Facade (Romola 1)

63: Uncovered

"I don't want to listen to rubbish. I have a house warming to host." Olumide pointed at Yetunde before holding Romola's back.

"Trust me, you'd rather hear this from me than someone else. Another person might not be so nice but because Romola is my friend, I'll break it gently." Yetunde smirked. "You're not my friend."

Yetunde's smile grew. "Trust me. Only a friend would go to the lengths that I have gone for you. At least your mother thinks so"

"My mother?" Romola's mouth dropped her hand fell from Olumide's arm

"Yeah, you know, the woman who gave birth to you. She'll be here to take you home soon." Ajoke chipped in.

"How could you invite someone to my house without my permission?"

"Calm down Olumide. It's just a party. Besides, I think Romola's mother deserves to know who her daughter is dating." Yetunde kept her hands akimbo.

"Where is her mother?" Olumide served her a pointed look.

"She'll be here soon but I better prepare you both for her arrival because she is not happy about her daughter's disappearance."

"Will you just talk?" Olumide demanded.

"Not here. Too many ears." Yetunde grabbed Olumide's wrist.

He shook off her hand and pulled Romola closer, "Fine, let's go to the study room."

He led them to double drawn brown doors on the side and shut the door behind them. The wall around the room was made up of shelves of books. Evening light streamed in from the right corner of the hexagon room,

"Please, speak quickly. I need to get back to my party."

"I think both of you should sit down."

Romola saw that her fate rested in Yetunde's arms. She had pieced together a few pieces of the image that had plagued her since the first day she stood with Olumide in the kitchen. More images had sprung out and now, as she stared at Yetunde with fear about what she might find, her brain worked up more images. It was like the anxiety forced her brain to find other pathways to the information she sought. The images in her head were beginning to have names, places and things but the picture of the little girl connected to Yetunde began to arise again, like someone had dispelled the thick fog blanket of memory loss in her head.

"I'm not sitting down." Olumide paced from one end of the room to the other. He leaned against the window, staring at both women. His gaze rested on Romola.

"Before she begins, is there anything you want to tell me? Anything at all?"

There was a plea in his eyes. He went down on one knee in front of her. A pool of tears formed at the bottom of Romola's eyes. She wished she could remember something because she was sure that whatever Yetunde was about to say would tear them apart.

She raised her head to the cream ceiling that held recessed lights and a single tear dropped from the side of her eyes, down her cheeks to her red dress. She dropped her head and stared into Olumide's soulful eyes.

"How can I tell you anything when I don't remember anything".

Olumide held her hand and gave it a tight squeeze. "As long as you've been completely honest with me, nothing she says can make me feel different towards you."

He placed a soft kiss on the back of her hand.

Romola tore her hand from him and wrapped it around herself. She stared at Yetunde. The wicked glint in her friend's eyes told her that the whole world was about to be unravelled.

"Yetunde, please don't -"

"Don't tell him the truth?"

Romola shook under the sharpeners of Yetunde's voice.

"It seems like you already know what I want to say. Maybe you didn't lose your memory after all."

"I really can't remember anything." Romola screamed. "I just have images in my head."

"Don't you want to tell your boyfriend about the images you're seeing?" Yetunde teased.

Romola turned to Olumide, mouth wide and gaping, but Yetunde's words drowned her voice. "You'll probably still tell more filthy lies. So just shut up and let me talk."

"Get to the point, Yetunde."

Yetunde winked at Olumide. "Fine, I'll talk. Romola's story looks like a a bad Nollywood movie. I can't even believe that I lived with a liar and prostitute this whole time."

"Why would you call her a prostitute?" Olumide's face hardened. "You said you found her mother?"

"Calm down lover boy. Don't defend this devil. So you know how Modupe is my child? I'm sure Dami must have told you anyway. That's how Romola's mother gave birth to her. She has no father. Her mother, a bread hawker, married a mechanic, and this Romola," Yetunde tapped Romola's temple, "has 3 dirt poor siblings. Just. Like. Her."

"Stop this." Olumide's neck veins bulged. "Stop this."

The tears ran down Romola's face unfiltered now as Yetunde's words unearthed buried memories and gave life to the ones that had plagued her mind. Yetunde words gave the images the spark they needed to create her memories.

Author's Note:

Don't know when the next update will be. This is August 12th. My exams come up from September 19th to 25th and somehow I have to magically finish my project before then. So, updates may be sparse or inexistent. I haven't even been blogging also. Hope you understand.