The following morning, Joan woke up some minutes past nine, grateful it was Sunday, and she didn't have to go to work. She had been unable to sleep for most of the night as she had been thinking about her 'situation' with Steve, and she had also been trying to come up with different ways she could broach the subject during her meeting with Steve's parents, hence she had finally managed to fall asleep sometime in the early hours of the morning.
She wasn't looking forward to the long drive to his father's house, and then back to his family house where his mother resides. She wished she didn't have to meet his parents separately. But there was no way she could ask either of them to meet with her at the other's house, so she had no choice in the matter.
The plan was to pay his father a visit first, and she had called him to inform him she would be stopping by at his place to see him. She couldn't help the deep feeling of unease in the pit of her belly. She was feeling really anxious about this meeting and what might become of her and Steve if they happened to fail in convincing their parents to change their minds about the whole marriage thing.
If what Steve had said about his father's threat to take everything from him, if he failed to marry her was true, then she had to find a way to convince his father to change his mind. Else Steve might be left with no other option but to marry her, and that was something she didn't want to even imagine. Marriage to Steve? A shudder passed through her at the thought.
She finally got off the bed and walked over to the mirror to look at her face, "You can do this!" She assured herself before stripping off her clothes and walking into the bathroom.
By the time she was done taking her bath and dressing up, she went into her kitchen to see if she could get something to eat before leaving, but she was welcomed by a foul stench. She looked around the kitchen, trying to find the source of the smell, and shook her head in disbelief when her eyes landed on the pot of soup on her gas cooker.
"Oh no! My sweet egusi soup!" Joan cried as she opened the pot and the smell hit her.
Thinking about it now, she remembered that the last time she had stepped foot in the kitchen was on Friday afternoon when she had quickly finished all she needed to do at the office and had hurried to home to cook, using the food items she had sent the cleaner at the office to help her get from the market.
She had eaten the soup just once before going out to meet with Victoria and Steve, and now the soup was sour? All that chicken and dry fish were wasted? How could she have forgotten to put it in the freezer or even heat it? How could she not?
"Who thinks of egusi soup when they have more pressing issues like marriage to their one-nightstand best friend to take care of?" Joan asked herself sadly as she carried the pot to the sink and filled it with water.
"I will survive." She muttered to herself as she picked up her handbag and her car key before leaving the house.
As she drove out of her compound, she wondered what her life would look like if she was to eventually end up getting married to Steve. Although they were both best friends and knew each other well, marriage? That was a different ball game entirely. Having sex by mistake was bad enough, but marriage?
If only Steve wasn't her best friend, she would have been driving down to his place right now, for another round of steamy and passionate sex, instead of driving to his father's house.
"Focus Joan! You need to concentrate. Stop getting distracted." She reprimanded herself. Why did the memory of the sex keep making her toes curl with lust when she should be ashamed of it and trying to forget it?
By the time she got to his father's house, she met him in the living room, watching a movie with his girlfriend. 'This one is new' Joan thought to herself. The last one she had seen him with, was lighter in complexion and taller than this one.
"E kaaro sir (Good morning, sir)," Joan knelt to greet him.
He smiled at her, "How are you, my dear?" He asked in his ever-cheerful voice.
"I'm fine. Thank you, sir. And how have you been?"
"I'm doing okay my dear, please sit down." He pointed to a couch adjacent to him.
"Baby," He said, referring to his girlfriend who was busy concentrating on the movie she was watching and pretending not to see Joan.
"Why don't you go get Joan a drink, hmm?" He kissed her temple.
Joan couldn't tell if the kiss was a way of bribing her to go get the drink or just a normal display of affection, but it made the lady giggle and she stood up and catwalked towards the kitchen.
"I was surprised when I got your call last night, I hope there is no problem?"
How could he be asking her that? Joan could tell he already knew her reason for visiting him but was just pretending not to know, "Actually I came to..." Joan was interrupted by his girlfriend who came back with a can of malt and an empty glass. She placed them on a side stool which was beside Joan.
"Thank you," Joan said to her, but the lady completely ignored her and went back to sit next to Mr. Olawale, with her head resting on his chest.
Joan decided to ignore the lady's standoffish attitude since she had more important things bothering her than a silly lady. What was she thinking? That she was here to snatch her man friend? Stupid.
"You were saying something," Mr. Olawale reminded Joan.
"Yes sir. I'm actually here to talk to you about what your wife, sorry I meant your ex wife, and my mom told Steve and I yesterday." That little slip earned her a glare from his girlfriend.
Mr Olawale glanced at his girlfriend with a small smile, "Please excuse us. I need to speak with her."
The lady reluctantly got up from the chair, but not without first giving Joan a look of disdain before walking out of the living room.
"I'm sorry about that. So what were you saying?"
"Steve and I were told of a certain marriage arrangement, and we were informed you are aware of it and even gave your consent."
"Okay?"
"So I'm here to find out if that's true."
Mr Olawale, took a deep breath, before speaking, "Yes it is true. And before you go any further..." He raised his hand to stop Joan who was about to speak, "This is a decision that both families have carefully thought about, and decided would be best for the two of you and for the families." He said with a note of finality in his tone.
"But what if we don't want this? What if we want something different?" Joan asked, trying her best to be calm even though all she wanted to do was scream at him for assuming they knew what was best for them.
Mr Olawale chuckled, "Of course it is normal that you would want something else, so I'm not surprised."
Was he finding this funny? She was here trying to have a serious conversation with him, and he was finding it funny?
"Joan my dear, I know you are here to see if you can convince me into changing my mind, but that isn't going to happen. So I advise you don't even bother."
"Why? Can I at least know why you are all doing this?" Joan asked in frustration.
"Don't you think you should ask your parents? They brought up the suggestion, and since it was a good one for us all, I agreed. And as you know, Steve's mother adores you, so she also agreed too. So you should go home and ask your parents whatever questions you have," He said with a polite smile before standing up to leave, making it clear that he was done with the conversation.