Scars (Romola 2)

98: Pain

Three weeks since Sunbo's death was the first time Romola felt some sort of relief from the turmoil that was her life.

She was still seated in the wooden pews of the court, squeezing her handkerchief in place of her stepfather's neck. They would never have found him without Olumide's help.

The trial had been quick. She, Jide and Maami had testified and he was carried away on a second degree murder charge. He'd yelled that Sunbo's death was a mistake and that he would not have killed his daughter for anything in the world. It was a pitiful sight, watching a grown man cry but Romola knew better than to fall for his antics— this same man had fled after the act and he had been found in the arms of a farmer's wife.

Olumide had pulled some strings in the police force to get the case hastened. He had been present through it all. For all the 21 days till this date, Olumide had taken charge of everything. Someone who didn't know thier family, would've thought Sunbo was his own sister.

"Aunty Romola," Lolade tapped her hand. "Are you not going?"

"I'm coming." Romola slid further back into the chair.

"Mumy and everybody is going with Iya Nelson. The car is already full. Shey, you will come with broda Mide?"

"Wait—" Romola's words barely registered in Lolade's ears as the girl took off, running.

Romola stared at her sister in shock. Lolade had taken to Mide from the first day she saw him. Everyone had. Except maybe Jide but every evening, Lolade looked forward to Olumide returning and he did. Even when she, Romola, believed that he would not. He came back every evening after work and slept on that cramped dirty couch, along with members of her mother's relatives that had helped with the burial, coming from as far as Kisi— her mother's home town.

He took charge of everything; the burial, the hospital bills, where the guests would stay. Everything. She hadn't had to touch a thing unless she needed to and so, she hadn't really spoken to him since that night when he confessed. She hadn't really spoken to anyone either. Every word she spoke was a whisper between her Lolade, her mini mouthpiece. Even when she had to throw the first sand over Sunbo's coffin, she had been unable to say a word. Just a chortle that ended with sobs. Mide had been there too. Holding her without a word.

And everyday, he had sent her a handwritten note in a coloured little envelope. She had the notes stacked in a scattered pile on the plastic table in the room but she did not open them.

It was time to speak now. He was waiting for her answer to the question about them because all that had filled the past three weeks had been Sunbo.

Sunbo. Sunbo. Sunbo. Everything about this week had been coloured by her sister's death. From what she ate, to what she wore to what she thought. But it was time to give him an answer about them.

Romola rose, using the pew ahead of her for support. She walked down the aisle, nodding at the few faces that she recognised while her eyes searched for Olumide in the crowd.

She found him at the door, bidding his sister goodbye.

His sister held his sleeping nephew against her chest and shot Romola a focused look, then turned to Olumide, saying, "You'll pick me up then."

"Yes."

Ajoke shot another lingering hot look at her before turning and walking down the staircase from the courthouse to Iya Nelson's already cramped car.

"Wh... Why is she going with them? Not you?" She struggled to find her voice as these were the first words she had spoken directly to him since he slept outside her house to confess his love.