Miss Perfect

Four

"You promised that you'd come home today, Alex." Mrs Bassey voiced into her phone. She sat still on the bed with her phone glued to her right ear.

"You said you'd book the earliest flight back home," she glanced at the watch on her left wrist, then scoffed, "you assured me that you'd be home before eight in the morning." Now she couldn't hold back her tears any longer. She had tried her very best but a tear strayed and before you knew it, her eyes leaked out tears like a broken faucet.

It was foolish of her to have believed his promises - empty promises he never kept, and she was much aware of the outcome, but the circumstances she found herself in weren't pleasing at all. She was desperate.

"What do you mean by you can't make it today?" Her sobbing stopped and she rose to her feet. Her countenance changed, and not to a jolly one.

She didn't only listen to her husband but also didn't say a word as he gave one of his many excuses, and he never went wrong with bad weather.

"We reached an agreement yesterday. You can't change the plan all of a sudden just because you can." She would regret saying that. Her hands trembled. He began to nag just as expected.

"Your daughter is home, Alex." She cut him off without thinking of the consequences of such actions; she too had grown tired of his petty excuses. The least he could do was yell over the phone, but she needed to set him straight; stand up for once in her marriage, not for herself, but for her daughter.

"It's your duty as her father to be here; if you cannot be one, act as one. Ke mfon Abasi, nnyin keet ndubi (by the grace of God, we will see you in the evening)."

Mrs. Bassey remained nonchalant to the continuously heated words her husband spewed out as she attempted to end the call. There was a sudden silence in the room which was effortlessly broken by her lengthy exhale. She ran her fingers through her low-cut hair, then placed both hands on her hips as she paced the room before standing in front of her dressing table.

Beads of perspiration formed on her forehead; the neutral makeup she had on got ruined. Mrs. Bassey wasn't one to casually wear makeup but had decided to do so because of the meetings she had to attend. She was officially running behind schedule day was going south and it was yet to begin.

Her phone rang. She suspected it to be a call from her secretary who had messaged her some minutes ago and then resorted to phoning repeatedly after realizing her text messages had been ignored.

"I told you I'll be there in twenty minutes!" She barked and then cussed under her breath before shoving the phone into her handbag.

In exasperation, she took a wet wipe and wiped her face bare. Her hands moved swiftly, and without further delay, she walked out of the room.

Mrs. Bassey slowly went down the flight of stairs; her kitten heels clacked along the marble treads. She was occupied with her phone, going through her schedule for the day, but the familiar female in the dining area didn't go unnoticed.

"Vee?"

Victoria jerked at the mention of her name. She turned to see her mother descending the stairs.

Tobi gaped and Victoria noticed. She felt an inevitable urge to smack him on the head. She had stared too; not evidently, but it felt normal. After all, she was her mother's daughter, and staring with wide eyes and an open mouth could be considered a form of appreciation. Right?