Mmesoma's Dilemma - Episode 2

 

I was not exaggerating when I said my world went into slow motion.

Tobenna Chibueze, my worst nightmare, was standing in my living room with his stupid expressionless face, showing that he had known this was my house. I was the only one being thrown off-guard here.

We stared at each other for what seemed like the longest seconds, and as the craziest thoughts raced through my mind, I began to make wishes. I wished I could disappear, I wished I had gone with aunty Ginika to Asaba, I wished I could kill this boy and get away with it.

"Ahan, why are you people having a staring contest? Abi you know yourselves from somewhere?" my mother asked and ended our stare war.

"Yes ma, we attend the same school and have the same friends", he said with a calm voice . I rolled my eyes, mimicking him in my head. For someone who I once loved very much, I found him disgusting so right now.

"Wow! So you are still friends sef, this world is such a small one o", his mother said and the parents laughed. The joke was however lost on Tobe and I.

"Ada, why are you still standing, come and sit down na, we have so much to talk about", his father said and I obliged, trying to pretend my heart was not about to explode. Whatever it was they wanted to talk about with me, I doubt it would end well for me, and this made me very nervous.

I willed my feet to move and thankfully it complied, I sat down on the only empty chair, the one beside Tobe, so I too was facing the parents.

Read " Coming of Age " by the same author ( Eboseremen )

All episodes of this story can be found here >> https://www.ebonystory.com/story/mmesoma-s-dilemma

. Now I could see the last 2 members of the Chibueze family.

They were good-looking young people. The lady was someone I had seen at school before and the young man was unfamiliar. She was wearing an Ankara dress I wanted to sew and really cute sandals, her eyes were concentrated on her phone and she seemed very tense. The man looked like Tobe, but he was the older, beard-gang, rugged version of Tobe, who was really cute, but in an adorable, younger and slightly effeminate way.

The man was dressed as though he had just finished an important business meeting and snagged a huge deal too. It was a good look for him, however, what stuck out most was his smug smile, he seemed to be finding something very funny and I hoped I was not the centre of the joke.

"Meso, these are Afam and Ada, the Chibueze's older children, Afam is the eldest", my father said in his calm voice.

"Welcome to our house", I greeted them with a forced smile, she returned a tense one and he returned a smug and cynical one and I can swear he gave me a visual assessment that made me shudder, as though he found me to be below his standard.

I wished the Chibueze's would go already, so far they had only brought me less sleep, annoying questions, an ex-boyfriend and anger. Sadly, reality does not work the way I want.

"Meso, I know you will not remember them", my father began, ending my wishful thinking.

"But they are some of our oldest family friends, we were really close, even when we lived abroad but we lost touch some years ago. Thank God for business deals and Facebook, here we are today", he punctuated that with what Ezinne called the 'rich Igbo-man laugh', it was a deep, short laugh, were the person laughing, usually an Igbo man, would pat his belly and everyone too would laugh with him.

In this case, only the older generation was laughing, Tobe, his siblings and I just stared on in silence, nothing was funny here.

"We thank God we are friends again, if not we would have missed such an amazing opportunity to discuss something so important", my father finished with a smile and a serious look in his eyes.

"So Mmesoma, how is life generally?" Mr Chibueze asked, and I could not help but marvel at how he and his wife had a knack for asking weird questions. I looked up to find all eyes concentrated on me.

"Fine", I said. Abi, what else is there to say?

"So no details? Life is just "fine"?" Mrs Chibueze asked, a mischievous smile on her face.

Oh, God! So, what kind of answer is okay for this kind of question?

I took a deep breath and began.

"Well, life, in general, is fine, I am alive and healthy, doing well in school, looking forward to my future, I have amazing friends, a loving family. I mean, what else could a girl ask for?" I

Their smiles said this response was far more suitable.

"I can think of something else a girl could ask for o, something that completes her and makes her a woman", Mrs Chibueze said and my mother laughed, the men just smiled. Again, I did not get the joke and I knew I was the centre of it which made it really annoying.

"Yes o! You are right! There is something important that she has not mentioned", my mother said with excitement.

"And what is it?" I asked, curiosity killing me, I just hope she would not say sex, oh, or it would get super awkward. 

"Well, a girl can always ask for a husband na", Mrs Chibueze said and the four adults burst into laughter, with the women, who sat beside each other, giving high-fives.

And I could not help thinking "Twitter is right, it be your own mouth that mess you up".