August 2019.
"He stared at her this time. Not longingly. Not in essence, as though he did from the onset. Betrayal. Betra-"
A loud ring resounded around the room, followed by loud and disorganized clicking, then silence.
"-yal. Betrayal swarmed deep in his eyes as he tried so hard to pacify his beating heart. Why'd he think this would last?"
Clicking.
"Why'd he think after everything, she would place a hand atop his and sing 'I-"
"OLAEDO!"
"No. No. No. No... What next? What next?" The 15- year old whispered lowly as her fingers hovered uncontrollably over the mouse.
"OLAEDO! I swear I won't repeat myself!" The loud voice of Mariam Joseph booms around the house. If it was in those Werewolf series, her voice would've shaken the doors of the rooms in the whole house.
It didn't shake her room's door, alright, but it definitely shook Olaedo all over.
Olaedo knows pretty well, from experience, that her mother wasn't bluffing when she said she wouldn't repeat herself. In exactly two minutes, Olaedo's mother will stomp into her room like a raging bull and drag her out by her ears, if she doesn't go downstairs.
"I'm coming ma!"
The next page took forever to load and when it did, Olaedo heard the unmistakable sound of her mother's door slamming and that made her fly from her maroon desk chair.
She placed her bottom on the top of the banister, gripping the wood tightly before letting go. The usual squeals of delight had died down to several smiles after the next 47 attempts.
"I'm sorry ma, I was cleaning my closet," Olaedo smiles apologetically at her fuming mother.
They were in the kitchen; that was opposite the dining room. Their kitchen was large and spacious. It was wide enough to house three refrigerators. One would have served all purposes but what's the use, when they could afford one for foodstuffs, a different one for sodas and drinks, and a totally different one for tubes of ice-cream.
Pure-bliss, Olaedo could testify.
Mariam shook her head in understanding. She was definitely not cleaning her closet. Olaedo's closet was always clean.
"Lower the gas to a few degrees, will you?" Miriam points in the direction of the pot that sat bubbling with tomato stew.
Olaedo does as instructed. She sat on the purple kitchen stool afterward then stared at her mother as she stirs the stew. After some minutes, Miriam shuts off the gas and leans on the marble counter.
"Stop biting your bottom lip like that. Your mouth will grow bigger if you continue,"
Olaedo shrugs and plays with her fingers instead.
"As you can see I'm done, so you can start making your salad." Miriam waves her hand in dismissal, "God knows if it's 7 o'clock on the dot and you're not at the table, we are starting dinner without you."
"Mom! Why can't Chizoba make the salad instead?" Olaedo whines as Miriam turns back to head out.
Olaedo's mother turns back and sighs dramatically.
"Why should a different person cook what a different person is going to eat?"
"But you cook for us every day," Olaedo smirks.
Miriam smacks her arm with her kitchen napkin, "Don't sass me, young lady!"
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" The youngster giggles as the feathery hem of the napkin tickled her. "But still, mom!"
Miriam lays the napkin on a small rod above the Soda fridge.
"Olaedo!" Miriam drawls in warning, "We go over this every day... Listen, you're the one eating it, so you should make it yourself, ịnụgo?" (Have you heard?)
"Exactly!"
The chirpy voice of Olaedo's twin sister disrupts Olaedo's sentence which causes the latter to glare at her sister.
"Good evening, ma." Chizoba kisses her mother's cheek before looking around the kitchen.
"Where's the ice-cream?" Chizoba asks.
"What ice-cream?"
"The one you just ordered." Miriam raises a brow, "But... But... Nathaniel said that..." A look of recognition crosses her face and she frowns immediately.
"NATHANIEL!" Chizoba yells, running out of the kitchen at a full angry speed. It looks like Nathaniel has struck again.
There was a large crash before a: "DADDY! CHIZOBA IS ABOUT TO SHAVE MY HEAD BALD!"
Miriam's eyes widened before she washes her hands and hurriedly goes to her youngest child's rescue.
Olaedo chuckles as she watches her mother make a beeline out of the kitchen. That's her sister, alright.
Chizoba 'Zoba' Jennifer Joseph is the fun sibling. Smart, fashion-inclined, and glorified gossip. If they were attending school, Chizoba would have been one of the popular. Olaedo? She'd be leaning into the nerdy column.
That was a twin mechanism; one would always be different than the other. In the Joseph family, the difference was like the size of China. While Olaedo requested her hair be left virgin, Chizoba re-touched her hair the very moment she hit puberty. Chizoba is loud, Olaedo is not. Chizoba is more of the bad and overly social twin, you know, the clichés.
Few minutes to 7 pm, Olaedo is cleaning the kitchen with her bowl of fresh salad sitting on the counter. She wipes a sweat when she's done and runs to her room to change her shirt into a much bigger and sweat-free one.
Olaedo pats herself mentally for resisting the temptation of going back to the unsaved tab on her laptop screen. The next chapter had finally loaded and was staring at her. Letters to eyeball. She shakes her head and runs to the kitchen to grab her salad. She makes it in time before her dad started the grace.
"So, Ola, how was—"
Olaedo clears her throat in irritation. Miriam drops her fork, Zoba's fork hangs halfway through her mouth, Nathaniel remained oblivious.
"Olaedo."
It was always like this. Every family dinner, Mr. Henry Ogbonna Joseph always slip up, make a little mistake and the family dinner doesn't become a family dinner anymore. This time Miriam is damn straight on making it through this dinner without any arguments.
Miriam places her hand on her daughter's lap.
"I'm sorry." Henry shifts uncomfortably, "So Olaedo, how was classes today?"
There it is.
"Classes?" Zoba replies this time. Their meal was long forgotten. Nathaniel was even getting more alarmed.
Olaedo forcefully shoves her spoon down her throat and chews harshly. She tightens her hand into a fist.
"Today is Sunday, Henry." Miriam snaps through her gritted teeth.
"Mommy, can I go get some apple juice?"
"Go ahead Nathaniel, make sure you don't leave the door open this time."
Nathaniel runs off, carrying his empty plate with him.
"I'm going upstairs." Olaedo grabs her plate.
"Ola—"
"I'm tired mom. I've been cleaning all morning. Goodnight ma," she turns to look at her dad who was staring at them both, "Dad." She nods at him in apprehension before walking off.
Well... That happened.