Finding 'x'

•Visiting day •

"I didn't mention names Dera, but whoever the shoe fits might as well wear it." I shrugged and plopped down on the thick carpet grass the garden was lavished with.

Dera said something again, her voice sounding desperate more than ever but I was busy zoning out to catch whatever theatrical line she was performing in honour of mother's August visit. I stifled a yawn.

My mother was consoling the loved twin with several impressed pats on the shoulder when I zoned back in.

"Don't waste your breath on scum like her darling, she's just like her dic– father." Dera nodded in empathy and I barked a humourless laugh in reply.

"And you seem to forget over and over that we're twins dear sister. The same dickhole's seed fertilized the unfortunate egg that birthed us. I may not be a whiz but I know that much. And I'll dutifully remind you anytime you both decide to forget." I basked in the uniform morbid expression on both faces when I was done and reclined to the plush cushion of the artificial grass.

I knew I'd won the round when seconds of silence, heavy with tension tickled by.

I decided to relegate myself to the background afterwards and observe the loving mother and child catch up.

Mother couldn't stop yapping about the woes of being the wife to the most popular business man in town, how a potbellied politician proposed extramarital affairs because of her flawless beauty, how she encountered the first lady of the state at a function looking underdressed and outshone by none other than her and how she would have been a 'more - in - vogue' first Lady if her esteemed husband decided to try his hand at politics.

Dera, the poor, beloved daughter that she was could only ohh and ahh in over enthusiastic awe like she was listening to the adventures of Alexander the great from the man himself. I shook my head in pity, wishing meeting period was over already.

Today couldn't be any worse.

"Fancy seeing you here Adeoti."

Ugh! Why does he always appear whenever I say that?

He loomed over me in his aloof coolness, casting an intimidating shadow on my form. I felt a little bit of dread spread through me before quickly assuring myself that it was just Dave Coker.

Just him Ella, not some psycho mysterious killer that seemed to have taken interest in me.

I took deep and steady breaths in and out to curtail my wandering imaginations.

Before I could say Jack, Dera had already dragged Dave away to introduce him to mother –as a very close friend.

Then with a vicelike grip on the latter, they continued their chattering like a damaged radio.

Mother mentally wore her sceptical goggles and went full blast on her interrogation.

And what did she do when she learned Dave was the one and only son of the special adviser to the state governor on security issues?

She launched into top level chirp mode.

Oh dear.

I intertwined my fingers behind my head and witnessed the cool facade of senior Dave crack –literally.

Oh her God! Was Dave serious about being the only son of the charming Olaoye Coker?
How old was Dave?
Did he really like her daughter –obviously we know which one she was referring to– the way she perceived?
Did he believe in young love?
Did he know she got married at an age similar to his and was still happily married till date?
Did he know how lucky he was to have her daughter?
Is his father also coming to visit him?
Oh.
No?
She would have been so delighted to make his acquaintance.
But they could arrange dinner and meet up during midterm break, yes?
She couldn't wait to meet his father, she had a feeling they would get along just fine.