Kalisha’s POV

“We made it to my house” I told him, flailing my arms around in excitement.

He gaze his eyes at my house, he is surprised by how huge and nice my property looks. He stares at it for a few seconds being blinded by its beauty, but I snap him out of his trance. He looks at me being dazed and confused.

“Well, it looks like you’re already in love with my house. Don’t worry, I’m not jealous.” I playfully tell him.

He clears his throat.

“It certainly caught my attention. I never seen a house this big before.” He responds with a gleeful smile on his face.

“If you think the outside is nice, wait until you see the inside.” I teased him.

We walk up the steps. I am about to open the door, until....

The door opens by itself.

“Oh, what do we have here na? Also why is your face so bloody?” A female voice ask and then sips on her drink.

I groan and roll my eyes.

He looks at me to figure out who is at the door.

“Kalisha... Who is that?” He curiously ask.

“Excuse my rudeness abeg, my name is Jymia aka Kalisha’s best fren.” She introduced herself before letting me speak.

English translation: “Abeg” means “Please” and “Fren” means “Friend”.

She is wearing a red long sleeve off shoulder crop top, showing off a bit of her stomach. She compliments the shirt by wearing African print jogger pants. She has a great physique with curves for days and muscular arms. She is 5’7” in height. Purple lips and purple eyeshadow on her face. Her braids are latch hook, her nails are painted purple, she has on a heart shaped purple necklace, diamond encrusted earrings, and is wearing purple fluffy slippers. She is really into purple.

She puts down her drink on the floor and comes to hug me. He raise a brow witnessing how awkward I look by this unexpected hug. He wanted to laugh, but he held it in.

“Okay Jymia, I think he gets it now.” I told her and giving a signal to let go of me.

She stopped hugging me. But then she sucks her teeth in disappointment.

“Eh, wetin do you? Aren’t you happy to see your best fren?” She ask while folding her arms and pouting her lips in frustration.

English translation: “Wetin do you?” means “What’s up?”

“Of course, I’m happy to see you. But I wasn’t expecting you to come my house.” I replied to her.

“Why are you speaking English all of a sudden? You always speak Yoruba to me. Is it because of him? Who is this man?” She ask while staring him down.

“My name is N, nice to meet you.” He said, positioning his hand towards Jymia for a handshake.

She gives him a side eye and starts laughing hard.

“Kalisha, your boyfriend is cute ooo” she told me.

“He is not my boyfriend” I try to convince her.

At the same time, I do agree that he is cute and would make a good boyfriend. But I need to spend more time with him and figure out what exactly happened in his life.

“Keep telling yourself that. How about we come inside and not be surrounded by cold air? You will love it inside.” She told us.

She picks up her soda again and starts slurping on it as loudly as ever. She walks inside, then we followed and closed the door behind us.

I love my best friend, even though she can get on my nerves a lot. Right now, she embarrassed me. But I love her way too much to hate her.

*****

“What do you think of the place?” I ask him.

He is lost for words looking at what’s inside.

Inside the house is painted with white and green. Everywhere is spotless, no mess to be seen. The brown sofas are glistening. The tables are filled with different African print and artifacts. The HD-TV is wider than a king size bed. All of the windows in the house are sealed tight and boarded up, so that no sunlight can get through. The wooden floor is shiny enough to light up the entire house. There are flowers and scented candles, which gives a heavenly smell. The chandelier lights are slightly dim, so that there is a balance of light and dark.

There are a lot of African paintings hanged on the wall:

“Oya at the marketplace” by Karmella Haynes, “Yemaya Okute” by Liz Loz, “Inner Oshun” by Anoa Kanu, “Yemoja Ufo” by Stormm Bradshaw, “Aja Metal Print” by Bernadett Bagyinka, and “Virgin of Caridad” by Angela Yarber.

There are flags of Yoruba and Nigeria also hanged up the wall. Judging by his face, he is overwhelmed with joy by all the African culture inside my house.

I grab a couple of paper towels and wipe the blood that is on my face. I give some to Jymia and him, just in case I got blood on them. I threw mine in the trash after the towel painted red.

“You own this house Kalisha?” He asks with a shocked tone of voice.

“Yup, I lived here since I was eighteen years old.” I replied to him.

“Eighteen years old?!” He is baffled.

“Both of my parents are rich and I come from royalty. They both were rulers of the vampires in Yoruba for centuries. But they moved away from Yoruba, since terrorists were assaulting and causing damage to Nigeria. Also those terrorists were aware that vampires were lurking around and they slaughtered a lot of our kind. My dad was brutally murdered by those terrorists and they took some of his riches. Thankfully, my mom was able to get out and take the majority of the riches they had. She later on became queen of the Yoruba vampires in Norfolk, Virginia.” I explained to him.

“I didn’t know that you are royalty. Also I’m terribly sorry about what happened to your country and your father.” He said with a somber tone and his face looking sad.

“It’s alright. Yoruba and Nigeria is doing better than ever. Also my father’s spirit still lives among us.” I told him, trying to make things better.

Jymia clears her throat.

“I’m sorry to butt in on your romantic moment, but I need to talk to my bestie.” She said while looking at him.

She grabs my arm and pulls me away from him.

“Make yourself at home. If you need anything, then let me know.” I told him.

He nods in agreement.

******

She takes me upstairs to Shani’s room, she is my elder sister. Shani is startled that we barged into her room as she is painting her nails and listening to songs from Simi on her latest iPhone.

Inside her room is painted pink. Her room is spotless as all her shoes and clothes are packed. Her queen size bed is nicely put together. There is a poster of Sade hanged on her wall. She has “Birth of Oshun” by Karmella Haynes, which is her favorite African painting placed on the wall. She got her own Yoruba flag plastered on the wall.

She is wearing pink nightgown. Her Cornrow bun is gorgeous. Earrings and necklace are filled with gold. Her body is slim, but she packs a lot of punch. She is 6’0” in height, taller than Jymia and I. Light pink lip gloss and peak eyeshadow for her makeup. The nails on her hands and feet are halfway done being painted pink. My sister loves pink and loves to express her femininity, but she doesn’t fool around with any nonsense.

She stops what she was doing, got off her bed, and wanted to know why we were in her room. She turned down the volume of the music.

“Kilode ti ẹyin mejeeji fi wa ninu yara mi?” Shani said with her hands on her hips and a face looking like it’s ready to vex. Her Yoruba accent is thick.

English translation: “Why are you both in my room?”

Jymia and I look at each other waiting for one of us to answer.

“Mo nduro” She tells us, tapping her right feet and being impatient.

English translation: “I’m waiting”

I heave a sigh. I decide to answer my sister, even though I had a bad feeling about her reaction. I speak Yoruba to Shani, since she doesn’t know English all that well.

“Emi ati Jymia wa ninu yara rẹ lati sọ fun ọ pe Mo mu ọkunrin kan wa ni ile mi.” I tell her.

English translation: “Jymia and I are in your room to tell you that I brought a man in my house.”

She gives me a slap on my face. Jymia is shocked and mouthing “oh my god”, while I hold my face to heal the pain.

“Etẹwẹ enẹ yin na?” I ask her.

English translation: “What was that for?”

“O to oṣu meji lati igba ti o fọpọ pẹlu ọrẹkunrin rẹ, ni bayi o ni ọkan miiran ti o fẹnu re si ile wa.” She responds being disappointed.

English translation: “It’s been two months since you broke up with your boyfriend, now you got another one and brung him to our house.”

“Oun kii se omokunrin mi” I try telling her.

English translation: “He’s not my boyfriend”

“Ti ko ba je omokunrin re, njẹ tani tani?” She ask.

English translation: “If he is not your boyfriend, then who is he?”

“Orukọ rẹ ni N ati pe Mo kan pade rẹ loni.” I replied.

English translation: “His name is N and I just met him today.”

“HEY GOD!” They both yelled in unison.

“Nitorinaa o ngba awọn alejo bayi? Jẹ ki n pade ọkunrin N yii, kini aṣiwere!” Shani commanded.

English translation: “So you’re welcoming strangers now? Let me meet this N guy, what a foolish name!”

Shani storms out of the room and walks downstairs to see him. Jymia and I followed her every move, just in case she explodes on N or gives him a slap. He is sitting on the sofa, then he gets up noticing that a woman is coming right at him. She gives him a slap.

“Ow! Why did you slap me? What did I do wrong? Who are you? Kalisha, what’s going on?” He confusingly ask.

“Excuse her, she didn’t mean no harm.” I tried to calm the situation down.

“No seriously, who is she?” He ask again.

“This is Shani, she is my elder sister. She tends to slap people a lot.” I introduced to him.

“You don’t say!?” He said while still holding his face.

“But she is a nice person when you get to know her better. She only slaps people whenever they do or say something rubbish. So she thought you were rubbish and I guess me too as well.” I tried to excuse her behavior.

There is a awkward silence and tension surrounding all of us. So I think of an idea to get us all together.

“How about we eat something?” I suggest.

“Yeah, I haven’t ate anything at all today.” He agrees.

“Jymia? Shani? Are you hungry?” I ask them.

“Sure” Jymia replied.

“Shani? Come on, I know you will never pass up on a meal.” I tease her.

She sigh.

“Yes ooo” Shani finally gives in.

“Great! Let me cook up something and then we will eat. You three should get to know each other better, while I’m busy cooking.” I told them.

*******

Thirty minutes later, I get done cooking. I made Plantain pottage and poured red wine for all of us. I wanted to ease N in to Yoruba food, because I know he never tried our food before. Before we feasted, Shani prayed in Yoruba and I translated that prayer in English for him to understand. We eat the food; he thinks it taste weird since he is so used to eating human meat, but he grew to like it. Shani and Jymia talked about the embarrassing moments I’d experienced. I felt so embarrassed, but we all had a great time. Also N mentioned that he taught Shani some English words; Shani taught him more Yoruba words. I’m just glad that they were getting along and Shani didn’t slap him this time. But she did warn him not to break my heart or take advantage of me or else, she will slap him so hard that his skin will start to come off. I’m just so happy that he is getting comfortable with my best friend, my sister, and my culture.

We all cleaned up; he helped washing the dishes, cleaning the kitchen, and taking out the trash. Before we went to our rooms, we watched a movie together. Jymia wanted us to watch “The Guide”, since that’s her favorite Yoruba romantic drama. N and I snuggled up on each other while watching the film. I fall asleep mid-way in the movie, since I seen it a dozen times including with Jymia. He carried me upstairs to my room thanks to Jymia and Shani giving him directions. I noticed he is carrying me to my room. I cop a feel on his muscles and they feel like mountains, which made me smile. They both stayed downstairs to continue watching the film.

He laid me down softly on my bed. He cuddled next to me on the bed, keeping me comfortable. It is not even daylight yet, but we ended off the night falling asleep together.

Harsh Reality

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