single mum

Chapter 16

Oyin was about to lock the door when she noticed the car parked outside her  apartment. She locked the door and she was about to enter her car she heard a horn from the car. She looked at the car and she saw Charles smiling and waving at her. She walked to him and said, "why do come here when you know I was coming to your house", she asked. "Let's go out and have fun today and not stay indoor as usual let's do something special", Charles replied. She stared at him trying to find out what was actually wrong. "Common get in we don't have the whole day", Charles said. Oyin laughed and then she got into the car.

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Leo parked his car right in front of the assembly Hall in the school. He waited patiently for Daniel to get down but he didn't. He turned to Daniel to get down from the car but he was faced with a question.
" Are you fighting with mum?" Daniel asked innocently. Leo was shocked at the question. "No, not at all", he replied after recovering from the shock of the question. "This is the first time you didn't speak to me from home to school", he said. Leo couldn't reply for a while but he just said, "I just had a misunderstanding with mum, we are going to be fine". " "Then why did you transfer that to me. You are angry at mum not at me then why did you fail to talk to me?, Daniel asked innocently. "I'm sorry for the what I did, I'm deeply sorry", Leo apologized. "If mum begged you will you forgive her? Daniel asked. Leo nodded and said" of course I will". Daniel stood , pecked and waved before he alighted from the car and rush to his class.

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Oyin took the last wine in her cup.  " Waoh, I'm full", oyin said. Charles smiled and said "now we need to talk". Oyin raised her eyebrows in shock. Charles stretched forth his hands towards her, she took it without any hesitation then they moved to the garden.
They were both seated on a long iron chair. "Why are into this job?", Charles asked. Oyinkansola sighed. "It's ok if you don't want to talk about it", Charles said. "No not at all, I'm ready to talk about it".

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The sound of a loud slap woke Oyinkansola up from her sleep. She rushed to the living room to see her dad beating her mum. Oyin was not born with a silver spoon, her father was a carpenter who is also into so much drinking of alcohol and her mother sells foodstuffs. She was their only child but she didn't know love or rather feel love. Neither her father nor her mother loved or cared for her. Her mother cursed her father as he was beating her. All their neighbors knew they were fighters and when they hear that they just snob the scenario and mind their business.
Oyinkansola who always tries to separate them just watched her father beat and her mother cursed. She walked silently to the one room they were all sleeping. She laid on the mat crying.

Later at night, her mother was in so much pain whereas her father didn't sleep at home that night. She pretended to be asleep because there were many times she has been in pain and the so-called mother would not care about her but all of a sudden she noticed she was not complaining of pain again. She was relieved and curious. Relieved not because she was happy for her but she was happy that she would be able to sleep and she was curious because she wanted to know if the woman was pretending all through. She stood up from the mat and moved to the small sized bed. She touched the woman but the woman didn't respond, the normal woman would have given her a slap. She tapped her continuously but she still didn't respond, that was when she noticed that the woman was dead. She stared at the dead body without knowing what to do, firstly she didn't feel any pain at all, she was just pained because the woman later died because of a man. She moved out to inform a neighbor about it.

Her father staggered in in the morning without saying anything but jumped on the bed. She stood up from the mat and moved outside. She joined the neighbors in burying her mother. Her father didn't even noticed that her mother was dead but rather he continued to his normal routine. On that fateful day he came back home late as usual and Oyin was fast asleep but he felt like he needs to beat someone up. He bent down and then he started to beat her, she stood up hurriedly but as she tried to run away, she was pulled back and she was beaten heavily. As early as possible she packed a little quantity of clothes that she could pack and ram away.

She spent few days on the street until she found a home to work there as a maid. The home was a new one, it was family of 4. They seem happy and good. She always prayed to have that kind of family later in life and also she wished that was how her family was. She worked with for few months before she began to find out the truth about the family. On a sunny morning, while Oyin was busy cleaning the house she heard someone sobbing in the store. She walked into the store to see Mojisola, the second female child sobbing. She walked towards her and then she touched her and then she said, " why are you crying". Mojisola stood up, cleaned her face and then walked out. It was that moment that Oyin knew something was wrong with the house.

For some time, the house seem perfect again but on a fateful night, Oyin woke up to urinate when she heard a light scream from the store again. Immediately she heard the the light scream the urine was gone and she tiptoed to the store, she peeped in to see what disappointed her. She saw mayowa, Mojisola elder brother having sex with her forcefully in the store room. She ran to her room breathing heavily. She didn't know what to think, she usually saw in the dinning eating and smiling at each other, they joke with other, they hug and peck when one person is about to go out. Then what was the problem, she just couldn't just fathom the problem.

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Two days later, Oyin walked up to mojisola's room. She opened the door to see her zoned out. She has never noticed that she looked pale until recently. She sat on the bed and still she didn't flinch. Oyin also stayed beside her mute and not saying anything. "Why are you still in my room?", Mojisola later asked. " I was wondering what the problem was?", Oyin replied. " I never told you I had a problem", she said still not looking at Oyin. Oyin cleared her throat,"why are you pretending to be cool with your brother when all he does is rape you? Why? Why don't you tell your parents?". Moji laughed immediately she asked the last question. "You talk as if you know my parents". "Of course I do, I stay in this house everyday, I see everything", oyin replied. "My dad beats and rape my mum in the process of beating her, we watch him to do it as we grow up. Anytime we hear mum scream, we will rush there only to see that. Mayowa started this same habit not long ago, I told mum about it but she shun me. She has always liked mayowa all this while. Who else am I to tell, dad?". Oyin didn't even know what to say.

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"I stayed in that apartment for a while until I and moji gathered some money and flee and here Iam. I decided to pick this job up because many are really emotionally down and have passed through alot, why can't i help them". She said. Charles stared at her for long without saying anything but as she was about to ask him why he was staring at her, he gave her a light kiss on the mouth and then hugged her. Oyin was the one to break the hug. "You are really strong and determined", Charles said.