LAST HEARTBREAK

EIGHT

Sorry it took me this long... matters arising but HAPPY VALENTINES

CHAPTER EIGHT

It took a lot for Jemima to actually decide to go home for the public holiday, which starts on Thursday and into the weekend. She needed a break from Lagos, and she decided it was best to travel to Abuja and see her family after years she had last stepped foot in Abuja rather than staying in Lagos. She was excited to leave Abuja when she had to leave for her youth service; she went to a university in Abuja, so she didn't have the chance to leave Abuja and ever since, she has never booked a flight to Abuja. Her parents had visited when she and Kamsi rented their apartment; they had come to bless the house like Mr Adams had said, but she knew it was an excuse to come see her. She loved her family very much; they always had their family calls, and she spoke to her mother some days when she didn't pretend she wasn't busy.

She left work early to catch her flight as she wasn't ready to miss her flight and fight for a refund. She didn't even want to sit in a public bus and travel for over eight hours to Abuja. She left the house for Kamsi and Ade, who had sort of become their third roommate as the house he had rented was undergoing renovations; Jemima wasn't too mad about it as he had brought a peace offering and included Jemima in the process of shopping for a ring for Kamsi. Jemima had been excited about that, the week he had told her to follow him to a shop when Kamsi was unavailable, and they had gotten to the Swarovski store at the mall; Jemima had been too excited; she had almost slipped up twice; it got better as she didn't want to spoil the fun.

She got to the huge black gate that was a totally different one from the last gate they had before she left. Standing by the gate, she felt nostalgia. She lived in the house for twenty-two years, and during those years, she remembered Mr Adams renovating the house three times. He had said he didn't want his house to look like the old houses, so every time there was a new house design, he was always remodelling. When POP became what Nigerians loved, he did his thing, adding another floor on top of their former bungalow, building a garage, added an en suite for each room so his children didn't fight to get into the bathroom. She wouldn't be surprised if they had hardwood floors instead of tiles.

She picked a small pebble from the floor to knock on the gate to alert anyone inside when the gate rolled open, revealing a young man who was pulling the gate for himself to drive out, she had not met the guy before so she paused, looking at the number of the gate to be sure she was in the right place.

"Good afternoon... Who are you?" He stopped dragging the gate open.

Jemima smiled after checking she was in the right place. "I'm Jemima. I'm here to visit my fam..."

"Aunty Jemima." He smiled. Happily; he noticed the box with her and walked to help her carry it. "Sorry, I didn't know your face, but Mummy said you would be coming home. Welcome." He said as they walked inside the interlocked compound. The compound was still as big as she remembered. A white Toyota Corolla 2021 was under the black tarpaulin, its engine on, and Jemima guessed he was a driver.

"Thank you... Is anyone at home?"

"Not yet, I was just about to go and carry Mummy from the shop, and your brothers will arrive tonight with Daddy from school." Her twin brothers Oluyomi and Oluremi, had come seven years after her when her parents didn't think they would have another child. They were her only siblings, the most unproblematic junior brothers, and sometimes it felt like she was the only child. Oluremi had always been close to her; he still talked to her like they were born the same day, and she liked him better than Oluyomi, but she wouldn't say. Oluyomi always acted mature, cool, calm and collected, which was the opposite of what Oluremi was. They were attending the same university she had graduated from as their professor's father wouldn't let them go to another school other than the one he taught in. Jemima had hated being Professor Adams's child, her first year he had made sure all her lecturers knew him and reported any misconduct to him, she didn't even stay at the hostel in school as he was always carrying her to school just like he did to Oluyomi and Oluremi in their first year but things got better when he allowed them to stay in the hostels on campus their remainder years.