Girl Next Door

CHAPTER 10

Recess was finally over and all the students had filed back into the class. The Agriculture Class, handled by an unusually tall lady, was on going and all Tifa did was zone out.

Tears welled in her eyes as her mind repeatedly took her down memory lane, specifically to her parent's heated argument before their divorce and her mother's decision to move to Manhattan.

"No! You shut up, Rainer! Shut the hell up!" Doyinsola retorted, her index finger almost piercing her husband's eye as she was pointing it in his face.

"Take it or not, Doyin, I don't have a girlfriend and I'm not cheating on you with some b***h either!"

"s**t!" Tifa cussed.

She wasn't one prone to cuss but sometimes, cussing became inevitable. Even with her headphones on, blaring one of her favorite songs, Black Pink's How You Like That at the highest volume, she could still hear them. And to think that her room wasn't close to theirs, tch!

"They're at it again" She frowned.

"Always arguing every now and then" She muttered as she tried not to listen to her parents' heated argument.

"Really now? Then who's Chanelle and what's a lipstick stain doing on the collar of your shirt?" She yelled, shoving his white shirt which had the lipstick print sitting on the collar in its red grace in his face.

"Who's Chanelle?" Rainer looked befuddled, as he wondered how she knew about Chanelle.

There and then, a thought occurred to him: she must have probably gone through his phone.

"Damn!" He inaudibly muttered as he searched his brain for an appropriate answer to give - a lie; as he had always done.

"I f*****g asked you a question dude, don't throw it back at me!" She interrupted his reverie.

"Chanelle's only my secretary. She's not my girlfriend, mistress or f**k buddy".

"Yeah, right" Doyinsola's voice dripped with sarcasm as she raked her eyes over him from top to bottom and from bottom to top.

"You know what? I'm so done with this hell of a marriage. We're done! I quit!"

"But Doyin…" Rainer was saying but she cut him short.

"No buts, Rainer. We're done and that's final. I'll get my lawyer to arrange the divorce papers and make sure you sign 'em when they arrive at your God forsaken office".

"What?" Tifa's ears perked up and her eyes slightly widened the moment she heard the word, divorce. Her loud music had done nothing to bar her from hearing.

Confused, she paused the music before taking the headphones off her head, hence hearing them clearly.

"Think about our daughter, Doyin. She'll be so broken when she hears that we're getting a divorce".

"You should have thought about that before getting into another woman's bed. Besides, Tifa wouldn't be needing an irresponsible jerk like you in her life anymore. I'm woman enough to cater for all her needs".

"Dad had been cheating?" Tifa frowned.

She knew they always argued but she never for once knew it was because of her Dad's promiscuous lifestyle.

To Tifa, Rainer was a saint. She never for once suspected that her Dad would ever cheat on her Mom. She knew them to be that perfect couple who had the usual couple fights whenever they argued.

Meaning, they had done a great job concealing the reason behind their never ending argument, but today wasn't a favorable day as what they had been hiding was now in the open.

"Doyinsola, we can talk about this. It hasn't gotten to this just yet" Rainer called after a Doyinsola who was already at the door.

"No, Rainer. It has!" As much as Doyinsola tried to keep her voice low, she couldn't as she ended up yelling.

"There's nothing to talk about and f*****g keep my name outta your gob!" She said before walking out.

"You and Dad are getting a divorce?" Seventeen year old Tifa stood in the way of the dark skinned Nigerian woman of the Yoruba tribe - her Mom, formerly Doyinsola Abimbola Falade, now Doyinsola Rainer Usnavi.

"Isn't it obvious, Tifa? Of course we are" Doyinsola answered, trying not to vent her anger and frustration on Tifa.

"But Mom, I think it hasn't gotten to that yet. Dad can still explain himself" Tifa insisted.

"No Tifa, it has. There's nothing he has to explain. He'll only feed me lies which I'm tired of hearing".

"But Mom-" Tifa was saying when her Mom cut her short.

"I said no, Tifa! No!" She shoved Tifa out of her way as she stomped out in high dudgeon, heading to the garage.

Probably a drive to a bar and a shot or two would help in clearing her head.

"But you're the one who's not letting Dad explain".

"You know what?" Doyinsola paused in her tracks.

"You can as well ask your Dad to explain himself to you. He'll gladly do".

"And you better don't brainwash her with your lies, you moron!" She yelled, referring to Rainer.

Pulling herself from the wall where she had been made to lean on when her Mom had shoved her, she wiped nothing off her right arm as she debated meeting her Dad and asking for an explanation or letting her Mom's decision become a reality.

~

"And this is the height of it, Rainer!" Doyinsola yelled, tears blinding her vision, as her eyes darted back and forth from her husband to the pregnant woman in front of them who held a little girl in her right hand.

"The height of your irresponsibility, your stupidity and of course, your promiscuousness. We're so done! We're calling this marriage thing we've been doing quits and I ain't going back on my word".

"You know, two nights ago, your w******p chats exposed the other skeletons you've been hiding in your cupboard all along".

"I saw the dirty chats you've been having with this Chanelle woman. I saw how you send her your nudes and how she sends you hers as well as videos of both of you wanking".

"I have proof, right here on my own phone. I took shots of all of those and transferred the videos to my phone, so it won't seem as though I'm throwing baseless accusations at you. I was way too exhausted to confront you two nights ago, else I wouldn't have hesitated" Doyinsola said, doing everything in her power to pause the tears which were burning in her eyes from rolling down her cheeks.

All along, Tifa, who had been standing by the door and whose presence had gone unnoticed, wiped a tear which had rolled down her left cheek.

So after all, her Dad wasn't a saint as he had claimed he was. He was a chronic cheat and his deeds were finally in the open.

She now understood why her Dad would excuse himself for hours from the dinning or from the living room to answer some calls, and most times, he never came back to the dinning, if he had left from the dinning.

She now understood the reason he slept over frequently at his office and why he kept late nights at work, always getting home to give excuses which she now considered flimsy.

Most importantly, she now understood why, on that particular day when she had returned from her school sleep overnight, she had seen three used condoms in the bin and her Mom had gone on a trip.

So, it definitely wasn't her Mom whom her Dad had slept with; it was some other woman. And they even had the guts to go three episodes on her parents' matrimonial bed. Who knew how many women her Dad had taken to her parents' bed?

Tifa shook her head as it dawned on her that her parents had stopped having s*x a long time ago. At first she didn't understand why her parents would be making use of protection when they were trying to make another baby and give her a sibling when she saw the used condoms. She had dismissed it back then but now understood that her Dad had been cheating.

"You know," Doyinsola began.

"I was even considering giving you another chance to right your wrongs, but no! You changed my mind and I'll be giving you zero chances".

"Honestly, I've lost count of how many chances I've given you. I've seen you twice, lock lips with some other woman and I forgave you even after you lied and said she forced herself on you".

"I've seen the way you stare shamelessly at other women's bodies like mine isn't enough for you whenever we attend outings together but I chose to turn a blind eye".

"Rainer, read my lips, we're over. And when I mean over, I mean it in capital letters, O-V-E-R" She said, laying emphasis on over.

"I'd have my lawyer send you the divorce papers ASAP which I delayed him preparing since I thought we could make this marriage work. Anyways, I'm done here and don't come calling, cause I'd be nowhere to be found. Good-day Cheat!"

Doyinsola said and made to move to the door when her eyes met with Tifa's who was still clinging onto the door frame, eyes red shot and watery from crying.

"Oh! Good thing you were standing all along and you heard all the evil things your Dad has done. Just so you know, your now ex Dad and I are not only getting a divorce, but we're also moving".

"And when I say we, I mean you and I".

"We're moving again? Seriously?" Tifa's eyebrows furrowed in confusion and slight annoyance.

"Yes Tifa honey and there's nothing that can change that".

"But Mom, this is the third time we'll be moving" Tifa protested, resisting the urge to throw a tantrum.

"No buts, Tifa. That's final. I can't live in a town that'll keep reminding me of ugly memories. End of conversation" Doyinsola said, heading for the door.

"And if I'm not mistaken, this is the Chanelle b***h!" Doyinsola hissed, resisting the urge to shove the pregnant woman and her child to the floor.

"The f**k is wrong with you, Chanelle?" Rainer spat, anger clearly written all over his face.

"Why would you even come here?".

"Well, I was tired of living in the background so I had to come out in the open." The pregnant woman, who was obviously Chanelle, spoke up for the first time.

"Look Rainer, I can't have two kids for you and still live outside your home. And I'm not providing you the choice of me or her. It's me all the way. Or did you think I was gonna settle for being your mistress? Hell naw!" Chanelle said, standing at akimbo.

"b***h, you crazy!".

"What about the monthly allowance I give you, huh? What happened to that?".

"That wasn't going anywhere. Save yourself the stress, Rainer and show me my room. I'm here to stay" Chanelle faked a yawn, caressing her protruded belly. She was five months gone already.

Tired of listening to their conversation which did nothing but hurt her more, Tifa spun on her heels and went after her Mom who was long gone, tears blinding her vision.

"Tifa?"

"Tifa!" She heard her name a second time.

"Huh?" She looked lost as she blinked back the tears that had already gathered.

"I just directed a question at you, expecting an answer but I got none" The Agriculture teacher said, coming close to Tifa's desk.

"Are you sure you heard me?" She probed further.

"She's probably day dreaming of some Greek god giving her head" That was Tad but her ears didn't fail to grasp what he had said, although he had whispered.

"Or using his fingers," Eden laughed.

"No Ma'am. I'm really sorry" Tifa apologized, standing, trying her best not to pay attention to what Tad and his gang who sat behind her were still saying.

The teacher stared at Tifa for a while before speaking up.

"See me after this class"

"Yes Ma'am" She replied, sitting.