TÓDÙN

21

                     ~TODUN~

It was a hot day, as the sun shone in its maximum density making the room we were very hot and sometimes made me feel sweaty. I laid down on Funto's bed while Funto and Ahmed sat on the floor playing a ludo game. I hummed along with the song that was played on the mp3 player Ahmed bought a few days ago and laughed at the funny faces Ahmed made whenever it was his time to throw the dice.

"Ahmed do quick na and let me show you who the most senior is here." Funto whined.

"Calm down, just calm down." He juggled the dice he was holding and
hurled them on the board.

"I told you, I will show you here today." She eyed him playfully and he in turn formed a puppy face. I yawned and sat up the bed to stretch my body.

"When are your lioness of roommates coming back?" Ahmed asked me as he watched Funto making her lucky throw of the dice.

"They should be back on Monday." I replied and slapped his back when I discovered he was about to cheat Funto whose attention was diverted by her ringing phone.

My roommates had travelled since Thursday. According to them, Remilekun's Mum was organizing a party for her politician friends and their attention was needed in preparation for it. With what they had informed me, it's a thing she does every year to reconnect with her people and she gives Remilekun the opportunity to host her friends as well which they already said I am part of them. This year's edition is going to be in a grand style because she is celebrating her birthday alongside. The news about their journey came as a relief to me because it gave me the opportunity to have the real feel of what it felt to be alone without their constant nagging, incessant gossiping and the odour of burnt food.

After I discovered that Nife was the one that took my phone, the familiarity between both of us drastically reduced. Although she and Victor seemed to have gotten back together, she still comes back home teary eyes and goes out with series of guys. I and Tamilore seem to get along more than we used to although she still complains about one thing or the other but I have come to realise that to become friends with her I have got to understand her. Remilekun on the other hand is still the same person I used to know, nothing changed about her, still making the long calls and taking actions like the boss lady she had always been. Once her mother came to visit, she made sure to invite Kunle to pay homage to her and that got me laughing because my mother won't take that nonsense she will just tell me to pack my belongings and follow her immediately since she didn't send me to school to make friends with guys and invite them to say hello to her, what insolence!

"That was my Mum." Funto announced, holding up her phone. "She is coming over to visit next weekend, you guys will be here right?" 

"Sure I will be." I answered eagerly, without thinking twice. Finally someone like a mother figure,I thought. I didn't feel anything motherly about Remilekun's Mum when she came around some days ago. She had this aura around her that scared me. She was a middle aged woman with thick lips, so dark in complexion, she wore an expensive brand of iro and buba and had several jewellries around her neck and fingers as if she was a jewellery box. The guy that followed her was the one who carried her bag and even kept her phones, that one literally trembled whenever she asked questions. She screamed at every blunder we made at doing things in her presence and it got to a point I wanted to run out of the room to seek solace in anywhere available. She asked me what my parents did for a living and when I wasn't forthcoming in answering, Remilekun told her my Mum owns a boutique and my Dad stays abroad.

"What about you?" Funto asked Ahmed who pretended to be focused on his phone.

"I will be in my room, I don't think it's a nice idea staying here while your Mum is around." He winked, while we shook our heads in realization of what he meant. No Nigerian mother will be very happy to find a guy in the room of her daughter whenever she goes to visit, most especially when the girl's bride price hasn't been paid. Call it Nigerian mentality, publish a book that castigates it, rant all you want on social media, create awareness but it's like the spot on a leopard's body that can't be washed off and this tradition has been passed down from one generation to another and if you ask me, I will tell you that it has helped in preserving the dignity of an African girl child because we respect the voices of our mothers. More reason why I find Remilekun's mother strange, when she didn't raise an eyeball at Kunle's presence during her visit. She even asked him what his parents did for a living and what he thinks about  Nigeria compared to the U.S.

As I stood up to go into the kitchen, my phone rang and Kunle's name was displayed on it. I stared at the phone in disbelief for a while before I was called back to my senses by Funto who stood beside me. She pointed to the phone and signalled to me to pick it up. She had a wild grin on her face and beamed a smile to Ahmed who asked her who it was.

I cleared my throat, took in deep breaths and picked up the phone before pressing the pick button. I pressed the phone against my ear and Funto leaned closer to me acting like a comedian with her unusual gestures.

"Hello.." I spoke up after many in takes of breath.

"Hi Todun, good afternoon." I heard his deep voice talking from the other side. "Are you at home?" He asked me before I could say anything else and I twitched my face, not sure of the reason he wanted to know if I was at home or not because he knew so well that Remilekun had travelled.

"I am not."

"Where are you." He asked and I heard a short lived laughter at the background.

"I am at a friend's place, why are you asking?" I asked him curiously and that earned me a slap on my hand by Funto, I winced in pain and she stuck her tongue out for me to see.

"I am actually in search of someone to follow me to the school library since Akorede and Funsho here are so busy. So can you please accompany me?" He asked and I heard him talking to someone at the background. I shook my head for a while thinking of what to say before I remembered I had something to do at school and at the cyber cafe center not far from school.

"Okay no problem, you should pick me up at Funto's hostel in the next thirty to forty minutes." I replied and hung off.

"Finally..." Funto screamed and held on to me, almost squeezing life out of me. I used my hand to try push her away, while Ahmed looked at us in amazement.

"What's all these about." He asked me and pointed to Funto who was already on her kneel as if someone about to say a prayer. She used her hand to touch her head and shoulders in the sign of the cross and smiled.

"Oya ooo, come and take your bath so that you will not be looking dirty to the oyinbo boy." She stood up and pulled me towards the bathroom, even though she was aware I had my bath earlier in the day.

"I don't feel like going." I pulled my hand away from her hold and went back to sit on the bed.

"Why, why the long face? Have you forgotten you told him to pick you up?" She asked me and Ahmed stood up from where he was seated.

"Remilekun must not find out. She will kill me." I answered her, remembering the type of relationship Remilekun has been trying to build with Kunle with the long hours talk on phone, the late night chats, the incessant hugs she gave him whenever he came and to top it all, his introduction to her Mum. I wouldn't want to tamper with all that.

"Mteeeew." Funto hissed. "She will not try nonsense when I am alive and kicking." She beats her chest and jumps up, her glasses almost falling off in the process but she scrambles to hold it in place. "Someone that they are using to catch cruise." She added. I and Ahmed laughed at her last sentence. I went into the bathroom to take another bath as she advised and changed into a new dress. Exactly forty minutes, Kunle stood at the door in a red tee shirt and a baggie short. I in company of Ahmed and Funto followed him to the car. They have both been arguing about the model of car he uses and following me was just a way to confirm who was right and who was wrong that was going to buy us captain cook bread and suya that night.

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