Olumide ground his teeth at the sight of his sister standing on the marble porch of five circles stacked on one another. He parked his car under the blue car tent before coming out of the car.

The plan had been simple, breeze in and breeze out with the documents he’d come from.

“What are you doing here?”

“Did you forget we were supposed to meet today?”

“When? How?” She was lucky he still had something to do at his own house, instead of heading straight to Muyiwa’s.

“To sell this house."

He let out a breath. “That. was today?”

He had spent so much time on the internet searching for Romola and he’d even sent some messages to a few of her internet friends. So far, only two people replied to his messages. Because of that, he missed a deadline at work and now, he’d almost forgotten about this meeting with his sister.

“We can just do this on another day.”
She  moved away from the black greek column pillar she leant on and blocked his path to the door with arms akimbo. “What is wrong with you?”

He took a step back. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“All I did was spill a little drink on you and that was Leo's fault.”

“It’s not about the drink.”

She rolled her eyes. “This is the first time you joined us for dinner this year and you act like this. Do you know that Dami and Vicky are engaged?”

Olumide chose to focus on the door behind his sister. He still had messages from Romola’s old friends to listen to. Maybe that would give him a clue about her current life.
“How is my business?”

“They are your friends, Mide.”

“Did Dami send you here?”

This isn’t right.”

His sister closed the gap between them and his eyes lit on the darkish spot just above her right cheekbone. The glasses she wore at the dinner had covered it up.

“Is this why you wore glasses yesterday?”He reached for her face.
She receded. “Don’t touch it.”

“Did someone hit you?” Olumide’s chest rose. “Tomiwa?”

“How can you say that? Besides, he’s out of town.”

He tried to hold her shoulder but she pushed his hands off.

“That wasn’t what you said yesterday. You said he would come for dinner.”

“He flew out this morning.”

“I’ve said this since. I don’t think that man is as calm as everyone says.” Oumide said.

He had been against his sister’s marriage to the Tech billionaire from the start but his mother had pressed on with her matchmaking skills. Something in him had protested the first time he saw Tomiwa but he’d lost his right to influence family decisions after Muyiwa’s death.

“Don’t talk about my husband anyhow. Tomiwa is a great man.” His sister lowered her voice. “And.. and.. he’s a great father and husband. He’s done a lot to help our family. If anybody has a problem, it’s you.”

“Me?” Everything he had done so far was to keep the family’s ‘good’ name.

“Yes. Shouldn’t you settle down now?”

“I’m just 26.”

“This is the best time to marry. I mean, look at your friend. He snagged up an intelligent woman like Vicky. I felt like you and Vicky would make the better pair. But since you missed your chance, mummy has gone back to discussing you marriage proposal with Yetunde.”

The name hit him like cold water on naked skin during the harmattan season

“She can’t be serious. I already told her I want nothing to do with Yetunde.”

His sister fiddled with her bag’s strap.. “What is wrong with Yetunde? She is young, beautiful and she loves you.”

“She drinks and smokes. She’s loud and disrespectful—”

“Occasionally. That’s not any worse than that idiot girl you wanted to marry before. The drama she put up that day almost destroyed our reputation.”

“Drama? If Yetunde had tried to solve the problem quietly, that day wouldn’t have gone so bad.”

“It doesn’t matter. That girl was bad news. Yetunde, on the other hand, you know her. You know the family she comes from.”

Olumide walked around his sister, slipping his hands into his pocket to produce his keys. “I don’t see her that way.”

“You are not over that girl.”

“I am.”

“Then when will you sell the house?”

“Soon, I’m under a lot of pressure at work now and I can’t think properly.”

“If you are so over her, why can’t you marry Yetunde?”

“Yetunde is like her. Yetunde was her friend. Yetunde introduced me to her.”

She squeezed his right shoulder. “Yetunde also saved you from falling into a trap with that girl. Can you give me one reason, just one reason why Yetunde isn’t good enough for you? Mom and dad love her and I would love to have her as my sister-in-law. Leo sees her as his aunt. She also comes from a good family. She’s practically family as it is.”

“Aren’t you tired of having your life dictated to you? Ajoke, are you truly happy in your marriage?”

His fingers rose to her bruise, before she produced a set of duplicate keys from her bag. “I am and I want you to be happy too. If you are truly over that girl, change the colour scheme of your kitchen and sell that house.”