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Episode 28

David was dumbfounded after I narrated how I discovered Mr. Martins to be my uncle. ‘Wow, that’s nice’, he said, trying to look happy. ‘Thank you, David and you know, I have to pack my things too today ‘, I said, ‘wow, so soon?’, he asked, ‘yes, I said’. ‘you can’t pack everything today na’, he said, ‘Yes, I can’t, I’ll just take the ones I can take today’, I said. ‘I would have loved to help you but, you know?, work’, he said, ‘Yes, I know’, I replied, ‘okay, see you later then’, he said and walked away. Not that David wasn’t happy for me but, I knew how David felt, he wasn’t happy that I’d leave his house. I rushed home quickly after he left, I entered the room and began to pack my things. I used the same bag I brought to the city, the only difference was that, this time there were better clothes in the bag. I couldn’t pack all my things but I packed the most important ones. Most of the neighbours had left for work that morning, so not everyone knew I was leaving. As I got to the front of the compound, I raised my head up in high esteem as I saw Bidemi and her mother sitting on pavement looking really miserable. I was really glad that I would finally leave the compound for them. ‘Where you dey go?’, Bidemi’s mother asked, ‘abi, is this woman okay, what is her business na?’, I murmured, ‘I’m asking you a question ooo’, she yelled. I still didn’t say anything, I had barely crossed over the road where I’d get a bus when Bidemi gagged, ‘leave her Abeg, David don pursue am commot for house’,. I looked at her sternly, I didn’t want to say anything, they just wanted trouble and there was no way, I’d give it to them. Besides, I was very happy, nothing mattered.

Hours later, I got to my uncle’s home which was now my new home, the traffic was really exhausting. I left my things in the living room, as I didn’t know which room, I’d be given yet. I was really thirsty,I ran to the kitchen first, to get water from the fridge before I’d face Mrs. Martins. Ngozi had a surprised look on her face, the moment, she saw me, ‘Uwa, I overheard the whole discussion in the living room this morning, is it really true, that you’re Oga’s niece?’, she asked, ‘Yes’, I replied casually, ‘are you not happy about it?’, she asked, ‘yes, I am, of course, I am’, I said trying to force a smile. I was happy but, I still had mixed thoughts. The pieces in my life were coming together but I still felt something missing, I just couldn’t tell what it was.

After much ridicule, threat and affront, Mrs. Martins eventually handed over the keys to my room to me. My room was two rooms away from Stella’s at the extreme of the hall way.

I had no idea, why she did that, that room was practically deserted, there was a room downstairs, I’d have loved to occupy, to stay away from Stella and Mrs. Martins as much as possible but, knowing I was a new member in the house, I kept calm and decided to settle down first. I knew that I still had to respect my uncle’s wife. I was really lonely throughout that afternoon, David was still working, Stella and her mum obviously weren’t good companions and Ngozi was preparing lunch, the only thing I had was my phone, I wasn’t even on any social network yet, so, I decided to call Yemisi. Yemisi sounded depressed over the phone. She said, she just came back from an hospital in another town with her father for antenatal, as Boma didn’t have any hospital, besides Nurse Bidemi’s house. Knowing, Mr. and Mrs. Soji, they would not allow their daughter to go to such a local place.

She explained that according to the doctor, she was due in three months and three weeks. I couldn’t help but shed tears, Yemisi was the only girl around my age, that welcomed me into her arms and treated me like a sister. .

I felt so guilty for not warning her earlier about Dayo, I also couldn’t bring myself to tell her that I had seen Dayo in Lagos, she would probably have asked me questions of his whereabouts, which, I was ignorant of.

Yemisi sounded so miserable over the phone, she emphasized about how lonely she had become in their house and how her parents argued and quarrelled all day. Series of apologies and consoling words escaped my lips. A new baby was coming which, was a good thing, but I still felt pity for her, she was still a young girl who had dreams and pregnancy delayed her. I admonished her to stop thinking and try to be happy. We kept on talking, I was prepared to talk to her all day, even if, I had to spend all my cash on airtime. However, I had to end the call when I was called upon my Mrs. Martins who knocked violently at my door.

‘Ma, I’m coming ma’, I yelled and ran out of my room. She looked at me with disdain before ordering, ‘Uwanah, clean up my room now, wash all the dishes, that kitchen is disgusting, then make sure you wash those clothes, I left them in a bucket in my bathroom, I need to go out now, make sure they’re done before I return’. I didn’t utter a word at first, though, I wasn’t feeling like a princess but I felt that by being her husband’s niece, she accord me a little respect. Doing what she wanted me to do wasn’t the issue, it was the manner at which she said it that got me angry.
She said it more harshly than when I was her maid. Nevertheless, I la!d no complaints and said, ‘Yes ma’. I entered her bathroom, I couldn’t help but scream, the clothes heaped in the bucket were too much that some were on the floor, her room was truly a mess and I still had the kitchen to attend to. Like that wasn’t enough, I took the laundry to put them into the washing machine and Mrs. Martins came running in, calling out for me, like there was an emergency, I was actually worried, until she said, ‘don’t use the washing machine for those clothes’. The clothes were obviously clothes, I needed to put into the washing machine, why would she ask me not to?. I couldn’t take it any longer, so, I asked, ‘why ma?’. ‘Are you questioning my decision?’, she asked, ‘no, ma, I’m just saying that these clothes can be put into the washing machine’, I said politely, ‘okay, so I don’t know what’s good for my own clothes’, she asked, drawing closer to me, ‘No ma, what I’m saying is
.’, I was interrupted by a resounding slap on my face. This time, the anger was off limits, I furiously dropped some of the clothes I held on the floor and ran to my room, good thing, I had a key. She kept on bickering for minutes, calling for the attention of her daughter and Ngozi, feeding them with false information of what had just happened. I sat on my bed and busted out in tears, the slap was really painful and I didn’t do anything to deserve it.

If she could treat me that way, because my uncle had gone to work, how much more when he traveled?. I made up my mind to stir up a strife between my mum and Stella’s mum.

I brought out my phone and called my mum sobbing uncontrollably. After narrating what had just occurred minutes ago between Mrs. Martins and I, to my mum, I knew impending trouble awaited Mrs. Martins due to the screams and curses from my mother on the phone. She suggested, I stay in my room where I could avoid Mrs. Martins and her daughter.

At about 6:00pm, I heard Mrs. Martins car tire screech and the gate opening, which meant, she had left the compound. I opened the room door and ran straight to the kitchen, I was very hungry due to skipping breakfast and lunch. ‘What happened na Uwanah?, madam is really angry at you ooo, she even called Oga and told him that you wanted to fight her’,
Ngozi informed me. I stared at Ngozi in awe, hiding the truth wasn’t enough for my uncle’s wife, she had to go as far as calling my uncle to tell him fibs. I didn’t tell Ngozi about the truth, even if she wanted to defend me, it would cost her job. Not that Ngozi wasn’t important enough to know the truth, but I knew her quite well, keeping quiet about the truth was something, she wouldn’t dare. When she realized that, I wouldn’t budge to her requests of disclosing the truth, she just adviced me to be careful and not to get on the bad side of Mrs. Martins. I thanked her and walked out of the kitchen with my food.

I still had crumbs of food on my plate, when my phone rang, it was David, I picked it up and he asked me to meet him outside immediately because, he was on his way home. I left my room and went downstairs. We stood at the front of the gate and laughed about a whole lot of things, even when it was glaring that, we were just forcing the laughter. I thanked for his benevolent gestures he showed the past few months. ‘Uwa, I’ve told you times without number that you don’t have to thank me for anything’, he said. ‘No, I have to thank you’, I insisted, ‘No, you don’t because I will still continue showing you kindness and if you want, you can still come back to the house, anytime, you feel like’, he notified, ‘eh!’, I exclaimed. ‘I’m just joking’, he said chuckling, ‘oh, okay’, I said.

He gazed intently at me for a while, then he held up my right hand and said, ‘Uwa, you threatened to leave our house when I told you about my feelings, well now, you have left our house, please consider my feelings’, he said. I couldn’t just tell why, but I just felt like we were being watched, I looked up to the balcony and found Stella staring fixedly at us.
When I was a maid, that act of hers would have instilled fear in me but being her father’s niece, I wasn’t shaken at all. David noticed her stance too and asked me to ignore her. ‘I will think about your feelings’, I said, in order to get him off my hair for that night. ‘Really?, you’ll think about it?’, he asked, ‘Yes, I will’, I replied. ‘Okay, see you tomorrow’, I said, ‘okay, goodnight’, David replied, looking very happy.

I looked up and could see rage and jealousy written all over her face. I entered the house and raced to my room upstairs. Stella was at the entrance of her room, tapping her feet like an eagle trying to claw its talons into a hard ground. ‘Uwanah’, she called softly, that I almost didn’t hear her. ‘Yes, Stella’, I answered very softly too, ‘are you deaf, didn’t I just call you?’, she asked, ‘Yes, you did and I answered you’, I replied, still trying to tolerate her. ‘You!, you’re very stupid, why didn’t you clean my room today?’, she asked. ‘Why didn’t you clean my room today?’, I mimicked her and started heading to my room. She said some annoying and hurtful things, I decided to be profound, I supposedly had a fight with the mother, I didn’t want to engage into a fight with the daughter and I had barely spent a day, I just had to keep my record clear. I knew she was just angry about David holding my hand at the gate earlier. Her mother returned some minutes after our brawl and by then, I was in my room so, I was ignorant of any information Stella fed her mother.

At long last, my uncle, Stella’s father, Mrs. Martins’ husband and Ngozi’s boss returned some minutes to 9:00pm. I classified Mr. Martins’ position in everyone’s lives because, everyone had a side of their stories to tell that night. I was still in my room when the matter was narrated to my uncle, I don’t know what he was told but all I heard was Ngozi calling out for me that oga wanted to see me. I rushed out of my room and followed Ngozi. ‘Uwanah, pack your things right now and bring them here’, my uncle said. I was dumbfounded, I was really scared, why would he want me to pack my things. Despite my questions, he insisted that I pack my things, Yet, Stella and her mother didn’t seem to be happy, telling me to pack my things was supposed to be good news for them, so, why weren’t they smiling?


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