Chapter 8: Chapter 8

The atmosphere was warm as the morning sun radiated mildly on the surface of the earth with all it's energy. Daisy was on her bed turning around as she changed her position. Slowly, she opened her eyes and sat up stretching her body and yawning as well.

"It's Saturday!" she suddenly remembered. She had planned going out for shopping together with her mum. Her mother and Michelle's mother became friends right from thier childhood days but due to some incidents, they were separated for sometime but met again later. They both owned big stores and supermarkets but the Arrowhoods' businesses are slightly greater than that of the Coles'.

However, they never allowed envy to destroy the things they had built with so much time, energy and reputation. The companies and stores of the Arrowhoods' and the Coles' are one of the top best in the whole of Braxton City as the Arrowhoods' always remain the top leading in the business world.

Daisy settled down to do the laundry. Luckily for her, her mum was out of sight giving her the chance to make use of the washing machine so as to make her work faster. Although, the Coles are rich, they instilled proper moral teachings into thier children. If Claire should catch her children make use of machines for just little things, she'll punish them in her own way which which will definitely be at the children's disadvantage

In no time, Daisy was through with her chores after which she dressed up, and left her room for the living room.

"What kept you so long?" her mum queried fully dressed in an attractive way.

"I'm sorry mum, I woke up a bit late. Good morning" she bowed a little.

"Morning indeed!. It's almost noon. Anyway, the agenda for today has been changed. You'll have to go shopping alone or you go with Brian. I have to attend to some urgent matters at the clothes store" Claire informed her daughter.

"Hope no problem, why urgent?" Daisy asked.

"It's nothing much. Just some customer complaints about the quality of the recent clothes we delivered to them for thier occasion. I have to verify thier complaints, and if found to be true, we'll have to question the company supplying us the wears. And that has to be attended to with immediate effect so we won't lose our customers. They are one of our best patronage" she explained.

"Alright mum. I might visit your store when I finish shopping" Daisy said.

"No problem dear"

************

"Daniel, wake up" Alex tapped his brother who has been sleeping since the previous night in an attempt to wake him.

"Few minutes please" Daniel pleaded still sleeping. He turned to the other side of the bed to prevent his brother from touching him again.

Alex climbed the bed towards Daniel.

"Dad is coming for you" he whispered into his ear. Immediately, Daniel sprang up. The mention of his father is the only thing which could scare Daniel to the core. Not that his father is unfriendly, but he's a very strict man with so much principles.

"Where is he?" he stood up looking sideways, his eyes still closed a bit. Alex laughed "I was just kidding. He's having breakfast with mum. Daniel laid down again, "Dick head" he muttered.

" Make sure you come out in few minutes. Else....."

"Else what?" Daniel asked playfully.

" I don't have to complete it. You know what will happen" he said and walked out.

Daniel didn't want his father to get angry, so he entered the bathroom, took his bath, and cleaned himself thoroughly. Then, he left for the dining room where everyone was eating.

"Good morning dad" he greeted sitting on the chair at the far end of the table opposite his father.

" If Alex hadn't come to wake you, when did you intend to?. Lazy brat" his father said. Daniel looked up at his mother to see if he could figure out something, but he couldn't.

Normally, whenever his father disciplined or scolded him about sleeping too much, his mother would take sides with him saying " He's just a little boy. It's normal for him to sleep, so he'll grow well". But, the cold shoulder he receives from his mother recently is getting too much for him to handle. Daniel thought it's because of how he disrespected her, then he tried asking her for forgiveness but it didn't ameliorate the situation. Rather, it increased.

Mr Bassey noticed the awkward silence between his wife and his son which was too unusual since she had always treated Daniel like an egg.

"Catherine, what's wrong?. You didn't talk to Daniel this morning. Did you two disagree about something?", he asked. Daniel wanted to tell his father what happened at that moment not sure if it would help, but decided against it.

"She'll only hate me more" he said to himself.

Catherine told her husband that nothing is wrong.

"I'm not in a good mood to talk this morning" she said plainly. Mr Bassey nodded his head in understanding since that's not the first time she'll act that way, but Alex knew something was wrong with both of them. He just didn't know what exactly.

"Grrrrrinnnngg, grrrring" the door bell rang. Nancy ran towards the door to check who it was. A minute later, she came back to inform them of who was at the door as the normal protocol for security reasons.

"Ma'am, I guess it's your sister and her daughter" she said and Catherine instructed her to let them in.

"Hello everyone" someone said.

"Best in-law ever. It's been a while" Mr Bassey stood up and hugged his wife's elder sister as his wife did the same. Everyone sat down at the big dining table while Nancy served the guests thier meal after the greetings. All the while, Daniel was silent after he greeted his aunt. He's not so comfortable with the presence of his cousin as there were some unsettled matters between them.

"How are you doing Dan!" his cousin suddenly spoke up when she noticed how silent he was. The Daniel I know is not as silent as this.

"Vanessa" Alex spoke up lightly so they won't attract the elderly ones who were so engrossed in thier business and political conversation. "It's better you don't disturb him. He's not been in a good mood recently"

"You mean, Dan, not in a good mood, you must be joking. He's so playful and cheerful at school" Vanessa said and made an attempt to touch his face. Daniel saw the action coming and quickly held her hand from his face and slammed it on the table angrily. Like an arrow shot into motion, all eyes were on him with furrowed brows. Vanessa couldn't yell so as not to complicate the matter. She could only grit her teeth to absorb the pain.

"Know your place next time" he said and walked out. Catherine was shocked at her son's action. He isn't even scared of his father at that moment.

"Dan, come back here" she instructed, but he didn't glance back even once.

"Are you deaf?. She called again but he didn't look back still.

"Aunty Cath, you can let him go. I'll talk to him at school. He might have a reason for behaving that way" Vanessa pleaded. The moment Daniel heard what his cousin said, he turned back.

"Don't you ever let anyone at school know we are related. I mean never!" he shouted pointing his index finger at her. "Try me if you dare". he said and left everyone's presence. He ran towards his room, packed his bag, and left for the gym.

Alex rubbed his forehead confused. "I hope things doesn't get worse. If Dan finally gets dad annoyed, I'll also suffer from the outcome. What do I do?"

**************

"Babe!" someone called from behind. Daisy was shocked. She wasn't expecting the sudden call. She tried to recognize whose voice it was but couldn't due to the noise around because she's in a public arena. Yet, she knew she's the one being called since the voice kept calling out to her direction at intervals, but she decided not to care. Suddenly, someone hugged her from behind.

"Mich!" she said softly.

"How did you know" Michelle queried.

"I felt you the moment you hugged me. As you know, your actions stand out always"

"And what does that mean?"

"No offence dear. Am I wrong?" Daisy teased and Michelle laughed.

"So, where are you headed?" Michelle asked.

"I want to go get some groceries. What about you?"

"Same here. Let's go together"

Few minutes later, they got to the supermarket and began thier purchase. Michelle and Daisy stayed in the beverage section of the supermarket picking up some of thier favorite beverages and dropping them in thier cart.

"I'll go get some vegetables. Be right back" Daisy said and left while Michelle continued her shopping still in that section. As she moved backwards, something fell on her leg and caught her attention. It was a well packaged pack of chocolates. The outer cover was thoroughly well designed and colourful.

"But what's this doing here?", she asked a bit loudly.

"I'm sorry, It's mine. It fell from my cart" a light cool sedating voice was heard as the person in question retreated to pick up the fallen item. Michelle looked up to see the one blessed with such a pretty voice and her gaze met with a tall fair handsome boy wearing a black hoodie, a pair of blue jean trousers with blue sneakers and a black face cap.

"So handsome. I actually thought it was a girl". Michelle was still gazing at the boy when he asked her if she's okay.

"Of course. I am" she replied blandly returning to what she was doing earlier. Michelle knocked herself on the head when the boy left.

"Gosh!. What was I thinking?." she felt awkward. "He's not even as handsome as my brothers" she scoffed still looking at the direction the boy went through.

"Anything wrong?" someone asked.

"Ah!. You scared me" Michelle hit her friend on the shoulder.

"What were you thinking of ?" she asked.

"You must be joking. I wasn't thinking". Daisy looked at her friend closely and gave her a mocking smile. She knew Michelle was lying when she said she's not thinking but didn't want to pry further into it.

They finished purchasing what they needed, and left the supermarket after paying for the items. While returning home, Daisy asked Michelle about what Richard did in school and she explained.

"You don't mean it. He stopped you?" Daisy asked.

"Yes. What's the big deal about it?"

"Wait. You really didn't fight Richard because he stopped you?. I'm so surprised he could control your temper. See, i told you Daniel is a good guy but you won't listen. You can now see for yourself" Daisy ranted waving her hand in the air.

"Point of correction, he didn't control me. I only remembered what Bro Des said to me" she rolled her eyes.

"Fine. If you say so, I won't dispute it" Daisy raised her hand up in the air surrendering to Michelle's claim and Michelle smiled. She so much loves her friend.

"Let's get going" she said and they continued walking home after alighting from the bus.

★ ★ ★

Richard picked one of his balls bouncing it about in the compound of the beautiful duplex of the Steves'. Since he's the only child of his parents, he had no one to play with unlike when he was still a child. His parents were the one who kept him company while growing up. His mother would usually sing for him and make him snacks, and his father would teach him how to run and play ball, until everything changed.

Growing up, his parents had lesser and lesser time for him, making him feel so lonely. Even when they are around, they'll complain of wanting to rest after working all day. All these, he remembered as he kicked the ball into the air. Formerly, he would have started crying but as he grew up, he realized crying won't solve the problem. He entered the house again breathing heavily after a long while of playing.

"How's what I sent you?" he heard his father speaking to someone on phone, but he cared less since he thought it could be normal company duties. On exiting the kitchen, he heard his father chuckle as he said,

"Let the game begin" This caught his attention and he turned to look at his father. The smile he saw on his father's face looked a bit suspicious but he waved off the thought of asking him what the matter was.

Rather, he thought of what he heard.

"Game!!!!. What type of game is that?". There was no one to answer him.