“Mummy good evening ma.” She greeted with a forced smile.

Her mother, who previously was engrossed on the Television screen, picked up the remote, muted its volume and faced her daughter.

“Ilerioluwa. Ileri. I know you’re a big girl now, but at least call me and tell me when you’ll be coming home late. Do you want me to die of worrying? Don’t you want me to carry my grandchildren?” she scolded, the typical Nigerian mother way.

“Mummy I’m sorry ma, it’s the stress from work.” leri replied, rubbing her hand on her fore head for more emphasis. “I’m tired, I want to sleep.” She calmly stated, and was about to retire to her room when her mum called her back.

“Won’t you eat first? Bola prepared semo and eguisi and she can serve yours now for you.”

leri shook her head, “Mummy I’m not hungry.”

Her mother sat up instantly. “Meaning what? I don’t understand. Have you eaten?

“Yes mummy.” Leri said with a defeated sigh, “I bought some snacks at the supermarket.”

“Ileri snacks is not food. Be careful and don’t invite ulcer into your life. Don’t bring it to my house. I don’t have it, my husband does not have it and so does your brother. I will not tolerate it for you. In fact, I reject it for you.” She demonstrated with her hands, by snapping them to the back.

Leri rolled her eyes before proceeding to her room.

“Or should she prepare pap instead? There’s beans in the freezer.” Her mum was persistent.

“No Mummy. Goodnight.”

Leri collapsed on her bed, and screamed in her pillow while hitting her bed repeatedly with her fist. She’d just lied to her mum big time and the guilt was drowning her.

As she sat up, she yanked off her wig and ran her fingers repeatedly through her hair, currently made into cornrows that ran all the way to the back. She washed her dirty feet in the bathroom and settled once again on her bed.

Truly, she bought snacks, but not some biscuits and soda from the supermarket. She bought what she liked to call ‘Leri’s food pills for sadness, pain and depression.’

She took the foiled paper gingerly and began unravelling it. She inhaled its warm, spicy scent, held it to her lips and took a bite. She was in food heaven. She moved to the next course, brought it out of the cellophane bag and was just digging in when her door swung open.

“Sis, I need your laptop.” It was her thick headed brother, of course, who saw no importance in knocking and repecting her privacy. “I wasn’t able to completely collect season two of vampire diaries and my flash drive had spoilt, so I’ll have to watch it on yours.” While explaining, he had picked up the laptop and was currently unplugging the charger from its socket.

“Were you able to get the headsets I told you about?” he questioned.

She said nothing, and seconds stretched into minutes.

The silence couldn’t go unnoticed by her brother who had to turn his attention to her.

“Sis?” he called, joggling Leri back to reality.

She blinked at him, “Yes, what’s up?” she asked casually.

“I asked you a question?” he stated the obvious.

“When?”

Her brother gave her an incredulous look, “like five minutes ago. Are you okay?”

“Iyanu I’m fine jare.” She replied dismissively with a wave of her wrist.

“You got fired today, right?”

Leri swallowed. “Fired? Of course not.” She scoffed, ignoring her heart which was breathing thrice the normal.

Iyanu slowly dropped the laptop and charger on the table, crossed his hands and raised his brows at her.

“You bought Delite sharwama and supreme ice cream.” He acknowledged.

“So?”

“Sis please, drop the act because it doesn’t fool me for a second. Your regular sharwama is from Bigpip, not Delite and everyone in this house knows you prefer yoghurt to ice cream. But here you are, comfortably eating two food, you consider abominable. And in case you’ve forgotten, this was exactly what you ate when you were sacked from your previous work place.” He inched near the bed and locked eye contact with her, “What happened?”

That was enough for Leri’s defenses to collapse. Her vision blurred and tears streamed down her face. She looked away.

“I just wanted to,” her voice wavered, “I –“

Her sentence was interrupted when she felt arms around her, rubbing her back in a comforting manner. Leri sobbed into her brother’s shirt, inhaling his coconut scent. Times like this, she appreciated her brother, regardless of the fact he was the most infuriating person on earth, he always knew when she needed him, and  was always there.

“Have you told Denis about this?” he asked softly.

“No.” her voice came out muffled, “his line isn’t going through. I tried multiple times.”

Iyanu sighed. “It’s okay Sis. I don’t like seeing you this way, because I personally prefer disturbing you when you’re happy. Another job will come through, with mad salary. A stress free job.”

Leri nodded, her face still against his chest. She was certain her eyes would be red and puffy now, and asides that, she wasn’t ready to pull away from Iyanu’s embrace. Not surprisingly, he pulled back.

Idiot. She thought in her mind.

Iyanu grimaced, “I don’t know if Denis has told you this before, but you look horrible when you cry. You remind me of that lady-Isma, from the Emperor’s new groove. You know, the wrinkles and bulging eyes.”

Leri chuckled, remembering the cartoon character. She threw a weak punch at his chest.

“I’ll be on my way now, before you turn me into a punching bag.” He picked up the gadget and charger and headed to the door, when Leri called his attention.

“Thank you.” She said with sincerity.

“Why are you thanking me?” Iyanu questioned her, “you’re my sister and nobody has the right to hurt you or cause you tears. Continue your food of doom and rest. You look tired.”

Leri felt a bit better after Iyanu left. She had a long cold shower, wore comfortable pajamas, finished up her sharwama and ice cream, and then picked up her phone.

She dialed her boyfriend’s number again, but it sent her straight to voice mail and after several attempts, she stopped trying.

She tapped her instagram app and the first picture on her timeline automatically made her smile. Dahlia Kagabel, her celebrity idol, finally posted a picture after a month’s hiatus. Leri was overjoyed.

She hoisted herself to comfortable position on her bed before studying the picture like an exam question. Dahlia in all her glory was attired in an antique baroque turtle neck body con top from the renowned Lisa Folawiyo collection, one of the top fashion designers in Nigeria. Her blouse was tucked into a pristine white fitted jeans that accentuated her figure and on her feet were red pencil heels. Dahlia’s hair was styled into a long straight pony tail, which made Leri consider styling hers too. Her makeup was effortlessly flawless and beneath the picture was the caption, ‘back with more boss energy. Try to keep up!’

In less than fifteen minutes the picture was posted, it had already a hundred thousand likes and three thousand and fifty nine comments. Leri typed in her own comment with multiple heart emojis, after which she reposted the picture on her Instagram story.

Dahlia Kagabel was the Nigerian celebrity Leri admired and respected. She was not only an entrepreneur, but was also one of the most influential women in the country who was internationally recognized in diaspora.

After a couple more hours surfing through Instagram, she checked her WhatsApp for any new message from her boyfriend, and sadly, there was none.

Leri couldn’t ignore the tinge of worry growing in her. Her brain and memory raced for a possible explanation regarding his absence, but honestly she couldn’t come up with one. For three days now she’d heard nothing from him and it was really bothering her. There wasn’t any quarrel or fight between them recently. So why was he MIA?

She closed her eyes, inhaled and exhaled deeply, coercing herself to calm down and not over think. Maybe something came up that hindered him from reaching out to her, maybe his phone got spoilt. Whatever it was, she prayed a silent prayer for him, hoping he was fine wherever he was and would call her as soon as possible.

Glancing through her bedroom, her chest constricted. By this time yesterday she was ironing out her outfit for work the next day. Now fast forward to the present, who would’ve thought?

A dry humorless laugh escaped through her mouth. Not only was she jobless, but her boyfriend was nowhere to be found when she needed him.

She fell flat to the bed with an exasperated sigh. Sleep was really needed right now, she wanted a break from reality and mostly because her body demanded it.

Her eye lids got heavy after minutes and at the verge of drifting into a peaceful slumber, the power voltage went off.

In her drowsy state, she managed a sloppy hiss and mumbled her last word for the night, “Useless people.”

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