Esther whispered into her son's ear and the latter responded with a mischievous smile, before skipping into his room
The bathroom was adjacent to the entrance of the room with their parent room being opposite them
Tobi looked at the bathroom door before letting out a small chuckle, he then entered the room and picked up Deji's trousers which he had just removed and left swiftly
After a while Deji came out of the bath and went inside to change but he was dumbfounded when he was unable to find the clothes he had just removed
Annoyance filled Deji's heart as he now misplaced his clothes with the money from his work inside and then that annoyance turned into anger and frustration
He wore a new set of clothes before he sat down on the bed to think of where he could've dropped it
"It was right here when I entered the Bath…so how?" Deji thought deeply " did I put it somewhere else before I entered??"
Deji surveyed the room one more time, he check the laundry and even the places he couldn't have put clothes in
After nearly twenty minutes of searching he concluded that his clothes was no longer in the room and all his emotions converted into fear
What if his mom found the clothe, what if she saw the money inside and thought he stole from her
She was still upset they he had (not)hit his brother with a broom and even though she hadn't said anything about her shop being closed early she was surely pissed at him for that also
"That's three strikes in one day.. what if she tells Dad?!, that man never listens to me" Deji thought in despair "the only thing he could do was face his problems head on and hope for the best
The was that could happen was that he would get a beating and lose his money, but since he had secured a good trade the first time the second time shouldn't be too hard.
Deji thought if the worst possible outcomes so if none is d then happened it would be a good outcome for him
"Hup"
Deji left his room with confidence, he walked into the parlor preparing to ask Tobi if he had seen or taken his Trousers
Deji was looking for both his top and trousers but he saw his shirt one the floor as he fit closer to the parlor
"That brat" Deji had realized that his brother read the one who took his clothes, as to why he took hen to the parlor was another story thing to question him on
Deji stomped into the parlor but what his eyes saw made him rethink everything
"Why is it with her ?"
"Was she the one who asked for it ?"
"Did he set me up or did he misunderstand?"
Either way things were not looking great for him. Deji somewahat understanding of the situation simply went to sit and asked why his clothes where taken from his room
Yo I was standing behind his mum with a depressed expression on his face, the only time he made that face was when Deji was actually in trouble
Deji examined his trousers and upon closer inspection he noticed they the pockets were tampered with. That much eas obvious as they were inside out
Deji looked at his Mum's hand and that was when he knew he was finished.
She was holding the money he made from selling his drawings to Mr Jide and under it all was the flyer that he was given on his way back from home
"Bolashade XX Adedeji" Esther said with a solid tone as she looked at her son was sitting as if he had done nothing wrong
While that was the case the information she had received and the evidence in her hand said otherwise
"Bolashade x Adedeji" Esther called out the second time
"M-ma" Deji answered before his shecsled a third time. He could already tell that wa s fucked up, but he needed to nip this in the bud before his dad hit home and made things more complicated
"What is this?" Esther waved the money in he hand at her son who simply replied…
"It's my money that I've saved"
This was the only reply Deji could think of, his Mum and Dad had baanned him form drawing for different reasons and he had tried to justify them
It was because of his rebellion at the time that his younger brother become favoured over him, Deji had always wanted to become an artist or work in any part of the industry
But due to the luck of exposure and the funding his parents as well as other adults saw it as a low return invest with high risk of homelessness.
So how could he explain that he earned the money by drawing when his Unviersity entrance exams were coming up soon, and since they couldn't afford to send him to a turtorial center he agreed to study diligently on his own
"Your savings? From where!" Esther snapped
Her son was (not)lying to her face so of course this made her mad "okay…where did you see money to save" Esther questioned
Seeing as there was no easy out of this dilemma, "I meet some guys and they said they could help me make legal money if I just sold some stuff" Deji lied
But as the words came out if his mouth he realized his mistake
"What guys?!….hope you're not hanging around those thouts in the street!! After everything your father and I had done for you this is how you want to repay us" Esther yelled upset that her son had gotten mixed up in some illegal activity for some quick buck
"N-no no, it's noting illegal, that just tell me to design the boxes they sell and they pay for the designs, honest" Deji mixes the truth hoping to reduce the punishment he would receive
He could've said that it was Mr Jide who bought his designs but Mr Jide and their Dad had a mutual agreement to prevent Deji from "wasting his life" and Deji formed an unspoken contract to keep their transactions secret
Deji and his mother bickered and bantered arguing and justifying the owner of the money and the means of acquiring it. But a mist all this the door opened and entered a tall shileoutte of a man
"I'm home"
"Daddy !!" Tobi greeted his Dad as he entered
"What all this I could hear you two shouting from afar" Deji's Dad said with a calm voice "and you why are you shouting at you mother have you no respect"
"Honey your son pocketed my money and is lying about it" Esther said in the verge of tears, Deji was dumbfounded by the news he had thought his mother was curious as to why he was keeping money for himself given the family situation but this was even worse
"Hoo~ is that so" The tall shileoutte unbuttoned his shirt and cracked his bones
BAMM!!
Deji fell to the ground without any warning or time to defend himself
"Get up and explain yourself before I kick you"
Said the shileoutte standing tall in front of the fallen Deji extruding a menacing aura
…..