Jeremiah
"Hi."
I tried so hard to lace my really strong accent, to sound more 'Nigerian', to hide how nervous I was. I could literally hear my own voice shake. I managed to keep my eyes concentrated on her, watching her glare at me. I wished I could read her, that I could analyze the look in her eyes, maybe it'd help me choose my next words carefully. My palms were becoming wet all of a sudden. All my life, I've been used to people looking at me closely, lots of people but I never imagined this day to be any different. I managed to keep a nervous smile on my face, even though it was becoming really obvious I wasn't going to get any back. At least not with the way she was looking and frowning at me. Anyone would think she was annoyed by my presence.
"It's been a while." I continued, ignoring the rest of the workers that had their eyes fixed on us. I guess they wanted to know who I was, and what our relationship was all about, especially the woman in black. It made me even more uncomfortable. I just wished we could go somewhere else and talk. Somewhere more private. I swallowed hard and then let out a nervous chuckle.
God, it was so hard choosing the next words to say.
"I honestly can't believe I'm here right now." I placed my hand on my forehead to feel for sweat beads. They were slowly forming. Wasn't she going to say anything? How long did she have to keep staring at me like that? Or maybe she just didn't know who I was. Had she forgotten about me already? I looked around the room, she wasn't the only one that looked like they had no idea why I was there. I returned my gaze back to her.
"I uh- it's me." In case she needed a remainder, I pointed at myself. "It's Jeremia-"
"What are you doing here?" Her voice was so cold. It cut me off before I could even say anything else. It was nothing like the voice I remembered, I swallowed hard, staring into her brown eyes, they were just as brown as mine. I remembered how she always told me how much I reminded her of her father, how much I looked like him. Of course she remembered me.
I scoffed.
I wasn't surprised. I had prepared for this day all my life, I had prepared for every possible outcome and reaction of this moment. Didn't she hear me? Didn't she hear who I said I was?
"It's me." I repeated, taking a close step to her. "It's Jeremiah. Your s-"
"I know who you are." She cut me off yet again, narrowing her gaze to me and her frown got even worse. "That isn't the answer to my question."
I didn't even know where to start or what to say. She had caught me off guard again and again. Every word I had rehearsed since I got on the plane, my three minutes speech, it was like I couldn't even remember a thing. I gulped hard, hoping I could
find some kind of courage to speak, hoping she could just let me speak without trying to cut me off all the time. I took a deep breath.
"I just -"
"I honestly don't have the time for this." She cut me off yet again. "I have so many things to do, and I won't let you waste my time and slow down our business. You can order anything you like and you'd be attended to. Once you're done, See yourself out."
I froze. She didn't mean that. She couldn't have. How could she talk to me like that? How could she not even give me a chance to tell her how much I've missed her? How I've longed for her, for this moment the past years? I swallowed hard and then took another step so I could say something else, and just as I opened my mouth to speak, I watched her turn around and walk away from me.
How could she be so cold? Even after all those years? She hurried to the counter and then behind it, walking as fast as she could to the black door she had come out from earlier. I let out a soft exhale and then turned back to the picture on top of my wallet. The picture of her.
I took a deep breath.
Welcome home Jeremiah.
Welcome to Nigeria. I reminded myself.
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"Welcome home Sir Jeremiah."
I returned the smile the old man at the front of the door sent my way the moment I walked into the big house. At least that was someone that didn't need an ID to be able to recognize me. Adam, first man as we loved to call him. He was the mansion's head of staff and also the oldest staff as far as I could remember. It felt good to know that there was someone I had literally known all my life that hadn't completely forgotten my name or what I looked like.
I was only nine when I left the mansion, when I left the country for the states and I had never been back since then. Besides some minor upgrades I could see as I walked down the long hallway, nothing had really changed about the house I used to live in. I totally ignored the shiny, really long , spiral stairs that were a few paces in front of me. Not yet. I wasn't ready to go upstairs just yet.
"Welcome home Sir." A few maids bowed in front of me to show their respects, causing me to turn to them right before the three of them walked away as fast as they could, muttering some words to each other and chuckling faintly. I smiled.
Of course I knew they were excited to finally meet me. It was all over their faces. I wouldn't have been surprised if they had just pretended to walk to the kitchen so they could bump into me. I got a lot of that all the time.
"Jerry!"
I turned around quickly. There was only one person that called me Jerry all my life, so I knew exactly who I was going to find. I let out an exhale, followed by a really huge smile the moment I watched the man in a blue shirt, tucked into his plain black trousers, roll up his sleeves as he hurried towards me as fast as he could. Also someone else that recognized me. This had to be fun.
Manuel.
Yeah. I could never forget that face even if I wanted to. Manuel worked for my father. He used to be one of the poor children from my family's foundation before my father saw some sort of potential in him and made sure he had all the things he ever needed. A home, good education and a job at Benoil corporation as my father's personal assistant. Daddy trusted him with almost everything, so much that there used to be rumors while we were growing up, that he was father's illegitimate son. Others said he was the man father loved and trusted even more than his own children and I could see just why, especially since he was the one father kept in charge of my welfare in the states.
Unlike everyone else , Manuel actually got to see me grow from a timid nine year old to a nineteen year old world star, ex actor and an ex-model for Vogue. He was present on every birthdays, every graduation and of course, every endorsement, courtesy of my father of course. To everyone else, I was his responsibility, but to me, he was the older brother I wished I had. The older brother I wished mine could be. He was always there to fix all my mistakes when no one else was, My mistakes...The Mistake, so I didn't really miss him as I did everyone else.
"Hey Manuel."
"How did you get here?" He whispered to me as he got really close. He looked around to make sure no one was there. To make sure no one was coming, frown lines forming on his forehead as he stared at me. "Where are your bodyguards?"
I shrugged my shoulders. How was I supposed to know? I watched him exhale and then rub his forehead. He was so tired of me. I knew that.
"Am I in trouble?" I asked him. Not like I cared. Not like anyone cared.
"You have no idea." He whispered back to me. Why on earth was he whispering? He dropped his hand. "Right now, your father doesn't know anything. As far as he's concerned, you're in your room, taking a nap. Your brother on the other hand-"
I scoffed.
"He knows you went to see her." He told me. "He has asked the bodyguards not to say anything to your father but I'm not sure he's going to let you get away with what you did. He's really upset-"
"Christian!"
I heard someone yell from behind me. I had no idea there was anyone walking behind me in the first place. It wasn't really a familiar voice but that name, that name was a name I could never forget.
I turned slowly when I watched Manuel's gaze become focused on the stairs.
I smiled as I watched a man hurry down the stairs as fast as he could, while a woman hurried along behind him, trying all she could to catch up with him.
"Christian." She called his name again.
The smile on my face got brighter as the man in a white shirt with golden highlights also tucked into his navy blue check trousers approached me, rolling his sleeves hurriedly. It had been exactly ten years and he had grown way taller than the last time I had seen him. The Media Pictures I had at least tried to stay updated with didn't do justice to how much he had grown, how taller, how better looking. He was beginning to look so much like him now, to walk like him. Like our father.
Christian was my older brother. The first son of my father, and he was nine years older than me. I watched the frown on his face get even worse as he approached me, but my smile didn't falter.
I took a step just so I could embrace him at least right before he threw his hands back and folded it into a fist and the moment he brought it back, it collided with my face hard, throwing my face aback to the other side.
"Christian!" I heard the woman yell again as her footsteps became noisier like she was running towards us.
"Jerry!" Now Manuel was bending in my direction, trying to check if I was okay. "Are you okay?"
I wasn't sure. It had been a while since I had ever been punched so hard. I felt the right side of my face go numb that second as I raised my head slowly, rubbing my lower jaw just so I could at least feel something there again. I could taste blood in my mouth. He had probably almost knocked one of my teeth out.
"I'm okay." I mouthed so Manuel could see, but I watched him turn slowly to Christian.
"Christian-"
"Stay away from this Emmanuel." Christian warned him as I slowly turned to him. "This isn't your business."
I scoffed.
This wasn't how I expected our reunion to be like, but that was the thing about my relationship with my brother. It was...complicated.
"You had one instruction!" He raised his voice at me, shaking his hands to probably dust off the pain. "Come straight home! With your bodyguards, but what did you do? You did the exact thing you were told not to do!"
I was frowning now.
"Why don't you ever listen? Why don't you ever learn? What do you think you're doing? Where do you think you are?" He glared at me. "Do you think this is the states where you do what you want and live how you want? Do you have any idea how our family is perceived in this country? In this entire continent? Do you have any idea the negative effects it could cost us if you're seen in the wrong places doing the wrong things, especially at the wrong time? You just got here, must you cause commotion everywhere you go? Why don't you listen? Must you act like a child your whole life? Must you?!"
His loud voice echoed all around the hallway and I was almost sure it had echoed to a lot of areas in the house.
"Let it go Christian." Manny had to interfere again, being as calm as ever. "He probably just wanted to see her after all those years. You can't blame him, he didn't understand the consequences for his actions, besides he just arrived, cut him some slack."
"Do you think I care?" Christian turned his gaze to him. "We all miss someone. Some people, we'd never be able to see again thanks to a certain someone." He shifted his gaze back to me. "I don't know why you're back here. " He told me. "I honestly don't care to know, but I swear to God, the next time you do something like this, the moment you do anything that could jeopardize this family's reputation or the company's, my company's, a punch to the face would be the least of your problems, and I mean it."
Now that was a threat.
A certain relationship I could remember. I scoffed, cleaning the blood off my top teeth with my tongue.
Christian eyed me for a second right before he turned to the stairs and stormed away as fast as he could.
I watched him walk up the stairs angrily. His back was so cold. I was having flashbacks now. I was probably never going to get used to seeing that back, icy cold all my life.
Manuel exhaled and then raised a hand to my shoulder. I felt him squeeze it gently. He was giving me strength, and I needed it, all of it.