Serendipity [BoyxBoy]

Chapter Eighteen

Ehi was four and a half and she went to bed exactly at 7:30pm.

Sometimes, Mummy and Daddy let her stay up till 8pm but that night they had a football match and they didn’t like to worry about her taking a sip of their beer while they were cheering their team on—she’d gotten close once.

Ehi was already fast asleep by 7:40 but, about three hours later (although she was not exactly sure how to count hours she believed a significant amount of time had passed), she was woken up by whispers of a conversation between Nosa and Egho. She didn’t really understand what they were saying but she smiled because they were her siblings and they took care of her. She thought Nosa was the best big brother in the world and she loved his friend and Ulo.

A few minutes later, she heard the back door open. Someone left the house. 

Ehi tried to go back to sleep. 

Later, she was woken up by a phone conversation between Egho and her boyfriend. She knew Egho had a boyfriend because her sister always sounded happier than she usually did during those phone calls. Ehi had seen Egho call this person multiple times before; she always got all smiley and weird and she did this thing where she bit her bottom lip softly.

Ehi didn't understand what it meant.

Again, the door opened and closed and there was silence.

She wanted to stand up and go to Egho or Nosa, maybe to ask for juice, but she didn't because she was tired. She’d spent the day at daycare molding with play dough and the nice lady who took care of them let her take an extra turn on the swing. She needed her rest.

Taking advantage of the stillness of the night, Ehi drifted into a dreamless sleep.

▪️▪️▪️

By Monday, Irekan was back to his usual chipper self.

He sauntered into Nosa’s house like he did every morning, interrupting his breakfast like he didn’t care that Egho had to open the gate for him or that he was ruining Nosa’s early morning peace. He greeted the siblings, smiling like he'd eaten little bits of sunshine with his breakfast.

Nosa tore his gaze away from Irekan. If he kept looking at that smile, he’d have to get a framed picture of it.

“Irekan, how far?” Egho greeted. "It's like I'll start frying egg for you too."

Irekan sat himself down at the table, still grinning like an idiot. "Don't worry. I eat before I come here."

"Must be some breakfast," Egho muttered, turning back to her own food. 

Irekan turned to Nosa and inclined his head. It baffled Nosa how, a little over a month, he would have levelled Irekan with a glare or straight up ignored him and now, he could barely give Irekan a pointed look without his cheeks flaming. Then again, back then he couldn’t imagine Irekan in his house either. Now, it’d be odd if he didn’t join them for breakfast. Irekan literally just showed up from nowhere and made himself part of the family and Nosa couldn’t say he hated it.

He shoveled a fork full of fried eggs into his mouth.

"What?" Nosa asked after swallowing. 

If it was even possible, Irekan smiled wider. "Something big is about to happen," he said.

Nosa frowned at him. "Well, are you going to tell me?" 

Irekan tucked his knuckles under his chin and stared intently at Nosa, still with that wide grin. Nosa could feel the pull of his eyebrows dipping even as a smile pulled at the corners of his lips.