Receiving the signal, Jidenna collected it from him. His fingers brushed the surface, but he just couldn't tear his eyes away.
For some reason, as soon as he saw the material and its colors, something stirred within him and he fell in love with it.
While he was holding it, something flashed through his mind too quickly for him to grasp. Jidenna's brows furrowed, but he quickly dismissed it.
He knew better than to pursue fleeting memories, but it still couldn't stop the curiosity that gnawed at him.
He wanted to know what it was, but shied away from the terrible pain that usually followed.
With that, he turned away to the bathroom to change.
The bathroom door creaked open, and Jidenna stepped out feeling less confident than when he had stepped in.
His hands were crossed over his chest, his back slightly hunched over as he tried to shield his bare chest.
"I thought it would be a cloth," he grumbled under his breath, closing the door behind him.
Like his father, Ikenna, Jidenna was only covered from the waist downwards, leaving his chest naked.
Without the clothing covering his chest, Jidenna felt self-conscious.
With his eyes glued to the floor, he walked up to his father, dragging his feet.
But his back straightened instinctively when his father barked out a command, "Straighten up!"
Following the command, a blow landed on his back, knocking the air out of his lungs. Jidenna staggered forward, almost falling and kissing the floor.
A hand gripped his falling self, saving him from the embarrassing fate.
By his side, his father gave a sigh full of worry, "I'm now seeing why your mother was worried about you… is this how you want to take care of yourself?..."
As his father rambled on, Jidenna squeezed his eyes shut, praying in his mind, "Please let this not turn into a full-blown nagging like yesterday."
And his prayers were answered when something chimed in the distance.
Hearing the chiming, his father's face changed, and he swallowed back whatever words he was about to say.
Giving one last pat on Jidenna's back, he walked out of the room, throwing over his shoulder, "Come out, we don't have much time left."
Walking out of the room, Jidenna awkwardly fidgeted with the wrapper tied around his waist, rumpling it. When he realized what he had done, he quickly smoothed away the wrinkles.
Moving ahead, he walked behind his father's massive figure with his eyes glued to the floor.
Bypassing the living room, they turned into the passage.
Jidenna peeked at his surroundings from the corner of his eyes, noting each door they passed.
Very soon, the figure in front of him stopped at the door to the bigger storeroom where food items are kept.
Jidenna's eyes narrowed in confusion, and he wondered, 'The family secret is in the storeroom? What kind of secret could that be?' Chuckling inwardly, he joked, 'That our ancestor was a glutton after all, which family reserves such a massive room only for storing food to eat?'
Unaware of his thoughts, his father, Ikenna, pushed the door open after taking a deep breath.
Behind him, Jidenna swallowed, staring at the foodstuffs—yam, potatoes, garri, rice, dried meat and fish, and a lot of spices hung, heaped, and stacked all around.
His father, without blinking, led him through the sea of food. Towards the corner between two piles, he squatted down, brushing a spot on the floor and murmuring under his breath.
Jidenna's dark eyes widened, his breath caught in his throat as the tile before his very eyes slid open, revealing an abyss of darkness below.
Unperturbed, his father, Ikenna, descended the steps into its inky depths. His massive figure was slowly swallowed until Jidenna could no longer see him.
He gulped, but this time it wasn't out of greed for the food, but of fear.
"What?" Standing at the entrance to the opening, he peered inside and squinted his eyes but still couldn't see a thing.
His fingers gripped the wrapper tied around his waist, wrinkling it once more.
'What's that?' His eyes traced back to where they were before. "I think I just saw something over there," he stretched forward again to verify.
"What are you still doing, standing there? Do you want me to come up there and meet you?" In shock, Jidenna lost his balance, toppling downwards when an arm emerged from the darkness, grabbed him, and dragged him in.
Jidenna shut his eyes tight, bracing himself for pain, but all he felt was a gentle pop, like a balloon.
'Huh?' Feeling confused, he opened his eyes. His feet were stably standing on a brown wooden floor.
He looked around, wondering, 'How did I get here? Wasn't I falling into that hole under the storeroom? And when was the floor ever made from wood?'
'This should be a passage,' he noted, glancing at the two walls far off by his sides.
'A dimly lit one at that,' he added, observing the low lighting in the passage.
He paused.
Because right in front of him was a familiar figure—his father—who stared at him with a mix of worry and helplessness.
In response, Jidenna squeezed out a smile that spelled out the words "embarrassed" on his face.
When he realized that the smile had only made the atmosphere worse and the look on his father's face did not get any better, he wiped out the smile.
Bringing his hand to his lips, he gave a fake cough, 'Eump,' desperately trying to divert the attention from his shameful display earlier. Then he reminded his father, "Daddy, are we there yet?"
His father gave him another look full of emotions he could not understand before leading the way forward.
The journey went on for some time, with there being only two paths: forward or backward.
But his father, Ikenna, kept moving forward, which meant Jidenna had to go along.
Only the thudding of footsteps against the wooden floor kept the silent duo company.
"Jidenna, we're here."