Chapter 4
"Sophia you have to listen to me"
"Listen to you? You are asking me to marry a man I don't know, someone I have never met. I'm sorry mum but there's no way I'm listening to that"
Sophia and her mother have been on the battle of her getting married to Tunde, she wasn't ready to get married and her mother doesn't seem to understand that. Even if she was to get married it's definitely not to a man she doesn't know. It was going to be to someone she loved.
"Sophia please, I'm begging you if not for anything but do this for us, for the family. Your father's business is in debt, everything we spent years building is about to go down the drain. The Makinde family has offered to help" her mother tearfully pleaded.
"So in other words, I'm being used as a collateral for a loan? Is that all I mean to you mother? Some commodity that can be exchanged for a business transaction? What about what I want? What about my dreams? Don't they matter?"
"Sophia it's not like that and you know it, I'm doing this to save your father's legacy, the company is the only thing we have left. I love you an..''
"It doesn't seem like it to me mum, from where I'm standing, it seems you are trying to sell me off"
Sophia picked up her car keys from the center table and stormed out of the living room. she is twenty eight years old, but her mother keeps treating her like she is still a teenager. First she won't allow her to go live on her own because she wasn't married and men were going to label her a sloth if lives alone. So she had to continue living with her mother even if she could afford an apartment of her own. As an interior decorator she was doing well for herself, her business was growing and she was beginning to get known for her services.
She got into her car and drove to her sister's house, she needed someone to talk to and her friend Jumoke was out of the country for a vacation, she didn't want to ruin her vacation with her sorry tales. Her sister happens to be the only person she could vent to and she was a good listener.
When she arrived, Ifeoma was in the kitchen with her three year old daughter, they were making noodles.
"Hello my pretty..... "
"Aunty Sophie.." the little girl rushed to Sophia who scooped her up "how are you my pretty baby?"
"Fuwaine"
"Hello sis" Sophia greeted her sister.
"Sophia, how are you? You didn't sound too good on the phone, what is the problem?"
Ifeoma served her daughter some noodles and asked her nanny to feed her, while she and Sophia went into the sitting.
"So what is bugging my baby sis?" Ifeoma asked as she took a seat.
"Mum is forcing me to get married"
Sophia was expecting her sister to be shocked, but she wasn't instead she only sighed.
"How come you are not surprised? You knew already didn't you?"
"Well mum mentioned something about it to me the last time we saw" Ifeoma said with so much guilt.
"Are you being serious? And you didn't care to mention it to me too?"
"I felt it was best you heard it from mum, not me"
"I see, you didn't want to be the harbinger of bad news"
"It's not like that Sophie and you know it, I was only trying.."
"To push the evil day forward?, Ifeoma you are my sister you were supposed to have told me"
"I'm sorry, I just couldn't bring myself to tell you about it, especially when I couldn't make her change her mind on the subject. How was I supposed to tell my younger sister that she was being married off to a man she knows nothing about? It's bad enough it was done to me, now they want to do it to my sister too. I'm sorry Sophie but it was too embarrassing"
Ifeoma was Sophia's senior with two years, she is the eldest of three children. Their younger brother was in Ukraine practicing medicine. So he was practically free from their mother's manipulative ways.
Ifeoma was forced to get married four years ago to her husband who is a lawyer. Her family got into a major scandal that almost ruined them, Ifeoma's husband who is a big shot lawyer was recommended to represent them in court but they couldn't afford his services, so he came to them with a proposal; he was going to help them win the case in court and would marry Ifeoma in exchange. Their mother who was more interested in preserving her family's wealth and name than her daughter's happiness agreed to the arrangement. And made sure she guilt tripped Ifeoma until she had no other choice but to agree too.
Their father died six years ago, and ever since then things have never remained the same for them. First; their uncle who was in charge of managing the company until their younger was done with his schooling, started mismanaging the company's fund and they had to let him go. And then their mother took over, but she hasn't been so good at it herself.
"What am I going to do Ifeoma? I don't want to get married to someone I don't love"
"I don't know Sophie, you are the only one who can make a decision on this matter, it's your life I can't make that decision for you and neither should mother"
Sophia knew her sister was right, it was her decision to make and not her mother's. If she didn't want to marry no one was going to force her into getting married. She was an adult after all.
"Are you happy sis?" She asked her sister.
"I can't complain, but most times I can't help but think that I settled, sometimes I wonder if there's something better out there, you know? Daniel is nice and all but I think we just tolerate each other"
"Then why don't you leave? You are still young and beautiful. You can always fall in love. Why don't you divorce him?"
"I can't, it's not that easy Sophie"
"How do you mean? If you are scared because of the agreement we had, then I don't think you should be, because it's over 4years now and that case is over"
"I have a daughter now Sophie, I want a good life for Anabel. I don't want her to go through the trauma that comes with a broken home, I'm stuck in this for life. So you need to ask yourself before you go in, is this what you want for yourself?"