Naya and Vince

41

It was Saturday and I was in the Adebayo's residence as planned.

After Vincent's proposal on Monday, I didn't give him an answer that same day. On Tuesday morning which was the next day, Chijioke came to my  desk after the morning assembly to plead with me to continue the tutorial.

"I didn't even know you guys stopped the tutorial if not eh." Chijioke removed his glasses to rub his eyes. He didn't put his glasses back on and I was sure he wasn't going to wear it again. "But las las that boy they call Vincent is daft."

Ouch.

"How can he just stop the tutorials like that?" Chijioke continued. "And he didn't even talk to me to help him with school work. No wonder his exam scores were terrible. It was his CA that even boosted him."

I agreed after all of Chijioke's talk and he promised to come and study with us today.

As unusual as it was, Vincent's father was at home. I was really surprised when I walked into the sitting room and saw Vincent's father sitting on one of the couches with his attention on the news being aired on the TV. It somehow seemed like he had zoned out and I just stood at the entrance of the sitting room awkwardly. This was actually the first time I had come to Vincent's home for tutorials and a hyperactive Constance was not available to drag me in.

Winner came into the sitting room and paused. She totally ignored me, like I was one of the random decorative items in the oversized sitting room, and took a bowl of what looked like fruit salad to Mr. Adebayo.

"Sir," she called more than five times before the man acknowledged her. He thanked her. She was about disappearing when she turned to me.

"Why are you standing there like a statue?" She wasn't being rude. I could hear any hostility in her voice and she also had a very tiny smile dancing on her lips.

Vincent's father finally acknowledged me. "Nairobi how are you?"

I moved closer to him as I tried to get to Winner who was beckoning from the other side of the large sitting room. "I'm good sir."

It was when I got closer that I noticed it. Vincent's father looked terrible. More terrible than Vincent and probably Constance combined. He had very noticeable bags under his eyes and he was looking way older than the last time I saw him. His hair and beards that were neatly trimmed the first and last time I saw him looked bushy and I had to wonder. . .

Was it because of what happened at Constance birthday?

I felt bad.

"Vincent is waiting for you in the room." Winner said to me once I got to her. "Not his room o."

And truthfully Vincent was. When I entered the room we normally used, I sighted him sitting at the table with inpods in his ears as he moped at the wall in front of him. I knew something or many things were going on in his head.

I tapped the table when I got to it to drag his attention.

"How far?" I greeted when he acknowledged my presence. He pulled off the devices from his ears.

"I'm. . .fine." I sensed that hesitation but I said nothing about it.

When I had brought out my textbook and and old WASSCE past question Richard had given me in SS1, I dropped my hands on the table and stared at Vincent. "How was your result?". Although I said yes on Tuesday, I reasoned with them, Chijioke and Vincent, that I would prefer to start on Saturday. So after Tuesday, this was the time I had to actually talk more with Vincent. That how it had been before too. We would both talk about a little bit more than school in his home and somehow manage to ignore each other in school or say not more than hi and hello.