APART

Chapter 6: AUNTY DEJA

          She finished washing the rice, poured it back into the pot of boiling water to parboil it. After doing that, she came and sat on her seat opposite me. This time she drew closer to me. When she was really close to me, she turned from left to right to ensure no one was listening to our conversation.

          "The walls have ears you know." she says to me and smiled "Alright, let me tell you a secret." She continued "Your mom is a very suspicious woman. How she does her things without leaving a trace behind, needs to be a course of study in the university." She paused. I was still puzzled at what she was saying. It almost felt like she was speaking in parables.

           "Aunty, why do you say so?" I asked.

           "I'll make you understand. How long have you guys been living in Italy?"

            "Twenty years!" I answered still wondering the reason behind such a question.

            "Good. How old is your elder brother, Florian?"

            "He's thirty years old." I answered her getting really confused.

            "And your 24 years old right?"

            "Yes." If there was a way i could yell at her to start talking, i would.

         "Haven't you ever wondered why your parents spent ten years in Nigeria before relocating to Italy?"

       "No, not really." I won't lie, such a question has crossed my mind. But the time i asked my Dad, he danced around the question and didn't answer me.

       "Alright, let me tell you a story." She paused for sometime. "Your Dad was transferred to Nigeria to come and work with one of the construction companies here in 1987. He was doing well until he came across your mother."

         "That's strange. I've never heard of this before."

         "One thing or the other happened and they fell in love with each other. After a year, your mom got pregnant. Mind you, they weren't married or engaged. They contemplated about it before your Dad decided to keep the child. Your brother, Florian, was six years old when she took in again. Now you were in the belly. Remember, they've not still gotten married and weren't engaged. But your father was rich enough to arrange for a grand style wedding but what happened? That's the suspicious thing there."

        I kept staring at her in disbelief. There's more to my mom then i know. I've always guessed she's a suspicious person but never allowed it bother me that much.

       "But before she gave birth to you, she took in the second time when Florian was a year old but it died so, she tried three more times. It was on her fourth pregnancy she gave birth to you. Something suspicious about her miscarriages was, they all died at three months."

         "So aunty, what are you trying to insinuate?" I was really lost. I couldn't make a picture of what she was saying.

         "When i finish the story you'll understand." She paused and went to check the rice to see if the water in the rice had dried. "So now Florian was six years old when you were born. Even till then, they weren't married but your dad was still doing very well. In 1997, your mom's dad passed away. Now in the Igbo tribe, when the father dies, all of his inheritance goes to the first male child especially if he left no will behind. It's up to the first son to share all of their father's properties whichever way he wants to." She got up and went to turn off the gas cooker, the rice had started burning.

          She placed her pot of stew on fire and came back to continue the conversation. "As i was saying," she continued "Your uncle Desmond, your mother's elder brother, shared the inheritance and took the textile store."

          "What....!" I interrupted "Which textile store?"

          "Ah ah...what sort of question is that? Glorified Textiles! The one you came back to Nigeria to manage."

          "Alright, so how is it my mom's own if you say my uncle took it for himself ?" Now i felt like stars were running around my head. What is she saying?

         "Don't worry, you'll hear that chapter very soon." She paused again and went to turn her pot of stew to ensure it doesn't burn. "Where was i?" She stared at the ceiling for some time to try and recall "As i was saying" she continued "Your Uncle took the store and changed the name from 'SO FINE TEXTILES' to 'DESMOND D GREAT TEXTILES'. That time, that store was like the biggest textile store in the market. If you had wedding coming up and didn't buy your textile from 'SO FINE TEXTILES', you don't know what your doing." She laughed at how comic she sounded.

         "So this caused envy between your uncle and his immediate younger sister, your mother. Your mother got jealous and angry because she got nothing from the textile store as the first daughter. This caused a heated argument. Your uncle accused your mom of being ungrateful despite all he gave her, while your mom accused him of being greedy. That time, it was world war II. I used to work as a sales girl there that time. So i know a lot about those times. That was where i met your uncle." She paused and blushed. I also smiled at how cute she looked. She then got up and went to turn off the gas.

          "I don't want to dive to much into some of their fights. I can only tell you of one time i remember..." She drew closer again to whisper into my ear "when your mom tossed and iron stool at your uncle head and cracked his skull."

          I opened my eyes wide. I was dumbstruck. I couldn't believe it. How could my mom do such a thing?

          My aunty shifted back a bit and continued "So the fights went on and on that some of your late grandfather's friends had to intervene. But their efforts were futile. And still have it in mind that, your parents weren't still married at that time and you were approaching three years old."

        I just sat there with my mouth open. I was hardly breathing or moving. That's how bad i love stories; especially, true life ones.

      Lol...😂 This is a cliffhanger. For sure i'm going to have you'll waiting for my next chapter😄.

Stay tuned, I'll be dropping it soon.

Byeee💋