A Hazel Haven

Chapter 25

Chapter 25

"Good evening, sir," Uche greeted as she placed the phone on her ear, hunched over and squinting at her laptop screen. "I'm much better now. Thank you.....she's here."

Huma, knowing it was her father, winced but continued to fold her clothes into her corner of the closet. The calls never bothered her before: there were times when he contacted Kazeem if he was unable to reach her. Now they did. Now she cringed. How embarrassing.

"Okay, I'll let her know. Goodnight, sir."

"Your dad says he's back from his trip," Uche told her.

Huma turned around, smiling widely at the pleasant news.

"—and he wants you home tomorrow, so he'll be coming to pick you."

Then she remembered broken promises, and her elation soon dispelled. Another weekend had breezed by--how time flew. She had been avoiding his chat messages these days, because most of them were her mother's complaints against her. Although her father rarely got angry but she felt certain they would have word, which meant trouble.

"You didn't fold that properly," Uche said, and she looked down at the cloth in her hands. The sides were asymmetrical. Without argument, she refolded while thinking it was needless hassle. Uche's corner always looked tidy, so much that no displaced item escaped her notice; a stark difference from Huma's cluttered area. She missed her room where she could be an unashamed slob. How could someone be so precise anyway? Was it a super power? Maybe she was a witch. A witchy duckabit.

By the time Huma finished sorting out the clothes in order of similarity and use, her arms weighed a ton. Since when did she have so many clothes? She went to the kitchen for some water then sat on her bed, sighing. Face glum, she gazed at the ring on her finger. Sometimes she forgot it was there tethering her to reality back home.

"Trouble in paradise?"

Huma blinked at Uche who was typing furiously, lost.

"Your home," clarified Uche, "It's just....you have the look." When Huma inclined her head in question, she added. "The whole world is against me."

It may as well be. Nothing had gone entirely right with her family since that day. Paradise? Yes. The house was a huge upgrade from where they used to live, but the people in it were indeed troubled. She started to smile and shake her head then reconsidered. Here was someone who never lived a sheltered life and had encountered numerous eye-opening experiences. Although Mrs Ehana had become like a mother to her too many issues stayed secret between them—she couldn't reply her messages now without a niggling sense of guilt. Her father was busier than usual; her mother? A dead end. Besides, there was still a lot about Uche she still didn't know. And she wanted to know.

You have to give to be given, he told her that. Huma nodded instead. Never one to initiate conversations, she hesitated, braced herself. This would be the first time she divulged a very personal matter.

"What would you do if your mother hated you?"

"It depends on why," Uche fixated on the screen, typed, "why would my mother hate me?" The neck of the shirt she was wearing slacked further down one shoulder, exposing more of her cleavage. Her breasts fell freely. Sometimes Uche went outside the room this way: braless. Accustomed to wearing a bra almost all day, It still amazed and dismayed Huma how apathetic the girls around were towards their bodies, unbothered about the men. Such a strange place.

"Were you adopted?"

No, she was not. Her father had done a secret DNA test for paternity years ago, even though she resembled his mother in more ways than one, especially since they hadn't been able to conceive another child after her. You can never be too sure. There were unrelated people who looked alike.