A sleek red Lexus pulled up in front of me as I waited for Vincent the next Saturday. He assured me that he wouldn't keep me waiting and I hoped so.

I tried my best to keep my eyes away from the tinted windows as if it would hide my wish to be in the car and not under the blazing sun.

The tinted glass wound down and my eyes landed directly on a pair of honey brown eyes. Eyes that belonged to Stephen Olarewaju. I've always been fascinated by his eyes. His eye were like Medusa's the only difference being that when you looked into his you just wanted to continue staring at them.
But what was he doing here? Seeing any of my classmates apart from Vincent was the last thing I wanted.

"Hola Hermosa," he greeted before opening the car door. He was clad in a baggy jeans and a white Gucci long sleeved top and he looked cool in it. Both his ears had this earrings with the cross pendant, but instead of the popular black colour, his was silver studded with stones that twinkled under the sunlight. I was suddenly conscious of what I was wearing. I wore an old bleached Jean with a polo that had 'Mrs Marshall Mathers' printed in front.

"A fan of the rap god, CJ is definitely dumping Jessica for you," Stephen chuckled. I felt kind of uncomfortable. If he had noticed the writing on my polo shirt then he must have scanned my dressing.

I managed a small laugh. "Not happening anytime soon."

He cleared his throat. "You ready?" I raised a brow. "The session with Vincent. I decided to join the driver so that Vincent can take care of a few things before you arrive."

"Wait you stay with Vincent? Are you two like step brothers or something?"

Vincent laughed. "Enter the car first."

I looked at him and the car with scepticism before entering the car. I greeted the driver who was nodding his head to a song playing from the car. He hummed a response as Vincent sat beside me.

I sighed in satisfaction as the cold air from the air-conditioning cooled me.

"I can relate," Stephen laughed.

"I thought you would stay in the front seat," I said looking out the windows to the world zooming past us.

"I want to keep you company na."

His phone started ringing. As he spoke to the caller in Yoruba, I continued looking out the window. Sometimes, I wished I could just zoom through life. I wanted to see my future already but life decided to be a snail.

"It was Vincent," he said.

I hummed and continued looking outside.

"Why do you look different today?" He asked turning to face me. A smile dance on his peach lips.

"Just pretend you don't notice," I said looking back at him.

"I'm already catching feelings," he winked. And I almost blushed. Almost. I was thinking he meant I looked different in a bad way.

"You better don't. It's not healthy for you," I replied with a smirk.

He laughed again and I was tempted to join him. He had this kind of contagious laugh. "Who ever said I was healthy?" I noticed him scan me quickly before adding, "You look different. . .in a really good way today to be honest."

"No dey whine me jor."

"I'm being serious." He scooted closer.

I shook my head holding back a smile. "You don't look bad yourself Stephen."

"You're crushing on me," he cooed.

"You're sick," I said. "So are you and Vincent related?"

"Yeah. We're cousins," he answered checking something out on his phone.

"Aha! I guessed as much."

"Na so. You thought I was homo," he said eyeing me jokingly. "You even thought we're step brothers just now."

"Cousins don't stay together," I shrugged. "And the gay stuff was what I thought at first but I later guessed you guys were cousins. You look like someone who prefers toto."

"Of course I do. One of my favourite things," he said wiggling his brows. It was funny that I had to laugh. I noticed we were already driving into a really large compound.

The house was huge and was painted cream and mauve. The driver parked under the carport where about four other cars were parked. I backed my bag as I stepped out of the car. It contained my weekend assignments which I planned to do with Vincent.

A dog dashed out of the house and I found myself hugging Stephen who looked like he would fall on his backside laughing if I left him.

"Naya. . .calm. . .down," he said in between laughs.

"Is it gone?" I asked still holding him with my eyes squeezed shut.

"Your blocking my air supply girl. The girls have taken it away," he answered. I released him and scanned the area quickly and luckily, there was no dog in sight. I placed my hand on my chest. My heart was still beating madly.

I gave a sigh of relief. "High blood pressure."

Stephen laughed. "The way you jumped on me was so. . .I wasn't even expecting it. I thought you were the tough girl."

"I almost died from dog bite when I was six or seven. My aunt didn't want to pay for my treatment -" I stopped talking. I had told myself that I won't let them know anything about me. "Let's go inside."
Surprisingly Stephen obliged and didn't ask for me to continue what I was saying.

Stephen went into the house first. He held the white French door open for me as I walked into the room that looked like a waiting room. There was a wine three sitter couch by my left and a black leather single sitter opposite us. A polished wood table was by my right and on top it sat a landline, an old phone book and a vase of artificial gardenias that complemented the cream colour of the room.

Who still uses that old calling box?

The air conditioning system in the house was on full blast and I moaned in satisfaction again. I saw somebody peeping at me from the other door that lead to the sitting room and I turned to Stephen but he shrugged.

When I entered the sitting room, I heard a squeal that made me jump and the kids giggled. They were three in number, a boy and two girls. One of the girls, who looked so much like Vincent but was fair skinned, looked eight and I think she was the one who was peeking at me.

"Stephen, is she your girlfriend?" The other girl asked. She also looked like Stephen but she was brown skinned. Her afro hair was packed in two buns with coloured hairpins beautifying her already beautiful hair. I have a thing for afro hair. The girl looked twelve or thirteen.

The girl who was obviously Vincent's younger sister and the boy giggled at the question.

"No." He deadpanned. "Nairobi meet Constance aka Connie, Vincent's baby sister –"

"I'm not a baby. I'm eight!" I guessed right.

"Going to eight," Stephen said giving her a funny look.

She folded her arms across her chest. "Next month!"

"You're a drama Queen," the young boy giggled.

"No kidding," Stephen muttered under his breath before introducing the boy and the other girl as his siblings, Noah and Magdalene.

"Hi Nairobi," they both greeted together. Constance seemed pretty excited to meet me because she was just smiling wildly and staying restless.

"Hi. . .beauties," I added nicely. Stephen grinned from ear to ear but I ignored him. "Where's Vincent?"

Constance bounced on her feet. "I'll take you to him," she offered dragging me out of the sitting room to the kitchen. I'll admit, she was stronger than I expected. I fought the urge to gape at the house it was magnificent! From the wood textured tiles to the uniquely painted walls and wallpapers. It a screamed extravagance. I shuddered at the image of my coop in Abule. I made a mental note never to ever let anyone come over or even know my neighborhood.

"My brother is at the backyard," she explained opening the door that lead from the kitchen to the backyard.

"Ayo!" she called in her shrill voice. He was putting on earpiece but I'm sure he heard her. He looked towards us and well, I couldn't read any expression on his face.

"Hi," I greeted awkwardly.

"You might want to wait for me inside. I'm kind of busy now," he said showing me his hands which were covered in soap latter.

"Deji go! I can operate the machine so I'll help you do laundry," Constance said with hands on her hips.

Vincent laughed. "I know you can but I don't want you to. Why don't you. . .er. . .entertain her with your beautiful paintings."

"Yes. Yes. Yes!" She pulled me back inside the kitchen. She opened a tall fridge while I marveled at how big and neat a kitchen could be.

"I wouldn't mind cooking every minute in this kitchen," I said to myself. Our own kitchen was a public kitchen and it was always dirty. It could make you loose appetite. Constance handed me a canned cococola as she sipped capri sun.

"Auntie Thelma went to the mart that's why Vincent is washing the clothes," she said without allowing me to say thank you. "He'll be done soon."

The sitting room was empty when we got there. "Where are they?"

"Steve and Noah might be playing video games while Maddie would be with John. He takes care of our dog," the girl said before making me sit. "Wait for me here. Don't move," she ordered.

"Sure."

I studied the sitting room dreamily. Its walls were pale pink with splats of gold. I found it unique. A large plasma TV hung on the wall just opposite me but it was not switched on. There were wine, black and cream couches and multicolored furry throw pillows but they surprisingly weren't colour riot.

A mini aquarium stood at the corner of the sitting room. At first I thought it was filled with artificial fishes but when I got closer to check, I realised it was filled with real fish.

"I told you not to move!"

I turned to meet the glare of a pouting Constance. She looked funny.

"Sorry ma'am."

She came and dragged me to the longest couch. "These are my colouring books," she said placing two hardcover spiral bound books on my laps. "I have more but these are my best ones," she said with a big smile.

I opened the first one and fought the urge to laugh at the first drawing. It was the perfect caricature of Barney the purple dinosaur. As I flipped through the books, I saw some beautiful colorings too. Sunsets, sunrise, the ocean trees. I noticed she was good at nature.

"You coloured all this by yourself?"

With a big smile she answered. "Yes." Her smile faltered a bit, "well mommy used to help me and give me ideas when she was around."

I was scared to ask the next question on my mind but I did anyways. "Where's your mother?"

"She traveled. It's been soooo long she did but she assured me she'd come back soon. I talk to her on the phone once in a while."

"Oh ok." Not what I was expecting but I was grateful anyways. "Your work is nice." I said sincerely.

"Thank you. Do you colour too?" She asked sitting beside me.

"I paint and draw. I feel happy when I do it. For a while, I just leave this world to a world of colours," I said dreamily.

"Me too," Constance squealed. "And when I colour I seem to forget all the sad things."

Same here! I wanted to squeal.

The girl already had things in common with me. I was already taking a liking to her.

"I'm done with. . .my chores," I heard Vincent say. I whipped my head in his direction and saw him rubbing his neck.

"Hey! We were having a girls time!" Really? "How long have you been eavesdropping?" Constance said folding her arms.

Vincent raised his arms in defense with a smile tugging at his lips. "Chill Connie. Just a few seconds or minutes."

Constance tsked.

Someone walked into the house and moan in satisfaction. I could relate.

"Auntie Thelma!" Constance squealed hugging the woman. She looked in her late thirties or early fourties. She was carrying a bunch of bags. "So what are we eating this afternoon?" Constance asked bouncing around the woman. I was beginning to think the girl had a problem.

"Spaghetti and beef. I told you before I left," the woman replied.

"Oh. Winner hasn't come yet o,"

"She's not coming today," the woman answered tiredly.

"Good afternoon ma," I greeted.

"Afternoon my dear--"

"She's Stephen's girlfriend," Constance giggled.

"No I'm not!" I countered immediately.

"But you're his friend right? Because Vincent never brings people into the house," the woman said looking in Vincent's direction.

"She's my classmate. She's helping me with my school work," he explained slowly.

"Then you two better get started," Auntie Thelma said giving Vincent a knowing look. "Come Connie, let us go and cook for the children of the house."

"Yippee kai yay!" the girl said running off to the kitchen with some bags she could carry.

"Wait here. I'll be right back," Vincent said before going upstairs.

*
Finally, I've been waiting for this chapter💃.

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If you see plotholes please let me know.

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