The cycle had begun before I realized it. It didn't start with rejecting marriage proposals or Akunna banging the gate as she walked out. It didn't start with father shouting neither did it start with mother staring at the flowers in the centre table. it started when a man looked at Akunna and admired her. It went on when she found out he admired her and it progressed as she slowly but consistently tied her web around such a man. I have seen it happen many times but one in particular strikes me and leaves me wondering.
His name had been Ugo and he was a very handsome man which I had believed would sit well and complement Akunna's beauty. Ugo had been a motor part trader at Ladipo and he was very successful only he was less educated than Akunna was. He was also very jovial that whenever he came to visit we all would laugh till our belly hurt. Father had a very strong liking for him and even advised he tried furthering his education because education was a criterion for marriage when Father was involved. He made sure he enquired what certificate one was holding even though we know the Nigeria of his time is very different from the Nigeria of ours. Education in his time had much more value than this time. His time, people could get official Jobs for such certificate as a primary school leaver or more a secondary school leaver but it isn't so anymore. Jobs these days are more of who you know, what button you could push, how much you can pay and not about what you have upstairs. Some said it is because education has become very easy to acquire and as such has lost its value while others said it was the fault of the government.
Ugo would always visit with gifts for not just Akunna but us all. He called her 'nne' which means mother and she saw him off every time he decided to leave after he and Father had discussed on matters of different nature and after Mother had served him. Then the day he came with his people to come ask for her hand in marriage, Father had been smiling same as Mother and I because it was long overdue and he had been wise enough to court her and also get really close to the family and "not the 'backyard' love the boys of today do." Father would say in reference to boys who hid themselves from the family of the lady they said they were in a relationship with and tagging it dating.
Akunna came out that day from her room, looked Ugo in the eye and said no, she would not marry him. We all had been shocked and Father had asked again thinking she must have misunderstood the question or not heard well but Akunna still repeated her words saying she wouldn't marry Ugo. He stood up and started pleading calling her 'nne' and asking her what wrong has he done and hadn't they discussed this? Father joined in talking to Akunna to think properly and give her reason she didn't want to marry him. Akunna left everyone bewildered that day. Ugo's people had stood up in embarrassment saying they haven't been so disgraced and to crown it all by a woman. Father had tried to pacify them saying he would talk to his daughter. They left pulling Ugo with them even though he didn't want to leave instead he kept on begging and calling Akunna 'nne' and asking Father what wrong has he done. I can remember one of the men shouting. "Ugo let us go, do you want to embarrass us more in front of these people, over a woman?"
That was the beginning of the cycle and Father would scream and scream at Akunna when they left, threatening fire and brimstone and every other thing disastrous on anyone who wants to smear his name.
Ugo had keep coming to beg and plead with Akunna to have mercy on him and accept him, he had followed her places pleading like a broken man and she had sworn to report him to the police for stalking her. He had come to Father and Father had told him he was trying his best to talk to Akunna and let her have a change of mind but both their effort had proved abortive and their pleas had fallen on deaf ears. I later heard he had sold a lot of his things to please Akunna and had lost his shop at Ladipo. He stopped coming maybe because he finally came to realize my sister would never accept him.
When I looked at Akunna after she rejected him, I couldn't find the love that had been there for Ugo. it was almost like it was never there in the first place. It was almost like she had never loved him or even as much as cared for him.
"What wrong did he commit, Akunna that you would break him into different unmendable pieces?" I asked her then and she scoffed.
"Who calls someone they love 'nne'? that is so old fashioned." She said and I was shocked.
"Is that the reason?"
"It is part of it." She replied and I knew she was lying. That can never be the reason such thing should happen. There was something she was not telling us, lots of things she was not saying and when we would get to know, she would be right when she had told me this unrest had begun before I was born and the peace had been make believe.