August 14, 1997

The splattering sound of the rain as it aggressively hit the closed windows in the dining room, which was only a tiny extension of the living room, could be heard all around the one bedroom apartment.

She could barely hear her own footsteps as she hurried to the living room, holding on firmly to an iron bucket in one hand and a torchlight in the other to help her find her way through the darkness that had endowed on the entire street and the house.

It was still so dark for seven thirty P.M, but she knew she could blame no one but the weather and the ever lasting rain. It had rained all through the night before and into the morning, it was really exhausting.

She found her way to the almost filled iron bucket, raising her sleeves so she didn't have to wet it. She pushed it away slightly and replaced it with the empty bucket she was with just so the raindrops from the leaking roof could find its way into the bucket instead spilling on the thick brown rug.

'That should do'
She thought as she stood straight for a minute to observe if she had placed the iron bucket properly. The last thing she needed was coming back from work to a flooded house.

Splat! Splat! Splat!

Now that was an even worse noise the raindrops made as it found its way into the bucket. She exhaled and turned to the window, it looked like the rain was going to stop soon with the way the noise from outside wasn't so much anymore. She rubbed her palms together.

"Mummy?"

Adaora turned at the sound of her name, pointing her torchlight towards the direction of her seven year old that sat on the wooden chair, scribbling inside her drawing book. Adaora knew that was her cue to head back to the table.

"Yes baby," She stood right beside her daughter, placing her hands gently on her left shoulder while she glanced into the drawing book, pretending to be surprised at the drawing in it.

"Woah, Olivia, what are we drawing today?" She asked pushing the lantern further away from the little girl so she wouldn't burn herself unintentionally.

"The Super Eagles." The little girl answered, reaching for her green crayon. It was time for her to colour the field.

Adaora pouted as she watched her daughter colour. She had no idea what it looked like but she tried to look impressed.

"My teacher asked us to draw what we love about our country and so I decided to draw our football team." Olivia continued, giving her book her undivided attention. "She also said the best three drawings were going to be hung on the walls of our classroom."

"She said that?"

"Uh huh." She nodded her rather small head. "Look mum," She pointed at one of the figures she had drawn in her book with her crayon. "That's Jay Jay Okocha," She said and then pointed to another figure with her crayon, Adaora followed her lead.  "And that's Kanu."

She pointed to another figure.

"And right beside him, that's -" She paused for a while. "That's-" Adaora looked at her with a hopeful smile on her face as she watched her struggle to remember a name, holding every bit of laughter inside of her as Olivia pouted. She had no idea who that was. She looked like she wasn't even sure she knew all the names in the football team.

"That's-"

"That must be Taribo West." A hoarse voice said from the door.

They both turned with wide smiles on their faces as they watched the really tall man walk into the living room with his hands on his tie while he tried to make it into a perfect knot. The tiny smile on his face grew wider the more steps he took in. He had the most perfect body build, even his loose legged trousers looked so good on him, better than it had done any man Adaora had ever seen. He walked closer to the table.

"Daddy!" Olivia jumped off her seat in excitement as she rushed into his embrace. She was so happy. The man hurriedly carried her up, feigning a groan as he placed her on his right arm.
Adaora scoffed, turning completely to them.

"Someone woke up hyper today." He told Olivia, pouting his lips.

"Good morning Daddy." Olivia chuckled.

"Now you both had better be careful not to rumple that uniform." Adaora had to just say it. "I had a hard time ironing that and you know how it is with NEPA when it rains. We might not have electricity for the rest of the week."

She slowly found her way to them.

"Yes ma." The man said as she got closer to the table, wrapping her small waist into his large arm. He pulled her close and kissed her deeply. Olivia hurriedly placed a hand on her eyes to cover them, the smile on her face growing wider. She chuckled loudly.

"Stop it." She told them jokingly.

Adaora chuckled and turned to her husband.
"Good morning."

"Good morning to you too." He returned her smile and gently dropped Olivia back on the ground.

He turned towards the direction of the loud sound of water dripping into the iron bucket then raised his head to the leaking roof.
"It's leaking again huh?"

Adaora exhaled.
"Thank God I found out on time, we'd have woken up to a flooded living room by now."

"I'd check it out after work. It looks like the rain is about to stop, I should be able to fix it." He returned his gaze to her.

"Come on, breakfast is ready." Adaora said and turned to Olivia just as he walked to the table and pulled out a chair to seat in it. "Olly, help your dad with the bread please." She told Olivia as she gently poured hot water from the jug into the three cups on the table while Olivia did as she was told.

"Thank you baby." Her father told her, taking a few slices from the ceramic plate. Adaora took the seat right beside Olivia.

"Do you want me to help you?" She asked, noticing how Olivia struggled to open the sachet of powdered milk.

Olivia nodded and then passed the sachet to her so she could help her make her tea. It only took a few seconds.

"Here baby." She passed the hot cup to Olivia. "Be gentle, it's really hot." She told her.

"Come on." She heard her father call their attention. "Let's say the Grace." He continued.

"Can I Daddy?" Olivia volunteered. She really loved leading her family in the Grace before and after meals and they both knew it.

"Sure baby." Adaora answered her with a smile on her face.

Olivia chuckled and clasped her hands together in excitement.

"In Jesus name," she started. They both stretched their hands to her, holding on to each other's hands while Olivia put her tiny hands into theirs.

"May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ..." She started.

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

The rain was almost coming to an end now. Olivia held on tight to her mother's hand as they all walked out of the house in the safety of the large umbrella. She watched her father lock the door after them while they waited.

"You have your lunch box?" Her mother whispered to her. Olivia nodded with a huge smile on her face. "Okay." Adaora whispered again, giving her a soft pat on her head.

"O-Kay." They both turned at the sound of his voice as they watched him put his keys into his leather work bag. "You have your keys?" He asked Adaora.

She nodded and returned his smile. Olivia loved it when her mother smiled, and what she loved the most was that it was her father that always knew how to make her smile. It made her heart so jolly whenever she saw how happy they were.

For a family that didn't have much or didn't feed on much, for a family where her father worked as a Clerk at the Nigerian Telecommunication company, the center of the country's communication base and didn't earn so much, she loved how content they were with almost everything, how happy they were.

She loved how supportive her father was, even when her mother had found her new job that paid slightly more than his, he never tried to discourage her but instead, he gave her his full support.

That was the kind of man he was, a good and understanding man.

"Alright." He leaned towards Olivia and gave her a soft kiss on her cheek. "Be good in school today okay?"

"Okay Daddy." Olivia rushed outside the shade of the umbrella and hurried to her mother's silver car just parked right at the corner of the house. She loved the rain anyway.

"Drive safely, okay?" Adaora whispered to him right after they kissed. "Don't stay out late."

"I promise." He rubbed her arms and nodded. He stepped away from the umbrella and hurried to his nineteen ninety five Peugeot that was parked right beside hers. Adaora drew a deep breath and rushed to hers too.

She was so late. She knew if she was supposed to drop Olivia off at school and still get to work on time, she had to leave at that moment.

Olivia got into the car quickly and Adaora followed.

"Seat belts?" She leaned closer to Olivia and then helped her wear her seatbelt. Olivia got out her story book. She loved to read in the car. She waited for her mother to start the engine.

Adaora was having a hard time starting the car. She tried and tried again but it kept going off after a second.

"God, no." She whispered as she rolled her eyes. How can it be happening to her at that last moment? Just when she thought she didn't need to waste anymore time on, her car was trying to get her into a lot of trouble with her boss.

What did she expect though?

Her nineteen ninety two Honda Accord was really outdated, not just outdated, it looked really old and had a few rusted parts for a car she had bought two years ago at a really affordable price from a friend who had used it before. Maybe that was why it kept humiliating her whenever it just stopped working before, after and even during a drive.

She walked away from the car and then hurried to the hood just as Steven hurried to join her.

"Stopped again?" He asked her and she slowly turned to her husband.

"I'm sure it's nothing a few drops of water won't fix." She tried to remain positive as she watched him open the hood. They both stepped back as a huge pile of smoke filled the air from it.

"That's a lot of smoke." She waved her hands in the air to stop the smoke from getting closer, trying to clear her vision. They both waited till the atmosphere was bearable again before they got closer to the compartment. Steven bent over to check it out.

"Do you think it's really bad?" She asked as she watched him examine it.

It only took a while before,
"Try it again." He told her. She hurried back to the car and did as she was told, nothing happened, nothing changed. She quickly got out.

"It's the same." She walked towards him. Olivia raised her head so she could see what was going on but she couldn't because of the large metal in front of her. She sighed. She knew just exactly what the problem was.

Steven clapped his hands gently together to dust it off.

"I don't think you can ride in this car today my love." He told her. "The battery compartment is burnt and the battery is bad."

"Really?" Adaora asked, disappointment all over her face. "No, this can not be happening. If I don't get to work on time, I might end up losing my job, and to make it worse, the unending Lagos traffic, I could end up getting to work by tomorrow morning if I stall any longer." She placed her hand on her head trying to think of what to do.

Steven sighed too.

"What kind of wahala is this one now?"  She asked rhetorically.

Steven turned to face her, forcing a smile on his face.

"Don't worry, all hope is not lost." He grabbed her arm and twirled her around to face him. She exhaled weakly, trying to look less worried than she actually was. "You should take my car, you and Olivia."

"What?" She whispered. "What about you?"

"Don't worry about me. I'd just use a bus."

"A bus?" She scoffed, her worry and stress increasing. "Baby, you're going to get to work late."

"It doesn't matter." He stopped her. "I'm sure no one would even notice." He pouted. "Umm, you can take my car, drop Olivia at school and then get to work in time, I can manage till we get yours fixed."

He exhaled and pulled his hands down her arms.

"I'd be getting paid soon, if we add that to the majority of our savings, we should be able to get you a new car so you wouldn't have to keep driving this old one around." He squeezed her hands. "I'm really sorry that I can only do this much for you, I know you deserve better, you deserve more than-"

"Stop." She placed her hand on his lips quickly to cover it. She pretended to clean something from it. "Stop saying such foolish things." She continued. He took a deep breath. "What you give me, what you've given me is more than enough for me. I never asked for anything else, and I'd still choose you even in my next life, I'd still choose us."

A tiny smile covered his face.

"I love you." He pulled her closer to him and embraced her tightly. "So so much."

Adaora let out a satisfied smile.

"Come on." He let her go. "You should get going so you and Olivia wouldn't have to be late. I'd see you both in the evening."

She nodded and then hurried to the passenger's seat of her car for Olivia.

"Mum?"

Adaora slowly helped her out of her seatbelt.
"Come on Olly." She gently pulled Olivia away from the car just as Steven watched them head towards his. Adaora got in.

"Daddy!"

He waved right back at Olivia. She looked so adorable in her tiny uniform and beautiful braids. He watched her get into the red car while Adaora started the engine. He watched them drive out of the compound.

Steven sighed and then placed his hands on his hips as he slowly turned back to the problematic car.

It was going to be a long morning.