By the time Victoria left Joan's apartment, she was feeling a lot better. At least her head was no longer aching, and she was no longer feeling nauseous every time she remembered what had transpired between her and Steve.
She made up her mind to be at peace with whatever transpired between the both of them. It was a beautiful mistake indeed, but never to be repeated. NEVER.
As she walked into her bedroom, and stripped off her clothes, so she can have her bath, her eyes fell on her vanity mirror, and she bit her lower lip, when she saw the hickeys displayed like trophies on her neck and shoulders. She raised her hand to her neck to touch the marks, and sighed as she sat on the edge of her dressing table.
Her mind drifted off to the discussion they had had with their mothers that morning, and she chuckled when she remembered all Steve's mom had said, "Getting married indeed. I'm very sure this is one of her usual pranks."
Steve's mom was after all, well known for her joviality, and also for her numerous pranks. Just how she had managed to convince her mother into playing this prank with her, was what Joan couldn't figure out.
Joan laughed as she remembered one of the pranks Steve's mom had played on her husband some years ago, she had pretended like she couldn't walk for three days, just so her husband would take a break from work, and take care of her.
He had carried her around the house for those three days, and then on the fourth day, when the car he ordered for her birthday arrived, she had sprang off the couch like a completely healthy person would, and ran outside to check it out. Everyone had laughed hard at it, except her husband of course, who had been very angry.
"Of course it definitely has to be a prank." Joan reassured herself as she stood up and grabbed a fresh towel from her chest drawer before heading for her bathroom.
Her walk-in jacuzzi, with the glass door, was one of the things she loved most about her apartment. As a matter of fact, the bathroom had been the major reason she had chosen this apartment over the rest ones she had taken a look at. It looked so pretty, and classy that she could just sit there all day admiring the work of whoever had designed the bathroom.
She couldn't help feeling grateful for being able to afford such a classy apartment.
Despite the fact that she was from a wealthy background, she had actually rented her own apartment, with the hard earned money she had saved from her first year of working.
After being called to bar, her father had offered her a job in his company, but she had turned down his offer. She had done so because she wanted to explore the world on her own terms. She wanted to get a job because she not only truly deserved it, but also because she was qualified for it, and not because it was dropped on her laps by her father, or because he helped her to get it with his influence.
It has been three years, since she left her parents wings, and decided to do her own thing, and live her life on her own terms. And so far she could say her life has been going well, or rather it was going well, until she had messed up her orderly life by sleeping with Steve last night.
"Joan what were you thinking?" She asked herself as she turned on the shower. She tried to regulate the temperature of the water, so it would be warm since the weather was a bit cold.
She kept turning the switch, until she realized she had forgotten to switch on her water heater before leaving the house last night, "Can the day get any worse?" She asked herself irritably.
She wasn't sure she had the patience to go to the kitchen to boil water, or turn on the water heater and wait for the water to get hot, so she opted for a cold bath.
Few minutes later she stepped out of the bathroom shivering as she dried her body, while looking around for comfortable clothes she could wear. Her heart skipped a beat when her phone started ringing. She didn't need to look at the screen, to know who the caller was, since she had assigned that particular ringtone to only one person, her mother.
She walked over to the bed, and picked up her phone. She took in a deep breath before accepting the call, "Hello mummy!"
"Joan Olayinka Afolabi, before I close and open my eyes, I want to see you in the house this very minute!" Her mother ordered. Her voice very stern from the other end of the phone.
Of course she didn't need a fortune teller to tell her that she was in trouble. Her mother only called her name in full when she had messed up, and she knew very well what she had done.
She had actually been anticipating the much dreaded phone call, even though she had been hoping she would have enough time to get a nap, before being summoned.
"Mummy I was actually going to__,"
"I don't care whatever it is that you are doing, in the next thirty minutes, I want to see you in this house."
"Mummy can I__?"
Her mother didn't wait for her to finish talking, before she disconnected the call.
Joan stared at the phone in her hands, as she contemplated ignoring her mother's threat. She could just go ahead to have her nap, and risk her mother coming down to her apartment herself. But knowing how her mother could be a times, that probably wasn't a good idea.
She sighed as she discarded the sweatshirt she had been about to wear, and picked out a black chiffon top, and a blue jean trouser. She quickly dressed up, and packed her braids in a ponytail before picking up her purse and car keys.
An hour later she arrived at her family house in Ikoyi, and found her mother sitting in the living room, "Mummy good afternoon ma." She knelt down to greet her.
"Didn't I give thirty minutes?" Her mother asked irritably.
"It's not my fault. You know how Lagos is. The traffic was..."
"Sit down." Her mother said, cutting her off impatiently.
More like take a hot seat, Joan thought as she sat down on a couch opposite her mother. "Sorry I'm late, there was really traffic on the way."
Her mother nodded grimly, "How long have you and Steve been sleeping together?"
Trust her mother to always hit the nail on the head, when it comes to such matters. Joan was silent because she found it really awkward to be discussing something as sensitive as sex with her mother.
She knew her mother must have guessed she was no longer a virgin, but for Nigerian parents, the law was 'sin, but don't be caught.' And so long, you aren't caught, you are not a sinner. Now that she has been caught red handed, she was a sinner.