Love And Fate

★Twenty-One★

There goes nothing was Serene's first thought when the woman told her to follow her, her slim figure moved quietly as she led Serene towards the door she had come out of.

She opened the door wide waiting for Serene to step in, Serene bowed her head not wanting to meet the woman's gaze as she stepped into the room.
It was a small living room, the smallest room Serene had ever seen, the room looked cozy enough, on the faded and dirtied painted wall hung a few picture frames, displaying pictures of a baby boy and and then a baby girl, and what seemed to be Ivan's mother and father on their wedding day, looking at the woman in her youthful days made Serene realize who Ivan had taken his bright smile from, she also realized how Akua was a splitting image if the woman in the photo.

"You can sit, I'm going to call Ivan" the woman said coldly, without sparing Serene a glance, she left entering into another room.
Serene shifted uncomfortably in the worn out sofa, the fan made a creaking sound as it  worked filling the silence in the room.
Her heart was in her mouth as she prayed yet again that everything went well.
From the look of things, Serene knew Ivan's mother wasn't a fun of her at all .

Her breath hitched at the sight of Ivan, he paused when he saw her, his lips parting in shock.
His wrinkled shirt hung loosely on his body and his shorts looked too baggy on him, he looked disheveled, almost as miserable as Serene looked.

The woman looked between the two, shook her head before leaving them and disappearing in a corner.

"Ivan.." Serene stood up abruptly and rushed towards him, she wrapped her arms around him tightly with her cheeks pressed to his chest.

With a smile on his face, Ivan wrapped his arms around her body too, they stayed in that position for what seemed like forever, only parting when Ivan's mother emerged into the living room again. She wasn't alone this time, behind her was a man in a white singlet and trouser that covered some part of his stomach, his hair was greying at the sides and his tall lanky frame moved slowly.
At first, he paid no attention to his presence as his wife helped him sit down.

"How did you manage to get out?"
Ivan asked her, he led her to where she had sat and sat beside her.

"My friends are around, I still don't know how they convinced my grandmother"
Serene answered him.

"Young man,won't you introduce the lady to us?"
Ivan's father's gruffy voice spoke up, though he turned to the direction of where Ivan and Serene sat, his eyes were directed somewhere else and it made Serene wonder if he was blind.

"This is Serene, papa" Ivan simply said

"Oh oh, the daughter of the rich man that died. If I may ask, what are you doing here? It's not always we see big people around this place, unless of course they are politicians who are on a campaign, even those ones...."

"Papa, she's here to see me, you don't have to worry" Ivan said

"This girl will put you in trouble oh. She has already done! Haba! Or it is not enough? You want her Old Lady to render us homeless before you realise this?"
Ivan's mother piped in, her voice cold as she spoke, her words stung Serene.
Ivan had noticed, and he took her hand in his rubbing it gently.

"Eno! It is enough, she didn't come here to cause trouble"
Ivan pleaded with his mother, he had a worried look on his face as he stood up, he looked down at where Serene sat then back at his mother.

His mother stood up straighter, a scowl appearing on her face, she raised one hand and pointed it between the two as she began to speak.

"Ehh, then tell her, or does she already know? Does she know how her Old Lady came here...."

"What?! My grandmother came here?" Serene was up on her feet then, shock and fear evident on her face, she looked at Ivan questioningly.

"Yes she came here! And she insulted us by asking us to take her money, that dirty money! Only God knows where she got them from, but that's not the problem. If not for my son here, who doesn't know how to cut his coat according to his size, would we have been insulted in that manner? Just because we are  poor"
The woman sniffed going to sit at one corner of the room.

"Eno it is enough. Leave this boy alone, he is old enough to make choices for himself, and why do you trouble the young girl? Is it her fault that her Old Lady was cruel?"
Ivan's father spoke up. There was silence after, only the sound from Ivan's mother as she sniffed quietly at where she sat.

Ivan took Serene by her hand, and led her outside, thankfully, there was no one else on the compound.
Ivan sighed with relief, and hoped that no one saw them, he knew how the people of his community could be.
Staying in a compound house wasn't the best of things, it was one thing Ivan was working hard to change. There was nothing like privacy, and it seemed people knew you more than your own self. Just as how his neighbors already knew about his affair with Serene, and how people gathered when the Old Lady graced their community with her presence, only to shame his family and drag their dignity to the ground.

"Why didn't you tell me my grandmother came here?"