Chapter 19: Chapter 19
"Mother what all this? This is the 21st century for Christ sake, you can't force me to marry someone you chose, never, I'm not agreeing to this," Jade said, he was very furious, I've never seen him this way before.
"You can't do anything about it now Jaden, do you remember the promise you made to me when I left this house 3 years ago? Just in case you've forgotten, I'll be glad to refresh your memory, you promised me that you'll get married before I come back or else I will give you a wife and you would not have any issues. Do you remember?" His mother said, Jade didn't say anything, he kept pacing in the living room."I haven't forgotten, I'm not ready to settle down mother," he told her.
"Oh, you're ready Jaden, it's just that your daughter didn't like any of them and you broke up with them. I have eyes everywhere my son, and now it's time to stop doing what your daughter want. She needs a motherly figure with her and you can't give her both that of a father and mother alone," she told him
"I am capable of doing it mother, I've been doing it for the past 5 years and besides Hannah and UK are here to help."
"Hannah is just a maid, the black girl is not included in our family matters, she doesn't exist where I am."
Mother and son kept exchanging words, Jade was so angry, I was scared he might do something harmful to himself or anyone. Hannah came and told Jade's mother that her room was ready, " Hannah get Christy's things to Jaden's room immediately," Jade's mother told her, "and you black girl, don't stand there being useless, get Christy's things to Jaden's room too," I went to help when Jade stopped me, "what the heck do you think you're doing UK? Go get ready for your class and Hannah, I don't want to see any of her things in my room, I will personally throw them out on the streets if I see them in my room. She can stay with mother for all I care," Jade said and left holding my hand and Juliet's with his other hand.
I changed and got ready for my class, I didn't get a single thing into my head in class, my mind kept wandering to what happened at the living room. Would Jade and Juliet have been in this mess if I had agreed in marrying Jade? I kept thinking. After my class, I was going to my room when I bumped into Christy, I moved to the side for her to pass but she didn't pass, she stood in front of me, looking at me from head to toe again and again. "Look here black girl, I am Jaden's fiancee so from now on, stay away from him or I'll make your life miserable in this house and even Jade wouldn't be able to save you."
"Sure hun, eat him up for all I care and by the way, my name is Ukpono, not black girl," I told her
"what sort of name is that?" she said scrunching her face in disgust
"A name only people with high IQ can pronounce, it'll be very shameful if Miss duck face can't pronounce the name," Juliet said, I didn't even notice when she came. "Come on mommy UK, let's go make flower crowns before it's lunch time, if I keep looking at this thing here, I fear I'll lose my appetite," Juliet said and we left. She just came and she thinks she can boss me around, she has no idea what this black girl can do, I smirked smugly.Jade was not home for lunch so I, Juliet, Jade's mother and Christy sat at the dinning table to eat. Jade's mother served the food, she served for herself, Juliet and Christy but didn't give me any. I waited until she sat and started eating then I went to serve myself when she stopped me, "what do you think you're doing black girl?" "mother, I'm serving myself," I replied. "no, don't touch this food, I'm keeping it in case any of us need more, if by the time were done eating, there are some leftover then you can have it," she said.
I didn't say anything, I quietly left the dinning room, "mommy UK, wait for me," Juliet left her food and followed me disregarding her grandmother's call. I went to the kitchen to check if there was any food left but nothing was left, even Hannah and her staff had nothing to eat because it was Jade's mother that cooked and she locked the locker containing all the ingredients so that no one else will make food to eat without her permission.
I didn't want to call Jade, I decided to improvise. Ukpono remember at home when mummy locks the ingredient cupboard, what did we usually do? I asked myself, the answer brought a smile to my face.
I remembered seeing an old rusted container at the basement, I told Hannah that I will make something for us to eat although it may take an hour and it'll be my county's food, she had no issues with it, "do whatever you have to do UK, we'll help you as much as we can" she told me. "Great, I hope Jade wouldn't mind if I used his card for a little shopping," I asked her. "don't worry, you can use the house card, it's for buying things used in the house and I'm in control", Hannah said. "By the way, what are you cooking?" "Jollof rice," I replied, "and we're making it in a traditional way. Is there charcoal in the house?" I asked and she nodded, "good, I need to make a list of what I need and please, if there is a vegetable market around here, I'll prefer to do my shopping there instead of a supermarket."
I quickly made a list of things I'll need, then I, Hannah and Juliet took a cab to the market. I got everything I needed in no time, except some things I had to improvise, like buying fresh tomato instead of the tin and some spices. When we got home, Jade wasn't back which was a good thing and Jade's mother or Christy didn't ask about us. I took out the old container I found at the basement, it was rusty and had so many holes around it which was perfect. I filled it up with charcoal, placed pieces of a plastic bottle which I had cut on top of the charcoal, poured a little kerosene on it and light it up. While waiting for the charcoal to become hot, I washed the raw rice and placed it in a pot, washed and chopped all the vegetables I'll be using. Luckily for us, Jade's mother only stopped us from making use of the ingredients not kitchen utensils so I didn't have to buy new set of utensils to use. Hannah came to tell me that the charcoal was really hot and ready to use, I placed the pot of rice on it, added water and left it to parboil while I blended the tomatoes and chilli. Within 10 minutes the rice was ready, I placed a colander in a big enamel bowl and strained the water out of the rice, I placed the empty pot on my charcoal stove and left it to dry. then I added the tomato puree to cook, when it seemed to be drying up, I added other ingredients, onions, carrot, salt, chilli, thyme, curry, vegetable oil, nutmeg and then water. "you're not yet done and it's already smelling good, I can't wait to eat it," Hannah said. I added the rice to the tomato sauce on fire, mixed it properly and allowed it to be soft and the water drying up too. Few minutes later it was ready, I took it to the kitchen and served it for Hannah, her staff, Juliet and myself. "You know somehow I wish Jade's mother will continue doing this so that we can get to taste another of your country's food, this is so good, I'm keeping this recipe," Hannah said.
We cleaned up everything and I begged them not to let Jade know about it because he'll be angry with his mother for not giving us food, I didn't want them to have a disagreement again today.