this to come earlier than now, but NEPA or whatever they are called at this point refused to restore power until this evening. Either way, I am glad I am able to post this chapter today, as planned. I had fun writing and introducing the two brothers, minimally, but still. Also, heads up. This day scenes pans out for about six chapters. Day one, I guess.  Till next week Wednesday, have a lovely day/night. 

QOTD: Have you ever made plans to get the person you like?

Me, I don't think so. I only sit and stare at them from afar like a creep, lol. 

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