Chapter 10: Chapter 10

I do not know why I was disappointed to see him dressed in an ash polo and jeans. He looked responsible. It's not like everyone that visited the bars to get drunk was irresponsible but still, he did not have the looks of a man that would waste his life on alcohol.

"My Lady," he said, coming closer with a broad smile. I looked at Auntie Maimah then back to him. He extended his hand for a handshake. I took it, rather reluctantly. I was still yet to understand why he was in Uncle Joe's house.

"I know you don't remember me," He said.

Oh yes, I do! You were embarrassing yourself on your mother's stairs the last time we met.

He looked better than he had looked that day, lying on that floor and oozing of alcohol. He was almost unfamiliar, unrecognizable if not that I was a pro in mastering faces.

"Yes. I don't," I replied.

He let go of my hand. "I'm Ike, A friend to Wisdom and the family. I used to come here a lot as a kid."

I nodded. "You and my cousin must be good friends to have kept in touch for so long. "

"Brothers now," he acknowledged

with a smile.

Auntie Maimah was now sitting on a sofa in the large sitting room. "Ike loved carrying you when you were little. It was like he used to come here majorly to play with you, " she said.

"let's sit," I told the young man.

He nodded and returned to where he was formerly sitting. I also settled into a seat.

"How old was I then? " I asked tilting my head to Auntie Maimah. I was still trying to process the whole information, to understand how and where he suddenly came out from and why was I just hearing of him? I had known Mrs Idika for about a year. It happened to be, her son knew me from a small age. Wow! Just wow.

"I think, three years or so. The holidays you guys used to spend here," Auntie Maimah said then snapped her fingers. " Yes, three years. Ike gave you seven years."

I nodded looking at the young man, remembering the night I had kept vigil to meet him just for him to return in stupor , soaked in alcohol. He noticed I was looking at him, he began shifting his glances everywhere in the room but on me. Was he a shy man on the first meeting? He bent and wiped his shoe to meet my eyes still on him. He cleared his throat then asked,

"What of your sister, Ada?"

"She's very well, " I said then took my eyes off him.

Auntie Maimah got up and looked out through the window then she left the sitting room, hitting me slightly on the arm as she made for the door.

I exhaled, relaxing on the sofa then I let my eyes wander round the parlour. Noting the clean glass table that stood in the center of the room, the sofa draped in boring brown leather and the oxblood curtains. Everything was still the same.

"You know I have been asking Auntie about you and your sister, " Ike was saying. "The last time you came here, the last two years or so, I was in Lagos. "

I nodded.

"Everyone is so grown," He added and laughed uneasily then wiped his shoe again. I nodded with a small smile. We had nothing to talk about and he was desperate to raise topics. He was the one making it awkward.

"Do you stay in Owerri too? " I asked.

"Yeap. I was coming in and going out before that was When I returned from Canada and I was trying to settle. "

"Oh," I said, sitting up. "You schooled, worked in Canada? "

"Schooled. "

"That's nice. We schooled in Umudike," I offered.

He smiled. "I am happy to see you. Honestly."

I pressed my lips tightly together and gave a nod.

He rubbed his hands on his trousers as if he was dusting it. I was beginning to think he had a habit of cleaning his clothes.

"Is it dirty?" I asked, narrowing my eyes as I waited for his response.

"What?" he asked. I did not reply. Then he laughed. "No, it's not. It's just, I should be going, my fiancee must be waiting. "

"You are engaged, " I stated not as a question.

"Yes." Like he was not sure, he said again, "umm yes."

He got up and straightened out his jean trousers from where it clung too tightly at his calves. He was a tall man, with very broad shoulders. I could almost call him huge. He had the chiselled tummy that I could see through the fitted ash 'Jordan' polo he wore.

"I'm happy for you, " I said.

"Thank you," he said then let out a sigh. "Walk me to the car? "

"Yeah, sure. I don't mind."

I got up and followed him outside. I did not reach his car. I just stopped at the stairs outside the front door. He shook my hand again like we concluded a business deal before leaving.

After he left, I still stood outside, arms folded, drinking in the sight of the recently repainted fence. Auntie Maimah came outside then. I noticed when she stood beside me without saying anything.

"It's like you chased him away," she said, quietly. "He stays here mostly till night. Sometimes, he even sleeps here."

I turned to look at her and she shrugged. "Doesn't he have a house? "

"I don't know what is going on with him but since December his fiancee came around, he has been visiting here more often," she said.

"Why don't you talk to him. I think he takes this place as his home," I said.

"I don't just want to overstep my boundaries."

It was getting dark. Mosquitoes began to announce their presence with annoying cries around my ear. I waved my hand close to my ear but they always came back. My phone began to ring. It was Tunde.

"My Lady," he said, in that way that made me forget it was not just him that called me that name.

"How are you? " I asked.

"Tired. I'm in Port harcourt now. The man I came to see loves night meetings," he replied then groaned. "I'm tired. I want to rest, I want to sleep. "

I could remember him telling me about Portharcourt but never asked further.

"You will be returning home tomorrow?" I asked.

"It looks that way."

We talked till I noticed Auntie Maimah accessing me with her hands folded underneath her breast. I then had to end the call.

"Matthew abi, that fine gentleman? " she asked.

Mathew had come to see me once in Owerri. I blinked at her like I did not hear her.

"Owu Mathew? " she asked -Is it mathew? I knew her ears itched for an update and I was not ready to feed them.

"Mba," I replied, just staring ahead.

"How is he kwanu? " She probed further.

"He's fine," I said.

"Why are you answering me like I'm disturbing you," she said suddenly.

I was amused by her insinuation and her face she kept in a feigned annoyance. I smiled at her, patting her arm.

"You are not disturbing me, Auntie. I'm just tired, " I told her.

"You will rest, Nne oma," She said.

"When last did you speak with your mother? " she asked after a little silence. I almost rolled my eyes, hearing her question.

"On her _" I began, tilting my head to remember. "I think it's her fifty-seventh birthday."

"Hmm, Unu di egwu. Your mother should be sixty two now."

I did not reply.

"I don't blame you or your sister. When she went off to marry an impotent white man, she must have signed for this."

I knew that even before Mama went off to marry a white man, she did not want us. She acted it, she said it.

Auntie spat out after a little more after the silence like she just remembered the whole of my mother's situation.

" Impotent! For what kwanu, green card? "

"Auntie biko, not now. I'm going inside. "

I did not want to be the one being asked if my mother remarried for a green card or not so I left her there and went into the house. I just hoped then that I could still find the fresh air I was looking for in Owerri.