The Light in your Eyes

Chapter Eight

CHAPTER EIGHT.

Not long after moving to the mansion, Scarlett had gone shopping for new clothes and the old ones were burned since they had been worn long enough and no longer felt comfortable. Now as she stood in front of her walk-in closet, she couldn’t help but be amazed at how the rich lived their lives. The closet was ten times bigger than her former bedroom and it was filled neatly with new clothes and shoes and bags, all sort of girly things you could think of.

"What is wrong with that Jade girl, all this wealth and she chose to wear monochrome like a widow?" She wondered out loud to herself. At first, the wardrobe was full of all sorts of black dresses, white tops and a little pink to indicate that a girl lived there all else she was almost blinded by the sea of monochrome she was exposed to after opening the closet for the first time.

There was an outing with her girlfriends from university and she was looking for an outfit to grace the occasion. She decided on a shoulderless sky blue gown that reached her knee and a small black handbag with a sky blue high heel to match. She did some light make up and finished up with a small gold earring. She did not want to appear showy to her friends and decided to dress lightly. After she was done, she took a look at herself in the full length mirror. Her braids were still new but she still planned on getting a new hairdo before the new week begins. She gently walked down the stairs and those downstairs looked up to behold the beautiful Angel that had befallen upon them.

"Wow! You look amazing this evening baby." Gina gushed at her.

"Thank you mom." Scarlett said blushing not expecting anyone around. Usually on a Saturday evening like this, Gina should be out on a date with her husband. And it is even rarer to see her elder brother Tony at home.

"Is anything wrong mom? Why are they busy as bee people at home…? She asked confused and panicked that they might not let her leave home this late in the evening.

"Where are you going?" Gina asked after taking in the appearance of her little Angel.

"Well my girlfriends and I decided to have a get together this evening since it has been quite a while since we last had a get together. I promise not to stay out long and my friends and I don't drink. My friends are good girls with good grades. Please don't stop me from leaving." Scarlett rambled on without stopping to catch her breath. Her palms were clasped tightly together like a prayer warrior and she had her eyes closed. She heard some people trying to stifle their laughter and opened an eye. It took her a while to finally realise what she just did and her face flushed with embarrassment. The others couldn’t hold in their laughter as they all erupted.

"We are aware that you don't drink, we know you made friends with brilliant people and we are also aware that you are the best girl alive. So you don't have to worry we won’t let you go and meet your friends. Go and have fun. Your mother was just asking to be sure of where you will be spending your evening." Lewis said trying to keep a straight face, however his curved lips betrayed him.

"Oh! Okay and thank you dad for the thorough explanation, it was not very helpful." Jade said while dusting the invisible dirt on her dress. She felt like entering into a hole but had to pretend nothing could faze her. "So who is not busy and can drive me there or should I order an uber?" It looked like she was asking everyone present but with the way her eyes kept peeking at Dare, they all understood that she wanted the eldest sibling to take her.

"Looks like I am the "not busy person" you are looking for. My princess shall we?" Tony played along.

"Aye peasant now tarry along and don't keep this princess waiting." Scarlett also dived into the act and with her head held very high her nose could almost touch the ceiling she walked majestically to the door all set to meet her girlfriends. The parents looked at each and they could see the joy dancing in the other’s eyes. In this cold and big mansion there was finally some to bring in warmth once again. The decision to bring back their lost daughter seems to be accurate.

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On the way to the gathering, the car was a bit quiet with the radio playing in the background. Although it was quiet, it wasn’t awkward for both of them.

"This is the first time we are both in the same space alone. Big brother shouldn’t you say something to brighten up the mood?"

"Little sister, don't tease your brother, I am driving." With his eyes on the road, he replied to the naughty sibling.

"Then how about I tell you my childhood tales. There is still about thirty minutes till we get to our destination." She finally got a chance to be alone with her legendary brother so how could she not be hyped and excited. Tony listened as Scarlett recounted the funny tales from her childhood to adulthood and chipped in from time to time with "really" or he simply exclaimed with "wow". Although the conversation was almost one sided, they both were having fun. The moment was sweet, the atmosphere was warm and the young lady chatted excitedly about everything and anything she found interesting to tell her brother. The ride seems unending but peaceful.

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Upon getting to the appointed spot for the gathering Scarlett found out she was the last one and was actually fifteen minutes late.

"Thank you guys for waiting for me, have you all waited long?" she said as soon as she got to their booth. Including herself they amount to four in number and they have been friends since first year in the university. They all studied in the same faculty of law university of Lagos but later chose different majors in their third year. From reading partners to participating in competitions together and finally graduating as top students in their set. You can simply say they are the top women and their bond was definitely tight.

"It is fine Scarlett we understand." Juliet, one of them said while wriggling her eyelids at the rest of the girls to which everyone laughed and they all shared some jokes about Scarlett ’s new life station for a while before stopping.

"On a serious note, out of all of us, Scarlett is the one with stable employment. The rest of us are just waiting for a miracle from the heavens. What is happening? Didn’t they say law students get jobs quicker than the other professions? So why is our own situation very different from the others?" One of them shifted the discussion to their current situations.

"What do you mean only Scarlett is employed? Didn’t you check the group chat? I said in the group yesterday that I passed the interview for the law firm I applied to about a week ago. I thought the reason this gathering was planned was to celebrate my employment. Moreover, didn't Wumi also say that it is only a matter of time before she gets employed with her uncle’s network? What have you been doing all this while Wore?" Barbara said one can clearly feel the shock in her voice. They all had plans that were carefully created prior to their graduation from the law school.

"don't tell us you didn’t do anything to save yourself from the menace called unemployment? Denise it has been a year since graduation and yet you are not trying at all. Are you waiting for the batch of fresh graduates to gobble up all the jobs before you start doing something about your situation?" Scarlett continued asking her.

"Well guys, we shouldn’t turn this into the Denise unemployment saga, you might as well tell us about your new home." Denise made an attempt to shift the focus away from herself. "Tell us how it feels like to be a rich family’s daughter." And they ended up talking about everything and anything that has happened to them during the past year after law school for the rest of the evening until 10pm. Tony picked her up as earlier promised on their way there and probably due to the fun she had with her friends, Scarlett ended up sleeping throughout the drive home. After that day, she felt a little bit closer to her family although they have had little time to interact with each other but she was looking forward to the days where she could talk more with them and get to know more about her new home. They just needed a little bit of time and she had all the time in the world.