Chapter dedicated to posoob ... thanks alot baby girl.

~Kene's POV~

"Chidi, I won't be home during the evening hours. If you can't make it this morning to replace the car battery, why don't you send Jimmy or any other of your boys ... get me the new battery. I can even fix it myself." I spoke to my mechanic on the phone while stirring the Guinea corn and millet Akamu mix I'd received from Ifeoluwa's mom yesterday.

"I'll send one of them across if you insist, although I wanted to do it by myself so I can check on other things too. I don't want these apprentices to cause damage_errr you know how they can be-I'm quite busy now," Chidi replied.

"Just send Jimmy to bring the new battery, I have no other issues with the car," I stated plainly going over to the gas cooker, which accommodated the whistling kettle on one part of it, signalling that the water was boiling.

"Okay, I'll send him to do so right away,"

"Thank you."

I ended the call, turned off the gas, and lifted the kettle.

I returned to the white-marbled kitchen counter and placed my phone beside the bowl. I poured the water into the bowl, waiting for it to form a viscous liquid.

It still ended up as watery as my first try.

I frowned, scooping the brown liquid and watching it pour down back into the bowl from the spoon.

What am I doing wrong?

I make custard regularly, and it doesn't end up watery like this. Wasn't the same preparation procedure used for Akamu too?

I took a sip from the glass of water on the table as my stomach growled, then strolled over to one of the cabinets above, opened it, and brought the Little bucket of Hollandia custard out of it.

Ife breezed into the kitchen, humming aloud with stocked sack bags in both hands.

She was flustered seeing me shirtless in the kitchen.

"I...I thought you were out already", she stuttered.

"Good morning o, Aunty Ife," I replied, placing the custard on the counter.

She hid her blush, eyes trained on the custard as I sat on the long stool opposite her, the counter demarcating us.

"Good morning Uncle Jide."

I nodded in response.

"I thought you should be at work by this time" she averted her gaze from mine. "Are you not feeling well?" She quizzed, lifting her eyes to my face as I stared at the tribal marks on both sides of her cheek.

I responded negatively, then shrugged, "Didn't go today...you're back early from the market." My eyes settled on the foodstuff she was removing from the sack bag. "I hope you didn't buy plenty of pepper o," I remarked playfully, causing a chuckle from her.

"No," she replied shyly. "You're making custard?" She asked, noticing it on top of the counter. "What about ..." She was about to ask about the Akamu when her eyes settled on the liquid in the bowl.

She dragged the bowl towards her side and went over to dump it into the sink, her eyes glinting in amusement.

Iya-Ife owned a little fast food around the area.

I'd always filled myself with restaurant take-outs since I settled in Lagos until Emeka introduced me to Iya Ife's food. Her cooking was good except for the pepper, so I hired her to make dishes for me and stuck them in my freezer with clear instructions on less pepper.

But sometimes she sends Jollof rice from her shop for me, which was always peppery, her signature cooking style to her customers, and I'd always pass it over to Akan.

She'd sent Ife, her 20-year-old daughter, to cook today. Sometimes, it was Ife whenever she got tied up in the shop, and other times she cooked herself.

"The remaining Millet is inside the fridge," I said to Ife, taking the custard back to the Cabinet above.

"Okay," she responded. Rinsing off the brown liquid from the bowl and going to the freezer.

"I said the fridge Ife..."

"Oh..." She chuckled at her absent-mindedness, moving adjacent to where the vertically long grey-coloured fridge stood.

"Keep on thinking about your boyfriend o," I remarked drily, smiling at her.

"Ohhhm, who said I have boyfriend, na...uncle Jide" she pouted, whining like a child.

It seemed like this child was beginning to nurse a crush on me.

Maybe Emeka was right when he speculated it. However, I felt uncomfortable with that knowledge.

I just smiled at her, downing the remaining water in the tumbler.

I started heading back into my room to wear a shirt or singlet to take off the uneasiness Ife felt about me being shirtless around her.

"Yeah, I forgot to thank you for cleaning up the house yesterday. You shouldn't have, though. Thanks anyway."

She nodded.

"I'll be right back..." My words were cut off by a scream from a feminine voice.

It was coming from the other flat in the compound.

Then other voices followed it but not in a scream as the former.

I paused, looking at Ife.

"It should be from that your neighbour Clara and her friends," Ife spoke bitterly, a slight frown marring her features.

From the look of things, she clearly didn't like her. "Just ignore them." She tried to dismiss.

The screaming came again, followed by a string of insults, louder this time as it seemed they were out in the compound.

"Don't you think someone might be in some kind of trouble?" I asked, feeling reluctant to ignore.

"Don't mind them. They're always making noise like that," Ife pressed on.

I didn't really know my neighbour. I don't even think I'd be able to recognize her as my neighbour if I saw her outside this compound, although I sometimes hear her voice when I'm around, considering she seemed loud.

I couldn't ignore the shouts again as I exited the kitchen, Ife high tailing after me.

In a minute, I'd gotten out and met the scene outside.

A dark chubby woman dressed up in a blue senegalese gown, with sophisticated make-up and hairstyle, looked like she was supposed to be gracing an event and not aiding the bulky man that looked like a hired thug in beating up the supposed Clara.

I rushed to the scene, pushing the man away from Clara who was screaming on the floor. Her short dress was half ripped, barely covering her body. Clara's fat light skinned friend was also hurling insults at the dressed-up chubby woman.

"Leave that husband snatcher. Let me deal with her!" The woman shouted as Clara hid behind me, sobbing.

She came to get her, and I held her away. "Hey! That's enough nau."

The bulky man that accompanied her recovered his stance from the push and rushed towards me, roughly hitting me on my bare chest with both his palm.

I roughly pushed him back, faintly registering Ife calling my name. "Calm down nigga, na woman you wan dey punch so?" I asked him.

He stubbornly stood his ground. "Oga respect yourself clear road make I finish wetin carry me come here," He tried to manoeuvre and get Clara from behind me. I followed his movements, still hiding Clara from his reach.

"Deal with her o, better deal with her 'cause I still have your balance," the woman was still shouting and gingering her aid.

"Okay, okay..." I racked my brain for a solution, my hands outstretched.

"Oga shift o, you go wound." He wanted to manoeuvre again, and I pushed him away harder this time.

His eyes were red like he was high on dope, and his deep voice was scratchy.

The push annoyed him, making him angrily lunge a punch which I barely missed. His finger scratched my jaw in the process.

Ife was screaming now in the lobby.

I wouldn't fight this man because of something I knew nothing about, but I still wouldn't let him beat up my neighbour.

She was still hiding behind my form. I'd have preferred she ran into her house and locked herself up with this little opportunity.

"Bros, I go double the balance for you; behave abeg." I pushed him off again, that was the safest move I could go for.

He paused, passing a look at the woman as the word double money seemed to have done some magic.

"Don't tell me you want to bail on me, Robert." She glared at him, nose flaring in anger.

"Ehn..." He began to drag his words "me I no pledge loyalty give anybody o" he guiltily looked away from her.

"How much is the money?" I asked him impatiently as the angry worms in my stomach began some acrobatics.

"50k."

Ah!

"Liar!, Oleburuku, oloshi... Your balance is just 10,000" she gave him a deadly stink eye. "Shebi, you want to bail out on me and still cheat somebody, oloriburuku!"

"Madam, no start to spoil market for me abeg," He warned her, his fist clenched in a threatening manner towards her face.

I rolled my eyes.

"Oh, you want to beat me? Try it, I said try me, Robert. You want to rot in jail, abi..."

"Hey!!!" my word came out in a bark creating a lull in the atmosphere as both their heads snapped to me. Clara even froze, her hands circling my torso.

"Ife get me my phone," I spoke calmly now, despite quickly losing my patience.

She eyed Clara's hand wrapped in my body before dashing into the house.

I tentatively eased myself from Clara's hold, but she still pulled me into her grip, her sob increasing.

Hmm...You brought this upon yourself o.

"You're crying, ehn. The reason for those tears should better be because you want to leave my husband o," the woman started again, her voice breaking.

"Madam, please!". I looked at her; she looked like she was also fighting frustrated tears.

"Madam abeg dey go," Clara's friend chipped in.

Ife came out with my phone and handed it to me as I enquired about his account details and transferred the money to him.

Spending unnecessarily. mtchew

He left the compound.

"You!", The woman was in tears, now her make-up in ruins, as I finally slipped out of Clara's hold. "You'll suffer for causing me this heart ache... I curse you". Her words were directed at Clara.

"Madam, you no wan go your house?" Clara's friend clapped back.

I moved over to the crying lady, lost on how to approach the situation.

"She's wicked," she told me, pointing towards Clara. "He pays her rent but finds it difficult to bring out feeding money for myself and his children."

I placed my hand on her shoulder in consolation.

"It's okay, don't cry... just," I searched for the right words, "confront your husband squarely, not this way, ma'am."

She nodded at my words dabbing at her eyes.

And in a minute, she was gone.

The security man watching the incident from his house beside the gate trailed after her and bolted the gate behind her retreating form.

I marched squarely back to my apartment, giving a quick nod to Clara's friend, who was showering me with gratitude without sparing them a glance.

Ife stared at my face with a frown when I met her at the door.

"That madman has given you an injury on your face now." She complained.

I touched the affected jaw seeing a tiny mark of blood. I could barely feel the pain.

"It's nothing," came my response as I strolled to the passage that led to my room. "I'm hungry. Make something quick for me, please."

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

I picked up my phone from a glass stool in the sitting room with my keys, too, as I made to join Elsie, who was already waiting for me in the car.

Ife was long done with her cooking, and the dishes were stored in the freezer as she'd dismissed herself to Join her mom in the shop.

I looked at my phone and saw on the screen that I had just missed some calls from Adaeze, my sister.

I'll call her back when I get to Abuja.

I was waiting for Emeka, who was supposed to follow us to the airport and take my car back home.

We could have gone with an Uber, but not when her royal majesty Elsie was involved.

I smiled as I got out of the house, sighting her leaning on the open passenger's door of the Camry, a pout on her face.

"What's taking up your time?" She asked.

"You know we still have to wait for Emi, right?" She frowned at my revelation while I turned the key over in the lock, satisfied and taking it out when I heard the sound indicating that it was locked.

Then a knock came at the gate.

"That must be him." I strolled lazily to the car.

"Thank God," she gave off a dramatic sigh.

When the knock came again, I looked at the security man's house, expecting him to get to the gate. He wasn't forthcoming.

I made my way to the gate. This wasn't the first time Bello was leaving his duty post for something else.

I unbolted the gate and pulled it open as Emeka made his way into the compound, barely sparing me a glance and muttering. "You owe me."

My eye roll that was supposed to follow his remark hung in my head when she came into sight.

A huge smile immediately formed on my lips as my insides warmed soothingly at her presence.

Sarima.

She wiggled her fingers in a mock wave, her beautiful lips lopsided in a smirk.

"What a pleasant surprise," I was grinning like a fool.

"Was around the neighbourhood when I sighted Emeka, didn't know you stay around here. He says you're travelling, and I decided to drop by and say hi just before you leave" she squeezed her hands nervously, her eyes not quite meeting mine.

I couldn't deny that I missed her a lot.

We texted each other on Social media platforms, but just the usual hi...hello kind of chat. Unfortunately, we've not had a good conversation since she left my workplace a week ago.

She scanned my outfit, taking in my blue shirt, black slacks, and black moccasins.

"You look good", she complimented, raising her eyes to mine.

"I always do," came my smug remark.

"Ken!" Elsie cried out, "what's keeping you at the gate, nau?"

"Give me a second," I returned, my eyes studying Sarima.

"Your..." She raised a brow, waiting for me to complete the statement.

"Elsie," I replied.

"Oh"

Her initial cheery mood was gone. I could see past that fake smile she had plastered on her face.

"I should be gone. It's getting late." She looked up at the greying clouds.

"So soon?" I frowned.

"You have a flight to catch, bro," she replied playfully, punching my arm.

"Stop frowning, you look like a monkey", she laughed, then sobered up when I didn't even break a smile. "Bye, and safe journey". Her words came out instead in discomfort as She turned around after waving.

I wanted to call her back but Elsie was already beside me pulling me along with her and peeping outside the gate to catch a glimpse of who was keeping me outside.

"You and all these your chewing gum babes."

She just called me bro?

 
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