I: Family

I took my sweet time finishing up my morning routine —double the time I'd have normally taken— before begrudgingly dragging my feet over to where my sister had informed me that my mother was, with high hopes that she would be long gone.

Of course, I wasn't surprised when those hopes were dashed.

However, I didn't try to conceal my displeasure when I got to the large room to find her seated —her beck ramrod straight on the stiff back chair opposite the entrance I'd just walked in through— in her customary gigantic headgear; a fuschia colored one, this time, perched on her head like a crown and her lips, coated with a heavy layer of blood red lipstick, set in a thin line like she'd recently swallowed a tank full of vinegar.

Joy.

"I called for you over an hour ago!" She shot to her feet and barked, the moment I stepped into the room.

"Last time I checked, my life doesn't fucking revolve around you. Hag." I shot back with as much venom.

"You will mind your language, young woman!" She bellowed instantly, "or else, I'll—"

"Or else what?!" I openly challenged her with an interruption and her glare intensified.

If it wasn't already evident before, then there I was, validating that there was a lot of bad blood between my mother and I.

It was all thanks to Mrs. Susan Coker; the woman that birthed me.

The woman in question now stood before me, with her flashy buba and wrapper that was out of expensive lace material —probably imported from Dubai together with her bogus and equally expensive jewelry— heaving like a slightly overworked horse and glaring at me in a way that gave me an idea as to how much she hated my guts.

Well, ditto. The feeling was mutual.

Just when I thought she was going to declare a reminder of how she wished she had poisoned me and left my corpse to the dogs when she had the chance, she whirled around and strutted to the opposite end of the room; taking deep breaths, along the line, to probably calm raging emotions down.

That was unusual.

I raised my brow curiously and crossed my forearms, because I knew there had to be a very sick reason why she refused to match my energy with hers.

"I want you to go to Mrs. Olowo's residence in the GRA, I believe you know the place. She has something of mine that I'd like you to procure."

There it was; the catch, the reason why she backed down so easily.

"No," I replied simply and dumped my behind on a nearby couch. She whirled around immediately and began to pace back.

"You don't have the right to say no, Vivian. I am your mother and whatever I say goes—"

"Bull shit. I can and will say 'no' to whatever request you have if I see fit and the fuck about being my mother? You lost that right when you decided to marry a moneybag sicko that doesn't even have time for the likes of the old hag you've bec—"

"Vivian!" She thundered in such rage that almost made me flinch.

The key word being 'almost'.

"Do not yell my name like that, Susan. Or I'll be forced to yell yours too." I stood to my feet in a bid to douse the feeling of being intimidated, but her 5 ''11, coupled with the four inch heels strapped to her feet humbled my average height thoroughly.

It infuriated me no end.

"If you're really interested in getting to whatever weekend party it is that you're headed, I'd advise you to move along. There's absolutely no way in hell that I'm going to a fucked up area to get some blasted shit for you," I proclaimed in a cold voice. "I would wish you a good day, but I am not in the mood to suck shit up just to please you."

I began to walk out of the room even before I was done talking. The superfluous opulence the room was endowed with left me gasping for air; I needed to take a deep breath in a place that didn't scream the reason why my family was now broken up pieces of shit.

I needed fresh air.

I was about to leave the room when my mother's voice reached me in the way I'd never heard in over a decade;

"Mama, please. Do this one thing for me, I promise it's not much trouble, you'll see it's for for own good."

I halted in shock and slowly turned around to be sure of what I'd just heard. Since she brought Edward to our humble abode and introduced him as our new daddy ten years ago, my mother hadn't spoken to me so softly.

And she hadn't called me that endearment as well. Hence, my astonishment.

It took a few more minutes of grave silence before I was able to fully comprehend that Madam Susan Oriade Coker had just pleaded with me; practically begged me to do something for her.

It must have been raining in hell, for I caught a genuine glimpse of the motherly affection that'd been absent for decades when I finally brought myself to look at her.

Damn!

"If you think your poor acting skills would convince me into bending to your will, then you have another thing coming…" I paused after spitting my poison; because not only did her expression morphed into a painful one, I also felt guilty for the first time in ages.

"However, it will not be said of me that I didn't even try to immortalise the only time in my existence that you grovelled at my feet to do something for you," I conceded with a glare, but it brought one of those rare looks of being caught off guard to her face, so I wasn't complaining.

"Whatever deets I'll be needing for this 'procurement' quest of yours, send it through one of your slaves, I'm sick of your face already."

I began to walk out of the room in hurried strides before I said something I was going to regret saying in the future. I was allowing her acting to get to me more than I should have allowed.

And I didn't like it one bit.

"Mama?" She called one more time in a way that seemed more like a question than an endearment. I froze immediately but didn't dare to turn around. "Thank you."

It was the way she said it so earnestly, her tone gave me so much hope that our family could mend broken fences; that she could come down from her high horse and love me the way she did when we were still humble and things were simple. It was that hope that gave me the strength to turn around and flash my mother a pathetic smile before rushing past my sister, who stood by the doorway with a puzzled expression, to my room.

I knew I was being pathetic. In fact, I was being a big baby, but I still held on to that tiny glimmer of hope that my family would come back to the way it was before Edward breezed in with his wealth and ruined everything.

Even though I hadn't reconnected with her after so many years, I wished my sister and I would remain the best of friends and throw actual tea parties that didn't involve mud and discarded cans of food. I wished that my mum would still sing melodious songs to my ears as she braided my lengthy hair into cornrows instead of worrying about what dress to pull off to which owambe.

I wished that my brothers —all three of them— would still teach me how to throw punches and ride skateboards; I hadn't even learnt enough before they were shipped off to a foreign country to study. I wished their overprotective awareness was there to look out for me when I'd fallen into the woes of being a beautiful flower in the midst of so many thorns.

I wished I could turn back the hands of time, so that they would be there to warn me when I'd started seeking attention and care from the wrong places; to protect me from the wrong people.

I wished the eye-opener called 'wealth' hadn't reared his head into the cozy, happy family we had and cherished, but in the end, I knew my wishes never came true and just like the huge cock I was just about to ride before I was snapped into reality, all my imaginations would remain what it was;

Mere illusions.