𝟑𝟎 𝐃𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐥

~~ 15. ~~

"I remember I have a maid. What are you doing in the kitchen?" He finally said.

        Lola looked up at him and shrug.

"As you can see, I am cooking. My father never taught me to sit idle and let other people do works for me."

"Are you implying something, Lola?" He asked.

         Lola looked up at him angrily.

"Do you care? I can do what I want to do in the house. Remember you said I should stay in a boring house. And I will cook if I want to in the boring house. It's not my fault you don't eat breakfast." She muttered the last sentence. But Demilade heard it anyway.

               He knew she was rebelling because of what he said last night and probably the night before, so he didn't say anything further. It is better than if she had retorted with insult or angrier words.

            Lola heaved a sigh. It's not like her to disrespect people but Demilade went too far last night. And it was getting too much. He needs to learn that people like her are not bad and he doesn't have to look down on people who are just desperate for his help.

            He ought to know his character is displeasing. Even if she didn't say it out loud. At least her words indirectly mean them.

              She went to turn the jollof rice on fire so that it won't burn.

              The scent of the food filled the air. Demilade groaned and he finished making his tea. Then he returned to his room with his cup of tea in hand and a pack of wafers. He really should have apologized he thought. But his pride won't let him do it. And now the lady is rebelling.

            But he still found it amazing that she still woke up in the morning to help Debbie to clean the house and to cook for everyone when there was someone who could do it. He had thought that she would use the opportunity to lazy around doing nothing and just enjoy everything.

          But that wasn't the case.
   
          Despite his attitude toward her, she was still calm whenever she talks to him. Although she is blunt in her speech and he understands that that is the kind of person she is. But she hardly loses her temper toward him when he hurt her with his words.

            And not just that, she doesn't act like a fool around him as most ladies do. She talks back confidently.

            His thought drifted back to the food she was cooking. The aroma of the food was enticing and tempting. She is the first person after his mother and Debbie who cooks in his kitchen.

            He loves the smell of her food and he wishes he could have a taste of the food. But he doesn't eat breakfast. He had to feel tempted to eat breakfast when she stir the food in the pot. But he can't.

            When he was young, they barely had enough to eat so he would have to skip breakfast and eat lunch. When he was a little older, he would help his mother and grandmother to sell pap in the morning before going to school there wasn't enough time to eat breakfast until lunch at school. When he started working, he would save the money he was supposed to use to buy breakfast and wait till lunch to eat. And as time goes on, it became a habit.

            When things started getting better, he tried to eat in the morning but he will always have a stomach problem all through the day. So he avoided eating in the morning until early lunch. And it had been that way ever since.

             When he finishes drinking his tea. He drops the cup in the drawer beside his bed. He called Deborah to pick it up later. He didn't plan to work that day so he stood up and went to his library which was two doors after his room. He picked up the keys that were in a drawer in his room and he left the room. He got to the front of the library and opened the door.

           He doesn't like people entering his library. All the books in them are important to him. Even Deborah is not allowed to go there. He does the cleaning of the library two times a month. And he fumigates it every Saturday.

           There were six shelves of books and there were filled with books both old and new. A semi-round desk was at the centre of the room with two leather chairs. A desktop, a few binders, papers, an MP3 player, three different pens and one black biro with the picture frame of his mom and grandmother was laying on the desk. There was a medium size Television on the wall opposite the reading table which he barely use.

          At the right end of the room is the little bar that he had installed in the room. Everything looks untouched and in place. And that is how he likes it.

           He walked to the rows of shelves. He traced his finger on some of the books. There was a lot and he didn't know which one to read. He needs to order a new set of books. All the books on the shelves, he had read them twice or thrice. He only read the novels once. 
 
             He decided to read one of his favourite books. He walked to the fourth row and picked the book he wanted to read.

          Power of positive thinking.

          It is one of his favourites. He looked at it. He had read it more than once. And he took the book to the reading table and sat down to read.

           He sat in the library reading for hours losing track of time. He had even forgotten about lunch. It was a habit he had to develop when he was young. Working and reading help him to forget whatever situations they were facing at home as a kid. He gets lost in his book and works so he doesn't have to think about his mother working so hard so they could eat and make a living and the constant sadness on her face.

           When he was finally done with the book, he smiled and stretched his hand and back. There hurts from sitting in a position for a very long time. He looked at the little clock on the table. It read two twenty-eight.

           His stomach grumbles. He had not eaten his lunch. He suddenly crave  Italian food so he stood up, returned the book and he left the library, closing the door. He went back to his room to change into better clothes and he took his car keys and he went downstairs. He will be driving himself. He wants to spend his free day alone.

             He heard a sound coming from somewhere when he climbed down the stairs. It sounded like music. He look at the first living room, no one was there. He went to the other living room. His living room. And that was where the music was coming from.

           He could have simply walked away without caring who was playing the song but he kind of wanted to see Lola.

           Simi song Joromi was playing from Lola's phone. She lay on the long sofa asleep. He walked up to her side to look at her.

            Her face was peaceful. He noticed the hair that cover her forehead. It was obvious she was hairy. So the hair still appeared in front of her head despite the hair extension she fixed. Although the hair extension looks so natural that it blends with her hair.

          He picked up the phone. He looked at it with distaste but he stopped the song and he put it down. He looked at her one more time before walking out of the house.

             He met Bayo and Adam at the club. And they talked for a long time about the new business they were planning to open. He went somewhere else after and he returned later in the night.

 

I think we know something about Demilade past in this chapter. Well, we will get to know more about him as the book go on.

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Thanks for reading.
Ily all.