Chapter 4 Four

MIKE After rinsing my mouth, fixing my hair a little, and throwing on something decent, I headed downstairs. The first thing I noticed was the faint scent of my mother's perfume. She's back? I walked into the main parlour, and there she was comfortably settled on the couch like she never left. My parents were in the middle of a light conversation. "Look who finally made it out of the shower," she teased. "Come give mommy a hug. Or are you too big for hugs now?" I laughed and rushed into her arms.

"How was your trip back?" I asked "The weather there is not nice these days, I said lemme come back home to the warmth here Biko" she seemed really happy to be back "So it wasn't because of me" I turned away from her playfully. "At your age you're still acting like a child. If you're behaving like this, what will Amaka now do?" She paused, then relented, pulling him back: "Oya, I missed you." "It's fineeee" I laughed out loud. It was nice playing with her again. I left her and sat on the single-seater across from them, Her perfume still floating in the air and now on my body, the distant clinking of plates from the kitchen as Grace wrapped up for the night. My dad leaned back slightly in his chair, arms crossed, calm, but clearly prepared for me tonight, But I'll shock him. My mom, on the other hand, just looked proud to have both her Men in the same room. "So," my dad began, locking eyes with me, "how's the job treating you so far?" "It's only my first day but so far it's been good." He smirked. "That's part of the training." Mom rolled her eyes. "I don't know why you insist on stressing my baby like this" He ignored her, and turned fully to face me. "Listen, Mike. I know you're used to getting things handed to you, nice cars, a good life, opportunities. And I'm not blaming you. That's on us. We worked hard so you wouldn't have to start like we did." I stayed quiet. I knew this talk was coming. It was always about how he starved, trekked to school barefooted, fought lions on his way to school, killed a bear on his way back, licked palm oil for dinner. How did he survive all that? "But in this company," he continued, voice firm but not cold, "you don't get to waltz in and sit in a leather chair just because your surname matches mine. If you want that CEO title one day, you're going to earn it." I nodded again. "I understand sir." Mom raised a brow. "Do you really?" I smiled faintly. "Yeah. I do. That's why I'm okay with starting from the bottom. I want to learn every part of the business, how it runs, who keeps it running. I want the staff to see me and respect the work, not the name." My dad leaned back and gave a surprised look then a satisfied nod. "Good. You're already a step ahead. But don't expect it to be easy, no one knows who you are there, so you'll be treated like other staffs equally" "That's fair," I said. He reached out and placed a firm hand on my shoulder. "I'm proud of you, son and I believe you can do it." Mom beamed. "Now that's out of the way, will you finally bring your girlfriend home? I really hope you're taking your relationship matter seriously." I laughed, tension easing. "Mom, but you know I'm single and please don't try to hook me up again, the last one didn't go well" Just then, my little sister Amaka poked her head in from the hallway. "Did someone say girlfriend ?" Then she looked at me "I think we all should brace ourselves for the worst . He might die single" We all turned to look at her. "You're back too" I was pleasantly surprised "Oh, look at you," Mom said, half-standing. "I'm back now, so yes," she grinned. "Mike, I've missed you so much, I saw a brand new wrist watch on your desk, do you still wear it?, cause I already took it" Everyone laughed. I couldn't get angry at her, she can take whatever she wants. And for a moment, the world outside office chaos, secret relationships, ego battles faded into the background. Here, in this room, everything felt whole again. AIDA "BARRRRRRT!!!!!!!!!" My alarm clock jolted me from sleep God will punish the person that told me to get an alarm clock Even though I hate the sound of it in the morning, it's literally the only thing that keeps me alive each morning It's a beautiful Saturday morning, Caleb was still lying down, knocked out. But me? I was wide awake and Pissed. I still couldn't get the outburst he had yesterday. All because of Mike. It all started when Mike drove off... We flagged down a keke and eventually got to his place. I decided to sleep over at his place in a bid to make him forgive me for what happened at work. I didn't really notice how quiet he was on our way because I was too busy soaking in the chaos of the street,The noise, the music, sellers hawking all kinds of things on the road, and the warm evening breeze hitting my face as we sped down the road. It was almost perfect. So when we got to his apartment, ALL HELL LET LOOSE At least I really appreciated the fact that he doesn't touch or hit a woman when he's angry , if not, i for don chop like three slaps as he was ranting. Turns out he's really really angry today. "You were smiling too much at him!" "You didn't even respect me enough to walk away!" "You're making me look like a fool!" He didn't even allow me to talk. "Babe, I'm sorry na," I finally cut in, exhausted. He was supposed to be my peace of mind. "Babe calm down,come and sit down let's talk" I gently dragged him to the room, made him sit down and then sat on his laps "You know we've really come a long way" I paused, making sure he was listening "you can't keep getting jealous or angry anytime I talk to another guy, it doesn't work like that, by now you're supposed to trust me, have I ever given you a reason to doubt me?" "That's because I don't give you the chance to think about it," he said, pushing me onto the bed. "Try anything funny with that guy, and you won't like what I'll become." Then he walked into the bathroom, like nothing happened. Conversation over. Again. He still didn't talk while we sat and ate dinner. Even after bathing and putting on his favorite lingerie hoping he'd want some, he didn't budge. I went to my own side of the bed. Turned off the light, said a little prayer and slept off. I'll call Paula tomorrow. I need someone to tell me I'm not crazy.