She knocked on her grandma's front door, and her cousin opened for her, she seemed surprised, "Peace! How are you? How did you get here?", she asked poking her head outside looking for a car.
Peace entered the house after they hugged, "I need to shower, is Granny awake? I am here for a long time", she walked towards the bedroom she usually used when she visited, put her backpack on the bed and went to her grandma's bedroom, "Good morning my love, how are you? You are still sleeping at this time?", she asked sarcastically, "Little girl you found me awake, your mom called me you need to go back home I will not fight with your father for something I do not even know". Her Grandmother respected her father as her son-in-law, but she did not want to get involved in anything involving him and his family. "What are you saying? I should not visit you no more?", she tried to manipulate her, "I see what you are doing, it is not working, just go home I am sure it's not that big of an issue. What did he say this time?", her grandma knew her father used to say hurtful words when he was angry, Peace narrated the whole story and her cousin had joined them by then.
"Nobuhle must come to get you if she wants you home", Nobuhle was Peace's mother's name, Peace felt relieved that her grandma took her side this time, "There are things you should not say to your children, he crossed the line this time", she even sounded so serious. After hours of talking about Peace's situation, she went to shower and watched TV with her cousin, Aviwe who was 12 years older than her but never treated her like a child. "Now tell me the truth P, where did you get so much money, I did not tell Granny about the voucher you gave me, what's going on?", she wanted to ask her when they were alone. "I took a lot of jobs, and you know in these fancy restaurants you get a serious tip.", she lied, "Thank you though, for thinking about us when you get money", she smiled at her, "I appreciate it, I wish I heard that from my parents, I regret ever thinking about doing something nice for them just to show how much I appreciated their hard work", she said more to herself than to her cousin. Her phone rang, but she just ignored it without checking the caller ID, she did not want to speak to anyone anyway.
"Sash: I heard you fought with dad; it must be hectic you're his favourite. Skye told me a lot of things he said, I am sorry.", Sasha used to fight a lot with their dad, and she fully understood what Peace was going through, Peace replied a 'thank you' and threw her phone away. "Your mama said she is going to give you some space so you can stay here", her Grandma immerged from her bedroom, "Thank you Granny", she sat on the sofa opposite her, "I hope with all the gifts you bought you did not forget you owe me a cake", she was looking at Peace's reaction as if she appeared surprised she was going to throw her out of her house. "Of course, but I was hoping we could get it when Skye and Sasha are here", she offered to make coffee for them knowing very well that her grandma hated it. "Girl, just sit down, you know you do not want to make anything for me".
"Her eyes were almost closed, I was worried by the time she gave birth she was not going to be able to see the baby", they were laughing as they recalled the time Aviwe was pregnant, and she got really fat. "I decided then that I was never having another baby ", right then her phone went off again, "Yoh! We've heard enough of that phone, answer it", her grandmother ordered. She looked at her, at her cousin, and back to her, she was serious. She looked at the phone screen for some time, "Hi", she swallowed with her eyes closed, "Can we please talk, we can meet wherever you want, please Peace", Akwande's begged in her ear, "I can't, I'm home". The line went silent for a moment, Peace tried to make it look less tense, "Oh! When are you getting back?", he sounded disappointed, "I'm not sure", she wanted to cut it short, "Okay, I see you cannot talk right now, please let me know when I can call again" "Sure, I will text you", she dropped the call. Her grandmother looked at her, "What, Granny?", she shrugged, "Seems like you have a lot going on, you're on bad terms with the boyfriend too?", Peace was surprised, "I do not have a boyfriend" "If you say so". Her grandmother did not care much about those things as long as you do not do too much, showing it off in their faces, and not show up pregnant but you were not going to discuss boys with her.
When she was in the bedroom, she thought about texting Akwande. She felt like she was done being mad at him, they needed to talk, and she did not need that much negative energy around her at least she had to fix some of her issues. "Peace: You can call", she texted around 9:45 pm, within five minutes, the call came through. "Hello", her voice vibrated, "How are you?", he asked, and she paused, she wanted to tell him everything but that was not the right person for that, "Come on, I know you did not beg for this call just for small talks", she avoided the question. "Right", he released a breath, and Peace could hear it clearly, he was too stressed out, if she was okay, she was going to facetime instead of a voice call. "Okay, please listen to what I'm about to say, you will speak once I'm done" "Sure", he ordered.
"I am deeply sorry for all the things I have put you through you did not deserve that. I am not trying to excuse my behaviour, but I promise you I am not that type of a person, and I had never acted out of character before.", she put him on a loudspeaker and placed the phone on her chest as she laid on her back on the bed, because this was going to be a long call, "I am even more sorry that I treated you so badly when you did not deserve it. Every time I could think of you and any other man, I just go crazy, I could not control it, but I am working on it now. I get jealous when someone else shows interest in you even though I am aware we are not together. I have accepted that I feel something for you, and I must learn to control it before it hurt both of us. One thing I know for sure, I do not want to lose you even as a friend I am more vulnerable with you, and I like that. Lastly, I wanted to tell you that I miss you so much." "I miss you too.", Peace admitted.
YOU ARE READING
A Sauce Down the Pole
Random"5,4,3,2, 1..Over", Peace counted sliding down the pole she's been dancing on for 30 minutes. She walked out of the stage and immediately took off the heels that were burning her feet the moment she reached backstage. "Dan", she greeted the giant ma...
