Chapter Five

Kelechi's POV

"I'm serious. Put that phone back."

I told Ben with every seriousness I could muster.

He had removed my phone from where it was charging claiming my battery was 100%.

" It's already 100%"

"No, it's not yet 100%" I knew it was fully charged but I wanted to frustrate him just the way he frustrated me. I still had not forgotten how stressful searching for him was. And for what? To see him having fun with a girl.

"I knew you had issues seeing but I didn't know it was this bad." For a few minutes, he had been polite but he just had to switch back to his rude self.

"Uh huh" I stretched my legs on my seat and rested the other half of my body on the other side to get comfortable. We had been in dad's car on our way to grandma's. It had been a really bad traffic for about fifteen minutes and I decided to get comfy at the backseat. Normally, when I am in a car, I love sitting on the passenger's seat: but after foreseeing that we would have our dose of bad traffic, ( cause we always do especially when we're heading to Ikorodu) I decided to stay at the back.

After our previous night's episode of Ben Idiocy, dad called and lashed out the day's frustration on me. He blamed the little explosion on me. He did not even scold Ben at all.

Ben! 1-0

Don't even get me started with how dad overreacted. It was so embarrassing. I didn't think I would ever be able to walk past my house or the neighbouring houses or the entire estate. I can not tell you what exactly happened. It is so embarrassing to tell. Just know that the entire estate thought we ( that's me and my stupid cousin) were kidnapped. Dad thought staying in a house that had sustained a mini explosion was not safe, so he had later taken us to stay the night at aunty Zainab's place.

Aunty Zainab was one of dad's friends. She was also his colleague at work. I secretly thought she had a crush on my dad. I mean she was young, beautiful and successful! She had no boyfriend, no husband. You would hardly see her talking with any man. But she was friends with my dad. If that doesn't scream attraction, I don't know what does.

Aunty Zainab didn't question my dad much, she just allowed us stay the night at her place. I slept in her bed with her while dad and Ben used the couch. She didn't have a guest room. Guessed she never expected one.

And that was why we ended up in traffic, on our way to grandma's the following morning.

It took me a while to notice Ben had already replaced my phone with his iPad to charge.

I tried to remove it but dad stopped me. Dad had been quiet throughout our bickering. So I was surprised when he stopped me with one of his hands while he used the other to drive.

" Kelechi!" He said in a stern voice and that was enough to abort all plans of putting my phone back. Daddy rarely used that voice on me. Not since Ben came back. I had always been "daddy's girl".

I turned my head to the other side to glare at the idiot in the car. He just gave me his annoying smirk and faced the window.

Benjamin Uchechukwu Chima! I hate you!

Four hours! That was how long it took us to get to Grandma's house in Ikorodu. The traffic was that bad.

Unlike most Igbo grandmas, mine did not settle down in our hometown in Imo . Instead she made it a rule to never visit there again. I have never been to my hometown. I just knew there was a place called awo – omamma in Imo.

My grandma had made us promise we would never go to our hometown. She believes our village elders were evil.

"Mma amma¹ " I spread my arms and reached for my grandma expecting her to hug like me like always. Instead of hugging me, she just passed me and went to hug Ben. Ben! Someone that was on his phone doing whatever. He did not even greet her but she hugged him first.

I didn't wait. I just went to my bedroom grudgingly.

Grandma's place was very big. It was a three-story building. It had up to five rooms with kitchen, sitting room, dinning room and library just on the main floor. My room was one of the five.

"Cho! Sopuru owegi O!"² mama³ sternly said as she swat my hand away.

We had been eating fufu⁴ and egusi¹¹ soup when mama brought Nkwobi¹². The Nkwobi had gizzard in it. By tradition, the men take it first: if they decide they were satisfied with what they have taken and there is still more, the rest of the family can eat them.

Dad and Ben were the only men in the table. So they took theirs first. The Gizzard filled the plate and I had already prepared myself to eat it too since dad was satisfied with two. But Ben decided to have more gizzard. He continued taking not minding if I would like to take.

He was about to reach for the last one when I took it and ate immediately.

Akpiri ogologo!¹³

Ben first looked shocked before squeezing his face like sachet water, pouting his lips. He was not the only one. Dad and mama gave me a disappointed look.

"What?" I innocently asked with my mouth full.

"You know what. " Ben said. Dad just shook his head.

"You were about to eat it all. Couldn't you think, just think even though it's stressful for you, that someone else would want it too. No! You just had to have it all. And you still have the mouth to talk. See ya mouth. Yun yon yan" I mimicked him before hissing.

I was about to start ranting again when mama shushed me up.

"Cho! Sopuru owegi o!"

That was enough to make me want to cry. Mama chose him over me again.

I just stood up and left the dinning room. In haste, I ran to my room to cry before anyone saw me.

When I got to my room, I slammed the door shut before crying on my bed.

Why do people chose others over me?

First was David that cheating bastard, second it was my dad and now its mama.

I didn't know when I fell asleep until a knock woke me up.

"Kelly… Kelly… Kelly" I could hear Ben calling me. I used to like it when he called me Kelly but now I hate it.

When we were younger, Ben couldn't pronounce his Igbo name Uchechukwu not to talk of my name Kelechi. So he settled for Kelly. Silly little me felt special when he did that.

Since he couldn't pronounce his name, he hated it when someone called him by it.

But all the elders in my family still called him Uche.

After calling me a few more times, I heard his retreating footsteps. I guess

He got tired of calling me. He was not the only one tired.

I was tired.

🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

Mma Amma: it's an Igbo greeting given to elderly women at any time of the day.

Cho! Sopuru owegi O! : Shut up! Warn yourself O! ( Cho is a local dialect for shut up in Igbo while the general dialect is Mechie onu.)

Mama: grandma ( you can hardly find anyone in Nigeria calling their grandma "grandma".)

Fufu: a dish made from cassava.

Nkwobi: a local dish that is prepared with mainly steamed meat ( most times it's goat meat), oil, seasoning, pepper and veggies (preferably garden egg leaves)

Akpiri ogologo: longer throat ( in igbo)

Akpiri ogologo: longer throat ( in igbo)