RESOLVE

Chapter Eleven.

~Sarima's POV~

It was dusk already as the pulsating beat from the earpiece plugged into both my ears distracted me a bit from my present environment. I made a mental note to stop at mama chidiebere's shop to get a chilled carbonated drink to calm my tired bones and hungry stomach.

Improvising designs for Ronke's friends was tiring, and watching them bicker about getting a better design than the other was like encountering another civil war.

Or it was listening to Elsie insult me again and not having to give her a piece of my mind that plagued my nerves; whether she was doing it consciously or unconsciously, I really didn't care.

Bitch.ish

I stopped in front of the iron protector that guided the entrance of the shop, removing the earpiece on both my ears, and I came in sight With 14-year-old Chidiebere; he immediately slipped the naira notes he was holding under the basin of garri that was on top a wooden table used to display goods when he sighted me.

I thought money from sales is supposed to be kept in a bag or a container.

"Aunty... good afternoon, ma". A funny smile accompanied his greeting. "Err...good evening," he corrected, scratching his head.

So you're stealing from your mother ehn? Afterwards, she'd be killing my ears with her loud scolding at poor Nneka almost every morning.

I nodded my response to his greeting, luckily sighting his mother nearby.

"What about Nneka?" I asked, referring to their housemaid, always assigned to stay at the shop.

"She's in the house?" He replied, then asked. "What do you want to buy?"

I turned to mama Chidiebere, who was already beside me with a smile, "Asanwa, how are you?"

I smiled back at her giving my response as she opened the protector and entered the shop.

Chidiebere seemed uncomfortable with this development as he nervously shuffled his feet on the floor.

I pray mama Chidiebere would notice the money sticking out from under the basin of garri.

"Give him what she wants nau, oluku", she barked at her son, who was staring at me, waiting for me to say what I wanted.

Trust mama Chidiebere to sometimes subconsciously refer to a female as he/him and a male as she/her.

"What do you want to buy?" He asked me, quite embarrassed that I'd witnessed his mother calling him names as he nervously glanced at her while she properly arranged the bags of Rice and garri she had at a corner of the shop to create space.

I felt embarrassed on his behalf too. A stranger having to witness a parent scolding me wasn't one thing I'd fancied as a child.

"Fanta."

He went immediately to get it from the freezer.

"Where's Nneka?" Mama Chidiebere asked, peering into the basin of garri.

"Inside," he mumbled his response.

"That's why you want those basins to get empty first before you refill it, okwaya?" She spoke in a harsh tone.

Mama Chidiebere was a harsh woman. She rarely smiled and would snap at people at the slightest provocation. Unfortunately, her children weren't left out.

I was on her good side, considering that she liked Somi and me and wouldn't hesitate at any opportunity to tell us how we reminded her of the twin friends she had in her childhood days and had lost due to some circumstance.