Aderonke shook her head while watching her sister-in-law, Fadeke scoop a handful of boiled groundnut from a bowl. She made incoherent noises from her lips which irritated Aderonke. Fadeke was Wale's younger sister who was currently unemployed after studying in the United States for four years. Aderonke raked her eyes all over Fadeke, she was exceptionally beautiful with her dark chocolate skin. Aderonke was appalled to see Fadeke in her house since they were never on good terms since she got married to Wale.

"This groundnut is sweet. " Fadeke exclaimed.

"I know." Aderonke gave off a toothless smile and adjusted her short gown.

"Do you have more?" Fadeke asked while using her nails to remove bits of groundnut that settled in between her teeth.

"Of course." Aderonke shook her head. She wondered why Fadeke came to visit. It was odd enough that Fadeke was trying to sprout a conversation but the cheeky smile that never left Fadeke's face was alarming.

"Aderonke!" Fadeke called.

"I am right here, you don't have to shout. " Aderonke retorted dramatically.

"Aderonke!" Fadeke repeated while scanning the lavish sitting room. Fadeke loved money but the heavens rendered her destiny as poor and penniless. Fadeke had scouted for jobs in the United States but it was fruitless and even in Nigeria, every job she applied for ended up in rejection, not even her brother's affluence could help it. The best her brother did was to give her some cash which never got invested or properly spent. It was always spent in clothes, shoes, bags or parties.

Fadeke was financially dumb.

"I told you earlier that you don't have to shout like a local woman. Speak, I'm in all ears." Aderonke grunted.

"I-I am sorry." Fadeke stated with a sigh.

"For what?" Aderonke inhaled sharply.

"About Bimbo. I was shocked about it, you're going through a lot that I don't think I can-" Fadeke began but was interupted in mid-sentence.

"It's not like you were the one who killed her." Aderonke laughed humorlessly.

Fadeke laughed as well, loud and hard before staring at Aderonke in the eye. The glint of hatred visible on their faces were funny and deadly at the same time.

"I can't believe that you can still joke after losing your only child." Fadeke chided and took another handful of groundnut from the bowl on the centre table.

"I'm not joking. Did you kill my daughter?" Aderonke spat with a wry smile.

"H-How can you say that? I'm your sister for Christ's sake." Fadeke nearly choked on the groudnut she was eating.

"You're not my sister. We aren't related remember?" Aderonke reminded her.

"Aderonke, what is it? Why are you still holding on the past? Learn to forgive and forget." Fadeke pleaded with her eyes.

"Which past are you referring to? The past in which you called me a prostitute and a golddigger when I was about to wed your brother?" Aderonke responded.

"I thought you only liked my brother because of his wealth and to be honest...I wasn't lying, you were actually a prostitute. My brother picked you up from the streets." Fadeke shrugged.

"Look at who just said that I should stop holding on to the past. You are no better than me, Fadeke." Aderonke replied.

"Whatever, I really don't want to argue with a mourning woman." Fadeke answered.

"And did you come here to comfort me? It doesn't look like it." Aderonke admitted.

"When is the burial?" Fadeke changed the topic hurriedly.

"When the investigation is over and I know who killed my daughter." Aderonke replied.

Fadeke chuckled,"Then be prepared to do the burial ten years from now. Do you really think the police are doing anything?"

"At least they are doing a better job than you. "Aderonke shrugged.

"How I wish my mother was still alive, Bimbo wouldn't have died." Fadeke stated.

"And what would she have done?" Aderonke asked while placing her left hand on her chin.

"She would have taken good care of Bimbo." Fadeke blurted.

"So you're trying to say that I wasn't not a good mother?" Aderonke raised a brow.

"I didn't say that. Where is my brother by the way?" Fadeke said.

"Where else? He's at work." Aderonke folded her arms.

"Why is he like that? He's supposed to be at home...with you." Fadeke countered.

"Ask him yourself. He's your brother." Aderonke retorted.

"Aderonke, I'm starving." Fadeke confessed, touching her stomach.

"But you just had an entire bowl of groundnut." Aderonke replied.

"Is groundnut food? I need good food." Fadeke pouted.

"Glutton." Aderonke muttered to herself. She eyed Fadeke from head to toe. Fadeke was as slim as a broomstick and she had the ability to eat the entire Aso Rock at a go.

"What did you say?" Fadeke asked with a smile.

"Nothing, I'll ask Sewa to prepare something for you." Aderonke answered.

"Please make sure it's Amala." Fadeke pleaded with her eyes.

"Okay." Aderonke replied and stood up on her feet. She couldn't believe that Fadeke could eat knowing that her niece was dead. She sighed while climbing the stairs.

Fadeke was truly brazen in the head.

******

"This amala is soft." Fadeke remarked while smacking her lips. A mold of amala perfectly settled in her right hand, ready to begin it's journey into her mouth.

"I know." Aderonke replied, shaking her head with pity.

"Don't you think you are eating too much?" Aderonke continued, staring at the huge mountain of Amala that was still remaining in the ceramic bowl.

"It's not. It's small to me sef." Fadeke shrugged.

"You are eating like a criminal that is about to die." Aderonke replied.

"Ronke, what are you saying?" Fadeke asked while washing her oily hands in a wash basin.

"You are eating like someone that's about to die. Do you remember Adaku from Jenifa's diary. She was-" Aderonke started

"Just stop there. What are you trying to say? Is it because I'm eating in your house...my brother's house to be exact. How much is Amala and Ewedu? I'll give you the money for everything sef." Fadeke responded with a sneer.

"I didn't mean to say that. I....was just trying to say...you know na." Aderonke chuckled.

"I don't know what you are trying to say. You are just as rude as Bimbo. I remember the night I saw her on the road dressed in a miniskirt and a crotchet top. I was trying to greet her and she ignored me. That's why she's your carbon copy anyways-"

Aderonke shook her head, "My daughter never wore a mini skirt and crotchet whatever. She was always decent, she went to vigils in the night with her friends. Maybe you were blind." Aderonke stated with a shrug.

"I wasn't blind, Ronke. I think I took a picture. Let me show you." Fadeke said and she turned around, fumbling with her gold purse.

Aderonke simply vibrated her legs, her mind in utter denial to what Fadeke had said. She had a premonition that Fadeke might be lying just to spite her.

"Here is the picture." Fadeke announced, placing her phone in front of Aderonke's face.

Aderonke took the phone from Fadeke's hand and examined the picture. It was a bit dark but the street lights made a yellowish glow on the figure in the picture. The girl was truly wearing a miniskirt and a crotchet top but it didn't look like Bimbo. Aderonke looked closer and noticed something odd, the red bag the girl slung on her left shoulder was very familiar. It was the bag she gave Bimbo for her fifteenth birthday. Her heart began to race.

It can't be.

A purple scarf was sticking out of the bag and Aderonke gasped. That was the scarf Bimbo wore on her head anytime she wanted to go for vigil with her friends. Aderonke then realized it. Bimbo was always obstinate about her mother driving her to the church but now Aderonke understood why.

Bimbo lied. Bimbo was a liar. Her daughter was a liar.

"Ronke, are you okay?" Fadeke said, breaking Aderonke from her train of thoughts.

"I'm okay. I think I need to use the toilet." Aderonke forced a fake smile.

Aderonke rose up on her feet and walked way hastily, she mounted the stairs slowly, pondering on how foolish she was. Her daughter lied to her about night vigils and she knew there were more to come.

She walked towards her daughter's room and she opened the door slowly. The dust in the room was enough to kill a asthma patient. Since Bimbo died, Aderonke had found it traumatic to enter her daughter's room without breaking down. She stared at her daughter's bed, it was scattered with books, clothes and makeup. She bit her lips subconsciously.

Tears were threatening to fall. The perfume her daughter used often still had a sharp scent in the room. With difficult steps, she sat on her daughter's bed and bent her head in pain. A drop fell, then another and another followed. It was too painful to fathom. Her eighteen year old daughter was gone, she didn't even get to graduate. Aderonke always dreamt of the lavish wedding she would throw for Bimbo or the car she would buy when Bimbo entered the university. But now, Bimbo was dead without eating a huge bite of life.

Her flaring legs kicked something. Aderonke wiped her cheeks and looked down. A Bible was sitting on the floor, lonely and dusty. She bent and picked it up. The feel of the Bible was unfamiliar.

When last did she read a Bible? She stopped believing in hope and faith when her daughter died.

She opened the Bible and flipped through the pages. Her daughter's handwriting was everywhere. Aderonke started tearing up. She opened her lips and cried. It was too much for her to bear. Aderonke's hand touched something strange when she reached the middle of the Bible.

It was blue, soft to feel and small in shape.

Aderonke picked it up and examined it properly. Her brain waves refused to respond for some seconds but when she realized it, she screamed.

"Mogbe!"

It was a condom, a durex condom to be precise. Aderonke's heart hammered furiously. She couldn't believe it. What was a condom doing in between her daughter's Bible. Her vision began to blur as tears ran down her cheeks.

"Ronke, where are you? I'm leaving o." Fadeke yelled from downstairs.

But Aderonke's ears were blocked, her eyes wide open in shock and fixed on what she was holding. She slowly drooped her frame to the ground slowly and hugged herself. She wept till the water in her eyes dried up. She thought she knew her daughter even when the detective said her daughter was pregnant but now she was certain that she didn't know her daughter.