Smile for me

* CHAPTER SIXTEEN *

UCHE'S POV

The walk back home is slow and the sky has started to turn dark, I can't believe Dede asked me to just leave her at the junction to her street, I cringe at the thought of her walking home alone. She still let me walk her home even though she was stubborn as hell and still insisted that I let her just walk to her house on her own.

Mama is sitting in the sitting room when I walk in, I found the door unlocked which means she must have left it unlocked when I left with Dede

  "Good evening ma" I greet her while locking the door

  "𝒆𝒏𝒉 𝒆𝒉 welcome" I join her in the sitting room, she's watching a family drama on African Magic

"Did you walk her to her house?" She asks me, I nod my head at her signifying a yes

  "Kelechi was telling me about her and how she said she doesn't know how to draw" she chuckles lightly, Kelechi and his running mouth

  "Does she come here often?"

  "No she has only been here twice and Kelechi has only seen her twice" she nods her head at me

  "That poor girl, every time I see her I remember what she and her mom have been through especially her at such a young age" she shakes her head in sadness and I remain silent

  "Even though I do not totally agree with her mom taking her abroad I can not lie, I would have also done the same thing too. I would do anything to take you boys away from drama and trouble"

  "We're fine here mama and we're very grateful for our life here" i tell her truthfully

Granted, life is a little difficult without our father but everyday Kelechi and I see how hard my mom struggles for us and no matter how hard things get I would never change anything because I'm grateful for all we have now

  "And I'm very grateful to my 𝒄𝒉𝒊 for blessing me with children like you two, you have made my life much easier" ( God )

We stayed silent for 30 more minutes before she went inside to sleep. After struggling to stay awake I finally decided to go into my room to sleep.

. . .

The sun is already up when I wake up and my whole room is an entire shade of orange, I pull up my curtains and open my window, the air is still moist and the morning dew has begun to fade away. I remove my phone that has been vibrating from under my pillow to check my notifications. I have 5 new notifications; a text message from Dede, 2 missed calls from Emeka and 2 messages from same Emeka. I open Dede's first and read her message, it's a smiley emoji and a thumbs up. I smile to myself and I choose not to reply her.. yet

I dial Emeka's number without reading his message, he picks up on the first dial

Hello? Guy where you keep phone? I don dey call you since ( I've been calling you for a while)

I remove the phone from its initial position on my ear to my face to check what the time is; it's a little after 7

Do you even know what time it is? I ask him sleep still heavy in my voice, I can see him rolling his eyes at me now

I send you one link for WhatsApp, e be like say school na till next year oo ( I think school will resume next year)

What? Panic is very evident in my voice now

Yes, my mom sent me the news headline today, ASUU made it to the headlines my guy!

It's very easy to detect the excitement in his voice, Emeka has never been the one to enjoy school and academics. I remember him purposely ditching classes to do things that his parents wouldn't be proud of if they ever found out, if laziness was a person it would be Emeka