☁︎𝑺𝑬𝑹𝑬𝑵𝑬☁︎

Chapter 4️⃣

❦︎𝒟𝒶𝓂ℴ𝓃𝓉𝒶ℯ❦︎

The ride back home is silent, save for the sound of raindrops on the windshield. Occasionally, I look at Yetumde, but she never looks back at me; her eyes are pinned on the road ahead of us. I take a deep breath, determined to break the silence because long silence scares me.

"I'm taking you home with me," I say. This statement manages to catch her attention. She's about to object but I beat her to it. "You live in the outskirts, Yetunde. It's too dangerous, like, look at the time."

She doesn't even bother replying me after that, instead she just nods her head and continues staring at the trees outside the window, probably looking at nothing because everything outside is in a frenzied blur due to how I'm speeding. I notice her grip on the seatbelt tighten as time passes.

"Slow down, Tae."

Happy to hear her voice, I do as she says, and the action earns a deep exhale from her. Her demeanor looks a bit calmer than before, but there's worry in her eyes.

"Orlando can do a lot of things to you," she whispers, out of the blue.

I scoff. "So it's now you're noticing."

"I totally forgot about all the drama he caused with your mother," she puts her face in her palms, "and now your under aged sister? What are you going to do!"

"I'm taking her to the party," I answer almost immediately, my mind not pausing to have a second thought once.

"Are you stupid!?" she exclaims, giving me a hard slap at the back of the head. I lose control of the steering for a moment and almost land the both of us in a ditch.

"Yetunde!" I scold her once I get the car back on track, "Can't you see I'm dri-"

"Would you shut up!" She retorts. "Shut up! That's your sister! You sef you know how Orlando is with women!"

"So I should lose my life over someone I barely know?" I ask when I drive into the estate. "You sef you know Orlando doesn't joke with threats. He's a man of his word!"

Yetunde looks at me with disdain characterising her features. In her eyes is unbelief, but it doesn't sway me because my mind is made up, even though it obviously isn't the right thing to do. But at this point when I've re-evaluated everything, it's better Serenity just goes to that party. Whatever happens, happens.

I've lived under the same roof with my sister for seventeen years, but during those years, it felt like I was the only child in the house. Serenity is just like her name - quiet and peaceful - the exact opposite of who I am.

Sometimes, I sit down and reminisce on the first day I saw her. Dad had come up to my room, shouting at me for breaking the neighbour's window with my football. I remember him ranting and ranting while I lay on my bed totally unbothered, not listening to him at all. Frustrated at my indifference, he slapped me in the face before he told me that mummy would be giving birth to my other sibling that day.

I made sure I didn't cry until he left my room. As soon as he shut the door I recall giving him the 'waka' sign. I laugh at my younger self now.

The next day was a bit more peaceful before father took me to the hospital to see my new tiny sibling. She was in an incubator, and I stared into the room through the glass walls to see her. I had thought that mum would birth a boy at first, but once I placed my eyes on the baby laying peacefully in the incubator, I knew it wasn't a boy, but a girl. The little human in the incubator looked a bit too fragile to be a boy, if you asked me.

But I really didn't care about the gender, I don't think I even cared about anything at all. Life went on normally for me even after Serenity's birth. I continued being the little nuisance I was, having no pity for my mother who was recovering from her pregnancy or for my terrible father who was more than tired.