Against All Odds

Chapter fifty : Knock, knock

Obi could see the school gate from afar as the driver conveyed them to the place where she would relieve herself of her boys. Benjamin had told her to choose any school, that he would support her decisions. She knew that sometimes it was hard for her to get contributions from her husband because he seemed to concur with almost everything that came out of  her mouth.

The day she had tried making a particular dress she saw on a church member, she had asked Benjamin if the dress would look good on her, Benjamin opted for whatever would make her happy and she ended up looking like a clown. Obi had learnt to rely on the fact that her suggestions would always go through, but however she always tabled matters before him as a sign of respect.
Her boys were not happy with the development she could tell, they had grown so quiet on the drive that she was slightly amused. She loved having her boys around but she knew that they could give her multiple numbers of migraines in a day.

Obi had been thinking a lot about her life, she was happy with how things had turned out, but she had not lived at all. She was a mother and a wife, but never had the chance to be what she had wanted to be. Deep down her dreams were locked away by sacrifice and her passion stolen by responsibilities.

She had decided that she would have a talk with Benjamin about plans for her future as soon as they dealt with why he had kept his family from her.
"Mummy! Let's go back to Enugu. I don't want to go to this school" Obi turned a deaf ear to Chukwuemeka's gripe and ushered the boys out of the car.

"You're lucky that you even have the opportunity to go to good schools like this, do you know the kind of school your mother attended?" Obi turned to Chukwuebuka who was hesitant to leave the vehicle "Chukwuebuka! Don't get me angry now! Come down from that car now!" The boy slowly stepped down from the vehicle and Obi could see the tears brimming in his eyes.

She knelt before them and wiped her son's eyes "you see eh, if you just manage to go here for one week, you won't feel sad again. You'll make new friends and enjoy school. Your daddy has to work here in umuahia so that he'll get enough money to buy you all those toys and clothes. If we go back to Enugu we won't have money again "

The boy's were bemused with what they were hearing from their mother." Grandpa said he owns half of Enugu! So he can't even give daddy anything! But he said daddy owns everything he has! "
Obi groaned at how difficult it was to convince her children that they were in a very bad financial situation when her father in law always educated them on how wealthy he is.

"Your grandpa's money is not your daddy's money. Your daddy is working to get his own personal money. You know what I promise to buy you that car you asked for last month." The children beamed a smile and Obi mentally scolded herself for even thinking of another source of injury infliction masked by the name toy car. Obi got her boys registered and quickly moved away with her driver as soon as they got settled in.
Obi met the girls at home together with funmi, Ifenna welcomed her with a complaint about sleeping with her phone. Obi recalled what she was waiting for and apologized. "She didn't reply, I slept off while waiting for a response."

Oluebube brought out the phone and handed over to Obi. "She said hi"

"I must have slept off when it came in, what did you people give funmi?" the girls looked at Funmi and then at themselves before looking at their sister

"You see why I think, Benjamin should have never gotten you girls phones"
Funmi laughed and patted Obi's hand

"They're still learning, I ran to this place to save myself from boredom. My youngest is  already at the daycare center. The other one is in school, I just need to be around people. I'm actually expecting a guest but I told her to stop by at your house,so.that we can go together. I hope you don't mind "