~Sarima's POV~

It was dusk already as the pulsating beat from the earpiece plugged into both my ears distracted me a bit from my present environment. I made a mental note to stop at mama chidiebere's shop to get a chilled carbonated drink to calm my tired bones and hungry stomach.

Improvising designs for Ronke's friends was tiring, and watching them bicker about getting a better design than the other was like encountering another civil war.

Or it was listening to Elsie insult me again and not having to give her a piece of my mind that plagued my nerves; whether she was doing it consciously or unconsciously, I really didn't care.

Bitch.ish

I stopped in front of the iron protector that guided the entrance of the shop, removing the earpiece on both my ears, and I came in sight With 14-year-old Chidiebere; he immediately slipped the naira notes he was holding under the basin of garri that was on top a wooden table used to display goods when he sighted me.

I thought money from sales is supposed to be kept in a bag or a container.

"Aunty... good afternoon, ma". A funny smile accompanied his greeting. "Err...good evening," he corrected, scratching his head.

So you're stealing from your mother ehn? Afterwards, she'd be killing my ears with her loud scolding at poor Nneka almost every morning.

I nodded my response to his greeting, luckily sighting his mother nearby.

"What about Nneka?" I asked, referring to their housemaid, always assigned to stay at the shop.

"She's in the house?" He replied, then asked. "What do you want to buy?"

I turned to mama Chidiebere, who was already beside me with a smile, "Asanwa, how are you?"

I smiled back at her giving my response as she opened the protector and entered the shop.

Chidiebere seemed uncomfortable with this development as he nervously shuffled his feet on the floor.

I pray mama Chidiebere would notice the money sticking out from under the basin of garri.

"Give him what she wants nau, oluku", she barked at her son, who was staring at me, waiting for me to say what I wanted.

Trust mama Chidiebere to sometimes subconsciously refer to a female as he/him and a male as she/her.

"What do you want to buy?" He asked me, quite embarrassed that I'd witnessed his mother calling him names as he nervously glanced at her while she properly arranged the bags of Rice and garri she had at a corner of the shop to create space.

I felt embarrassed on his behalf too. A stranger having to witness a parent scolding me wasn't one thing I'd fancied as a child.

"Fanta."

He went immediately to get it from the freezer.

"Where's Nneka?" Mama Chidiebere asked, peering into the basin of garri.

"Inside," he mumbled his response.

"That's why you want those basins to get empty first before you refill it, okwaya?" She spoke in a harsh tone.

Mama Chidiebere was a harsh woman. She rarely smiled and would snap at people at the slightest provocation. Unfortunately, her children weren't left out.

I was on her good side, considering that she liked Somi and me and wouldn't hesitate at any opportunity to tell us how we reminded her of the twin friends she had in her childhood days and had lost due to some circumstance.

Pretty privilege.

Chidiebere handed me the Fanta and I wondered why mama Chidiebere hadn't noticed the money hiding under the garri basin just yet, she was just like a police officer that suspected little things and noticed when something was off by just being around.

I wondered why she hadn't noticed the jittery way Chidiebere had been acting since she got inside here.

"Asa, is that all you want?" She asked me as I brought the money from my purse to pay. "You don't want to buy Rice or something?"

"I bought a rubber of rice yesterday," I replied, smiling.

"Ohhh, I forgot," she chuckled. "But you must have finished your garri by now... Ehn?" I smiled as the word Kene had used to describe the serious-minded characters of the Igbos when money was involved came to my mind.

The obi nwanne.

"I think I still have some left, okay...you can give me a rubber of it" I opened my purse to bring out my money, hoping she'd notice the cash under the basin as she got to work.

The smell of roasted corn wafted into my nostrils as I noticed Iya Kemi and Kemi roasting corn and pear at the other corner of the fence.

I think that would be going down for dinner tonight as the thought of eating the hard, black yam Homa had left for me in the pot after collecting the good ones this afternoon seemed unappealing.

"Chere godu, Chidiebere bia, who kept this money here?" My head snapped back to the shop as mama Chidiebere hooked her son by the collar of his oil-stained blue shirt.

He looked like he was seeing a ghost as fear engulfed his being.

"It's... it's... it's..." He stuttered before the back of her palm settled on his cheek in a hot slap.

I felt the impact.

"You cannot talk again? Five hundred naira Chidiebere, five hundred?" She waved the money in front of his face before designing his recent skin-cut head with heavy, dirty knocks.

I was glad she finally knew who the thief was, but the knocks she gave him were disturbing. With the way he tried to duck, his face contorted like a ball of squeezed crumpled paper. I knew those knocks could provide him with brain damage. Of course, the fact that no single hair was on his head, too, wasn't helping.

"Aunty, please, it's okay," I finally tried to intervene as I opened the protector giving Chidiebere a chance to escape my distraction.

He ran out of the shop and stood outside, covered in shame.

"Asa, leave me to deal with her. She's a very stupid boy."

I tried to calm her down with the little Igbo I knew. "hapuru ya aka biko, please leave him."

"No o, no night food for him, nri abali is cancelled for him," she handed me the plastic bag containing my garri while I exchanged it for the amount.

"A whole five hundred," she shuddered. "That boy will hear it from me, o ho ha!"

She spoke as I left the shop with my Fanta and garri.

"Aunty take it easy o," I responded, going to the corn stand.

"Err, Ejima," she ducked her head out of the shop, calling me, and I turned around. "Please stop by at my house and call Nneka for me ehn, bikonu."

"Alright, ma." I nodded before she went back in.

"Iya Kemi, good evening" I dropped the nylon of garri on top of the free space on the bench she sat on.

"Ehen, oko mi," she offered me a smile.

"Good evening," Kemi, who was turning and fanning the corn, greeted me.

"Yeah, how are you?" I offhandedly responded with my eyes on the big ones.

"I'm fine."

"How much are these?" I asked Iya Kemi, who was adjusting her headgear.

"100 100," she pointed at the ones I had my eyes on. "The other ones are 70 and 50".

"No, I want these. Wrap it up for me."

Kemi abandoned the fan and picked up a page of old newspaper among the rest placing the two corn into it.

"Put the pear, how much is it?" My eyes were on Iya.

"5 for hundred naira."

I nodded at her response, gesturing for Kemi to add it.

She handed it to me when she was done wrapping it.

"Thank you," I passed the money to her mother, putting the corn into the space left on the nylon of garri.

"Goodnight o", she smiled at me.

"Goodnight," I nodded, picking up the bag and entering the compound.

A group of children was having their evening games in the compound.

A neighbour, Obi, was trying to turn on his generator, but it seemed to be giving him issues.

I pray it doesn't start.

"Aunty Ejima, someone is calling you." Joy, Chidiebere's immediate younger sister, pointed behind me as my neighbour Mercy sashayed past me, clad in one of her usual skimpy outfits that never failed to reveal her exotic shape, without as much as a friendly hi for at least neighbourly regard.

I didn't care, but when the time to borrow Maggi or matches came, she'd turn all nice and smiley.

I rolled my eyes at her figure and turned to see a red latest model Ford Jeep parked in front of the compound. The lack of light proved hard to make out the person behind the wheel. The car honked again, signalling that my attention was wanted.

I wondered who that could be, and curiosity made me move toward the car to see who it was.

"Before I forget, tell Nneka that your mom is calling her," I told Joy.

"Yes, aunty," she excused herself from her playmates running to their house.

I made my way to the car and regretted my curiosity when I arrived.

It was Ayo.

The same Ayo I kept avoiding calls from.

He had a smile on his face, "Nice to see you, miss Sarima."

"Good evening, sir." My lips were pursed.

He grimaced at what I'd said.

"Call me Ayo."

I nodded.

"You stay here?" Came his question.

Obviously.

I nodded.

"You do too?" I went for sarcasm.

"Really?" he chuckled. "...I mean no," he corrected awkwardly, sobering up.

My stare remained blank.

"You don't like taking my calls," he tried to turn the table.

I uncomfortably clutched the nylon, which was becoming heavier with both hands.

"It's network issues," I lied partially, then added quickly. "Plus, I don't know you... what are you doing here?"

"Oh," he looked into the compound. "I dropped a friend and coincidentally saw you...umm...look, can you just come into the car, let's go somewhere and talk?" He pleaded.

I frowned at the idea. "Err, it's quite late, Mr. Ayo, it's past my curfew time, and I don't want to annoy my parents," I lied again.

"Oh, you stay with your parents?" He seemed taken aback.

I nodded.

"Okay, how about tomorrow?" He suggested.

"I'm busy with school."

He nodded grimly, reclining on the chair and staring at me.

"Err, can you just come into the car? Let's talk."

About?

"No o," I looked at Iya Kemi and her daughter. Kemi attended to some customers while Iya was shamelessly eavesdropping on our conversation.

I wasn't bothered, but I didn't want to oblige Ayo, so I went for another lie.

"My nosy neighbours would tell my parents, and they can be very strict." I said in a low voice.

He seemed frustrated.

"How about you call me tomorrow or whenever you're free so we can meet and..."

"...why?" I asked with a frown.

"Umm..."

"I don't know you. You even went as far as collecting my number from my sister, which doesn't seem cool..."

"...look, I'm sorry dear if you see it as rude or not your style, it's not mine either...I acted on Impulse the other day. I... just want to be friends, at least for now."

Eh?

"Please?" He added, his eyes going down to the nylon on my hand. "I'm sorry, that must be quite some load."

Better be o

"So what do you say? You and I hang out sometime," His smile was on display again.

"When I'm free, maybe."

"Maybe? I don't trust that" he was still smiling, trying to charm me.

I chuckled, "I'm not quite sure, but I'll try."

"Thank you, dear," he winked at me as a honk came from Papa Chidiebere's Volvo behind him to clear the way. "My cue to leave. Take care of yourself." He winked again before moving.

I nodded, turning around and nearly bumping into mercy in the process.

"Ah, watch o" she nearly stumbled, her gaze trained at the entrance.

"Ayomide," she called loudly after Ayo's car, which was slowly moving away.

She must've been the friend he claimed to have dropped off.

Friend ke.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Segun Arinze came as a representative from the AGN?" Homa jumped up from the bed excitedly, some furled papers dropping from her bare thighs as she spoke to Amira on the phone.

After throwing a glance her way, I returned to my fixing thread into the eye of the needle on the machine.

"I told you why I couldn't make it. I have work on Saturdays at the daycare. I must have missed a lot." Her voice came out whiney.

"No wahala, bye," she hung up and then faced me. "Sarima, you won't believe Segun Arinze was at the seminar I missed today in school that my faculty organised. He was a representative from the Actors Guild of Nigeria," she gushed with a wide grin.

"You don't mean it," I replied in a dull sarcastic voice, still Concentrating on the thread and needle.

"Mtchew, joy killer," she replied, disappointed that I didn't share her excitement. She dropped her phone on the centre table with her glass case, stifling a yawn and picking up the papers she'd fallen from the rug.

"Ehen, please help me with your phone. I want to check my Instagram." I looked up after successfully fitting the thread into the needle.

She frowned, and I added. "It's for business. You know my phone's been misbehaving recently."

She picked up the phone and handed it over to me. "Be fast o. My data is small."

I collected it with a nod leaving the machine and going over to sit on the bed.

"Wait, I haven't logged out of my account" she landed beside me, bouncing off the bed.

"I'd do that" I glanced at her body covered only in a black bra and unmatching blue panties. "So they said you shouldn't wear clothes this evening."

"You're not grateful that you're having a look at this hot specimen for free when guys are dying to..."

"...abeg abeg, make I hear word," I interrupted her, fixing my gaze on the phone.

She chuckled.

"Ehen, there," she pointed at the app.

"I know," I replied, tapping it.

I waited for it to refresh.

"Go there," she pointed at another part of the screen as my thumb followed.

"Log out."

"I know," I replied as her busy body was grating on my nerves.

"Ehen, sign in to your account." She pointed at it.

"I know e, Sabinus!" I snapped at her.

She grimaced, moving away from me and wiping her face with Mama's old hollandis we'd used as a makeshift blanket on the bed. "Is that why you want to bathe me with your saliva?" Came her rejoinder.

I hissed, leaving the bed and going back to my sewing machine.

Somi came out from the kitchen with a plate of beans and garri on a non-ceramic tray in both hands.

Her mood had been off since she returned from a cooking job earlier.

Few minutes into the silence that enveloped the room.

The sound of stone breaking came from her chewing.

She paused, grimacing as she stood up from the bed and entered the kitchen to spit into the trash.

Homa laughed as she collected her phone back from me.

Somi appeared from the curtain after she must've rinsed her mouth.

"And you said you selected that beans, abi?" Her eyes were narrowed at Homa, who was stifling her laughter while shrugging her response. "I did nau."

Somi hissed, settling back on the bed and collecting her spoon, muttering. "Mumu."

Her remark only increased Homa's laughter.

"Are you sure it's the stone you chewed that's paining you, abi the fact that you saw Adams and his fianceé at that brunch?"

No wonder her mood has been off.

A chuckle escaped my throat as I joined Homa in her laughter while Somi ignored us, taking spoonfuls of her food and wearing a blank and unaffected look.

***********************

Goodness 💓🇳🇬.