RAMSEY
I walked to my door still having that dazed look in my eyes,if someone had told me today would go so well I wouldn't have believed it, even though I had promised to try my best to make her loosen up and enjoy hanging out with me I didn't expect it to actually happen. I didn't bother checking for the key where I left them because I was sure my family was already home by now,I just knocked on the door for someone to answer, unfortunately for me that someone happened to my father. I had hoped to avoid him for a few more days till I've settled down more because each time we were under the same roof it always led to an exchange of words that none of us could take back, but still in the feeling of joy I decided to avoid altercations with him tonight by all means necessary.
"Good evening sir." I greeted and prostrated slightly to show respect.
"Where have you been? I've been home for a good four hours and you've been nowhere to be found,makes me wonder if you've been out wreaking havoc." He replied with a scolding.
"He has been at the mall all day squandering money on our neighbors daughter." Replied a voice from further into the parlor just as I was about to reply concerning my whereabouts. Undoubtedly David's voice.
I then looked above my dad's head and saw that David was seated on one of the sofas and my mom would probably be in the kitchen preparing dinner if the aroma I was perceiving was anything to go by.
"Whose neighbor's daughter? Gem?" He asked.
"Yes her." I replied hoping that with the knowledge that he knew her I could escape the scolding,but I should've known better than to assume that he would lose a chance of scolding me even on no grounds.
"Seems you've been so free that you have the chance to spend my money on random girls." He replied just as I went further into the parlor. Money was definitely not his problem,I have enough of saved up allowances from my Kaduna school days that I barely spent and if they had to pick which child spent more between me and David it'll definitely be David. But you don't see him scolding David,like I said I was his disappointment.
"I just spent from my saved up allowances,I didn't spend outside that." I tried to reason with him.
"The problem is you're not supposed to be going out and spending money, you're supposed to be indoors thinking about your future." He raised his voice to reply.
"Why can David go out with his friends and I can't? Huuuh? How does that even make any sense." I replied equally raising my voice. The whole exchange wasn't new,we had always exchanged words and argued loudly even before he shipped me off for years and I can't help but think my presence was getting on his nerves. It seemed my words infuriated him more as he clenched his hands,no doubt to approach me and hit me, this wouldn't be the first time. But the moment he started to approach me my mum stepped in,she had probably heard our voices from the kitchen and didn't interfer hoping it wouldn't escalate,she never interfered in our arguments and in the undeserved beatings I sometimes recieved in the past,I guess it was all part of being a submissive wife. But on days when he beat me till I nearly pass out,I longed for a mother that could defend me. So I was shocked for a moment that she actually stepped in.
"What is the problem now?" She asked in a calm tired voice.
"Why can't you two get along? Must you always argue?" She continued.
"You go upstairs." She pointed to me. Still surprised I heeded to her words and started going upstairs but not after taking a look at my dad's and David's face and just like me, they were equally shocked.
I entered my room and had my bath, changed into boxers and singlet and laid on my bed,eyes on the roof and my cheeks so wide from the smile I had on my face,and if I don't stop smiling soon they'll start to hurt but I continued anyways. I thought about the whole day again,from seeking her out, going out and retiring home. I enjoyed every bit of today though the devil wanted to dampen my mood in the form of my dad,but God saved the day using my angel in form of my mother. The whole thought process of likening my dad and mom to a devil and an angel respectively cracked me up so much that I burst into laughter,but on second thought I stopped laughing to avoid the problem from my dad.
"Ramsey come eat dinner." I heard my mum call from downstairs. I left my room and went downstairs to the kitchen undoubtedly to carry my meal upstairs to eat but my mum insisted I eat at same table with them and I didn't have it in me to decline. I dropped my meal on the dinning table along side there's and sat on the chair opposite David but adjacent to my mother.
"David please pray." My mother requested.
After the prayer we ate in silence, returned our plates to the kitchen and everybody returned back to what they ha been doing. My mum returned to the kitchen probably to finish what she had left halfway,my dad disappeared probably to his study and David returned to the parlor to continue what he had been watching while I returned upstairs to continue my day dreaming.After some few hours up chatting up some of my peeps from Kaduna and browsing through social media I dozed off.
I woke up by 4pm unconsciously. In the boarding school I attended, all Christians usually wake up by 4pm every Sunday to attend morning mass,the one time I slept in I was flogged on my butt so hard that I was unable to sit properly for days and that taught me my lesson. I stood up because there was no point in trying to sleep because I'd been unable to,I checked my wardrobe and picked a blue vintage shirts,a black office trouser and a shoe to match. I rushed downstairs to iron my wear quickly and I saw someone's outfit on the ironing table,undoubtedly my dad's because of the size. I ironed mine and did his too,I took mine and rushed back up to shower. By 5:30am I was set to leave for church though our service at the living faith church few kilometers away started by 7:00am. I left my room and decided to wait downstairs till the whole family was ready to leave but my dad was already seated,I greeted him and walked pass to seat on the sofa farthest from him. In less than 30 minutes time my mum and David were already down and so we entered my dad's car and left for church.
"Thanks for ironing my clothes David. You did a good job." My dad said out if the blue.
"Erhh which clothes." He replied in confusion.
"The one I'm wearing. Didn't you iron them?" My dad continued.
"I came down to iron mine and saw yours on the table so I ironed them too." I spoke up. He was speechless. I can imagine how embarrassed he felt assuming David had ironed his clothes instead of me.
"Thank you." He replied quietly after being quiet for awhile. All the while my mum was smiling at the exchange, definitely amused.
The service lasted for 2 hours and we were back home,I couldn't help but notice the stares I got from the church members,they hadn't seen me in years so it was expected. I changed into a simple body hug polo and shorts and left the house through the back door to check up on Gem since I hadn't seen her out all morning. I approached her door and the door was opened,I was scared for a moment because Gem never leave her door open.
"Hello. Anybody home." I called out as I stepped inside to check. I called out again but still no reply,I checked around the kitchen and picked a knife incase of Intruders but then I heard a faint sound coming from upstairs. I continued to move with caution and climbed the stairs, tracing the sound from the direction I heard it in,the moment I reached the top floor I heard another sound but this time a laughter which was definitely not Gem's. I move quickly to the door it came from and pushed open without knocking and pointed the knife to the intruder as she shrieked in shock.
"What're you doing snooping around in someone's house." I queried.
"What do you mean snooping? Who're you anyway." She asked.
"No wait, you do look familiar though." She continued.
Before I could answer Gen rushed in through the door and screamed when she say the knife.
"Jesus Christ Ramsey!!!!! Why the knife." She asked with an horrified look on her face.
"That's Ramsey? Stop playing." The strange said before I could reply.
"I saw your door open and you never leave your door open so I thought someone broke in." I replied feeling silly at how I reacted.
"So the knife was the greatest option instead of calling you estate security. Macho Man I hail thee!!!" She teased and laughed while I look close to dying from mortification.
"Wait a minute. You're saying this is Ramsey. The Ramsey I know?" The strange girl asked again.
"Yes oo. How many times would you need to ask?" Gem replied.
"No o because how can he transform from an ugly duckling to a prince charming. Gem are you seeing what I'm seeing,see his face and physique." The strange girl continued. Her statements made me smile because it seems she wasn't a shy one and the look on Gem's face was priceless,if she was definitely blushing though I had no idea as to why she'd be blushing because of compliments directed at me.
"What's your name because I've been calling you strange girl in my head." I asked.
"I'm Eve, Gem's one and only friend." She replied with smiles.
"I'm Ramsey, Gem's one and only sweetheart." I replied jokingly and Eve burst out laughing probably at how Gem was staring as if she wanted to strangle me.
"Now that you've introduced yourselves and Ramsey has confirmed that I'm not dying Ramsey can now go back he." Gem said.
"No o, he's not going anywhere,come let's hang out together,we were about to play ludo on my phone and you could join" Eve argued.
"That would be nice." I replied and sat on Gem's reading chair.
If the look on Gem's face was anything to go buy,she was definitely displeased but as the game went on we joked more and laughed at who lost and she loosened up just like at the mall,she even hit me when I eliminated her from the game. The whole exchange made me realize that she didn't actually dislike me, tensing up to spend time with others apart from who she was confortable with makes her tense thereby declining invites but once you're able to convince her to, she did loosen up. I just hoped I'd be able to completely dissolve the initial tensed feelings she has towards being around me.
We spent all day talking, playing games, eating junk,etc and when it was getting late we escorted Eve to the estate gate before we turned back home and as a gentleman I walked her to her door and went home entering through the back door.