Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite - 84
‘I am so, so sorry. I …’ began Zubby. They were sitting in his jeep, in his parents’ compound. He was supposed to be driving her home, but they had been sitting in silence for the past ten minutes. Suddenly he touched her chin, directing her face towards him and checking where his mother’s slap had ...
‘I am so, so sorry. I …’ began Zubby.
They were sitting in his jeep, in his parents’ compound. He was supposed to be driving her home, but they had been sitting in silence for the past ten minutes.
Suddenly he touched her chin, directing her face towards him and checking where his mother’s slap had landed. She didn’t know what he expected to see – her skin was almost as dark as night. It would take a lot for physical trauma to show.
‘I cannot believe she did that.’
‘Mmm …’
‘At least we now know why your mum freaked out,’ he said, attempting a half-joke. She didn’t smile. ‘Eniiyi. Please. What’s going on in that head of yours?’
‘I don’t want to follow in her footsteps.’
‘In whose …?’
It annoyed her that he even had to ask. She thought he had understood her circumstances, more so now that he’d seen all of their parents react so poorly.
‘In Monife’s footsteps.’
Zubby groaned. ‘I swear down I am beginning to feel like your aunty is harassing us.’
‘Welcome to the club,’ she snapped. ‘Don’t you think it is strange that of all the babes in Lagos, and of all the guys … we met each other and were drawn to one another? Sometimes I feel as though my strings are being pulled.’
‘What are you saying?’
She didn’t want to sound crazy. She hoped to hell she wasn’t crazy. But why had she felt so dazzled by him? Why had he occupied such a huge space in her mind since they met? He was an attractive guy, but she had met other attractive men. Why did he fuel her head and heart in this way?
‘I don’t think it is a coincidence. What if I am Monife reborn? Perhaps she is trying to … I don’t know … use us to have her cake and eat it too.’
Zubby held her hand and squeezed it.
‘I am not my father. And you are not Monife. I don’t know what he did or didn’t do to your aunt; I don’t know why they didn’t end up together; but I plan to stay by your side no matter what.’
‘Z, we are still young. You could feel differently in a year or two.’
‘I’m not so fickle, Eniiyi. I mean what I say. Can you trust me? Shut out all the noise and just trust me.’