"Mum...?"
"Dad...?"
"Temi?" Her parents called back as they waited patiently.
Hesitating as she thought of what she would tell them, she had totally forgotten her parents were waiting for her as her thoughts wandered away from where she was.
So when her parents called her, she raised her head up with a bit of fret in her.
"Yeah, Mum?" She answered.
Hesitating a bit, Temi's Mother, with worry visible, both on her face and in her voice, asked;
"Darling, what's wrong?"
Shaking her head, with a nervous smile on her face, Temi said;
"Nothing...!" But before she could finish, her Dad cut her short.
Shaking his head, Temi's Father said;
"Nah, Temi, I don't wanna hear that from you!"
His voice was sharp.
"We are your parents and it's our duty and responsibility, that we deal with anything and everything, that would go against your happiness, especially at this stage!"
"It's also our duty and responsibility to tackle and deal with it for you, clearing the road for you, even if we aren't there with you...!"
"Because what concerns you concerns us too...!" Her Mother added.
"Exactly, what concerns you concerns you concerns us too!" Her Father agreed as he turned to look at his wife who was beside him as she nodded her head.
"But Mum, you know that you guys won't be with me forever, and it's my life to live and I am bound to make mistakes...!"
"And it's those mistakes that we would have to guide you on how to deal with before they deal with you, so that you wouldn't have to make the same mistake we did when we were younger!" Her Father pointed.
Temi looked at him, as she still played with her fingers on the table.
"It's true!"
"Even though, we aren't gonna be here with you forever, we should at least guide you, teach you, lead you, be there for you when you need us!" Her Father said.
"We would have to seize this opportunity and cherish it before, God forbids it, and it's not gonna happen to us, but, something happens l, and we won't, well...!" Her Father paused as his voice became shaky.
"We won't be here someday to maybe walk you down the aisle or something."
"Because, even just as you said, we won't be here forever, we need to impact in you, the knowledge our own parents didn't impact in us, that we had to learn the hard way!"
"Because, Temi, you do not, wanna learn the lessons of life the hard way, because it gon' be hard!"
"People that succeeded in building the type of business and empire your Mother and I struggled to build, most of them, didn't get there on a silver lining or spoon, they worked hard for it, Temi, they struggled!"
Temi's Father sighed as he looked down. After some time, he said;
"I remember the time, when, I brought up the idea of starting this business empire stuff!"
"And your Mother was pregnant with you about that time, and...!" Tears began streaming down his eyes.
"Well...!" He said as he couldn't hold back the tears and they began rolling down, causing him to look away.
"It's okay, babe, take it easy...!" Temi's Mother said as she comforted her husband handing him a tissue.
Taking it, he wiped his tears and blew on it, then he looked up at the ceiling, as if reminiscing something.
Slowly lowering his head back down, he looked at his daughter.
Temi could see her Father's bloodshot eyes.
"She was pregnant and...!" He paused.
"Well, you aren't, we were suppose to have a son before you...!"
Temi's eyes widened in shock.
"W...What?"
Temi couldn't contain the news.
Taking in a deep breaths, her Father looked at her as he said;
"My Father wasn't there for me when I was growing up!"
"He was alive and lived for a very long time, but he never once sat down to teach me the principles of life!"
"When asked, he would say; 'When the time comes, you would learn, it's your life not mine and I have lived mine, it's time for you to encounter life'!"
"Or there were times when he would also say; 'So you want to escape all the troubles life would throw at you, eh?' I'm not passing on what I know, I'm gon' die with it, and it gon' leave with me! 'You ain't getting what I know!' "
"And he died with it!" Temi's Father said non-chalant, shrugging his shoulders.
"Dad!" Temi chuckled.
"What?" Her Father asked with an innocent expression as he looked at her, slightly wide-eyed.
"You taught me not to disrespect the elders...!" Temi pointed.
"I'm not being disrespectful, but rather telling the truth...!" Temi's Father said as he lowered his head down to look at the tissue in his hand.
"He also didn't pass on the knowledge of how he succeeded, so he also didn't get to enjoy my sweat...!" Temi's Father murmured.
"Dad...!" Temi dragged her Dad's name as she called him.
Raising his head up with an innocent look, Temi's Father asked;
"Hm?"
But then, Temi gave him, 'The Look'.
When he saw her look, he chuckled a bit, causing Temi to also join in, and then her Mother.
"Why y'all laughing?" Temi's Father asked, still laughing.
"I'm laughing 'cause she's laughing!" Temi's Mother said as she pointed at her daughter.
"And I'm laughing cause you're laughing, cause you know what you said!" Temi pointed.
"Well I'm laughing cause...!" Temi's Father paused.
Furrowing his brows as he looked at his daughter, and then at his wife and then back at his daughter, he said;
"I don't even know why 'I'm' laughing!"
"But what I know is, your laugh is causing my laugh to laugh....!"
Hearing what her Father said, Temi slowly lowered her head down as she slowly opened her mouth and narrowed her eyes at her Dad as she asked a loud;
"Huh....?"
Looking at her Mother, Temi's Mother looked at her gently.
"What? Why are you looking at me?" Get mother asked.
"Didn't ya heat what pops said just now?" Temi asked, still with the shock.
Still with the gentle smile, Temi asked;
"And you ain't sayin' nothing?"
"Back in our days, you gon' gear some stuffs, you gon' laugh...!"
Still with her mouth widely open, Temi tilted her head to the side as she asked;
"Say what?"
Nodding, her Father said;
"Yeah, you gon' hear some stuffs, you gon' feel like dying...!"
Temi stared at her Father wide-eyed as her mouth remained open.
"Yeah, there was this one time, I was returning home from school and I heard some boys shouting and screaming at each other, people gathered in that area, so l, you know, if you're on your way home from school and nothing interesting happened at school, what do you do?" Her Father asked.
"I'm gon' head over and have my eyes filled and satisfied!" Temi responded as she rested her chin on her fist.
"That's right, that's my girl, fist bump!" Her Father said as he brought out his knuckles and bumped them with his daughter.
"So what happened?" Temi asked as she unconsciously took a spoon of food and slowly took it directly into her mouth, as she watched her Father, waiting for him to continue.
"Well if that's what's gonna help you finish eating your breakfast, then baby, keep talking!"
Temi's Mother said as she turned to her husband as she carried her plates and that of the boys and headed for the kitchen.
Slowly chewing on her food, Temi smiled at what her Mother said, as she turned to get Father, waiting for him to continue.
"So then what happened?" Temi's gently asked.
Turning his head as he looked away form his wife and to his daughter, Temi's Father leaned forward and said;
"Well...I went on ahead to where the voices were coming from, only to discover that the show had already started and I had arrived there late!"
At this point, Temi brought her arms up and rested them both on the table, resting her chin on the back of her clasped palms as she was very attentive.
"Seems like someone's enjoyed the story already...!" Her Father said when he saw her readiness.
It took Temi some time to understand what her Father had said and meant, but when she understood, she nervously smiled as she didn't respond, hit waited.
"So, when I had arrived there, like I said, the show had already begun and I was already late, too late even that when I got back home, my Mother was not only scared to death, even, she almost beat 'me' to death!"
Temi chuckled.
Her Father smiled.
"But when I got there, that was when I witnessed the fights...!"
Temi's eyebrows raised in surprise as she heard that.
" 'Fights' as in 'Fights' as in, it wasn't just a pair of people fighting, but there were more...?" Temi asked in surprise.
"Two more!" Her Father replied calmly.
"Two more as in, they were all three on total?" Temi asked another question.
Her Father slowly nodded.
"Whoa!"
"So then what happened?" Temi asked.
"Well, I arrived, they were still throwing punches...!"
"Some of us were even cheering them on, including me...!"
Temi's eyes grew wide.
"W...W...Wh... What?" Temi couldn't hold back her laughter, but unfortunately, her laughter got choked with her question, so it made her sound like a chicken.
Her Father chuckled.
"Like Dad, are...are you serious right now? Like, for real?" Temi kept on questioning.
Nodding, Mr Smith said;
"Yes, yeah, I'm being for real...!"
"No way...!" Temi said.
"I ain't gon' believe it!"
Has your Father ever told you a pie before?" Her Mother's voice was heard from the kitchen as she came out and stood by the door frame as she looked at her daughter, who now turned her attention to her.
"You were there too?" Temi asked as she pointed at her Mother.
He Mother only smiled and then went back into the kitchen.
Turning to look at her Father, with her mouth still wide open, Temi wanted to ask a question, but couldn't.
Her Father only smiled.
Slumping her back onto her chair, she exclaimed;
"No way!"
"And then what happened?" Temi couldn't wait to get to the end of the story as she began stuffing her mouth with food.
Her Father chuckled.
"So l, we kept on cheering them on, especially myself though, I was all like; 'Yeah, bro, go for him...!' "
"I would support this person on the right, now, and then later on, I would support the other person on the left...It was so fun, yo the extent some guys beside me began asking, 'Bro...!' "
" 'Whose side are you on?' " Temi repeated after her Father and then burst out laughing.
Even her Mother from the kitchen couldn't help laughing.
Then some other voices were heard laughing.
Temi stopped laughing and turned her head in the direction of the laughter.
That was when she saw her three (3) mischievous brothers, by the stairs, laughing their bellies out.
Even their mother had come out to check it out.
"Do we have some mad people in this house!" Temi's Mother asked.
Everywhere went dead silent.
Looking at her brother, she could see that her brothers went really happy, or were they trying to hold back their laughter?
Temi couldn't help but wonder to herself.
Roaring with laughter, Temi fell off her chair as she rolled on the floor, holding her stomach.
Her belly hurt from the intense laughter, but, she couldn't hold it back anymore and was just looking for how to release it.
Rolling in the floor, Temi couldn't get the faces that her brothers had made out of her head.
They were just way too funny....!