FRAGILE WALLS

Chapter Six

“Ahem,” her father spoke up during dinner. He poured himself a glass of wine and gulped it down before speaking. By now, everyone had their cutlery dropped on their plates waiting for him to speak.

“I have an important announcement to make and would like it if no one interrupted me.” He continued and they all nodded their heads, not sure what to expect.

“Is it a private family matter sir? Do I need to excuse myself from that table?” Teni asked. She had experienced in the past when he bluntly said she was not a part of his family and would never be welcome into his home. That was before Jerry went so angry he nearly set the roof on fire before he finally agreed. He shook his head wiping his mouth with the serviette on the table.

“There is no need to act so innocent Teni. You’ve forced your way into our family, there’s no pushing you out of it.”

She nodded her head and no one spoke up against.

“I do not want the mistake Jerry made to repeat itself again, so I have decided to take matters into my own hands.” With that very statement, everyone looked at each other to know if they are aware of what he was driving at. The only person who seemed to be in the know was their mother who sat quietly, not lifting her head up to look at her children.

“What mistake did I make father?” Their father shot him a glare,

“What did I say about being interrupted?” Jerry raised his hands in submission.

“I’m sorry.”

“No one should interrupt me again. As I was saying, once bitten, twice shy. On that note, I would like you to welcome, Chike Daniel,”

It felt like they were watching a movie they were meant to be part of but they skipped this part of the script.

Chike is a family friend. His father and their father go way back and now, they’re even business partners. From the same tribe, state, into the same kind of business, with the same mindset.

Out of the three siblings, Chike was always fond of Amaka, she was equally fond of him but of course she never desired to pursue any kind of romantic relationship with him. He was like a brother to her like she always told him.

They lost contact with each other when Amaka rejected his proposal to be his girlfriend, he moved to a different state and that put a strain on their communication so it all died down.

Having Chike reappear in their lives so dramatically raised a lot of questions that needed immediate answers but as instructed before, no one was allowed to interrupt him.

“Hey fam,” he raised his hands with a wide smile on his face. He was greeted with perplexed looks and raised eyebrows, “it’s been a long time.” He said making himself comfortable, sitting beside Teni.

“I haven’t met you before, you are?” He asked her. She looked back at Jerry waiting for an approval to speak to him before she went ahead.

Jerry noticed and smiled.

“Chike Chike, the man of the hour, it has been a long time,” that gave Teni the signal to carry on.

“I’m Teni, Jerry’s fiancée.” She said with a smile on her face.

“Teni, that’s a lovely name. Nice to meet you, I’m Chike, a long time family friend.” He said shaking her hand.

“What are you doing here by the way?” Jerry probed further.

“Good evening everyone and my apologies for barging in on you like this, the reason for my being here is not my place to speak on, so I’ll let uncle finish up his announcement.” All this while, Amaka and Chike were stealing glances at each other.

“Chike here is the man I have chosen to marry Amaka.”

“What?” Ngozi and Teni screamed at the same time.

“What’s do you mean?” Jerry asked.

“I was humiliated by her reckless behavior and I cannot have it repeat itself,”

“I told you it was my fault. You said it was fine and you won’t take your anger out on them.”

“You’ve had your share of fun and craziness Jerry, you need to understand that there are responsibilities to cater to.”

“I don’t understand you and mom sometimes. You preach to us non stop but then you act somewhat opposite. Why are you pushing her to be married?”

“No one is pushing her. We’re giving her time to get adapted to that life of responsibility so she doesn’t misbehave when she’s outside. That’s why the news is coming in now. Besides, I am aware that they had been into each other in the last couple of years,”

“I didn’t like him father, in that way. That’s why you never saw Chike around.”

“Chike wasn’t around because he was running his father’s business elsewhere. A serious minded young mind that doesn’t waste his time on all these rubbish. It’s time to get your life on track and take up my legacy.”

“Your legacy, what people will say, your businesses, your image, that’s all you ever care about. Not once have you ever considered the feelings of your children or your wife. I’m not marrying Chike.” Amaka pushed back her chair and stood up abruptly.

“Don’t marry Chike and then you can say goodbye to leaving for the dorm, or even finishing your studies in that school. Choose the most important. Think hard about it.”