by Osar Adeyemi
"Hello, you must be Yemi," Mrs. Kadiri said, her lips stretching in what appeared to be the semblance of a smile. "How are you?"
"I'm very well, thank you, Ma," Yemi replied, trying hard to relax. This was the mother of the man she loved and her future mother in-law.
"I hope your parents are well?" Mrs. Kadiri asked as she sat opposite them.
"Yes, Ma, they are very well, thank you."
"Akeem tells me that they are lecturers at the University of Lagos?"
"That's correct, Ma."
"And you live on campus and have lived there for most of your life?"
"Yes, Ma."
"That must be interesting." Yemi was not quite sure what she meant and didn't know how to respond, but Mrs. Kadiri had already turned her attention towards her son. "Aren't you going to offer her anything to drink?"
"I've done so, Mum, but she's okay for now."
Mrs. Kadiri looked from Akeem to Yemi. Then she pressed a buzzer by her side, and the maid appeared again. Mrs. Kadiri spoke rapidly to her in Hausa, and the maid left the room. Akeem frowned at his mother and then tried to smile when he caught Yemi watching him.
"I have asked the maid to bring us some drinks," Mrs. Kadiri said to Yemi. "It is customary for us to entertain visitors when we meet them."
"Thank you, Ma," Yemi replied, wondering if she was a visitor or her son's fiancée.
Mrs. Kadiri focused those piercing eyes on Yemi once again. "Akeem tells me that you have just graduated from the university. So what plans do you have now that you are done?"
"Yemi will be starting her youth service programme soon," Akeem replied.
"I know that." His mother sounded mildly irritated. "I meant afterwards."
Yemi didn't think it would be appropriate to tell her that she and Akeem planned on getting married afterwards. That information was meant to come from Akeem, not her. "I was thinking of doing my master's degree programme in England." Well, that had been what she and her parents had planned initially before she met Akeem, anyway.
The maid came into the room at that moment, and Yemi almost sighed in relief as Mrs. Kadiri looked away from her. The maid wheeled a small trolley laden with different kinds of drinks towards them. Akeem thanked her and then poured Yemi a glass of pineapple juice, catching her eye and smiling as he did so. Yemi thanked his mother for the drinks before taking a sip of the juice. The maid left the room again, leaving the trolley behind.
"Doing your master's programme abroad sounds like a good idea," Mrs. Kadiri said, picking up where she had left off. "You might even find out that you like it over there and stay back in the UK after you finish your programme."
"We plan on getting married before she does her master's programme," Akeem said, looking steadily at his mother.
"Oh really?" Mrs. Kadiri said, arching one perfectly shaped eyebrow.
"Yes, Mum. That's our plan."
Akeem and his mother appeared to wage an unspoken war with their eyes, and the tension in the room was almost palpable.
"Nadia will be joining us for lunch," Mrs. Kadiri said, changing the topic. "She is home for the weekend. She is out shopping but should be here shortly."
"That's what she does best—shopping," Akeem said, standing up in one fluid motion. "Mum, I want to show Yemi the house. We will join you for lunch later."
"Lunch is in an hour," Mrs. Kadiri said stiffly. "It will be served in the smaller dining room."
"We will be there." Akeem smiled as he held his arm out to Yemi, and then led her out of the room. Yemi was so conscious of Mrs. Kadiri's eyes boring into her back that she wondered how she did not trip.
Akeem led her to another, smaller, sitting room, and she sank gratefully into a seat.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"I'm fine." She smiled wanly, not quite meeting his eyes.
"Wait here for me, I'll be back." He touched her lightly on the shoulder before leaving the room.
Yemi felt somewhat confused. She got the distinct feeling that Akeem's mother did not like her. There was just a certain coldness that she could sense from her. She wondered how she was going to survive the rest of her visit.
"Where did you go?" she asked Akeem when he came back into the room a few minutes later.
"I had to sort something out quickly." He pulled her to her feet and held her close for a moment before taking her hand in his. "Let me take you around the house."
The house turned out to be larger than she had thought. It had eight bedrooms, all en suite. There was another sitting room upstairs, two dining rooms, two studies, a gymnasium, and a huge kitchen. There was also a swimming pool and another building behind the house where the domestic staff lived. Yemi tried to appear enthusiastic as Akeem took her around, but her mood had been dampened by Mrs. Kadiri's coldness.
"It's beautiful out here," she said as Akeem showed her the well-tended garden located at the back of the house.
Akeem looked around fondly. "We had plenty of fun here with our friends, ball games and all. It used to get quite noisy in here back then."
They sat down on one of the garden seats, and he continued to tell her about his childhood, but her thoughts were far away, and she did not really hear half the things he was saying.
"This place is so big," she said as they made their way back into the main house. "It must be lonely for your mum to be here by herself."
"I guess she is used to it now. We used to do a lot of entertaining when my dad was alive. It did not seem that big then, as we nearly always had guests staying over."
"Maybe you could have stayed here instead of getting your own place. After all, there is enough room."
"Yeah…and I can just imagine you coming here to visit me," Akeem said so drily that Yemi smiled.
They made their way towards the living room. Akeem appeared to sense her mood and cradled her a little closer. He took her back to the smaller sitting room and was in the process of telling her about a prank he had played in his teenage years when one of the doors leading to the sitting room slid open.
"Hey, big brother! Good to see you!"
They both turned at the same time, and Yemi found herself looking at a young lady who could have passed for Mrs. Kadiri in her early twenties. She knew this must be Nadia, Akeem's younger sister.
"Hi! I am Nadia. You must be Yemi," Nadia said as she got to where they were.
Yemi smiled. "Hi, it's good to finally meet you."
Nadia's eyes moved over Yemi. "Hmmm…now I can see why my brother has been swept off his feet."
"I guess that's a compliment?" Yemi said, regaining some of her confidence. She did not intend to be tongue-tied with Nadia. She knew they were age-mates, but Nadia had taken out a year to travel with her friends, so she was just about to start her final year at the university.
"Oh, believe me, it is," Nadia said. "I could not believe someone had finally been able to snag my brother's heart, but now I see why." She turned to Akeem. "Mum said that lunch is about to be served."
They all made their way to the dining room. Mrs. Kadiri was already seated when they got there. Akeem pulled out a seat for Yemi and then sat beside her. Mrs. Kadiri sat at the head of the table, and Nadia sat opposite Akeem and Yemi.
"What would you like to eat?" Akeem asked Yemi. "Some rice?"
Yemi looked at the assortment of dishes laid out in very attractive cookware. "That's Tuwo, isn't it?" she asked Akeem quietly, looking across at a dish. Akeem nodded. Tuwo was a popular dish in the northern part of the country where Akeem was from. "I'll have some of that."
He passed her the dish, and she helped herself to some of the food. He smiled at her before serving himself some of it too.
"I hope you like the food?" Mrs. Kadiri asked some time later.
"Yes, Ma, it's very nice, thank you."
"Akeem said that you graduated with first-class honours," Nadia said. "Your parents must be very proud of you."
Yemi smiled. "Yes, they are happy about it."
"What would you giv
e me if I graduate with first-class honours?" Nadia asked, turning towards her mother.
"Are you going to do that?" Mrs. Kadiri asked.
"Miracles still happen," Nadia replied. She turned towards her brother. "And why are you smiling?"
"Why do you think I am smiling?" he asked.
"Because you think your little sister can't cut it. Anyway, we shall leave the first classes for 'brainiacs' like Yemi. A second-class lower will do me nicely, thank you. I'm not going to use it anyway."
Yemi listened to the banter between the siblings. She spoke little and concentrated on her food, but she was acutely aware of Akeem's mother's cold gaze on her all through the meal.
∞∞∞
Yemi was glad that her parents were not at home when she got back later that evening. She was not prepared to answer her mother's questions about how the visit with Akeem's mother had gone. She lay down in her room and mulled over the events of the day. She found herself unable to dismiss the thought that Mrs. Kadiri did not like her. She could also not shake the feeling that there was some unspoken tension between Akeem and his mother. It was all so confusing.
Akeem had tried to draw her into a conversation on the journey back home, but she had said very little. Later that evening, he called her, but she did not feel like talking. She sent him a text instead and switched off her phone.
The next day, she went over to Sesan's place after church. She still felt uneasy whenever she thought about Akeem's mother and felt she needed to retreat to familiar ground to regain her confidence. She sent a text to Akeem informing him that she would be busy all day. He called her back immediately, but she just let the phone ring until it stopped.
"Hey, stranger! You're the last person I was expecting!" Sesan said on seeing her on his doorstep.
"Thanks," Yemi said drily. "It shows how much down your list I have dropped."
He grinned. "You're still right there at the top!" He led her into the sitting room. "Let me get you a drink. Pineapple as usual?"
Yemi nodded. She looked around the sitting room. Nothing fancy or posh, but she felt right at home in it. "Are your parents at home?"
"No, they are out visiting friends," he answered her from the kitchen. He came back with a glass of juice a few minutes later. "So how have you been?"
"Good," Yemi said, taking a sip of her drink. "And you?"
"I'm all right, I guess. I'm enjoying being free right now. There's always been one target or the other for me all my life, and it just feels good to be able to loaf around a bit now."
Yemi giggled. "People who don't know you think you are a loafer anyway," she teased. "Do you remember how Mrs. Thomas, our class teacher in form one, used to scold you because of the way you behaved in class?"
Sesan laughed. "I used to deliberately give her wrong answers just to wind her up. I'm sure she had concluded I was a hopeless case."
"Until after the first class assessment when you left everyone trailing behind you. She almost could not believe it." Yemi smiled and shook her head at him. "You were such a naughty boy back then!"
They talked some more about their secondary school days, laughing as they remembered fond memories.
"But what happened to you this last semester?" Yemi asked quietly. "Your results were a shock to everyone."
Sesan smiled ruefully. "I had a lot on my mind."
"Issues at home?"
"No!"
She hadn't thought so either. "Relationship issues?"
The expression in his eyes was guarded. "Sort of."
Yemi was puzzled. "I was not even aware you were in a relationship."
"Well, you've been pretty occupied."
She sighed. "I'm sorry I've not been there, but what happened?"
"She prefers someone else."
Yemi was surprised. Sesan was good looking, fun, and one of the most decent guys she knew. That plus being the former captain of the university's basketball team had to be enough to attract any girl. "You still care about her, don't you?"
He smiled self-deprecatingly. "Crazy about her."
Yemi felt so sorry for her friend. Impulsively, she got up from her seat and gave him a hug.
"Hey, don't let your fiancé see you hugging another guy," Sesan said, pushing her away.
"You're not another guy, Shez. You're my brother!"
His smile faded slightly. "Thanks, but like I said, I'll be okay."
Yemi looked at him thoughtfully. "What about Ada? She really likes you, you know."
"Don't even go there."
Yemi giggled at the expression on his face but decided not to tease him any further. She stayed at his place for a while before heading home. They chatted and played card games. She had wanted to talk to someone and felt Sesan would be able to advise her objectively about Akeem's mother. But she did not think it would be fair to load him with her problems right then. He had too much going on.
∞∞∞
Akeem's car was parked in front of her parents' house when she got there. Her eyes automatically searched and saw the second car parked discreetly some distance away. Yemi had only recently found out that Akeem had bodyguards, and they followed him everywhere. They changed their car frequently, but she now knew how to recognise them. Akeem told her they came with his position as CEO of KH.
"Good, you are back!" her mother said when she entered the living room. "I was just thinking of calling Sesan's land phone."
"Thanks, Mum." She went over to Akeem. "I'm sorry, I was not aware that you were here."
"That's okay." His eyes searched hers. "I've been having a nice time here talking with your mum."
"He has not had anything to eat, though," Yemi's mother said. "He said he was going to wait for you."
Yemi turned towards Akeem. "Mum made her special stir-fried rice today. Believe me, you don't want to miss that."
His eyes held hers for a long moment. "I'd better have some then," he said lightly.
She was dishing out the food for him in the kitchen when she felt his arms go around her from behind.
"I missed you, baby," he said, nuzzling the nape of her neck. "Found it difficult sleeping without speaking to you last night."
Yemi felt the familiar emotions that his touch aroused rising within her. "Hey, don't make me drop this plate."
"I'm not really hungry anyway." He planted little kisses along the nape of her neck. "I just needed to see you."
She tried to move away. "I have to give you some food now, otherwise my mum is going to ask questions."
"All right, just a bit though." He dropped a light kiss on her lips before releasing her.
Yemi dished out the food and placed it on a tray, and they went back to the sitting room. Her mother had been working on her desktop, but attempted to leave the room when they came back in.
"You don't have to leave, Mum. Akeem and I can go to my room."
"Thanks, dear," Yemi's mother said, sitting back down. "I need to complete these lecture notes before tomorrow."
Yemi led the way to her room with Akeem following behind her. She set the tray on her bedside table. "Do you want to sit on the armchair or on the bed?"
He didn't respond and just stood there, looking at her. "Why are you being so formal?" he asked after a long moment, "and why have you not been picking up my calls?"
"I sent you a text message."
He sat on the bed but kept looking at her face. "Yemi, what's wrong?"
She averted her eyes. "How do you mean?"
"Come and sit over here," Akeem said, patting the space beside him. Yemi sat down but still wouldn't look at him directly. "It's about the visit to the house yesterday, isn't it?"
"Your mum does not like me."
"What makes you say that?"
"I'm an adult, and I could see it clearly from the way she acted towards me."
He took her hand in his. "That was the first time you were meeting my mum. She is not a very expressive woman, not even to us, her children."
"Your mum doe
s not like me," Yemi insisted. "And I'm not comfortable with that. Her actions showed her feelings towards our relationship quite clearly."
He stroked her hand. "Our engagement is still a bit of a surprise to her."
She arched her brows. "Why is that?"
"Let's just say she has her own ideas about certain things, including marriage. Plus the fact that my siblings went with what she expected of them and she was expecting me to do the same."
"I don't get you."
"My mum had hoped that I would marry someone from a family she knows, just like Adil did, and Nadia will eventually do." He shrugged. "So like I said, my mum is just getting used to the fact that my marriage isn't going to follow that pattern."
"Well, it's not too late for you to do her bidding," Yemi said, trying to disengage her hand from his, but he held on to it firmly and entwined their fingers.
He had a hurt expression in his eyes. "Is that what you want me to do? I thought you said you loved me?"
She shrugged. "You understand your family dynamics more than I do."
"Yemi, do you really love me?"
She did not answer him and still refused to meet his eyes. He turned her chin until their eyes met.
"I asked you a question, Yemi. Do you really love me?"
"You know I do."
"Then that's all that's important. I love you, and I'm not letting you go. You're the one I want, and everyone has to accept it."
"Akeem…"
He placed his finger against her lips. "Shhh…baby, trust me, everything is going to be okay."
Chapter 5
Akeem felt somewhat relieved as he drove away from Yemi's house later that evening. He knew she still had some niggling doubts about his mother, but he felt he had been able to stem most of her fears.
He knew her too well not to have noticed that she was tensed up and uncomfortable all through the visit with his mother the day before. That was why he had deliberately delayed introducing her to his family, and he had been proven right. Just one meeting with his mum, and the only girl he had ever fallen in love with had gone into "flight" mode.
He stopped at a red light and drummed his fingers lightly on the steering wheel as he waited for the lights to change.
