"What do you think you are about to do?" Wale questioned with a scared voice, he couldn't understand why his wife was holding a glass cup in mid-air and was about to harm the maid. The scenario that unraveled before him baffled and shocked him.

"Baby, do you know that this thing tried to provoke me?" Aderonke stuttered in fright on seeing her husband's dominating build that amazed and scared her simultaneously.

"She's not a thing, she's a human being. What is wrong with you?" Wale asked, grabbing hold of the glass cup that settled in his wife's hand.

"Nothing is wrong with me. Do you know what she did?" Aderonke asked as she extended her arms and took a fistful of her husband's polo shirt tightly.

"Sewa, please go to your room." Wale asked, turning his gaze to the quivering maid. He watched the maid scramble up the stairs in a jiffy and his facial expression changed completely when his eye's met with his wife's.

"I don't care about what she did.I am sure she didn't mean it.Are you sure you are sane? At this stage you have to see a therapist. I can't handle you anymore." Wale bawled as he tried to unloose the tight grip of his wife from his shirt.

"I don't need a therapist. I need my daughter back. I want Bimbo." Aderonke yelled as tears poured down her robust cheeks.

Aderonke knew that her husband was persistent hence she decided to change the subject and play the pity card. She smiled when her husband grabbed her shoulders gently and pulled her into a bone crashing hug. The duo were immersed in the close contact as the living room was as quiet as a graveyard.

"It's alright. We would get through this together." Wale coaxed, forming circles of affection on his wife's lower back and giving her whispers of assurance and hope in her ear.

"Today was just so terrible and that idiot made it worse " Aderonke stated when she broke away from the warm embrace.

"Anyways, have you eaten?" Wale enquired, ignoring her former statement and dropping the glass cup on the dining table before retreating calmly towards his wife.

"No I haven't. There was no time." Aderonke replied bluntly.

"What do you mean there was no time? Is your stomach on strike?" Wale asked, scanning his wife from head to toe. He was beginning to get the feeling that his wife was desperate to have ulcer.

"Stop complaining. I will eat but I won't allow that witch of a maid to prepare my meal. I prefer to do it myself." Aderonke responded, rubbing her eyelids with her right hand.

"Prepare mine too." Wale said humorously as he tickled his wife's sides.

Aderonke fought the urge to laugh but she had no choice. She realized that she needed a distraction from the traumatizing situation that settled in the present. She noticed her husband's eye circles which have grown darker with wrinkles adorning it and sighed heavily before throwing off a bright smile, but she knew she won't give up until she found the answers surrounding her daughter's death.

*********

Aderonke chopped vegetables loudly while humming to a Christian hymn in the kitchen. She then reached to open the fridge to take out a bottle of water to quench her thirst,she hadn't been to the kitchen in eight years and the lack of expertise took a huge toll on her.

She slammed the fridge shut and noticed a figure looking fixedly at her like a dog that demanded attention and she hissed impulsively.

"Just go back to your room. Don't make me chop your head off with this knife." Aderonke retorted angrily as she gripped the head of the knife tightly

"I am very sorry ma. I didn't mean to say that." Sewa shook her head while fixing her gaze on the floor.

"Why are you apologizing? I don't need it. Is it because it's the end of the month? I will still deduct from your salary so there's no need to express regret when it's too late."Aderonke said bluntly and resumed cutting the vegetables.

"Please ma, I won't say such again. Please forgive me." Sewa cried as she rubbed her palms together.

Aderonke paused and dropped the knife on the chopping board gently. She knew that the maid made an involuntary mistake and the events that took place in the police station caused her outburst. She then remembered that she had no idea on how to cook the vegetables and she groaned.

"I forgive you. Now cook this vegetable and prepare rice." Aderonke pointed while removing the white apron from her waist and throwing it on the maid's small head. Sewa simply nodded in happiness and threw the apron over her head before walking over to the electric cooker.

Aderonke strode towards the balcony and sat on a plastic white chair admiring the view of different types of houses with designs that interested her slightly. She scratched the sides of her nose and squinted her aching eyes. She sighted a mother beating her child with a broom who seemed to be around the age of five years old and she gasped in amazement, she closed her eyes and looked away. She never touched Bimbo on any basis, she believed that children had the right to express themselves without ending up with bruises and marks on their young skin.

A yawn formed from Aderonke's lips and her mouth gaped open, embracing the fresh air that blew into it. She leaned back in to the plastic chair and her eyes began to droop. She recounted the events that occured in the police station and frowned. She was perfectly certain that the detective hated her guts. Her vision became blurry with tiredness evident in her eyes and her head tilted in reflex. She positioned herself properly, placed a hand behind her head to act as a support and closed her eyes, welcoming the sleep that awaited her.

**********

"Wake up!" Aderonke heard someone calling her name and she shifted her body. Her head throbbed without reason and sweat was evident on her neck which meant that she was asleep for a long while. She opened her eyes cautiously and shot a glare on noticing it was her husband.

"Why did you wake me up?" Aderonke grumbled, pouting her lips in annoyance.

"Where is the food you were going to prepare?" Wale questioned with a shift in his brows.

"Which food?" Aderonke replied stupidly while rubbing her eyelids.

"Are you still sleeping?" Wale chuckled softly, blowing air on his wife's face.

"What's burning?" Wale asked suddenly as he sniffed the air around him.

Aderonke's face transformed when the sharp smell of something burning reached her nostrils. She jumped up quickly without sparing her husband a glance and ran towards the kitchen.

On reaching the kitchen door, she took huge breaths and walked in. She saw the maid snoring on the kitchen table, oblivious of the rice that was burning rapidly. She took quick strides towards the pot and opened it, most of the rice was already reduced to ashes in the pot and the little that remained could not contain a person.

Aderonke clenched her fists and walked towards the sleeping maid. For the sake of decency, she tapped the table slightly hoping for a positive result but Sewa simply turned her head and continued snoring.

Aderonke mashed her lips together in irritation and she slapped the maid repeatedly on her back. Sewa immediately jolted up from sleep and her buttocks landed in the tiled ground.

"Are you insane? How could you sleep when you are cooking ? What kind of human being are you? Can't you do something right for once? Now what am I going to eat?" Aderonke screamed with a enraged look on her face.

"I am sorry ma." Sewa began to plead, realizing that danger was waiting around the corner.

"Stop apologizing. Would it bring back the burnt rice? Are you cursed with stupidity or you simply don't know how to act right?" Aderonke rambled on and on as she walked the length and breadth of the large kitchen.

"I will prepare something else." Sewa encouraged, holding the hem of her black shirt.

"And you think I will allow that? Don't even think of feeding that burnt offering to the dog. The rice is meant for you, I hope it satisfies your hunger." Aderonke shouted at the top of her voice.

"I won't forgive you for this." Aderonke added.

"What is it again?" Wale whined on entering the kitchen, he had previously been eavesdropping on the duo's conversations but acted ignorant.

"She burnt the food we were meant to eat for lunch." Aderonke stated, vibrating her body which grew hot with fury.

"I thought you were going to prepare it?" Wale responded, leaning on the fridge.

"I was going to, then I realized that we have a maid. She's supposed to execute her job but clearly she's not doing anything." Aderonke explained, placing a palm on her forehead.

"Maybe we should just order food." Wale suggested.

"That's a good idea sir." Sewa said quickly, scratching her left cheek.

"And who asked for your opinion? Was he referring to you?" Aderonke shouted, advancing towards the maid but her husband's towering figure blocked her path from her prey.

"I won't allow this. You know that I don't like this at all. I am not interested in your irrevelant drama." Wale warned, holding out his index finger.

"Really? Then nobody's eating today. It's either you allow me to beat her to my satisfaction or we go on hunger strike together. " Aderonke replied with seriousness written all over her face.

"What kind of option is that?" Wale enquired, tilting his head

"It's not an option neither is it a choice!" Aderonke screamed, pushing her husband's chest.