True love's the gift which God has given to man alone beneath the heaven
-Sir Walter Scott-
(The Lay of the last Minstrel)
I scampered down the stairs and made my way to the kitchen. I pulled out my phone and turned it on again.
Still to-two, 1:40pm now.
I need to be fast, I only have about an hour. I thought to myself as I entered the kitchen. Tope was at the sink washing the plates I ate with.
"Tope, once you're done, you come and help me out here. Mary told me that Oga is coming back by 4 o'clock so I don't have much time left. We've got to be quick." I said scuttling over to the store.
"Yes ma." She called. Satisfied she didn't get suspicious as to why I was the one cooking, I bent down to focus on searching for the basket of Oha leaves from which I would take to cook.
While upstairs, Mary told me she bought them yesterday at the market.
She told me she usually keeps it at the left corner of the store beside the tubers of yam.
Aha! There it is.
I then began sorting out the amount I was going to need into a smaller basket and when I was done, carried it to the kitchen table.
Tope had just concluded with the plates and was already waiting for me at the table.
"Please start cutting these leaves Tope."
Mary told me that in the afternoons, depending on Asher's preference, food is done generally. People can then prepare something else for themselves if they don't feel like joining in.
"Will you eat with us?" I asked Tope as I placed the beef steak I had just gotten from the freezer on the table.
"Yes ma."
"What of David? Did you ask him? And the others?" I glanced up at her briefly before returning to what I was doing.
"Okay, let me ask them." She turned towards the back door to call David.
I nodded and reached up to take a knife from the row of utensils hanging above.
Placing the steak on a large cutting board, I began skillfully running the knife through the meat.
In a few minutes, I had the steak chopped up into sizable cubes.
Tope had just returned with the news that David along with the other staff would all be eating. It seems that Oha was not just Asher's favourite but everybody's too.
"Tope, put this meat inside the pot and start slicing the onions inside it. I'll do the garlic and ginger."
"Okay ma." The timid girl obediently nodded and right away did as I said.
As I peeled the garlic cloves, my mind went over my plan again. I smiled to myself imagining the look that would be on Asher's face. That alone fuelled my motivation even more and I began humming happily to myself.
Revenge is best served cold.
【❇】
"You can now add the leaves to the soup." I instructed Tope as I hurried to get a spice from the cupboard. At the other side of the kitchen, I pulled open the cupboard doors and scanned the bottled spices.
Spotting the spice I was looking for, my hand curled over the small glass bottle and I lifted it off the tray on which it was arranged and sprinted back to the boiling pot on the stove.
Tipping the bottle slightly over the pot, I shook the desired amount into the soup. Tope had already put the leaves in the soup and so as they boiled, I stirred the spice into it.
