C H A P T E R T W E N T Y T W O
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As the days had gone by, summer had dwindled until only ten days remained until Normani and Keith would be returning to the United States. If she was asked to measure the extent of her homesickness, she wouldn't have been able to record it in days but rather in those that she missed. She missed her parents, her best friend and most importantly, her boyfriend.
There was no denying the fact that her relationship with Keith had changed significantly in the time they'd spent in Nigeria and she wasn't entirely sure that it was a good change - things had been a bit off balance since the day he'd came home and made love to her like she was someone else. They'd been in a weird limbo since, not estranged but not as close as they used to be.
Keith still came home and kissed her lovingly, he still spoiled her with breakfast in bed (the kind that Ayoola would prepare for his instruction and bring it up to her since he'd already be at work) and he gave her foot rubs in the evenings. But something had changed, Normani couldn't point out what exactly, but it was unnerving.
She figured if they returned to their natural environment, where they only had to worry about themselves without the added scrutiny of his parents and their demands on him, then things would go back to normal.
She didn't have the energy to dwell on that now as Joseph started playing the instrumentals of his new demo. After spending a few days with him, she could now add "amazing vocalist" to her list of talents.
Joseph had been working on a particular song and he'd struggled to find that one thing that would set it apart as a track that would attract a potential market. Normani had fooled around with some lyrics and the song had ended up being a duet.
Now they were officially recording Love Lies and Joseph would release it onto SoundCloud. Normani was excited for the release and couldn't wait to show her loved ones back home and even Keith. She was sure he'd be so proud of his younger brother and see the potential he possessed, too.
"You ready?" Joseph asked.
Normani nodded and walked over to the sound desk and picked up a mic.
"What time do you need to be there, by the way?" she asked.
"We have three hours to record and finish this then I have to be there."
"We can do this in an hour and twenty minutes tops."
"That's so specific," Joseph replied, "why that time precisely?"
"I just have a feeling it's going to take that long okay? Trust me," Normani replied. Joseph shook his head in amusement and started the instrumental.
Love Lies was a sweet, mellow song about a love that did not hurt. It was easy going and their gorgeous, powerful voices blended together to create a beautiful duet.
Normani had added some of the lyrics of her verse in, crooning the sweet lyrics in her perfect tone: I've been so into your mystery/ Is it because of our history?/ Are you into me?/ When it feels so good but it's bad for you, can't say I don't want it coz I know I do.
As Normani had predicted, it took an hour and twenty minutes to finish recording the song and adding final touches. As soon as they were done, Zechariah was driving them out of the compound ten minutes later to a private party where Joseph had been booked to play a half hour set. It was the first time he was playing his music in public and he was a nervous, excited wreck.
Normani was accompanying him for moral support and also she was eager to see him in his element. It was 16:00 when they left for the party. They were the only ones in the Ikande household: Mrs Ikande was out, Matilda was over at a friend's for the afternoon, Ayoola had (through their persuasion) gone to see her boyfriend and Keith and Mr Ikande were at work. They got to the venue half an hour later.
"Are you nervous?" she asked him just after they'd arrived at the club and were seated in the 'green room' that had been designated performers and he was set to play in twenty minutes.
Joseph nodded, "a little, I've never done any of this before you know?"
Normani had always admired how easy it was for him to communicate his emotions and how open he was as a person.
"Yeah, but I know you're gonna kill it out there."
"That's the plan but yeah I just don't want to fuck up. Like, this is my grind you know? Even if I were to stand up to Uncle and Keith... and tell them I don't want to be an engineer in Lagos one day, working with shit I don't care about, because it's all about the music for me, this is what drives me and if I'm not the best at what I do..." Joseph shrugged and Normani could see the insecurity scrawled over his face.
She so badly wanted to assure him that his uncle and the man he considered a blood brother would support him - not out of enthusiasm but unconditional love, but she knew too it would sound fake coming from her.
Her dance was a site of discontentment with Keith: it had taken him a long time to get used to her chosen major, to see dance as a serious medium and to take her talent into consideration.
His parents weren't the least bit impressed, and at the end of the day she was still just some stranger girl dating their son. She couldn't imagine how much more harder it was going to be for Joseph to pursue music with all of these other expectations set upon him.
"Your first stance can't be your fear of fucking up. Like you said, music is your grind. You go into a different place when you're in your element, did you know that? It comes natural to you, yeah? So don't even think about it too much - just imagine you were back in the place that you were when Abisola caught your eye and you just had to know her. You wanted her to drop her location so you could go see her and you drove thirty kilometres with Zechariah's car in the middle of the night without anyone knowing. And then you saw her and she made you catch feels and she did the most to you, she broke your heart and inspired all this art! Think of all of that when you sing Location, Young Dumb and Broke and Shot Down. Yes?"
Joseph smiled, "I can't believe you still remember the story about Abisola."
"How could I forget your muse? She inspired the whole project didn't she?"
Joseph nodded, "yeah, I just didn't think you'd remember." He rubbed his neck and took a deep breath and was visibly calmer than when they'd settled into the room.
"I lowkey hate her though, because she broke your heart but I love her because the world wouldn't have these songs if she hadn't done you so dirty."
"I'm so glad my misery was of such great service to you," Joseph replied and playfully rolled his eyes.
"But real talk though," Normani replied, a reflective look glossing over her face, "I got my first perfect score in ballet and contemporary when Ara and I broke up. We make our best art when we're broken."
X O
Ayoola hated summer nights for the bugs that found their way into her room into the late hours of the night and the heat that smothered her to the old, stiff bed. The outhouses didn't have any fans or aircons and the only refuge they provided were the old mosquito nets.
She often envied the Ikandes and their cool, spacious bedrooms. Her room was only big enough to fit the old, tattered single bed. Her clothes were in a suitcase under the bed and the roof was slanted in a way that she couldn't stand to her full height without her head bumping into the ceiling.
None of that bothered her for that night because she'd had the most magical time with Ifeka earlier that afternoon.
She was glad she'd listened to Normani and Joseph and had taken a few hours off from her chores to see him.
They'd met at the market place and he'd come bearing great news, "Ife'm, I've made enough money to get my own place. Soon, I will make enough money to support the both of us, sha, and I can finally marry you. We will be happy."
He'd said it with his larger than life smile and she'd allowed herself to be whisked away by the charm of such a dream and it had filled her with an indescribable joy.
Ayoola loved Ifeka with a desperate type of love - the kind that held on with both hands and prayed for the best.
Ifeka was the first person that had showed her what it meant to have love be the driving force of all one's actions. Even though she didn't think she'd ever be free from Madam Ikande's clutches, it was nice to dream about a happy little home with Ifeka and their future children. They'd find a way to make ends meet with the little that they had and it would be blissful.
She was sprawled on her bed, deeply dreaming about the man she so loved when the lights of her room flicked on. She sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. When her vision came into focus, her heart seized in fear.
"Madam?" she mumbled and sat up straighter. Mrs Ikande was standing at her door, staring down at her with a look that could bury live humans into the ground within seconds.
She rubbed at her cheek and cringed when she felt wetness there and quickly wiped away the drool before Madam could chastise her for it.
Madam Ikande was dressed in a night dress and wrapper, her hair was wrapped in a silk headscarf and she wore her expensive blue silk slippers.
Ayoola wondered what was so amiss that it had to be addressed so late into the night. She couldn't help the gnawing fear that began to grow in her belly.
"Come with me," she said.
Ayoola bounded out of the bed and followed Madam Ikande on unsteady legs all the way into the kitchen.
Had Madam Ikande found out about Ifeka? If she had, her life was well and truly over.
Madam Ikande had told her years before that if she'd ever found out she had a boyfriend or if she'd ever brought any friends into the compound, they'd be hell to pay. Madam had never been the type to play around with threats. The woman meant business, Ayoola knew first hand.
"Sit down, Ayoola," Madam Ikande said and Ayoola obliged and slinked into a bar stool.
"What do you know about that American girl?"
"Miss Normani?" she asked.
"Are you stupid? What other American girl could you possibly know?"
"I'm sorry, Madam," Ayoola replied.
"Tell me what you know." Her tone was demanding and angry and Ayoola wished that the ground would swallow her whole so that she didn't have to be there in that kitchen and with that woman.
"I don't know anything, Madam."
The harsh glare of the kitchen lights made Ayoola uncomfortable and she fidgeted with her hands.
"You mean to tell me you've been serving that girl, wearing her clothes and going shopping with her and not picking up anything about her?"
"Anything like what, Madam?"
"She is a lazy American girl with poor work ethics who spends her days dancing on stages half naked with other men - all this foolishness and you mean to tell me that she isn't perverse in other ways?"
Ayoola shook her head, "Madam-"
"My son could marry this rubbish woman and you won't help me? Do you not see how serious this is? She will corrupt my son. Do you care so little for me and my family that you will not help us in our time of need? You want an outsider to influence him? Have you lost your mind?"
Ayoola had no time to respond before she felt a hand slap through her face and then there were fingers tugging on her ears, pulling her this way and that. Ayoola tried not to scream. She knew it would be worse for her if she did.
"If you don't talk, you will have no food and swallow your spit for an entire week, I swear on your dead mother's grave!"
Ayoola's face was already soaked with tears and mucous ran down her nose. Her entire head burned with the pain of the assault being inflicted upon her and she was so racked with fear she felt as though her heart was about to stop.
"I'll talk, I'll talk!" Ayoola finally cried after Mrs Ikande had begun to pull on her hair.
It had been a while since this had last happened and she'd foolishly thought that if she acted good and did as was told, she could avoid it.
Madam Ikande tugged on her ears one more time and muttered something about her being an ungrateful bitch before she let go of her.
"Talk to me, I'm listening."
Ayoola fidgeted with her hands and asked God and Normani to forgive her.
"She mentioned to me once that she had dated a girl before..."
"Heh, do you hear this? And she praises God with that mouth?" Madam exclaimed, throwing her hands to the sky and shaking her head. She turned her attention to Ayoola who stood as still as a corpse as tears continued to flow down her face.
"Anything else?"
"No, Madam."
"Does she smoke? Have you heard her talking to any other men while she was here?"
"No, Madam."
"Did you see her reading any evil books? Eroticas and other works of the devil?"
"No, Madam. I've only ever seen her read the books that are in this house."
"Have you ever walked in on her touching herself or watching sinful videos on her phone?"
"No, Madam," Ayoola replied.
"If you breathe a word of this to my husband or my son then there will be hell to pay. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, Madam," Ayoola replied.
"You know I can make your life very difficult for you. You have not forgotten what I did to you when you disobeyed me?"
"No, Madam."
"Now get your dirty body off of my clean chair and get out of my house, you lazy, foolish girl!"
Ayoola managed to scurry out of the kitchen like a rat caught in the light and ran back into her room before Madam could finish her sentence.
She spent the rest of the night crying.
×
Joseph's performance had been received so well that many people in the industry present wanted to talk to him after his set. He and Normani had stayed at the party for a few extra hours and had finally returned home in the late evening.
Normani had only been lying in bed for half an hour after a FaceTime call with Anika when Keith returned from work, worn and exhausted looking.
Normani had watched him undress with reflective, sombre eyes and had asked him, "what's the first thing you want to do when we get back to New York?"
"Honestly?" Keith said, pulling the tie from its sarong on his neck and placing it on the bed so he could unbutton his shirt, "sleep. I'm always very jetlagged by the return trip."
"Okay," Normani replied.
"I happen to know some very handy massages especially for jet lag so I'll put them to use for you," he said with a glint of playfulness in his tone. Normani wanted to smile back at him but her lips felt stiff and brittle.
He finished undressing and slipped underneath the sheets to lay beside Normani. She sunk into him when he opened up his arms for her to rest in them.
He kissed the side of her head before settling down to sleep and she did the same. He felt warm and familiar, yet there was a sense of detachment between them, as if thousands of miles lay between them. Normani had never felt lonelier.
XO
The mall was easy to navigate during the early afternoon hours of a weekday. It wasn't as overwhelmingly full as weekends especially since it was still holiday season for many people.
Matilda walked between Normani and Joseph, sipping on her cup full of orange soda as they moved away from the cinema. Joseph had offered to take Normani and Matilda to go see a movie and grab lunch on a spontaneous whim.
The movie had been enjoyable and the afternoon had been spent in good company. Now they were out in the marketplace, looking at all of the different things offered in stalls. Matilda and Normani were looking at the multi-coloured wraps and their accompanying headbands.
"Let me get us some roasted corn, it's really good. You can't leave Nigeria without having tried it," Joseph said and took out a wad of naira bills that he gave to the lady who was selling roasted corn at her stall.
The marketplace was bustling with life - full of vendors who were trying to attract customers to their stalls and customers bargaining for fair prices for the goods like meat and bananas.
Joseph gave the woman four hundred naira without asking for her price and the woman smiled from ear to ear as she handed him three cobs wrapped in newspaper.
They made their way back to the parking lot and into the SUV Zechariah usually used to chauffeur everyone around. Joseph drove them back to the compound and they all ate their roasted corn.
When they reached the Ikande Household, Mr and Mrs Ikande were in the living room. Normani was surprised to see them there as they were never usually home at that time. She felt unnerved with the look Mrs Ikande was giving her.
Matilda said a quick greeting to her parents and hurried up to her bedroom and Joseph did the same. Normani was about to head to her own room when she saw Ayoola emerge from the kitchen holding a tray of goods.
Instead of leaving them in the living room she saw the girl take the tray into the small parlour. Normani went to wait for her at the kitchen and when the girl returned she seemed tense.
"Hey," Normani said, "There are guests?"
Ayoola shook her head, "No, Keith and Miss Josephine are working in the parlour."
"Wait, Keith is home and he didn't tell me?" she said. She didn't expect Ayoola to have an answer for her and she took her cellphone out of the pocket of her denim skirt. There were no new messages or missed calls.
With a light scoff she set off for the Small Parlour. Her strides were long and determined strides as she walked across the house with Ayoola hot on her heels.
"Wait, Miss!" Ayoola called just as Normani opened the door and came to a freezing halt at the doorway.
She felt Ayoola's slim hands touch the backs of her arms, "let's go, Miss."
Normani did not budge. She stood very still watching the two people in the room, one watched with a smug sort of satisfaction at being caught and the other with immense regret.
Josephine's lovely blue and yellow patterned dress was so low cut that it left more of her perky breasts to be exposed than covered. Her dress had ridden so far up her legs that it rested on her upper thighs.
Her one leg rested on the couch and her foot was in Keith's hands while his shirt had been considerably un-buttoned, sweat ran down from his temple to neck and his fingers were steadily kneading her feet and calves.
"Mani," Keith started, apologies and explanation already dancing on his tongue.
"Save it," Normani replied and shook her head. Mr and Mrs Ikande suddenly materialised behind her as well.
Normani's darted to her boyfriend's parents and then back to her boyfriend, Josephine and to Ayoola. Their eyes told her everything she needed to know and with a hysterical laugh she backed away.
"Wow, I can't do this," she said.
"Mani, what do you mean?" Keith asked, panic-stricken, Josephine was already long-forgotten as he came towards her.
Normani turned to his mother, "it means that you've won. I'm not putting up with any of this for another second. I'm out of here."
She didn't wait to see Mrs Ikande's reaction. She had way too much self respect to see the woman gloat in such a bitter victory.
"Miss, no!" Ayoola cried as Normani turned on her heels and made her way for the stairs.
She felt as if she was having an out of body experience as she started to throw clothes into the open suitcase on the bed. Keith burst into the room.
"Mani, what're you doing? Nothing happened," Keith said.
Normani ignored him and continued to pile more clothes haphazardly into her suitcase. She walked into the bathroom to retrieve her toiletries.
"Awelewa, do you really think I'd cheat on you? I did nothing."
"That's not important, Keith," Normani replied. Her voice did not sound as though it belonged to her.
"Then why are you doing this?"
"Don't you get it?" she asked, the first crack appearing in her voice, "we're never going to work out so long as they've decided that I'm no good for you the way Josephine is."
"I'm my own man and it's you that I love, not her."
Normani let out a bitter chuckle as she grabbed her closed bags and hauled them off of the bed and on to the floor.
"You're not your own man, not when you live your life according to their standards and wait around like a pet for their orders."
She pushed him out of the way and ran down the stairs.
Keith ran after her and so did Ayoola.
"Where is Zechariah?" she asked Ayoola.
"Where are you going?" Ayoola asked.
"Are you going to tell me where he is or not?"
Both women were in the foyer.
"I forbid you from using his services," Keith said, coming to a stop just beside her.
"Fine. Ayoola, what's the number for the cab services?"
"Miss, please don't do this,"Ayoola pleaded.
"If you won't let me use Zechariah and if you won't give me the cab number then I will walk. The point is, I'm not staying in this place a second longer, move!"
Ayoola moved away from the door with a yelp as Normani grabbed the door knob and prepared to open it when Joseph walked into the foyer from his bedroom.
"What's going on?" he asked.
He was still in his outfit from earlier that day except he was barefoot.
"I need to get out of here."
"Okay, I'll drive you. Just give me a minute while I get my keys."
Normani sighed in relief, "thank you."
Keith followed after Joseph and Ayoola tentatively came to Normani, murmuring pleas in a mixture of distressed English and unintelligible Yoruba until Joseph and Keith returned.
"Brother, why are you involving yourself in this? She's my girlfriend," Keith asked hotly, looking as if he was ready to pounce on Joseph at any given moment.
Joseph said nothing but gestured for Normani to follow him to the garage. He carried her luggage for her and loaded it into the SUV.
"So have you thought about where you want to go for tonight?" Joseph asked as they entered the Wuse District.
"Are there any international hotels here?"
"The Sheraton hotel isn't too far from here."
"They accept American credit cards?" Normani asked.
She hated how broken her voice sounded, how pathetic she must've seemed. The events of the night had finally set in and she felt as though she couldn't breathe. She wanted to lay down on the ground and cry for the next five years.
"Yes, I'm certain they do. Come on, let's get you checked in, okay?"
She nodded and was silent as he drove to the hotel. When they got to the Sheraton hotel, he emptied the boot of her luggage and carried it to reception.
He booked her a room and used his own card while she waited in the lobby. She scarcely remembered riding the elevator with Joseph and settling into bed as soon as he left.
All she was aware of was the ache in her chest that only got stronger and stronger as the seconds ticked by. And just like the walls of Jericho in the Bible, it all came tumbling down.
hi guys! first of all i want to thank you all for an amazing 10K! this is my second 10K milestone in 2018 alone, your support has been phenomenal! ❤
second of all, one of my novels has been selected for the Wattys Shortlist! i'm so giddy with excitement lol, if you'd like to check that one out it's named "Virago". 🌙
lastly i'm sure you all probably hate me right now but i want to hear all your thoughts! did any of you see this coming? what do you think is going to happen next?
thanks for reading i love you all so much uwu.
-dzangie 🌞