Good day everyone! We are excited to share our first story of the year by Ayomickey Paseda. Totally fiction, very enjoyable and we will be posting it in parts so get ready for Cliffhangers. Please share, comment and subscribe. Enjoy!
Imagine a world like mine.
Being constantly amidst a crowd of formidable loved ones who don’t know you at all and you are always tempted to smile back when they smile right at you, allowing them to be just like dragonflies circling a pond. They only can see their reflections, the perfect replica of what they seem to be searching for, if at all. But they have absolutely no idea of how deep the pond could be, or of the monsters within. I can’t think of anything harder than suffocating under water; in my own water.
It is the morning of Semilore’s wedding and I couldn’t possibly be any happier for her. Mum and dad have been going on about it for months with the planning and the ordering of, as mum would say, “The most exquisite” just to make sure that everyone in attendance smells the money that they threw into it, after all, she had always been the type to show off amongst her elite friends. Semilore happens to be my younger and only sister, of which she getting married before me is considered a shame on my path. Mum tried to postpone the marriage for a while, at least until I find someone foolish enough to ask for my hand, but I guess she lost all hope the day I invited Segun for dinner with the family. Segun was the perfect example of a screw up. He was first and foremost about fifteen to twenty years older than I was and had five children with two different ladies, both of whom he never got married to. We happened to have met at the supermarket while I was shopping for provisions. In my right senses, I never would have agreed to give my number out to someone that looked like that, but since both my parents had been pressurizing me to find someone and put myself out there for a change, I decided to cast the joke on them. Segun was a short Yoruba man with a large protruding stomach and tribal marks that indicated he was from Oyo state. He was the kind that can’t finish off a proper statement in English without adding a local word and sometimes, a few adages. He had this strongly annoying personality and I could sense almost immediately I introduced him to my parents, how that evening would go, loving every bit of it.
That evening, segun arrived at the family house in a black Kia sorento SUV. It was raining heavily and so I went to escort him into the house with my umbrella. “Segun, you are late”, I said, trying hardest to fake a frown and act like I wasn’t already expecting him to be late. He looked at me apologetically like a little puppy would after doing something it knew it shouldn’t have done. “You see, Okiki, (Oluwa ma se okiki laye mi l’oruko jesu Christi oluwa wa), the traffic in this your area is much. You are very lucky I brought my jeep if not; you would have had to come pick me up from the filling station. Every road after there is bad”. I was beyond flabbergasted, did he just… did I just… still in awe of how he managed to use my name as a prayer, we walked down to the house while he kept ranting about the rain and the traffic. Mum and dad were sitting at the living room when we walked in and so I introduced him right away. Mum managed a smile, “you’re welcome to our humble abode, young man”. Dad immediately looked at her questionably, ‘young man?’ he meant to say but shook hands with Segun instead and went to have a seat at the table. I could feel the tension rising and so I escaped to the kitchen, semilore was having a hard time with the food, sweating profusely but managing to look me straight in the eye. “What did you do this time?” she said recognizing the smirk on my face which always indicated a mischievous plan was unfolding. I wasn’t going to answer her and spoil the fun so instead I poured myself a drink. “Okiki, are you really drinking right now?”
TO BE CONTINUED
