The Moment I met You (Chapter 302)

By Nightengale Ben-Onyeukwu

 ‘Tell your boyfriend to stop with his silly jokes,’Chioma said as soon as Chisom brought the breakfast to the dining.                                        

‘Whatever my boyfriend says is right. Everything is right because Andrew said so.’Chisom sat down to eat.                                                                   

Chioma rolled her eyes. ‘Nonsense. You are just like your boyfriend. You guys are so annoying.’                                                                      

Chisom laughed. ‘Thanks for the compliment. We do appreciate,’she said with a shrug.                                                                             

Louisa took off her apron, hanging it on a nail by the wall; she sat down to eat as well. ‘As long as you didn’t do anything wrong, then, there is nothing to be afraid of. But make sure that you explain everything to Michael as soon as he returns.’                                                

Chioma nodded as she poured milk into her akamu bowl. Placing the can of milk down on the table, she picked up a spoon and began to eat her delicious akamu.                                                                    

Chisom bit into her akara ball, and said, ‘Audrey will surely get mad. I’m afraid her finding the truth might push her to leave my brother.’                                                                                                                                        

   ‘She might for a few days, but she won’t for a long time. She can’t do without Daniel,’Louisa analysed. She picked up a small piece of fried plantain and ate it.

           When breakfast  was finished, Chisom took her bath quickly and headed out for work at the same time with Andrew. Louisa carried her fruit cart to the market while Chioma stayed back in the house for a good rest.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

  At the home of the Onuohas, the whole family aside from Chisom who stayed overnight at the Chimas, all sat down around the kitchen table to eat the beans and chicken stew Beatrice had cooked. Beatrice’s cooking pleased her husband and son, as usual. They wolfed it down and and mopped up the stew with thick slices of bread.                                   

‘Mum, you’re indeed the best cook,’Daniel praised Beatrice as she cleared the table.                                                                                                      

‘Well, you could bring Audrey over to have a bite of my food,’Beatrice said and Daniel smiled.                                                                              

At the stove, the whistling of the kettle blasted out and Beatrice rushed over to bring the kettle down. Then, she brought down two thick china mugs from the cupboard, filled the cups with hot piping achara tea. Placing the cups in a tray after adding some sugar to the tea, she went over to Leonard who was now sitting in the living room couch reading a newspaper and placed a mug on a side stool for him.                            

Leonard reached for the tea, and took a brief sip as Beatrice took the other mug to Daniel who was playing with his phone while still sitting at the kitchen table.                                                                                                

‘You better drink your tea and go off to your shop. You can’t always rely on your sales boys and girls.’Beatrice place the cup before him and said.                                                                                                                        

   ‘I will but for now, I’ve got ironing to do.’Daniel stirred his tea with a spoon before drinking the tea.             

                

When he was done with drinking his tea, he laid a blanket on the kitchen table, spread a sheet over it and plugged the iron in the socket by the wall. The electricity had only been fixed some months ago, and Daniel felt that he should iron his clothes everyday before leaving to the shop. Anyway, light didn’t come everyday in Nigeria, so anytime it was brought, people always made good opportunity of it. It was good to have running water in the kitchen too, as it saves the stress of water hunting. Daniel dampened his pale blue shirt he was going to wear, and placed it neatly on the sheet while he waited for the iron to get hot, but his mind wandered on Audrey and how her reaction would be should she discover that Chioma already had a boyfriend. He didn’t blame Chioma; rather he put the blame on Felix because he was too bossy and never gave Chioma the chance to explain things.