She sent a message thanking Ike for the umpteenth time. He always replied with “Anytime” and a red heart emoji, the latter never ceasing to set butterflies free in her tummy.

She tapped on his display picture and smiled at his smiling face. She allowed herself to wonder if he felt anything off the platonic zone for her. He had once said she was pretty but that didn’t count; Ike was very nice and she had witnessed him dish out compliments freely in Church on several accounts.

“Sweetheart,” Aunty B called from the doorway of the kitchen. She abandoned her thoughts and raised her head.

“Ma”

“Do you want jollof rice or swallow? We have Egusi, ogbono, okro, ewedu, efo riro.”

Aunty B spoke with too much enthusiasm, even in very normal conversations like what to or what not to eat.

“I think I’ll have jollof rice, Aunty B.”

“Okay, sweetheart.”

She walked back in, a hand on her waist. Fikayo stood up and followed into the kitchen. The sweet aroma of tomato and pepper stew welcomed her in.

“Is there anything I can help with, Aunty B?”

Aunty B grinned at her.

“Osé sweetheart mi. The jollof rice is already cooked and in the fridge. All I have to do is microwave it. I’ve got this.”

Her forehead glistened with sweat. She took in a deep breath and exhaled loudly.

“Are you okay, ma?”

“Hmm, my back hurts but I’ve got this.”

She walked slowly to a stool in a corner and lowered her form onto it even more slowly, a hand supporting her waist. Her carton brown shorts rode up, exposing her smooth fair thighs. Aunty B had flawless fair skin, a pretty face and a gorgeous shape, even with her huge baby bump. Fikayo touched a pimple on her face. Why didn’t God give her good skin or a beautiful body? She was just bland, ordinary, not one to be looked at twice.

“I can’t wait to pop this baby out,” she breathed out harshly. She rubbed circles on her protruding stomach, spreading her legs.

After eating the delicious jollof rice, she rose to take her plate to the kitchen but decided to express her gratitude and compliment the food.

“Aunty B, the rice was delicious. You are a great cook.”

Aunty B laughed, lifting her nose up comically.

“My sweetheart, Pastor Nath made the food not me,” she declared, bursting into another round of laughter.

Fikayo’s eyes widened in astonishment.

“I never espered it. Wow.”

“Don’t look so shocked, sweetheart. I barely cook in this house. My husband cooks better than I do, so why not just relax and be a baby girl?” she raised her shoulders, picking at the strap of her blouse dramatically.

“But I do most of the cleaning,” she added. “I’m too heavy to do that now so we get someone to come in twice a week to do the cleaning. Sometimes, some of the teens come over to help out. It’s been a while since that happened, though.”

This was not normal. On the contrary, it could be that this was normal and her parents’ marriage was the abnormal one. She was seeing marriage through a completely different lens and it seemed to be pleasant.

“I’d love to come over to help, too, maybe next weekend. I’ll ask Tani, Tari and Zoe if they’d be interested,” she suggested.

It was unusual for Fikayo to offer to help someone else clean; it took a lot of yelling from her mother to get her to do house chores. But she liked Aunty B, even if she’d only just met her.

Aunty B clapped excitedly, doing a small dance on her seat.

“Ah, thank you so much, sweetheart. We can even have a small girl’s hangout; you know, food, junk, gist, everything. It would be so much fun, trust me.”

She laughed at Aunty B’s enthusiasm and entered the kitchen to wash her plate. She braided her hair afterwards and Aunty B gave her a tip of two thousand naira.

***
“Aunty B gave you extra 2k? What a wawu,” Zoe said after Fikayo told them about her visit to Aunty B’s house the day before.

They were standing in their usual spot outside the Teens Church.

“I love that woman ehn. Aww Aunty B, I’m sure we’ll leave her house with many goodies on Saturday,” Tari said, her face beaming.

“Hey Tari, are you going to help her out or to collect goodies,” Tani voiced out, shooting Tari a wry look.

“Abeg abeg madam, we all want to raid Aunty B’s closet,” she flipped her weave, placed her right hand on her waist and did a catwalk, evoking laughter from the girls.

“Umm Zoe, I noticed Louisa wasn’t in church last Sunday and she didn’t come today also. Do you know why?”

The laughter in the group died down.

“I tried calling her, she didn’t pick. See ehn, Fikayo, it is not unusual for Louisa to miss Church. Na her way.”

“So you don’t know why she misses Church?”

“Louisa is just very non-chalant. She’s not serious, abeg,” Tari waved a hand dismissively. Fikayo kept mute. They had known Louisa before her so she couldn’t question their conclusion; still she did not feel settled. She had a knowing that there was more to Louisa’s frequent absence.

***
“Any new crushes?” Aunty B asked just as Pastor Nath walked into the living room where they were all seated on a sofa excluding Tari who sat on the floor right in front of them.

“Hmmm,” he drawled. “You girls can gossip.”

“Pastor Nath, is this what you call gossip? We’re just gisting now,” Tari said.

“Yes, we’re gossiping and you’re not allowed here. I thought I told you not to come to the living room. You want to hear our conversations abi. You’re the real gossip, sir,” Aunty B said jokingly, throwing the girls into a fit of laughter.

“I’ll kuku leave. I just wanted to pick up my charger,” he explained with a feigned sad expression. He unplugged his charger from the wall socket by the left of their sofa.

“Have a nice time, girls.”

He made his way back in as the girls shouted “Thank you, Pastor Nath.”

“Aunty B, what is your pet name for PN?” asked Zoe.

“Sometimes I call him ‘baby’, sometimes ‘pastor’. But most times ‘pastor’.”

They all burst into laughter.

“Ehn? Pastor ke?” Fikayo said, bending her lips in a way to show disapproval.

“Aunty B, I thought you were romantic. You fell my hand o,” Tari said dramatically.

“Everybody calls him ‘pastor’ so it doesn’t make sense that you call him that as a pet name,” Zoe reasoned.

“He’s my pastor, too. I think it’s really cute,” Aunty B said, adjusting her posture.

“Do you need more pillows?” Tani, who sat beside her asked as the other girls continued their banter and laughter.

Tani stood to get pillows from other sofas and returned to place them behind her.

“Thanks, sweetheart,” Aunty B sighed.

“This baby needs to come out A S A P.”

“We can’t wait,” Zoe clapped. “You know I love babies. I’ll be here every single day.”

“Because you don’t have work now. Don’t go and read your book, be playing with baby,” Tari retorted, earning a glare and hiss from Zoe.

Fikayo chuckled.

“Let’s eat the ice-cream now na,” Tari suggested, making a face.

“We are not yet done na. We haven’t cleaned the kitchen yet,” came Zoe, always the voice of reason.

“You girls should not worry about the kitchen. PN and I will handle that later.”

Tari sighed exhilaratingly, “Thank God o. When do we get to steal from your closet, Aunty B?”

Aunty B laughed while Zoe hit her shoulder playfully. “Lazy girl, look at her tiny mouth.”

Tari laughed lightly.

“Look at kettle calling pot black, coconut head.”

She eyed her from head to toe before placing a hand on Zoe’s thigh as support to get up. Zoe held her hand very tightly.

“Say sorry before I break your wrist,” she threatened.

Tari whined and winced but refused to say sorry.

“Nobody is breaking anybody’s wrist here madam. Leave her hand,” came Aunty B’s sweet voice.

Fikayo wondered if she ever got angry, if the sweetness in her soothing voice ever evaporated in anger’s flaming presence.

“Aunty B never gets angry,” Tani lowly said to her, as though she had heard her thoughts.

“Are you a mind reader? Who are you?”

Tani smirked, “Who do you say I am?”

Banter flowed as they jointly feasted on a large bowl of ice cream. Afterwards, Aunty B brought out a heap of clothes and dumped it on a couch. The girls hurried to check their goodies out, Tari and Zoe constantly fighting over a piece of clothing. Aunty B did not bother interrupting.

Seeing the speed and energy with which Tari and Zoe searched through the heap and picked clothes up, it was no surprise that they ended up with most of the prettiest dresses while Tani and Fikayo resigned to what their fate brought them.

“You girls still haven’t told me about your crushes. I have not forgotten o,” Aunty B declared out of the blues.

...
Aunty B is a vibe abeg 🥰. I love how she calls everyone 'sweetheart'. She's my favourite character. Who's yours?

If you enjoyed reading, vote, comment and share🙏🏾❤.

P.S: Listen to the amazing song in the media.