The Life of Eniola (rewriting story)

Chapter 12

I awake to the sunlight rays shine through the window and curtain with eyes at rest I feel my centre, live happily within myself for these short blessed moments.

I'm so happy that it's the weekend so that I can spend time with Alessia and then later in the afternoon I am going to let Alessia meet with Sylvaine to have a picnic at the park. I am hoping that I get at least a day off from work because it gives me the flexibility to de-stress my life, to multi-task my day in a manner that benefits myself and my daughter. I get to do more parenting things than I could have instead of always asking my Aunty to babysit Alessia and I get to take that commute time and get more rest, which reminds me I haven't talked to her in a while.

I sit up from the bed and walk out of my bedroom to go wake her up.

"Goodmorning, darling."She turns to face me and yawns deeply.

"Morning mummy. "She says cheerfully. She takes my hand and I lead her to the bathroom to help her with brushing her teeth and taking a shower.

As I finish helping her, she waits patiently in her room so that I can do my own morning routine. I walk down the stairs with Alessia behind me.

She sits in the living room, reading whilst I cook her favourite Nigerian breakfast dish: Akara and Pap. After making it, I serve it in each individual plates and bowl so I call out Alessia's name that food is ready. When I first made it for her she was so bewildered at what I did because she didn't know how to eat, over time she got the hang of it. Afterwards, we finish eating, she goes back to reading again and I clear the plates.

I mean you can't blame her, I'm a book lover too so I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree then.

I go into the living room and we watch Home Alone 1,2 and 3 until it's mid-afternoon to get ready for the picnic with Sylvaine.

"Ready for your big surprise, Alessia?"I turn to her.

"Yes!"She declares, jumping up and down in one spot.

We go to the front door and exit the house, waiting for her to come to pick us up.

I call her to see where she is.

"Hey, bestie, where are you 'cause Alessia and I are just in front of the door?"I ask.

"I'm literally right in front of your house."She chuckles. I hear a car pull up and see Sylvaine coming out of the car.

"Mummy, who is that?"She tilts her head to the side, curiosity filling her face.

"She's an old friend of mine from high school: Sylvaine."She approaches us and sees Alessia, she lowers to her level.

"Oh mon Dieu, she looks just like you."They talk for a bit and then get inside the car towards the direction of the park.

As I talk with Sylvaine, my mind drifts back to yesterday's afternoon events and my face flush at the memory of Sebastián.

"Someone looks happy." She says, looking straight ahead and I turn to her give her a death glare.

Is it that obvious?

"Come on, Elena, it says it all in your face. Spill it, girl!"I let out a sigh.

"I met a guy yesterday." She burst into a burst of sudden laughter, she tries to calm herself down but fails to do so.

"Michela."I say in a warning tone.

"Okay, okay. It's just weird seeing you like this, the last time was ...but you catch my drift right?"I look at her, not saying anything.

"I don't want to see you get hurt again."She says.

"Thanks for the concern, I appreciate it."Sylvaine changes the topic to ease the mood.

"How's it going with your job, then?"I groan.

"You don't like it?"She exclaims.

"No, but..."I go on to explain what happened at the pitch presentation.

"Elena."She caresses my shoulder in a comforting way. Not wanting to get into this, I turn around to face Alessia.

"You okay, Lissy?"She pauses the game and looks at me, grinning.

"Yep."She resumes the game and I turn my face, facing the front. We reach the park and by the time it reached around five pm,I can assume that we ended up having lots of fun.