ADAM

The news that broke out about mom, her alleged cheating, the impending divorce, dad's company takeover wasn't even what scarred and annoyed me, it was how quick people were to jump into conclusions, to call her those horrible names, to troll her online, to create some sort of fan base for dad.

To them, he was just the ideal husband who fell into the grasp of a terrible woman and now, he had to pay by losing all his assets.

Mom was even nowhere terrible. She was the most amazing person I've ever met and would probably be the most amazing person I'd ever meet and she, after everything she had been through in dad's hands did not even deserve to be subjected to this kind of public criticism.

And as for me, the things in the news, about dad's company going over, about mom having something to do with it, about her cheating with dad's biggest company... I did not even believe half of it.

And even the pictures, photoshopped or not, wouldn't make me believe anything until I heard it from mom's mouth herself.

And that was why I couldn't wait till closing hour to get home to hear what mom would have to say on it so I left school, not because I give two fucks about what my classmates were saying but because I needed to get to mom.

I couldn't possibly leave her alone with everything going on.

And so I made it home. I made it home in public ride because I couldn't call the driver and actually wait for him to drive back and Uber seemed like the quickest option at that point.

I immediately felt a sense of foreboding the minute the Gatekeeper let me in. Mom's personal car was in the compound just like I had left it there when I left for school.

What was surprising was that dad's car was in the compound too even though it wasn't there when I left for school.

The feeling of doom in the pit of my stomach intensified and I started running towards the main house, desperate to get into the house, desperate to get to mom.

I slammed into the house only to meet it eerily quiet. There was nothing in the sitting room, no sign of life, no sign of nothing.

"And after everything I've done for you, after giving you all the riches and luxuries a woman could ever asked for and what? You had the nerve to sabotage my career, my company. You had the nerve to scheme with my biggest rival to steal my company away from me?"

That was dad's voice and I could legit feel the venom in his words. I could feel the anger and hate that was wrapped up with his words.

I could tell that he was angry and that he was this close to reaching his breaking point.

I darted towards the stairs and I started taking three, nah, four stairs at once.

"And haven't you had you revenge? The whole country is calling me a slut now. They are calling me a prostitute who has successfully sabotaged her husband's career." Mom's voice was cold, detached, firm and I could picture her sitting in front of her vanity and applying lotions to her face while dad was fuming with anger behind her. "How much did you pay to have the truth altered? To have the pictures edited? Do you feel justified now that the whole country sees me as a bad woman?"

I was almost by their door now. I only needed to...

"Are you even making any sense to yourself, Omolara? You're jeopardising my entire career because of what? Because I have a little anger issue? Because I hit you a few times? We're throwing away billions of naira just because of that little thing?"

Mom chuckled humorlessly and I heard footsteps, as if she was walking closer to him or away from him.

"That little thing cost us two babies. That little thing almost cost me my life on numerous occasions." Her words, filled with pain and hurt cut right through my heart. "THAT LITTLE THING!" She yelled at the top of her voice that I was sure the whole house heard. "Cost me my mental heart, made our son someone that have so much bottled up, stole the childhood from our son, made him so emotionally unstable and what? You call it that little thing? Be grateful I did not decide to just poison you while I was at it."

I heard a loud thud as if someone was jammed against the wall at the same minute I pushed their door opened.

Nothing prepared me for what I saw.

That was mom, her back to the wall

That was mom, her back to the wall, a look of sheer horror and panic in her eyes as she gazed back at the man she claimed to have loved all these years.

And that was dad, in front of her and he was staring at her with so much rage it shocked me out of my mind.

And that was dad's hands, tightened around mom's neck aggressively, maniacally. He kept tightening his hands around her neck as if he actually wanted to strangulate her while mom's hands were fairing around with her nails, scratching his face, his shoulders in a desperate attempt to get him off her.

I saw red.

And the next thing I knew, dad was flying away from mom, hitting the vanity in the process and causing the whole makeups on it to fall to the ground.

Mom collapsed to the ground and my hands were quick to hold her up, to steady her.

"Mom, mom, are you okay?" I asked, feeling the frantic fear in my words, in my tone while mom sat there, on the floor and in my arms, her breathing coming out rapidly.

She looked scared, fragile and I watched her, watched as her breathing started going down till it was normal again and my gaze dropped in relief from her face to her neck.

To the red bruises on them.

Dad was actually strangulating her. He had actually been strangulating her to what? Intentionally kill her?

The thought chilled my body to ice.

And the image of dad's hands wrapped around mom's neck wouldn't stop popping up in my brain.

What would have happened if I did not show up at that minute? Would he have...

He attempted to... He wanted to...

I couldn't even bear to think about that.

"Korede? Why are you... What are you doing here?"

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at mom's question.

"Korede!" I got remembered that dad was still in the room when he growled behind me and my hands tightened around mom.

I've always known that I disliked dad but right now, it was just plain hatred for the man.

"Korede, have you lost your mind? How dare you punch your father in the face?"

Something unknotted in my head.

How dare you try to strangulate mom to...?

"Did I not teach you better!?" He yelled again and I burst into laughter, pushing myself up to my feet in the process.

"Of course you taught me better! You taught me that resorting to my fist is always the always the available option. Why? Does it hurt?" I fired right back at him, matching his dead glare with equal intensity in mine. I don't know how but with the raging storm building up in me, I knew it was just a matter of time before I hit him in the face again.

"And you're talking to me like that?" He exclaimed before turning to mom, who was still crumbled on the floor, a look of disbelief on her face. "And you, is this how you've raised my son? To punch me in the face and talk back to me?" He yelled and if it was any other day, I'd have staggered at his tone but today, I was just tired and fed up and even though he was angry that he was literally vibrating and shaking with venom, I couldn't care less.

I was just frustrated. Frustrated that mom allowed things to drag this long, frustrated that I've always been a coward, that I've always been hiding away.

But now, I was done.

"Stop talking to her that way." I deadpanned  and he turned towards me from mom, a look of horrified smile on his face. "Don't ever talk to mom that way again. Well, it's not like you're going to get another opportunity to even see her again."

He staggered back, the horrified smile deepening on his face. "Wow. Adam. Has you mother brainwashed you that much? Or are you just really blind to the things that are going on? Everything that I've ever worked for, every thing I've ever worked for so you'd have a better life, she's handling all of that to her concubine, she's giving all of that to the man she's sleeping with. She just destroyed my life and yours. And what? You're defending her? Are you really a son of mine?"

"No, I'm not. I stopped having a father the minute you decided it was okay to beat mom at any given opportunity. And mom did not even sleep with anyone. Isn't that some cock and bull story you made up to gain pity parties?"

He started to say something but I was already turning away from him and turning towards mom who was still on the floor and I helped her up, helped her to the bed.

Dad kept looking at us as if we were horror films.

"You know what? I don't want to see the both of you in my house till you learn your mistakes and you both come crawling back to me."

I looked up at him then, looked at his face, his black handsome face that I took so much after but instead of seeing his face, I saw that of a monster.

Man is a monster, an unredeemable one.

I turned back to mom at the same minute he stepped out of the room, slamming the door behind him and shaking the whole house in the process.

"Mom, are you okay? Should I get you a glass of water?"

I started to get up but she held my hands back.

"No, I'm okay. I'm okay."

But she wasn't okay... She wasn't okay at all because she wouldn't stop trembling, wouldn't stop shaking. She looked horrified and I knew that she couldn't get the image of how murderous he looked when he was strangulating her.

I couldn't get it out of my mind too so I moved even closer to mom, wrapping my hands around her shoulders so her head was buried in my own shoulder.

"I didn't want to come out, not because I did not want people to see him for what he is but they won't stop judging you, they won't stop blaming you for his crimes and no matter what you become and how good you are, you'll always be an abuser's son. I did not want that for you, Korede. You're just my sweet little boy and you don't deserve any of that."

I tilted my head backwards, forced the brimming tears to stay in my eyes. I didn't want to cry. Didn't want mom to see me cry when she was already crying that much.

"It's okay mom. I'm okay..." I'm not. "I think we should leave before he comes back, it's his..."

"That's all bluff." Mom replied, sounding nothing like she did earlier and pushing her head off me. "The house is in my name now and the security won't allow him in again."

Oh wowww.

I did not even want to ask how she was able to do all these. Get nearly all his property when she had been playing docile to him all these while.

"And Korede," She turned to me again, red eyes staring right at me. "I did not..."

"I know mom. I trust you."

A smile lightened up her sad face. "I really don't know what I've done to deserve a son like you."

I started to smile too as the sane minute her phone started reading.

I instantly knew who it was before she even picked it up.

"Hello, Auntie mi."

"Omolara, kínni gbogbo rádaràda tí mò ñ rí lótí internet yi?" Omolara, what's all these nonsense I'm seeing on the internet?

I heard it loud and clear through the phone's speaker and Mom heaved a sigh before gesturing to me to leave the room.

I ignored her.

"And kínni gbogbo òrò òshì tí Kóredé so funmi lekan yen?" What's all the nonsense that Korede was telling me earlier?

Mom turned to me, horrified and I shrugged. I couldn't just play deaf and dumb and blind again. Not after dad has already tried to ruin her entire.

And that was why on the drive home from school, I had called big mummy and I told her everything.

That mom never relapsed. She just had go get hospitalized after dad hit her way too much.

That there was probably nothing to relapse on in the first place.

*********

I was constantly in a terribly irritable mood right from that day.

The day I had seen dad try to strangulate mom.

The day I came to terms that he was never my dad.

That was the last day I saw him too because mom hadn't allowed him in since then.

I had to stay away from school to stay with her for three consecutive days and when I finally showed up in school, I knew what my mates were saying about me.

I only pretended to turn a deaf ear to everything.

Pretended everything wasn't getting to me but inside it was a turmoil.

I was quick to throw myself into drawing and painting, to drown every other thing.

So on Thursday when I was supposed to be training the juniors with Sophia and Aminah but I remained in the Art studio, trying to draw but being unable to so eventually, I gave up, packed most my materials because that week marked the last week before our externals.

I just walked from the studio to the academic block and to our class like a Zombie because I had concluded that there wouldn't be any students in the block.

But she was there. I didn't want to notice but I did. She was there, sitting there and I wanted to go to her and allow her to console me but I couldn't so I just forced myself to ignore and walk to my seat.

I started unpacking the materials into my locker when I felt her beside me.

I froze. Literally.

"Hi."

I turned slowly towards her, to see her standing beside me and my heart really did skip numerous beats.

How much I loved this girl...

But she was looking nothing like the girl. She was still Kunmi but she wasn't exactly her, not the Kunmi I had met and fallen for. And I wasn't talking about the fact that she looked downcast and a little bit broken.

I was talking about the fact that she looked unhealthy and I knew exactly what she was doing to herself.

That thought made me angry.

I..." She started, clamped her hands over the other, "I wanted to... I wanted to ask if..." She was just stammering, squirming under my gaze but I couldn't even care less.

"I've been worried about you."

She finally voiced out and all my resolves melted away. Desperate to do something with my hands, I started putting what was left of my materials into the locker because I knew what exactly I'll be using my hands to do if I wasn't doing that.

I'd be holding her.

I finished, locked the locker, turned back and started walking out.

I did not even make it to the door before I turned and walked back to her.

Her face looked like disbelief itself.

"What are you doing?" I asked and the disbelief on her face deepened. She took two steps back, eyed me warily with expression deepening into confusion as if I was speaking utter rubbish.

"What am I doing?" I heard her mutter underneath her breath, before she looked up, then started to say something as if agw really wanted to explain what she was doing.

She did not even understand what I was asking.

"Adam, I..."

"What are you doing to yourself?" I finally asked, putting all my frustrations and anger into my question.

She took two more steps back with her expression looking like confusion.

"You were the one that told me that you ended up in the hospital because you went on a restrictive diet for weeks and now, what are you doing? Is it not that sane thing that almost got you killed? Hmm?"

My voice sounded like a desperate plea and her expression changed from that of confusion to something else, something I couldn't decipher.

But it looked defensive.

"I'm not..."

"Yes, you're Kunmi." I took two steps closer and she took three backwards.

I stopped.

"Kunmi..." My voice sounded like plain torture, "I'm already this close to losing my mind with everything going on but I feel like you're just trying to drive me over the edge with you acting this way."

I waited for her to talk, waited for her to say something, anything but she just kept fiddling with her fingers and looking at the floor.

I heaved a sigh, turned back and left the class.

I couldn't even explain all the emotions I was feeling. I just needed to get...

"Heyy. Calm down!"

The body I nearly bumped into stopped me even before the voice did.

It was Alex and sitting on his ever so impassive face was a mumuish grin. I eyed him warily before I sidestepped him and started to walk away.

He stopped me by grabbing my hands.

"Calm down! Brother, you look like you can murder someone right now."

I kept staring at him warily.

"Calm down, hmm?" He continued, his brown face still glowing with that smile and he even proceeded to raise his hand up, then started raising it up and down in front of my face.

"Follow my lead, breath in, breath out. Breath in, breath out, Brother."

What the fuck is the boy going on about? And Where's the brother? I kept eyeing him, my eyes following the up and down movements of his hand and subconsciously, my breathing was too

"Good! You're calm now." He said before he released my hand and he stepped away from me.

"You know, anger is very very bad, instead of keeping your anger bottled in and allowing it to control you..."

Is he going to tell me to punch walls again?

"You should just make out with your girlfriend or something."

He concluded with that big unAlexlike smile on his face and I actually wanted to slap him.

"Alex,"

"Hmm?"

"Get lost."

He dropped my hands, "I was just about to, Brother, Gab is waiting for me."

"Just stop calling me brother..." I started to say but he was already jogging off.

Excitedly.

Like a child running towards candy or ice cream.

I shook my head, wondering what the fuck happened to him?

I mean, who did this to him?

***********

After sports practice, the hallway got unnecessarily crowded as expected after sport practice which was normal because it was basically a free period before the closing time.

It was like all the juniors were packed into our block and they all seemed to be talking at the top of their voices.

It was that loud.

And I would have given anything to remain in class but Sophia wouldn't allow me. She wanted me to eat something in the cafeteria and when I insisted I wasn't up for that, she wanted me to follow her to the cafeteria.

And she wouldn't stop whining and making stupid childish sound to my ears when I tried to ignore her.

In the end, I had to follow her and that was the sole reason why I was walking beside her down this crowded hallway.

We were almost rounding the corner, rounding the corridor and we were about to get to stairs when we bumped into a group of guys.

More like they bumped into us.

"Watch where you're going." I said reflexively before we started to walk off again.

Someone scoffed among the boys and muttered something demeaning.

I heard it loud and clear and my insides stopped before I came to a standstill beside me, Sophia stopped too and her hands tightened around me.

"Ignore him." She whispered in a quiet force and she started to tug me forward.

I ignored her.

And I turned quietly to the direction of the voice and of course, the boy who had said those words was standing by the corridor with his friends, laughing and talking at the top of their voices as if he did not just say that.

"What did you just say?" I asked, my voice sounding deadly quiet to even my own ears.

He looked away from his two other friends to me with some sort of tired expression as if he did not have time to spare me.

"I said whatever it is you heard so why must I..."

"Nooo, just repeat what you said."

"And what will you do?" He flared up, pushing his two friends away and stepping up close to me, "Will you hit me? Abeg, abeg," He actually poked at my chest with one of his fingers before he started to turn away. "Take your frustrations out at your mom who couldn't keep her legs..."

He couldn't complete his statement because my fist connected with his face and he staggered back with so much force.

Collective gasps filled the hallway and the students there were quick to abandon what they were doing and to gather around to watch a fight that they were sure would break out.

"Adam!" Sophia called out sternly beside me and she was quick to get in front of me, blocking me from the boy who was glaring at me with maniac anger in his eyes and clutching his left cheek.

I matched his gaze with even more intensity in mine. I was literally fuming with anger, there was so much anger coursing through my veins, my clenched fists and I was filled with a desperate need to continue hitting something.

"Just ignore him, Adam, he's not worth your attention. Let's just go hmmm?"

I started to turn away, ready to humor Sophia when a smirk crossed the darker boy's face.

"I'm not surprised. If your mom had stayed back at home to give you proper..."

I did not hear any other thing. The next thing I knew was that he was on the floor and I wouldn't stop punching even when my fist started to hurt.

It took Kunle and Alex and a couple of other male classmates to get me off him.

And when I saw the darker boy's battered up face, it felt oddly satisfying.

And that scared me.

************
~KUNMI~

I thought he was angry that I had ignored him all those months. That I did not allow him to be there for me.

I thought that was why he was walking away when I said I was worried about him because it felt hypocritical that I could go to him and tell him that, when I did not even allow him anywhere near me when I was at my lowest.

But that wasn't it.

He was angry at me, yes but that wasn't the reason. He was angry because he could tell that I have been starving myself, that I had been doing other things too just to make sure that I wasn't getting food into my body.

How he could even tell that by just looking at me...

How he sounded so worried because of me...

But still, I couldn't say anything to him and in the end, I had watched him walk away.

I dabbed at my face in the toilet, still carefully avoiding the mirror, still careful not to look up too much so I wouldn't see myself. After Adam walked out on me, I just found myself walking to the toilet even though I had no business here and in the long run, I was in the toilet for more than an hour without having any business here.

I basically just zoned out.

Now, I was dragging my tired self out of the toilet with my body literally feeling like tired itself. It was like all my bones were coming undone and like I was just liquid.

I was just about to walk of the toilet when I heard loud, guttural weeping from the other side.

I stopped, a panic attack building up in my chest at that kind of insane weeping.

Whoever it was, was literally wailing at the top of their voice as if they were being lashed merciless or as if they were being tormented by the devil himself.

It wasn't normal.

It couldn't be normal for any student to be crying that much.

The wailing, weeping continued and I just stood rooted to where I was torn between entering the toilet and going back.

It wasn't even my business.

I started to walk out of the toilet when I heard a door being opened and the girl stepped out.

I stopped again, on seeing who it was and her face.

She stopped too.

She looked badly beaten up from crying too much and her eyes looked so red it was hard to tell that the color used to be white. It looked swollen too with tears that looked ready to start falling off in torrents.

What's...

Only God knows why she was crying that much...

Did someone die... Did... What's going on?

She opened her mouth slightly as if she wanted to tell me something but couldn't so she closed it back, sidestepped me and walked out.

I stared at the girl's retreating back, feeling an unfamiliar feeling course through my veins.

What was that...?

"Hey, Kunmi. Here you are. I've been looking for you."

Sophia said to me just I was about stepping out of the toilet. It looked like she has been running because she nearly bumped into me by an air's breath.

"Have you seen Adam?" She asked, not pausing at all to catch her breath.

Have I seen Adam?

Of course not.

"No..."

"Oh shit! Do you know where else he could have gone to? He's not in the Art Studio and..." She was just legit rambling and not making any sense to me.

I don't know if I should be worried.

"What happened?" I found myself asking, feeling slightly edged.

"He got into a fight..."

"Adam wouldn't get into a fight." I was quick to reply and I was quite sure of myself. Sophia's face stretched into a thin line before becoming almost impassive and worried again.

"Well, he did get into a fight because Rahmon he provoked him. It got a little bit ugly and I've not seen him since then."

What...?

Ugly ke?

"Do you know where else he could have gone to?" She asked again and I nodded, knowing just one place he could have gone to if it wasn't the Art Studio.

***********

Of course, he was where I thought he'd be.

The old Art Studio.

He was sitting there on the floor, one knee raised up to his chin so his left hand would dangle over it and the other was just stretched out. His back was to the wall and his gaze was to the floor.

He looked like he did not even know that someone was already in the room with him.

He had gotten into a ugly fight.

And I had heard from my schoolmates loitering around when I was making my way to this old block just how ugly it was.

The poor boy's face was all battered up.

Even captured thieves in Yaba don't get beaten up this much.

It was like a demon took over him. He wouldn't stop hitting the boy.

I heard they're being summoned by the disciplinary committee.

I knew they were all exaggerating obviously but that doesn't mean it wasn't ugly at all.

Adam was someone who would never want to use his fist. I knew just how much just hitting someone will trigger him into thinking he was like his dad, that he could invariably end up being like him.

He doesn't even understand that Rahmon deserved to be fucked up. That he deserved to be beaten up badly for all the things he had always been doing and saying.

Me, I was even feeling satisfied that the guy got beaten up.

I drew closer to where he was sitting on the floor, a position that was facing the mural of the ocean at night and I started to stool down, to get down to his level.

"Kunmi,"

The oddly quiet voice jerked me back to a sitting position. He remained in the position where he was, unmoving, unfazed. I did not even know how he knew that I was the one.

"I want to be alone." He completed the statement, still in that tone and I... I didn't know what to do.

So I just stood there before I decided and I turned back, walked back to the door and locked it from inside before walking back to him and sitting beside him, careful not to touch him.

I was going to leave him alone, with me.

Because I knew that every 'leave me alone' actually meant 'hang on, don't leave me.'

For a while, both of us said nothing. I wanted to reach out, to hold his hand and silently comfort him but I couldn't. I kept staring at my hand that was lying beside him, at the plumpness, at the thickness and I couldn't.

I still did not want him to feel my hands like that.

I started to bring my hand back to my thighs when he reached out and successfully intertwined our hands together.

I stopped. Literally.

Not because of the thousands fireworks that seemed to be exploding at different part of my body because of the contact.

He was holding my hand in his, my fat, plump, thick hand and thousand voices were screaming in my head to let go, to remove my hand from his. They were telling me this shouldn't be happening, that he shouldn't be feeling my hands in his.

I was dying to remove my hands from his... I was dying to pull back but I couldn't... What would that make me? He was going through so much at home with his mom and dad and then, there was the incessant whispers at school too.

He was going through so much and the least I could do for him was to allow him hold my hands, plump, thick and fat.

Just for today.

I whispered silently to myself. I was going to do this just for today because of him.

I shifted uncomfortably, feeling as if I was being poked by a thousand needles in my body just because I was physically uncomfortable with him holding him.

"It felt oddly satisfying to hit him that much." He started, still not looking up from the floor and I was quick to reply him.

"It should feel oddly satisfying to hit him. He has always been annoying, rude and quick to say spiteful and demeaning comments."

He said nothing and I subconsciously tightened my hand around his.

"Me oo, I'm satisfied that you've put him in his place. He actually had it coming."

I was rambling... I knew that. So when he lifted his face up and a small smile crossed his face, I couldn't help a smile of mine too.

It feels oddly satisfying.

"I never thought you were a preacher of war."

I shrugged, "I guess I'm like that... Only when necessary."

Well, he said nothing in reply to my words, he just kept staring at me, eyes crinkling with love and something else, making me feel so vulnerable and bare and seen.

It also made me feel uncomfortable.

So uncomfortable that I looked away.

"You're doing that again, looking away." He said and my insides melted. Everything in me was dying to look up, to look at him but I forced my eyes to remain where it was, on our intertwined hands.

"I'm sleepy," He said again and before I could even say anything, he was removing his hand from mine and lying down so his head was on my laps.

I died. I actually died somewhere along the way. And my mouth parted into a small surprised O.

What?

"I'm sleepy." He replied my confused expression before he closed his eyes.

He was actually... Actually serious?

What?

"You can play with my hair," He started again, opening one eye, "I'll able to sleep faster that way." And he closed his eyes again.

What?

What's this boy going on about?

Minutes after, without thinking much of it, my hand went to his hair and I watched a satisfied sigh escaped his lips and a smile touched his lips and just like that, he drifted off to a peaceful sleep.

His breathing became more even and peaceful, like a child without any worry in the world.

And I felt oddly satisfied too.

But that still did not stop me from wondering and thinking about why the girl had been crying like that.

Why she had been crying as if she was being tormented in the deepest part of hell...

Why she had looked as if she was in that much anguish...

I mean, why Tolase of all people...

Isn't that light I see at the end of the tunnel? Is it? Is it???? 💃💃💃💃

If you love my fav couple, let's gather around for a selfie please 🤳🤳🤳

Why do you think Tolase was crying?

A reader once asked me that before the book ends, that would I tell them the reason why Korede's dad was always beating his wife? Really? Would any reason ever justify why she was reduced to a punching bag?

See you guys soon ❤️❤️❤️😴😴