~ TILDA'S POV ~
The guests started coming in at 4:00pm. I knew some of them as mum's friends and even her colleagues at work while I had never seen the others in my life.
We had all changed our attires. Mum was dressed in a beautiful dark green dinner dress while Richard was dressed in a tuxedo. Seeing the two of them together was something I could never stand, especially with the way everyone acknowledged them as the perfect couple.
What about dad when he was alive? Didn't he mean anything to mum?
However, on my part, I was dressed in a short blue dress but my hair still remained in an afro adorned with flowers. Sharon was dressed similarly, annoyingly.
When the guests started coming in, Mum and Richard did the job of welcoming them from the living room door while I did the job of a polite usher. Slow music from old school jams played in the background and the living room was decorated well enough to honour the occasion.
While I was busy attending to the guests that made themselves comfortable, alongside six other maids, and Miriam, the madam of the house whose name was Sharon was still upstairs in her room. She was probably making tiktoks and reels to post on instagram.
And not for once did mum request her presence instead, she would bark at me every now and then.
"Why are you not smart? Do something fast and stop acting like a snail!" She would say.
Thankfully, the first phase of attending to the so-called guests came to an end.
Next it was time for mum and Richard to give a speech during the cutting of their anniversary cake.
"First of all, I want to thank you all for coming," My mother began. "I really appreciate you all for your time and effort. Accepting my invitation and joining me to celebrate my beautiful wedding anniversary to my lovely husband, is the best gift you all have given to me today. Once again, I say thank you. Again, I want to use this moment to thank God."
Seriously mum? Thanking God for a marriage I know he is greatly against?
"I want to thank God for giving me such a sweet, loving, and caring man as Richard. Richard had always been there for me and he is still here for me. He has always loved me more than I can measure and that's the most I could ask for."
She then moved to hold Richard's hands and they both smiled.
"I love you, honey. More than you know it," She gazed into his eyes as she spoke.
God! I felt like vomiting my intestines out.
"I love you too, Victoria. With you in my life, it has always been nothing but roses. It is a thing of joy to call such a beautiful and talented woman as you my wife. Thank you for being a part of my life," Richard equally made his own speech.
The couple wrapped it up with a kiss that got the guests cheering and clapping.
Nothing in the world could make me hide the look of scorn on my face not even the makeup I had on.
After the cutting of the cake by the couple, the serving of refreshments began.
I sat on a sofa and started going through my twitter while the maids did the job of taking down the guests' orders and serving them.
I guess that was not enough for my mother. I could bet that something was always eating her up whenever she saw me relaxing and being peaceful.
"Matilda, are you now a queen in this house that you can not help the maids? Is this how I trained you to be?" She shouted at me from where she stood, attracting the attention of some of the guests.
Typical Mrs. Olusegun.
There was one thing my mum usually did in the presence of visitors that I despised so much, and that was disgracing me one way or the other. My mum was the type of person who could spot my underwear lying on the living room couch and would say nothing about it on a normal day. The most she could do was fling it off.
But you see ehn, once there was a visitor in our house and she spotted my underwear...
Trust that woman, nothing on Earth or in heaven would make her not dangle it in the visitor's face and call me out to shame me for it - That was how bad she could be to me in the presence of visitors.
I sighed and turned my phone off.
Why she behaved that way? I'm just as speechless as you are.
I took the notepad from one of the maids and began taking down the orders of five guests I laid my eyes on.
"We have jollof rice and fried rice. Then, we have egusi soup, black soup, and ogbolor soup. There's semo, eba, and starch. Which would you like?" I asked before they would place their orders.
After that, I began making my way towards the kitchen where three other maids served the meals. I was moving past the stairs to where the kitchen was stationed downstairs when I saw "cinderella" making her way down the stairs.
Her phone was in her hand and she was laughing.
I bit my lower lip and heaved a deep breath before stopping at the bottom of the stairs.
"Sharon," I called as softly as I could. I just didn't want to attract the undying gaze of some of the guests whose head turned even at the sound of a pin.
She stopped on the stairs, about five steps away from me. Her gaze was now on me and her smile faded.
"If you could do something even this tiny to help out," I began, placing my index finger over my thumb to emphasize the word, ' tiny.'
"It would mean a lot."
A hiss escaped her and she simply walked past me after returning her gaze to her phone.
I clicked my tongue and scoffed. If only that girl knew how much I was holding back my both hands from slamming into that stupid face of hers, she would have known better than to react the way she had just done.
"It is well," I sighed and continued to the kitchen.
To be honest, it had become as though I was one of the maids during the party and you know, it was really annoying.
"Fine girl, please help me with water to wash my hands," One would say.
"Hey you, I need another bottle of water."
"O girl help me with that napkin over there."
Well, I didn't really blame any of them after all. It was mum I blamed.