𝑬𝒑𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝑻𝒐 𝒀𝑯𝑾𝑯

𝑰𝑿

Kenneth walks down the stairs like a member of royalty. He takes his sweet time doing so with a phone pressed to his ear thereby removing his attention from the other things around him. In his arm is his little brother whom I've seen on occasion through my window. From where I'm seated he's even cuter in person-the baby I mean.

"Baby..." He blows raspberries on his little brother's cheeks causing him to giggle hysterically. "My cute little boy...No you're getting bigger now." The little boy in his arms is squealing in delight at all the attention and kisses he's receiving while his elder brother is speaking baby gibberish to him as if he's fresh out of the womb.

They don't turn towards my direction, instead they take the path I remember Ewatomi telling me leads to the kitchen.

Did I mishear him?

Anyways it was cute watching him let his guard down around his sibling. I thought because of the argument he had with Mrs Adebayo the previous time that his resentment also extended to his step siblings.

I thought really hard before making my next moves. I carried the tray of the now empty Chivita and chinchin jar so I could use it as an excuse to visit the kitchen. At the door I saw him hunched over the kitchen counter as he frowned. He appeared to be angry, completely disregarding the little boy in front of him. It made me wonder what happened in that small span of time.

I sauntered in as if he wasn't there.

"Am I seeing things now?" Kenneth rubbed his eyes.

Since I was facing the refrigerator he couldn't see the small smile that formed on my face. Clearing my throat, I opened the fridge as though I heard nothing, continuing my search for nothing in particular.

"She's making herself comfortable too. What do you want? I'll get it for you."

My hands were just touching everything. From the variety of drinks, snacks, vegetables and even chocolates to the leftover foods. I still pretended as though he wasn't there. While my brain had a response ready my mouth wasn't ready to open in fear of saying something awkward. Especially since an apology for my behavior the last time will be expected.

After much contemplation and finally reaching a decision to just handle the situation head on, I turned only for me to bump into Kenneth's stiff body standing behind me. At this point we were backed up at the corner where the fridge was.

Poor fridge.

I raised my hands to cover my face. Suddenly my heart was beating fast, my rational thoughts almost wanted to leave me with the way my anxiety spiked up.

"I'm not going to hit you or anything." When Kenneth said that an image of my mother shielding herself flashed in my mind. For a second my expression dropped before I quickly replaced it with an awkward chuckle.

How do I explain my behavior? Is the environment I'm living in causing my body to come up with defense mechanisms? After all, my father has never attempted to hit us before.