The Silence Within

Chapter 20

Rebecca took a seat next to Lola. Lola who felt her grandmother's presence had not looked up from her phone. She typed a message on Whatsapp and sent it.

"How is he?" Rebecca asked.

"Stable. Better now"

"I saw Joshua with you. Any problem?"

Lola looked up from her phone, pressing the power button to make it sleep. "No!" Was Lola harsh reply. "None at all!"

She saw a low sparkle in her grandmother's eyes. Lola nearly sneered. All because of that good for nothing. Why is this old lady hell bent on bringing them together?

"I heard you did not attend the date. Instead you had come into that restaurant with another man"

"Do you always have my every move being watched, grandmother?"

"No but I got eyes and ears everywhere"

"Grandma" Lola called with a sigh. "Please, do not bring up anything about Joshua. I have other and better things to think about than him"

"He is a good man" Rebecca rested a frail hand on Lola's hand. Lola glanced at their hands then at her grandmother whose sunken eyes pleaded.

"Because you have married him abi? Because you are his grandmother? Just because sister Shola's marriage to Brother Dolapo had worked out does not mean you have to arrange mine. Can you just be a sensible old woman for once?"

"Lola?" Came Rebecca's shocked reply as if she could not believe her granddaughter had just thrown such insult at her. "You..."

"Granny, please" Lola begged. "Can you just respect my decision and make me happy. Stop thinking about yourself alone"

"I am not the one who is thinking about herself. You are also doing the same thing Lola"

"What do you mean?"

"Your grandfather is lying in there because of you. He has been worried about you so badly that he could barely sleep. All because of you"

"Are you trying to say him being in there on that bed is my fault?"

"It's mostly your fault!"

"Grandma! You are blaming me for his illness"

"It is the truth because if you had said yes to the marriage, he won't have to worry much"

"You are just too much. I thought you understood! Did you ever understand! You still expect me to go into a relationship despite what that man did to me"

"It's in the past. It's something you are to forget" Rebecca said nonchalantly.

"You expect me to forget I was....." Lola started to bark as she rose to her feet but stopped. "Do you have any compassion at all?" She asked, as a wave of disgust swept through her. Is this old hag really her grandmother? "Why do you have to think about yourself all the time? You thought about yourself when you had daddy have an affair with that bitch called Pelumi. You thought about yourself when you had Aunty Dammy stay in a marriage she's not enjoying. You thought about yourself when you arranged Sister Shola's marriage with Brother Dolapo. It's always about you! All the time! What about us? Your family? Do you ever care about our feelings? You are a selfish, old hag, who is self-centred and...."

Her words were cut short when Rebecca's hand made contact against her cheek. Lola's head snapped to the side, the impact of the slap causing her ear to ring. "Enough! I am your grandmother!"

Lola lifted her wet eyes to grant her grandmother a murderous look. The white of her eyes had turned red. The brown glossy. "Then act like one and stop driving me mad!" Her voice shook.