After about a minute, Mr. Smith had reached his peak of impatience and anxiety. And was also already tired of waiting as he broke the silence.
But as he opened his mouth to speak, his words also crashed with Temi's...
"Temi...!"
"I think I got it...!"
Both father and daughter spine at the same time when both weren't even looking, causing them to look at themselves in slight shock.
Temi chuckled.
Mr. Smith smiled awkwardly as he turned to look at his wife.
Mrs. Smith deliberately ignored her husband, as she focused solely and intensely on her daughter without blinking.
Mr. Smith made efforts to make his wife look at him, such as coughing pretty loud and almost made Temi go get a glass of water for him.
But when he noticed his wife didn't budge, even to tell him 'sorry', he closed his mouth, maintained himself, and turned his attention to this daughter.
When both father and daughter spoke at the same time, Mrs. Smith knew pretty well how her husband had been anxious for no apparent reason as she had asked her daughter to rack her brain a little.
So when her husband began coughing, she knew that it was all a pretenses to get her to turn around, so 'he' looking at her can lighten the atmosphere. But she decided to not turn at all.
So when she didn't, he began coughing, Mrs. Smith almost burst out laughing.
'You coughin' so I can turn to look at you?' She asked her husband in her mind as she almost shook her head.
But when the cough had intensified, she panicked.
She thought of turning this direction when Temi had gotten up to go get a glass of water for him.
But when he told her not to, Mrs. Smith was tempted to elbow him right in the guts.
But since she had decided 'not to look at him, she decided to let it slide and brought back her attention to her daughter and the question that she had asked her.
Temi understood what her father was trying to do as he coughed.
She understood the fact that her father was trying to get her mother to turn around so he could look at her for some reason which, she also understood as 'she' also felt that the atmosphere in the room where they were was somehow odd and she begged in her mind that her mother turn around.
But when she didn't and her father was still coughing and this time it had intensified, she was scared that it was a serious cough, so she decided to go get him a glass of water.
But as she got to her feet, get father called her back.
"Temi!"
"Yes, Dad?" Temi responded.
Waving his hand as he coughed once more and turned to look at his wife.
"Leave it...!" Mr. Smith said.
Acting dumb, she asked;
"Huh?"
Looking at her, he said;
"Leave it...forget 'bout it."
"I don't need it anymore!"
He added.
Looking at her mother as she slowly got back to the floor in her sitting position, she looked at her parents, especially at her mother, who didn't even realize her daughter was looking at her.
Temi had laughed a little as she looked on at her father.
After smiling, Temi went silent as she looked on at her father with a small smile plastered on her face.
"Temi?" she gets her mother to call her.
Turning her attention to her mother, she responded;
"Yeah, Mum?"
"Any thoughts as to what I asked you?" Her mother asked, seeming not to mind the man beside her, who was now glaring at her.
Temi looked at her father as she slowly answered;
"Yeah...yeah, there is!"
Mrs. Smith nodded.
"Okay, so let's hear it." Mrs. Smith said gently as she adjusted herself in her seat.
Stealing a glance at her father, Temi also adjusted herself on the floor before opening her mouth to speak.
"Okay, so...I guess that what you were trying to say was...!" Temi paused as she stared at the floor for a moment.
"Temi...!" Mrs. Smith called.
Temi raised her head to look at her mother as she mumbled;
"Hm?"
"We're listening...!" Mr. Smith said.
Mrs. Smith didn't know what to say, so her husband helped her out with it.
Turning to look at her husband, Mrs. Smith could see that he was deliberately trying(and though he tried hard, he couldn't still achieve it) to ignore his wife's look in his direction, and Mrs. Smith knew it.
So when he was about to turn his head, Temi spoke up.
"Oh, yeah, about the future, 'thingy'!" She said as she brought her hand to her mouth to cover up as she coughed, stealing a glance at her father.
Mrs. Smith looked at her daughter and then at her husband.
"So what did you get?" Mrs. Smith asked.
"Huh?" Temi asked.
"What I asked you? Why do you think what I said is related to what your father said?" Mrs. Smith asked.
Lowering her head down as she smiled, Temi said;
"Oh...!"
"Yo!" Her mother said.
Laughing alongside her mother as she raised her head to look up at her mother, Temi put her head back down.
"Why are you laughing?" Mrs. Smith asked.
Temi shook her head.
"No, I just thought...I've never heard you use our slang before...!"
"What?" Mr. Smith said.
Temi looked at her father.
"Those were 'our' slangs and we haven't used them since the time of...!" Mr. Smith paused as raised his finger to his chin and looked up at the ceiling as he thought about something.
"Since the time of when actually?" He asked as he turned his attention to his wife.
"I think since the eighties!" Mrs. Smith laughed.
"Really?" Mr. Smith laughed.
"I thought it was in the nineties...!" Mr. Smith.
"You know these days, you're forgetting a lot of things...!" Mrs. Smith said.
Mr. Smith turned to look at his wife.
Smiling, Mrs. Smith knew she had hurt her husband badly, so she reached out to him and placed her hand on his arm hand and said;
"I'm so sorry, I was only kidding...!"
Mr. Smith shut his wife up with a kiss.
After reluctantly breaking off the kiss, Mr. Smith looked into his wife's eyes and said gently;
"If that would get you to talk to me, then I'm not angry...!" He said as he looked into his wife's eyes and shook his head.
"I'm not angry at all...!" His voice sounded soft and as if...lost.
Looking into her husband's eyes, she could see the fear...
That fear...
"Were you mad at me?" Mr. Smith asked.
Mrs. Smith frowned.
"What makes you think that?"
Smiling as he withdrew his hand from her face, Mr. Smith said;
"Nah, I just wanted to know."
Mrs. Smith looked at Temi who lowered her eyes to the floor with a 'trying to hide' smile on her face as she used her left index
finger to draw loop lines on the floor.
Before Mrs. Smith could say anything, Mr. Smith said;
"You didn't answer me earlier, so, I just wanted to know...!"
"Babe, I'm fine!" Mrs. Smith exclaimed (but not too loudly, though).
She laughed a little.
"I'm fine...I was just...waiting for Temi to give her answer!" Mrs. Smith said as she pointed at Temi, who tried to ignore all the 'little talks' that her parents were currently having.
But when Temi heard her name from her Mother's mouth, Temi raised her head as she looked at her parents wide-eyed as if she didn't hear what they were saying at first.
"Huh?" Temi asked.
"Huh?" Mrs. Smith turned and asked her daughter, confused, as she had been talking to her husband.
Looking at her father as she tried hard to hide a smile that was starting to form, she turned to her mother and asked;
"Mum, did you call me?"
" 'You said something...!"
Temi looked at her father as she said;
"Me? Nah...I didn't say nothin'...!"
Mrs. Smith turned to her husband, confusion obvious on her face as she turned back to Temi and said;
"You said something...!" Then turning to her husband, she asked;
"Didn't she, babe?"
Nodding as he answered gently, Mr. Smith responded;
"Temi, you 'did' say something!"
Turning her head back to look at her daughter, Mrs. Smith said;
"I knew I heard you!"
Temi went silent for a while and stared into the atmosphere, looking as if she had been deep in thought, then she exclaimed;
"Oh...right!"
Mrs. Smith gave he daughter a look, that caused the Temi to scratch the back of her head as she looked at her father with a nervous smile, but her father looked the other way.
"Oh, that time when you said something...!"
"Well, I...I...I thought that I heard you call my name so...!"
"And you decided to play dumb and say you didn't hear me call...!"
"Oh yeah, well, I think I got the answer to that question you...that you asked me earlier!" Temi quickly changed the subject as her mother glared at her.
But as soon as those words left her mouth, the anxiousness in Temi returned and she fell silent for a while.
"So, what's the answer?" Mrs. Smith asked after a while.