Romola bounced her feet from one side to the other. She didn’t understand the need for Iya Tobi to keep the air conditioner on full blast, even though the rain poured outside.
The TV blared from one end of the marbled floored room. A young boy about Lolade’s age, sat on the dark red rug. He held a video game console in his hands.
Romola glanced at the television, then back at the boy. “Tobi, can you please help me check if your mother is coming downstairs?”
“She’s coming.”
That had been the anthem since she’d arrived some fifteen minutes ago. Romola paced the length of the living room, from the glass cabinet of ceramic plates to the other end that overlooked the entrance to the dinning room.
She settled back in the soft orange sofa and crouched into a ball. Her eyes strolled to the remotes remote on the couch at Tobi’s left. He wasn’t even watching the show and turning down the air conditioner wouldn’t hurt anyone. Her fingers reached for the television remote and she pointed it at the screen, pressing the next channel button.
“Mummy.” Tobi screamed.
Romola placed her hands over her ears. His screams threatened to tear her ear drums. He got to his feet, still screaming and walked to the staircase.
“Omo dey, what is it?” Iya Tobi’s voice could be heard from the narrow opening at the top leading to the staircase.
“Mu-MMY!”
“What?” Iya Tobi descended the staircase, dressed in a large black bubu gown patterned with green leaves that swirled around her round frame.
“Aunty Amala is changing the TV.”
“Romola?” Iya Tobi sent her a pointed stare. “Is it because I kept you waiting for two minutes that you decided to punish my son?”
“Two minutes?” Romola swallowed a scoff and let air through the chattering gasps of her teeth. She should have turned off the air conditioner instead. “Tobi, my name is Romola. Not Amala.”
“Gbenu Soun.” Iya Tobi waved Romola off. “What is the difference between that and your skin?”
“The older woman turned back to her son. “Tobi, it’s okay ehn, Go and watch your TV.”
The boy nodded, sticking out his tongue to Romola before marching to a seat. Romola pursed her lips. If his mother wasn’t standing there, she would have stuck out her tongue too.
“Ehn, you.” Iya Tobi sighed, placing a hand behind her back as she settled into the back three-seater, adjacent to the orange couch. “Why are you here?”
Romola let out a warm breath and took a step towards her employer. “Ma, you know that I’m taking this online class.”
“If this is about another loan, I don’t have anything to give you. The one you just repaid has not even been put to good use.”
“No. It’s not that.” Romola tucked a strand of her braid behind her ear. “As part of the class, we are supposed to go and work for an accounting firm.”
“How is this my problem?”
“The place I got wants me to come in as a full time —”
Iya Tobi’s head snapped to Romola’s face. Her eyes locked like a sniper to its target. “Full time what?”
“Staff. It’s just for four months. I came to inform you that I won’t be coming into the store every day. I will try to come in during the weekends.”
“Hmm.” Iya Tobi interlocked her fingers in her laps. “You don’t know what you are asking for.”
“I need to do this ma.”
Iya Tobi’s bottom scrapped the chair, producing a squishy sound as she took a move towards the edge of the seat. She sat there, staring at her son’s head.
“Ma?”
The sound of Tobi’s cartoon filled minutes where Iya Tobi rocked back and forth in her chair, staring at Romola, then back at her son, interjecting her strange dance with punctuations of, “Hmm” and “Ha.”
“Just four months ma.”
Iya Tobi stood and Romola took a step back but Iya Tobi closed the space between them with a wild look in her dark eyes. “You are very ungrateful. Shebi, you will have told me this was part of it.”
“But I told you.”
“Stop lying. Lying every time.” Iya Tobi raised her palm to Romola’s face.
“Lying was what put you in this trouble. Just say you don’t want to work.”
Romola’s feet remained rooted on the marble floor. Every cell in her body ran in the opposite direction but she refused to blink, staring at Iya Tobi, eyeball to eyeball. This opportunity would benefit her family, and she wouldn’t let Iya Tobi ruin it. Not even when the woman threw her past in her face.
She held the woman’s wrists and threw her hand down. “That was before. I am a different person now. This part of my study is compulsory. I could fail without it.”
Iya Tobi’s eyes brightened and her eyes focused on the hand Romola had dropped. Her voice rose to a higher pitch. “You should’ve told me. I would’ve found a place for you to work. You can’t go like this.”
“I’m starting next tomorrow.”
Romola kept her resolve. If she dared to cave under Iya Tobi’s pressure, she would lose this opportunity and after losing the one at Pilliard because of Olumide, she would be a fool to lose this chance.
“This is not fair.” Iya Tobi shook her head. She drew in a breath, then let it out, raising her head and blessing Romola with a condescending look. “If you leave now, you can say goodbye to your job.”
“Good bye ma.” Romola spun, allowing the tip of her ponytail to fly out behind her as she marched towards the exit.
It hadn’t gone the way she planned but she had wasted far too much time waiting for Iya Tobi. Time that could be used to plan how she would reveal the truth to Miss Uwana.
YOU ARE READING
Scars (Romola 2)
Romance"Then maybe you should have stayed in schoool. Instead of trying to be an elevated secretary and teaching me my Job." - - - - - Beyond managing Iya Tobi's store and pursing a shadow of an education, Romola's plate is full. It's been two years since...
