After the storm (9 page)

They
made their way towards the living room. Akeem appeared to sense her
mood and cradled her a little closer. He took her back to the
smaller sitting room and was in the process of telling her about a
prank he had played in his teenage years when one of the doors
leading to the sitting room slid open.

"Hey,
big brother! Good to see you!"

They
both turned at the same time, and Yemi found herself looking at a
young lady who could have passed for Mrs. Kadiri in her early
twenties. She knew this must be Nadia, Akeem's younger
sister.

"Hi! I
am Nadia. You must be Yemi," Nadia said as she got to where they
were.

Yemi
smiled. "Hi, it's good to finally meet you."

Nadia's
eyes moved over Yemi. "Hmmm…now I can see why my brother has been
swept off his feet." 

"I guess
that's a compliment?" Yemi said, regaining some of her confidence.
She did not intend to be tongue-tied with Nadia. She knew they were
age-mates, but Nadia had taken out a year to travel with her
friends, so she was just about to start her final year at the
university.

"Oh,
believe me, it is," Nadia said. "I could not believe someone had
finally been able to snag my brother's heart, but now I see why."
She turned to Akeem. "Mum said that lunch is about to be
served."

They all
made their way to the dining room. Mrs. Kadiri was already seated
when they got there. Akeem pulled out a seat for Yemi and then sat
beside her. Mrs. Kadiri sat at the head of the table, and Nadia sat
opposite Akeem and Yemi.

"What
would you like to eat?" Akeem asked Yemi. "Some rice?"

Yemi
looked at the assortment of dishes laid out in very attractive
cookware. "That's Tuwo, isn't it?" she asked Akeem quietly, looking
across at a dish. Akeem nodded. Tuwo was a popular dish in the
northern part of the country where Akeem was from. "I'll have some
of that."

He
passed her the dish, and she helped herself to some of the food. He
smiled at her before serving himself some of it too.

"I hope
you like the food?" Mrs. Kadiri asked some time later.

"Yes,
Ma, it's very nice, thank you."

"Akeem
said that you graduated with first-class honours," Nadia said.
"Your parents must be very proud of you."

Yemi
smiled. "Yes, they are happy about it."

"What
would you give me if I graduate with first-class honours?" Nadia
asked, turning towards her mother.

"Are you
going to do that?" Mrs. Kadiri asked.

"Miracles still happen," Nadia replied. She turned towards
her brother. "And why are you smiling?"

"Why do
you think I am smiling?" he asked.

"Because
you think your little sister can't cut it. Anyway, we shall leave
the first classes for 'brainiacs' like Yemi. A second-class lower
will do me nicely, thank you. I'm not going to use it
anyway."

Yemi
listened to the banter between the siblings. She spoke little and
concentrated on her food, but she was acutely aware of Akeem's
mother's cold gaze on her all through the meal.

∞∞∞

Yemi was
glad that her parents were not at home when she got back later that
evening. She was not prepared to answer her mother's questions
about how the visit with Akeem's mother had gone. She lay down in
her room and mulled over the events of the day. She found herself
unable to dismiss the thought that Mrs. Kadiri did not like her.
She could also not shake the feeling that there was some unspoken
tension between Akeem and his mother. It was all so
confusing.

Akeem
had tried to draw her into a conversation on the journey back home,
but she had said very little. Later that evening, he called her,
but she did not feel like talking. She sent him a text instead and
switched off her phone.

The next
day, she went over to Sesan's place after church. She still felt
uneasy whenever she thought about Akeem's mother and felt she
needed to retreat to familiar ground to regain her confidence. She
sent a text to Akeem informing him that she would be busy all day.
He called her back immediately, but she just let the phone ring
until it stopped.

"Hey,
stranger! You're the last person I was expecting!" Sesan said on
seeing her on his doorstep.

"Thanks," Yemi said drily. "It shows how much down your list
I have dropped."

He
grinned. "You're still right there at the top!" He led her into the
sitting room. "Let me get you a drink. Pineapple as
usual?"

Yemi
nodded. She looked around the sitting room. Nothing fancy or posh,
but she felt right at home in it. "Are your parents at
home?"

"No,
they are out visiting friends," he answered her from the kitchen.
He came back with a glass of juice a few minutes later. "So how
have you been?"

"Good,"
Yemi said, taking a sip of her drink. "And you?"

"I'm all
right, I guess. I'm enjoying being free right now. There's always
been one target or the other for me all my life, and it just feels
good to be able to loaf around a bit now." 

Yemi
giggled. "People who don't know you think you are a loafer anyway,"
she teased. "Do you remember how Mrs. Thomas, our class teacher in
form one, used to scold you because of the way you behaved in
class?"

Sesan
laughed. "I used to deliberately give her wrong answers just to
wind her up. I'm sure she had concluded I was a hopeless
case."

"Until
after the first class assessment when you left everyone trailing
behind you. She almost could not believe it." Yemi smiled and shook
her head at him. "You were such a naughty boy back
then!"

They
talked some more about their secondary school days, laughing as
they remembered fond memories.

"But
what happened to you this last semester?" Yemi asked quietly. "Your
results were a shock to everyone."

Sesan
smiled ruefully. "I had a lot on my mind."

"Issues
at home?"

"No!"

She
hadn't thought so either. "Relationship issues?"

The
expression in his eyes was guarded. "Sort of."

Yemi was
puzzled. "I was not even aware you were in a
relationship."

"Well,
you've been pretty occupied."

She
sighed. "I'm sorry I've not been there, but what
happened?"

"She
prefers someone else."

Yemi was
surprised. Sesan was good looking, fun, and one of the most decent
guys she knew. That plus being the former captain of the
university's basketball team had to be enough to attract any girl.
"You still care about her, don't you?"

He
smiled self-deprecatingly. "Crazy about her."

Yemi
felt so sorry for her friend. Impulsively, she got up from her seat
and gave him a hug.

"Hey,
don't let your fiancé see you hugging another guy," Sesan said,
pushing her away.

"You're
not another guy, Shez. You're my brother!" 

His
smile faded slightly. "Thanks, but like I said, I'll be
okay."

Yemi
looked at him thoughtfully. "What about Ada? She really likes you,
you know."

"Don't
even go there."

Yemi
giggled at the expression on his face but decided not to tease him
any further. She stayed at his place for a while before heading
home. They chatted and played card games. She had wanted to
talk to someone and felt Sesan would be able to advise her
objectively about Akeem's mother. But she did not think it would be
fair to load him with her problems right then. He had too much
going on.

∞∞∞

Akeem's
car was parked in front of her parents' house when she got there.
Her eyes automatically searched and saw the second car parked
discreetly some distance away. Yemi had only recently found out
that Akeem had bodyguards, and they followed him everywhere. They
changed their car frequently, but she now knew how to recognise
them. Akeem told her they came with his position as CEO of
KH.

"Good,
you are back!" her mother said when she entered the living room. "I
was just thinking of calling Sesan's land phone."

"Thanks,
Mum." She went over to Akeem. "I'm sorry, I was not aware that you
were here."

"That's
okay." His eyes searched hers. "I've been having a nice time here
talking with your mum."

"He has
not had anything to eat, though," Yemi's mother said. "He said he
was going to wait for you."

Yemi
turned towards Akeem. "Mum made her special stir-fried rice today.
Believe me, you don't want to miss that."

His eyes
held hers for a long moment. "I'd better have some then," he said
lightly.

She was
dishing out the food for him in the kitchen when she felt his arms
go around her from behind.

"I
missed you, baby," he said, nuzzling the nape of her neck. "Found
it difficult sleeping without speaking to you last
night."

Yemi
felt the familiar emotions that his touch aroused rising within
her. "Hey, don't make me drop this plate."

"I'm not
really hungry anyway." He planted little kisses along the nape of
her neck. "I just needed to see you."

She
tried to move away. "I have to give you some food now, otherwise my
mum is going to ask questions."

"All
right, just a bit though." He dropped a light kiss on her lips
before releasing her.

Yemi
dished out the food and placed it on a tray, and they went back to
the sitting room. Her mother had been working on her desktop, but
attempted to leave the room when they came back in.

"You
don't have to leave, Mum. Akeem and I can go to my
room."

"Thanks,
dear," Yemi's mother said, sitting back down. "I need to complete
these lecture notes before tomorrow."

Yemi led
the way to her room with Akeem following behind her. She set the
tray on her bedside table. "Do you want to sit on the armchair or
on the bed?"

He
didn't respond and just stood there, looking at her. "Why are you
being so formal?" he asked after a long moment, "and why have you
not been picking up my calls?"

"I sent
you a text message."

He sat
on the bed but kept looking at her face. "Yemi, what's
wrong?"

She
averted her eyes. "How do you mean?"

"Come
and sit over here," Akeem said, patting the space beside him. Yemi
sat down but still wouldn't look at him directly. "It's about the
visit to the house yesterday, isn't it?"

"Your
mum does not like me."

"What
makes you say that?"

"I'm an
adult, and I could see it clearly from the way she acted towards
me."

He took
her hand in his. "That was the first time you were meeting my mum.
She is not a very expressive woman, not even to us, her
children."

"Your
mum does not like me," Yemi insisted. "And I'm not comfortable with
that. Her actions showed her feelings towards our relationship
quite clearly."

He
stroked her hand. "Our engagement is still a bit of a surprise to
her."

She
arched her brows. "Why is that?"

"Let's
just say she has her own ideas about certain things, including
marriage. Plus the fact that my siblings went with what she
expected of them and she was expecting me to do the
same."

"I don't
get you."

"My mum
had hoped that I would marry someone from a family she knows, just
like Adil did, and Nadia will eventually do." He shrugged. "So like
I said, my mum is just getting used to the fact that my
marriage isn't going to follow that pattern."

"Well,
it's not too late for you to do her bidding," Yemi said, trying to
disengage her hand from his, but he held on to it firmly and
entwined their fingers.

He had a
hurt expression in his eyes. "Is that what you want me to do? I
thought you said you loved me?"

She
shrugged. "You understand your family dynamics more than I
do."

"Yemi,
do you really love me?"

She did
not answer him and still refused to meet his eyes. He turned her
chin until their eyes met.

"I asked
you a question, Yemi. Do you really love me?"

"You
know I do."

"Then
that's all that's important. I love you, and I'm not letting you
go. You're the one I want, and everyone has to accept
it."

"Akeem…"

He
placed his finger against her lips. "Shhh…baby, trust me,
everything is going to be okay."

Chapter
5

Akeem
felt somewhat relieved as he drove away from Yemi's house later
that evening. He knew she still had some niggling doubts about his
mother, but he felt he had been able to stem most of her
fears.

He knew
her too well not to have noticed that she was tensed up and
uncomfortable all through the visit with his mother the day before.
That was why he had deliberately delayed introducing her to his
family, and he had been proven right. Just one meeting with his
mum, and the only girl he had ever fallen in love with had gone
into "flight" mode.