Chapter 5

FEHINTOLA.

“You’re terrible at lying”

I slowly turned to look at him and raised my lips up in a sneer, folding my hands across my chest.

“Who says I’m lying?!”

“Just yesterday, you said you were staying for ten days, so what type of job are you now looking for? Ehn fine girl?”

“Bami Soro” (Talk to me) he added sarcastically. I rolled my eyes at him and stepped away from him.

“Whatever, I can do whatever I want, will you give me the job or not?”

“I heard you’re planning a big Christmas festival to sell your wine, you could use my copy writing skills to gain online presence and pull crowd,” I said to him. He hummed at my words and drew closer to me slowly dropping to my height meeting my gaze.

“Why would you want to help me?!” He said I blinked rapidly avoiding his gaze, curving my lips upwards.

“I’m-I’m — not helping you. I’m only pitching myself, giving you reasons to employ me, even if it’s just for the holidays, I’m very useful” I muttered, he chuckled lowly and straightened up.

“Okay, so .. is that your CV? He asked pointing at the brown envelope sticking out of my bag,” I immediately moved my bag behind me. It was the document I brought, hoping to get the owner of D&A’s listen to me Atleast, but now I can’t do that anymore.

“My CV .. I’ll umm, I’ll send it via Email” I stuttered, he chuckled shaking his head slowly at me.

“Girl yi sha” (This girl) He muttered to himself and tucked his hands into his pocket.

“Okay, You’re hired!”

“What really?!” I asked my eyes wide open. He slowly folded his hands across his chest.

“Why are you surprised? You seemed very confident in your ability!” He said, I nodded slowly wiping my hands on my thigh,

“Surprised? Me? How so? No surprise here at all!” I muttered with an awkward smile, he stared at me weirdly.

“Anyway, we’ll begin decorating the town this evening, will you be available to join us?”

“Ofcourse ofcourse!”

“Good”

****

Back at home. 5.00pm.

*knock knock knock

“I’m coming!” I yelled out at the person at my door, but the knock was still heavy and persistent. I stepped out of the room and whoever it was, was still knocking.

“Shey you’ll just break the door?” I said as I opened the door but immediately I saw who was at the door the words caught in my throat and my lips dropped open. He was putting on an army green cargo short and a cream color plain shirt. I swallowed hard at the hot glass of chocolate in front of me. What ever made me decide to marry Oyinbo instead of a proper Yoruba demon ? I guess I was away from home for too long.

Suddenly, a sharp snap jolted me back to reality.

“Hey!” I yelped, rubbing my forehead where his middle finger and thumb had delivered a stinging flick. He grinned, leaning closer to me.

“You were staring,” he said, his voice low and obviously teasing me.

“I wasn’t,” I shot back, rolling my eyes at him, I could feel my cheeks heating.

“Oh, you definitely were.” He straightened, the corner of his mouth twitching like he found my embarrassed state entirely too entertaining.

“Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that it’s time for the town’s decorations” he said, I took my lips into my mouth, town’s decorations? I guess I made a lot of promises when my mouth was quite slippery.

“I had Anu bring a tripod, you can use your phone right?” He asked, I blinked rapidly in confusion, propping forward.

“For?”

“Are you playing with me right now? Won’t you need pictures and videos for the advertising and marketing you just got hired for?”

“Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t realize,”

“Ẹ má binu, ọ̀gá mi.” (Don’t be angry my boss) I added sarcastically, my Yoruba accent, awfully bad. He raised his nose slightly at me and shook his head slowly.

“Are you ready now?” He asked.

“Um, you can just come in and wait for me while I changed,” I said as soon as the thought dropped into my mind without even thinking about it. He leaned closer and narrowed his brows at me.

“I-I mean, I don’t know where we’re going right?” I added immediately, he nodded slowly and thoughtfully murmuring “ahhh”.

“Okay fine, just don’t waste too much time!” He muttered, I nodded firmly as I opened the door wider and stepped away for him to come in.

“I see you haven’t changed, still obsessed with paintings of children,” he said. Looking around the house.

“Well, you can’t blame me, they inspire me,” I muttered in reply as I made my way towards my room, he headed towards the couch and plopped down on it.

“So you still write professionally?!” He called out

“Ofcourse! That’s my job” I yelled back from the room.

“And here I was thinking, you’d change profession once you go abroad, maybe study nursing like every other Nigerians do,” he joked with a small chuckle.

“Well I didn’t!” I retorted.

****

“So, Christmas festivals in ikorodu? I won’t lie that I’m not surprised” I asked Dami as I locked the door and we made our way out of the compound.

“I know you take birthdays and holidays seriously, but making it a town’s tradition? I didn’t see that one coming!” I said. He chuckled lightly as he held the gate open for me to step out.

“I guess I just started it and it escalated. The people use it as a way to chill after a very difficult year,”

“And since they don’t have to contribute money, it didn’t take much to get them to join in. They handle the decorations and make it beautiful. It usually turns out well” he explained and I nodded slowly.

“So how do you guys get funds?”

“We sometimes get sponsors if we’re lucky —not really often though. But we manage well on our own. The winery has a separate savings account for Christmas funds, and the people sometimes during the year sends anything they have to support, the town chairman is very supportive also,”

“Wow, you’ve grown so much , I can barely recognize you sometimes when you speak” I said to him. He chuckled lightly and gently tucked his hands into his pocket.

“Ofcourse, I won’t remain the corper you left five years ago because he didn’t have any sense of direction” he said.

“Dami, don’t be like that, you know that’s not what I meant,” he turned to me with a small smile.

“That’s fine, we’ve both moved on right?” He said, I swallowed hard and turned away from him. Just as I wanted to reply a shirll voice cut me off.

“Ahhh, Féhintọ́lá kọ́ ní yẹn?!” (Is that not Fehintola?).

I looked up to see that we have already gotten to where we were going and there were a lot of familiar faces, for some weird reasons my heart warmed.

I might have being a little useful while I was still here before and they all liked me. Now I feel bad that I came here empty handed with nothing for them.

My face broke out in a smile immediately, they all rushed towards me and almost knocked me down with a tight hug.

“Ahhh, ọmọ dáadáa! We missed you. We thought you’d never come back. Are you here to stay?” one woman asked, her gaze flicking to Dami.

“Or are you two getting married now?” She asked, I suddenly coughed nervously, literally choking on her words.

“Iyá Tóni! Kí ló má n ṣe yín?” (what’s your problem?) Another woman cautioned her, and I smiled awkwardly at the both of them.

“Don’t mind her o jéré ọ̀kọ́ mi. Kí ló wá mú wá fún wa?” (Don’t mind her my dear. What did you bring for us) Another woman asked.

“Ee shey wa lójú tì báyìí! Ẹ̀yin náà! Omo tó ṣe wá de, ẹ̀yin ti fẹ́ẹ́ bẹ̀rẹ̀ sí ni tọrọ nkan!” (why are you guys so shameless! You too?! Someone that just came home, you’re already disturbing for gifts) Another woman said, rolling her eyes at the woman that just spoke.

“Ni Kini! (What??) When Iya Bola’s daughter came back from Ghana, didn’t she bring things for us?!” The woman defended.

“Ehn Shey America ati Ghana wa Jó ara wọn ni?” (Is Ghana and America the same thing?!) another woman responded immediately, I chuckled lightly at their soft banter which was obviously playful. If there’s one thing I missed in this place, it’s this, their togetherness and how even neighbors can become family.

“Ẹ má wòrì, mummy. Mo mú nkan púpò wá fún yín. Máa ko wá fún yín lọ́la,” (Don’t worry mummy, I brought a lot of things for you all, I’ll bring them tomorrow) I said to them, my Yoruba kind of not smooth with a little American accent. They laughed at it obviously and I laughed too.

“You’ve forgotten our language just like that?!” A woman said and I shook my head slowly.

“Ofcourse not!”

“Oya Oya! Ó tó bẹ́ẹ̀ yen, (that’s enough) let’s get to work,” Dami finally said, the women raised their lips at him in a sneer rolling their eyes.

“Ehn why is he na shouting?”

“Don’t mind him, he’s jealous ni, nobody greeted him” they muttered to themselves as they dispersed and began to walk away. I chuckled lightly at their words and turned to look at him.

“You’re back now, you’ll start sharing their attention with me!” He muttered his gaze dropping to mine. I bursted out laughing at the expression on his face.

“Well that’s because they know I’m of better character than you!”

“Ohhh you think!” He snorted.