I was in my room feeling unsettled about how my mother would take the news I and my father had just broken to her. It was suppose to make her happy. But while in my room, I heard their voices. My mother and my father were arguing. I stood behind my bedroom door to listen.
"So you Kunle, look me Fola finish dey go arrange marriage for my back. Do you take me to be a fool?"
" It's like you are not listening to me."
"And what more do you want to tell me that I will listen again?"
"Oh, so you don't want to listen to what I want to tell you?"
"No." My mother replied
"At all, at all, you don't want to listen?" My mother kept quiet.
"Fola tell me you don't want to listen and then this discussion is over. In fact, I am even sick and tired of... " My father paused while my mother continued talking.
"Just say you are tired of me. Go on, say it."
"Look, I am fed up of having to deal with your irrationality, okay?!" He shouted
"Now you've said what you really had in mind to say; that you are fed up with me!" My mother shouted back at him.
My father kept quiet and the next thing I heard him tell her was, he was going out.
"I was enjoying myself outside o. Now that I've come into my own house, there's fire. I think I better go out." With that I heard him open the front door and slammed it shut. Where was he going at this hour of the night? I refused to come out of my room until I heard my mother shouting my name.
"Tola?! Tola?!" She came banging on my door like she wanted to break it down.
"What is it?"
"Abeg come out jor! You people think you can gang up against me?!" I came out and followed her into the parlor.
"Where is your father going by this time?!"
"How would I know?"
"You don't know?! But he said he was enjoying himself outside?"
"Look mum I have no idea where he is going and naturally, if he goes out he will come back."
"He will come back, abi? So you think you can supply him with your girlfriends and come and tell me rubbish?!" I looked up and down while I opened my eyes and shut them repeatedly. I was fed up with her turning the house upside down.
"It's why you people are always sweet, because of your girlfriends. Because I see no reason why he should go out by this time. Continue supplying him!" I sighed as I was completely fed up with her attitude. I went to sit down opposite her.
"Mum why are you doing this?" She kept quiet. I then showed her the ring. " Look Ola finally proposed to me and I agreed. And you know why? Because I wanted to please you. When I saw the tension that was being created I had to call my friend and tell her to take me to see him."
I looked at my mother as she focused her attention on the TV while shaking her legs.
"I wanted to ask him how serious he was about me. When she took me there, that's when I saw dad and his friend. In fact, he asked me if I knew he was there. I told him no. The two men called us out and asked if we wanted to be with each other? Did I do anything wrong?"
My mother was breathing heavily. She was boiling with anger. But in her anger, I could see her eyes filled with tears. She tried to hide it by using the edge of the wrapper she was tying to wipe the tears. But It became evident she was crying when she started sniffing. I finally saw the fragile nature of the woman that gave birth to me.
Sitting opposite her, I witnessed the woman who had carried me through nine months of pregnancy discomfort, and had perhaps endured a full day of labor pains to bring me into this life, break down.
And right where I was sitting, I couldn't tell why. I could only guess that she may have felt excluded from being part of the most important decision making moment of my life.
I went to my room and called my dad on the phone. When he answered the phone, it was as if he was in a crowded place. There was music in the background.
"Dad where are you?"
"Not far from the house, why?"
"Mum is crying. Maybe you can help."
"Abeg, leave her. When she's done she will wipe her tears and go to her room."
"Just like that, daddy?" I asked
"And what can I do? This is the result of her stubbornness. If you can help her ,do so. Me, I want to enjoy myself."
"Dad she is already accusing me of supplying you with my girlfriends o."
"Okay so it has come to that? Maybe I should even ask you to supply me with one, abi?" He laughed while I was just hoping he came back.
"Dad, I'm serious. She's crying." My dad hesitated before telling me he was coming home. In the next five minutes he was back. I came out of my room and went to sit down.
"Fola so you are crying? Stubborn woman wey dey scatter house dey cry too?"
"I blame you. When your daughter has supplied you with her girlfriends why won't you come here and talk to me any how."
"So now that you see me you don dey make mouth. Your daughter called that you are crying." My mother looked at me making me feel uneasy. It was an unfriendly kind of expression I saw on her face.
"Tola so you called your father immediately, did I tell you I need him?"
"Did she do anything wrong by calling me?"
"Papa Tola didn't you say you were fed up of me, before you went out? So the moment she called you, you immediately came running home. "
"You see what I told you Tola? I said leave her, when she stops crying she will go to her room."
"But were you not the one that made me cry before you left?" she asked him.
I could only smile when I saw the direction in which the argument was taking. My mother was perhaps seeking reconciliation. For almost a week now, she had held a grudge against me and my father.
She had held onto this grudge so much that, she missed the opportunity to assist me in a very important decision making moment in my life. This may have been her reason for crying.
I got up when I saw my father sitting next to her and placing his hand on her shoulders. She needed him; she needed us again. We were her only source of happiness and she was missing us. I bid them goodnight and went to my room satisfied, that she was back with us again.
Now lying on my bed I took my ring off and held it in my hand. I admired it and started thinking of Ola. What was he doing? Could he be in bed or had he gone out? Thinking of him brought a smile to my face. And since we had finally exchanged numbers, I decided to send him a text message.
"Thank you for everything. Thank you for the ring. I am happy now'.
I smiled when I pressed the send button. The message was sent and I kept my phone by my bedside drawer, after switching it off.
The ring was in my hand and I had clutched onto it. Thinking off Ola I slowly drifted off to sleep, a sleep in which I had a dream.
This was a dream in which I saw two people; a man and a woman. It seemed they had disagreed on something, and were shouting at each other. The man was holding a black bag in his hand.
It looked more like a briefcase. While I couldn't hear what they were discussing, I kept hearing the man say the words 'No, No,' repeatedly. Then I saw it. I saw the woman pointing a gun at him. She fired a shot and the man fell.
And while he fell, the woman threw the gun down and left. I peered down at the face of the man that had fallen, and started crying. It was Ola. I cried as I watched him close his eyes. I kept shouting his name until I suddenly woke up.
The ring I had clutched in my hand all night had fallen and my mother had picked it up. I must have cried out loud, and she must have heard me.
"Tola, I heard you shouting, what happened?" she asked sitting on the edge of my bed. She held up the ring.
"Here, take it. It must have fallen." She said, giving me back the ring. I took it from her and thanked her. It was day time and I knew I had to leave the house for work.
"What time is it?" I asked her.
"Time for breakfast, my dear." She smiled at me and got up. "Go and wash and come to the kitchen and let's have breakfast, together." She said smiling. She left my room.
I quickly grabbed my phone and switched it on, and then went to the bathroom and took a shower. When I finished, I hurriedly looked at the phone for new messages. There was one message and it was from Ola. I read it: Thanks. Hope you are fine?
A smile lit my face as I knew he was alright. I heaved a sigh of relief knowing that nothing had happened to him. The only thing that worried me now, was facing my mother and telling her why I shouted in my sleep. I knew she wouldn't rest until I told her. But I had to reach Ola first, and tell him about it.