Chasing Shadows (Episode 8)

Sade took a longer time to get down from the car, she couldn’t control the rate at which her heart was beating. She had longed for this day for the past one year and seven months but now that the day was here, she was everything but excited to be home. She scanned through the compound and looked intently for the chair on which her dad usually relaxed in whenever he returned from work early. The chair was no longer there; that was the only obvious thing missing from the compound. The domestic workers that worked for their family were still here; they had not been replaced, save for Seun who was her mum’s new driver. She tried to encourage herself to keep calm before getting down from the car. Her excited mum, who couldn’t help but talk about how much her dad was expecting her, got down from the car the moment Seun drove into the compound. She had not changed her habit of getting down just at the gate and walking into the house which was quite a distance from the gate. Sade usually laughed at her mum’s idea of walking exercise, but this time she found herself smiling as she watched her mum walk briskly into the house.

Sade apologized to the driver yet again for being paranoid, before entering the house. The house looked better than she could remember. It didn’t take long to notice that the portraits of herself and brother were no longer in the sitting room. They had been replaced by two portraits of artwork that she couldn’t decipher. She wanted to run upstairs to her room and jump on her fluffy bed but she calmly walked to the kitchen where her mum and the cook were, getting ready for a lovely family dinner to celebrate the return of their prodigal daughter.

She stood by the kitchen door and gazed on the antique wall clock in the kitchen. It was 6.45pm on the longest day of her life. She wished her dad returned earlier on a day like this.

“Anike, come join us…” Her mum beckoned to her while she bent to check the chicken in the oven.

She usually called her Anike whenever she was super excited.

“Anike…”

The cook touched her gently and Sade regained consciousness.

“Ma… Ma…” She stuttered.

“Anike mi, Afolasade…” Mrs. Bello started.

“You’re home. Relax my child.”

She squeezed Sade’s shoulder and drew out a chair for her to sit on. The cook placed a glass of juice before Sade and smiled warmly at her. Sade smiled back and looked away instantly. She remembered the stress she used to put the domestic workers (including the cook) through while she was home. She would make things right with all of them – she told herself, as she sipped the orange juice.

She heard the gate open and the race began all over again. She got up from the chair and walked towards her mum.

“What should I do? Go out to meet him or wait for him to come inside? Or should we go out together?” Sade asked all the questions in quick succession. She was nervous.

“Relax, okay? Just relax.” Her mother smiled, washed her hands at the kitchen zinc and dabbed with a towel. She relayed further instructions to the cook and walked out of the kitchen with her daughter’s hands in hers.

They got to the sitting room a little later than Sade wished. As they walked in, so did her father walk into the sitting room with his suitcase in one hand and his jacket in the other.

Sade squeezed her mum’s hands tighter.

Her father had not changed a single bit. He was still slim as ever, but now had visible white hairs on his beards and a few strands in his hairs. She wanted to go straight to hug her dad, kneel immediately before him, sob and hold his legs to beg for his forgiveness, while tears rolled down from her cheeks to wet his shoes. That was the kind of reunion she had imagined for so long, the reunion of a prodigal daughter. The moment seemed longer than it actually was. Her mother broke the silence Sade already felt engulfed in.

“Welcome darling…” Mrs Bello let go of her daughter’s hand to give her husband a side hug. She then collected the suitcase from him and placed it on the nearest chair to her.

Sade hurried to her dad, and knelt down before he said anything. The tears she wished for suddenly refused to come; her eyes were clear like that of a child that didn’t care, the same child that her father used to know. But she wasn’t that child anymore, she had learnt her lesson, she was only overwhelmed by fear and numerous calculations on what to expect from her dad.

It was hard to say what exactly transpired in the short moment but Sade felt her father’s embrace. He had pulled her up, and held her in his arms saying things that she couldn’t really pick, but he was sorry. He was sorry for pushing her away.

Sade’s mother joined in the embrace and the tears flowed freely amongst them all.

“I’m sorry dad. I’m really sorry…” Sade continued endlessly.

In another two minutes, Mrs Bello broke free from the embrace and wiped the tears off her eyes.

“I’ll leave you two alone…” She patted both father and daughter on the shoulder, and took her husband’s jacket and suitcase up the stairs.

Mid-way through the climb, she turned back and saw them both already seated on the sofa, starting a conversation. She smiled widely and heaved a sigh of relief.

***

*11.45pm on the same day*

“Hi…” Sade eventually picked Siju’s call. She had put her phone on silent mode all day, and had come back to meet tons of missed calls and messages from Siju, Supo and her aunt.

“Sade, I’m sorry…” Siju started.

“For?…” Sade answered coldly.

“Errmm… I don’t know, really. I just need you to come back home, please…”

*silence*

“Are you there?” Siju continued.

“Siju, I’m home, with my family? Okay? Please call me whenever you’re ready to tell me all I need to know about your family…” Sade said calmly and then hung up.

She had relayed her fears to her parents over dinner and they had assured her that they would stand by her till she got all the answers she was searching for. Her father had objected to the quick wedding and persuaded her to come out plain with him. He feared that she had gotten pregnant and was trying to rush into a marriage to cover up her tracks.

“I’m not pregnant dad. I just didn’t want to put my life on hold. I didn’t know this day would…” She stopped mid-way, and felt her mother’s gentle squeeze on her palms.

“It’s okay. We understand. But things have to be properly done. Tell Siju I want to meet him…”

Those were her father’s last words on the Siju matter at dinner. She wanted to tell him on phone when he called again for the umpteenth time, but she couldn’t. She reasoned that it would be better for Siju to tell her whatever the big secret was before meeting her dad. She had to protect her own interest too. She had just been reunited with her dad, and by some sort of miracle, he had not reacted negatively to the news of her upcoming wedding like she imagined.

“Everything would be fine. Sade, you’ll be just fine.” She told herself with a smile, as she put off her bedside lamp, and cuddled under the fluffy duvet.

She swiped her phone and updated the status on all her social media platforms to read:

“Home! Nothing Sweeter! :)”

***

Siju did not consider himself a nervous person. He had this self-confidence that he attributed to his dad. He went into every examination hall, girls’ hostel, interview rooms, board rooms, and whatever room that required him getting some sort of result with that same confidence.

But that confidence did not walk with him in the living room of the Bellos. He had received a call from Sade’s mum the following day after Sade left Ibadan, inviting him over for a chat on the next  Saturday. It was not the first time he would speak with Sade’s mum. However, it was just the usual ‘hello ma’ kind of conversations they’ve had in the past.

He was nervous all week long, and even though Sade had begun to open up to him again, telling him how the reunion went, making small talk about happenings in the house and gist about a few of her friends coming to check on her and so on, he still couldn’t shake off the feeling that something big was about to happen.

He had decided to only tell Sade about his dad in person, with the hope that Sade would return to Ibadan to hear what the big secret was. He even went on to tell her that Supo had moved out of the house, like Sade wanted.

Sade had told him to relax, and assured him that her mum just wanted to meet him in person and chat. She had ignored his inquiry about her father being present during this chat.

After welcoming him with a warm hug, and setting a chilled canned malt before him, she rushed off to her parents’ bedroom to inform them that their guest was around.

Siju’s legs shook uncontrollably as he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. He got up from his seat immediately, and watched his to-be parents-in-law descend the stairs.

Mrs. Bello was dressed in a cream kaftan with gold embroidery. She had her phone in one hand and an eyeglass case in the other. Mr. Bello had a grey three-quarter and a Chelsea jersey on, with a newspaper in his hand.

Siju went on a full-length prostration to greet the Bellos.

“Dide, dide, dide (get up)… How are you?” Sade’s father started very slowly, as he found his way to his customized chair in the living room.

“I’m fine sir…” Siju felt his confidence return. He smiled briefly as he bent again to answer the question.

“You must be Siju…” Mrs Bello stopped in front of Siju before taking her seat next to her husband.

“You’re welcome…” She continued.

The pleasantries seemed to take forever and Siju began to feel the nervousness return. He answered all the questions about his trip to Lagos, the traffic he encountered, the fuel scarcity issues and the politics of Ibadan. He tried to maintain eye-contact with Sade’s father most of the time, instead of Mrs. Bello who seemed to be taking her time to assess him inside out to see whether he was a befitting partner for the their daughter.

“So, Sade told us about you.”

It was time for the chat that Mrs. Bello invited him for.

Siju shifted on his seat. He dropped the canned malt he was about to take another sip from. This was the moment of truth.

Sade’s father whispered something into his wife’s ears. She picked up her phone and typed a message.

“Go on… tell us all we need to know about you.” Mrs. Bello turned to Siju, dropping her phone on her laps.

Sade walked down the stairs to join in the chat. She took her seat on a single chair just across her parents. Siju paused what seemed to be his proper introductory remarks to allow his fiancée settle down properly.

This was a set-up she clearly knew about. He smiled in his heart as he shifted his gaze from Sade, who looked even more beautiful than he could remember to her parents, whose heart he was prepared to win at all cost.

***CHASING SHADOWS by Faith Tunde-Yara
***Photo credit: www.gettyimages.com
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