CHIZOBA AND OLAEDO stood calmly in front of her mother's dresser as they awaited her mother to come out of the toilet. Both were dressed as though they were going out.
Chizoba wore a baby pink off-shoulder blouse on high-waist skinny jeans which were complemented by white Nike shoes. Contrary to her twin sister, Olaedo was clad in a long grey sweatshirt and a black plain jean of black scandals. They both were twins, yet so different and so similar.
In the next two minutes, Miriam Joseph walks out of the enclosed door with a wide white towel around her and a smaller one around her head. Her steps falter. She looks at both her children and the way they were dressed and she hums.
"Mummy, good afternoon." They both greeted. One, overly enthusiastic while the other... Not so much.
Miriam nods and sits on her make-up stool that was directly opposite her wide portrait mirror.
"Is Nathaniel done with his homework?" Miriam queries while smearing her body cream all over her arms.
"Yes. Just moments ago. He keeps complaining he wants to drop out of school." Zoba rolls her eyes.
The duo's mother shakes her head and picks up her talc powder. "You both are dressed, where are you headed?"
Olaedo plops on the king-sized bed close by. She is still sulking and she intends to continue till she gets what she wants. Miriam glances at her daughter and ignores her. Her strong will can't break easily!
"The supermarket..." Zoba trails off, she raises a brow when her mom makes a questioning noise, "Mommy, the supermarket! Have you forgotten? You and dad said we were going to the supermarket to shop for school."
"Oh. Oh. Now I remember, it must have slipped my mind!"
Zoba snickers, "We came to tell you we'll be going now."
Miriam nods. The following statement should have been *have you asked your father for permission?* Or *what did your dad say?* But for the past two years, it seems that heavily pregnant woman has been playing both parental roles in the family. She sighs and pulls off the towel binding her hair.
"Okay. Do you need to go with Matthew?"
Olaedo makes a face, Zoba sees this and exclaims. "Mom! No! His wife is having an operation tomorrow, remember? And besides, the mall is just a twenty minutes walk, we don't need a driver."
Miriam mentally slaps herself when the thought suddenly comes back to her. She could remember when Matthew had approached her to let her know that he would be taking a week off to attend to his ill wife.
The duo walks up to their mother and kisses both sides of her cheeks. They spare the little peanut in Miriam's swollen tummy a kiss too.
"We're off mum! Love you!" Zoba zooms off the room in excitement.
Olaedo stays back for some seconds, "Mom, are you okay?"
Miriam gives her a 'mother-smile' and nods.
"Okay, Mom. I love you."
"Wait!" Olaedo pauses in her tracks.
Miriam turns in the stool, "are you still upset with me?"
A pout immediately plasters on Olaedo's lip. She turns around and folds her arm on her chest.
"Am I still going to a boarding school?" Olaedo shoots back.
When Miriam sighs and rolls her eyes dramatically, Olaedo huffs and throws a mini tantrum.
"Then I'm still mad at you!" With that, she stomps away like an angry porcupine.
Miriam laughs so hard that she had to wipe away stray tears from her eyes. Her daughter was so dramatic and extra sometimes. But she wasn't complaining at all, she loves her daughter as much as a mother should love a daughter.
"Olaedo, walk faster! Will you?" Zoba huffs as she waits for her sister to catch up with her.
The truth is, Olaedo isn't the one walking slow. It was just that Zoba walked so fast that you'd think she levitated to walk.
"You walk too fast," Olaedo rolls her eyes, "Why are you walking so fast? The mall is not going anywhere,"
"I'm not walking too fast! You walk too slow! You need enough manpower to climb up this hill, you know?"
The duo was currently twenty minutes away from the mall. It would've been five if the mall owner hadn't built it way up to the top of the hills.
That was what Magiari was known for; its ridiculously high hills and green valleys. Mr. Henry Joseph, being a nature enthusiast, snagged the closest house he could find that was very close to the hills to watch the sunrise.
"Olaedo! Chizoba!" A distant voice yells from down the road. Olaedo immediately traces the voice down to its owner; Aunty Josephine.
Oh, not today! Olaedo rolls her eyes internally.
She didn't like Aunty Josephine. The latter was a chronic gossip and a hypocrite. The only tie that connected her with the Josephs was the blood relationship their father has with her.
Olaedo made sure to school her features, pivoting from the tight grimace to a flashy smile.
Chizoba? Not so much.
Chizoba was always the "I-don't-like-you-and-I-don't-like-you" type. When she develops a certain disdain for someone, she acts on it, behind their backs and right there in their faces.
"Aunt Josephine, good morning!" Olaedo bellows, her voice high-pitched, so high that Zoba cringes.
The 35-year old Spinster strutted up to them with a wide smile. She was clutching a "Bounder's" take out bag and her other arm was occupied with her D&G shoulder strap.
Flashing them a wider smile, she pats Olaedo's hair. "Your hair looks dirty, did you wash it today?"
Her fake resolve almost cracked and a deadpan look was forcing its way out but for the sake of her mother, Olaedo shrugged and shook her head, "My hair shampoo finished. We're on our way to buy another one,"
"Oh, okay." She turns to Zoba, "Chizoba, I don't even need to ask you. I know you didn't wash yours."
"If you know then why didn't you shut up?" Zoba mumbles under her breath. Aunty Josephine didn't hear this and Zoba can bet it is the oven that she calls a hair-do that is blocking her from hearing. It was so low that Olaedo had to strain her eyes to hear.
Zoba shakes her head instead.
Aunty Josephine shakes her head and turns back to Olaedo. She looks down at what Olaedo was wearing and gasps, "Olaedo, What are you wearing?! I've told you to stop wearing these big ugly things!"
Lord give me strength, Olaedo fumes.
Before Olaedo could answer "politely", Zoba cuts in, "There's nothing wrong with what she's wearing. Her clothes look nice. I would have worn the same thing but it's in the wash,"
That was a lie! Zoba does not like anything that doesn't hug her in the right places, but Aunty Josephine doesn't need to know that. All she needs to know is that she needs to get the forest she calls eyebrows shaved.
Seeing the agitated look on Zoba's face, Olaedo knows it's time to disperse before Zoba starts throwing imaginary peppers in Josephine's eyes.
"Aunty, we really need to get going, we plan to get home by three o'clock,"
Josephine sighs frustratedly, clearly defeated in her own little game. "Okay. Bye-bye. Greet my cousin for me!" With that, she walks away but not before mumbling something about them being "rude children"
"How do we even greet someone that's never home?" Zoba shakes her head before commencing her "walking"
Olaedo pulls out her phone and when 1:45 pm flashes on the screen, she kisses her teeth. Her so-called "Aunty" Josephine took twenty precious minutes out of their time.
"That woman is so annoying!"
"Zoba, calm down, it's not that deep."
Zoba gives her a look and smirks, "Look who's talking, your voice was faker than Nicki Minaj's tits! It was all like... Aunty Josephine, good morning!" Zoba mimicked.
Olaedo's face scrunches up in laughter at Zoba's impression of her. Zoba hung her fingers high like a posh English woman and kept making impressions of both Olaedo and her aunty, Josephine.
When they got to the huge sign that flashed "Bounder's", The duo sighed and walked in where they shopped to their heart's content. Henry Joseph wasn't there parentally, but he was there financially.
Whilst their shopping spree, a nagging thought kept prodding Olaedo's mind...
'In the next three days, she's going to a Boarding school.'