Anjola met Yeside crying in front of the dingy 2 bedroom apartment that proud pauper insisted that her princess and darling grandson had to live in...She was still annoyed with Kunle for not putting his foot down and insisting that Wole take up their offer to buy them a flat in a respectable neighbourhood. Her foolish princess was also so love-struck. Her princess had stood up to her only ONCE. And it was because of this worthless pauper...What in the world could have caused her baby so much sorrow? And why was this girl such a 'softie'?
'Wole left the house 30 minutes earlier. He called me a w...'
Yeside tried to stay coherent but she wasn't making too much sense.
'He called you what? You are not making a lot of sense. Let's go inside'.
Anjola couldn't call that place that stubborn boy had insisted on a house. She had gone over her planned discussion with Wole at least 20 times as she drove to the 'hole'... How could such an idiot father her cherubic grandson? She would do whatever she needed to do to protect her daughter and her grandson. If that idiot had laid as much as a finger on her princess, he would rot in jail for the rest of his miserable life. Such an uncultured imbecile!
Yeside was so glad she caught her tongue before telling Mum that Wole called them witches. It was obvious to even a blind person that Mum hated Wole's guts. She wished Mum hadn't met her crying. She quickly dried her eyes and hugged Olamide.
'Thanks a lot Mum for your support and care. I hope Olamide didn't give you too much trouble ma. Would you like some semovita and vegetables?'
Anjola saw the invisible walls go back up quickly to mask Yeside's emotions. Anjola quickly brought her 'lawyer' skills. She didn't become a Minister of Justice by accident; she earned everything she had ever achieved.
'You didn't answer my question, young lady'
Justice Anjola was in the house and she sure knew her onions. As she interrogated Yeside, they both entered their regular routine of prosecution, defence, defendant and jury, all at the same time...
'Objection, my Lord; counsel is leading the witness', Yeside made a feeble attempt at turning the situation into a joke...
'Objection overruled', Anjola joined in the joke.
They both burst out laughing...
Olamide chose the time to tell Yeside that he was hungry.
Anjola had to head back home as it was getting pretty late. She wanted to review some case files before calling it a night.
'Are you sure you're okay, darling? You can talk to me, you know', Anjola coaxed Yeside.
Yeside was tempted to spill all out. However, she couldn't trust herself to maintain boundaries. She didn't want Mum to turn on Wole the way she had turned on Uncle Raphael when Aunty Margaret told her about their marital problems. Besides telling Mum meant admitting marital failure. No, she would find a way around it. She would have loved to confide in Dad but everything she told him still found its way to Mum.
'There is no problem, Mum. I guess I'm just a little overwhelmed by caring for Olamide and remaining a good wife to Wole.'
She saw that Mum was about to begin her 'Women Empowerment' talk so she quickly kissed her goodnight and returned to the house to feed Olamide.
******************************
'You will never be happy', Gbenro lashed out in anguish.
Yeside finally picked his calls after two days of incessant attempts. She hadn't turned up at the wedding! And her only excuse was that she couldn't forgive him for catching him during his 'goodbye' to Esther. Yes, she walked in on them while they were saying 'goodbye' the same way as they said 'hello'. Yeside was supposed to be at work that day. She claimed that she just felt that something was not right, so she decided to stop by.
Gbenro had pleaded and grovelled! She was such a witch! She pretended she had forgiven him only to not show up at what should have been their talk-of-the town wedding.
She said she just couldn't go through with the wedding. He was crushed, not because he loved her but because she bruised his ego. He wouldn't let her go just like that....
******************************
'WHERE IS OLAMIDE?' Yeside thought as a sharp scream brought her back from her reminiscence.
She searched frantically for a torchlight. The electricity supply was shamefully epileptic.
She checked in the boy's room but he was not there...
She heard the sharp scream again and rushed down the stairs. As she got out, she found her little boy at the foot of the stairs lying in a pool of his own blood!
'IS HE ALIVE?' Yeside screamed within.
As she got to the foot of the stairs, she bumped into someone. She looked up into Wole's dark, hate-filled eyes...
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