"Please don't tell my mom about her; her mom and mine don't really see eye to eye on some things," Dean pleaded in the car.
"Your mom wants the best for you, lad," Cole said, eyes on the road.
"But you like her, man," Connor teased.
"Can we act like nothing happened when we get home? You don't want my mom suspecting we're hiding something; trust me, she'll fish it out."
"Uh oh... he's scared of Mama," Lilly teased.
"No!... she has rules, and I'm still living under her roof."
"Same here, I really do wanna get my own apartment... but I gotta make sure I'm rich first," Connor added.
"Seems your dad doesn't care if Lilly has a boyfriend."
"I do care; I have rules... You can't say it's different everywhere else, no, son."
"My mom seized my phone... she claims she doesn't want to raise a woman wrapper," said Dean.
Woman wrapper? That caused a few seconds of silence in the car. Mr Cole was driving; he'd probably given his chauffeur the day off so he could drive his sons and daughter around himself. Lola still hadn't warmed up to accepting her brother Dean, so she'd excluded herself from the outing. Sometimes you wonder why a kid doesn't want to accept a new family member, and there could be real reasons behind it. She'd given a few, but you don't think that's reason enough to hate on Dean... do you? I don't think so either... hopefully we find out soon.
"What's a woman wrapper?" Mr Cole broke the silence.
"Yeah... woman wrapper," Connor and Lilly chorused.
Dean realised they'd gone quiet because they didn't understand him. He let out a quick laugh and tried to hold in the rest of it, but his siblings weren't finding it funny... though did his father care? The old man kept glancing at him through the rearview mirror.
"A woman wrapper in my country simply means a man-prostitute... like he sleeps with anything in a skirt."
"She's scared of raising a dick..."
"Connor, don't," Lilly cut in.
"I mean, it's in the blood; we can't fight it, brother."
"Connor, stop." Mr Cole frowned and braked two houses before Anita's.
"Isn't this supposed to be my personal issue?" Dean said, rhetorically. Lilly seemed to sense the tension.
"It's just heated up a bit, brother."
"I wasn't expecting this to escalate, please."
"Your mother doesn't want her son to end up like his father, who had two kids and still had the nerve to be unfaithful in his marriage," Connor scoffed with anger.
"I still wonder why Mom still chooses to stay with you."
"Excuse me!"
"Stop, Connor... Dean is here!" Lilly yelled.
To Dean, this family had looked so perfect, and he'd felt sure they had no real issues having him in their lives, well, except for Lola, who'd told him to his face how much she despised him. He sat in the car watching a heated argument between his brother and his father, his younger sister Lilly looking hurt, her face showing she'd failed to stop the quarrel no matter how hard she'd tried.
Guess he had a perfect home after all... right? He had limits to every conversation he had with his mother; apologising was polite before saying something that might offend her. It often led to a serious scolding, which meant a few days of trying to win her back into talking to him, or even looking at him the right way. And if she ended up telling on him to his grandma, he'd have to sit through a hundred words that always ended with "a word is enough for the wise."
The argument seemed to have made him entirely invisible, so he reached for the car door's unlock button, thankful he wasn't sitting up front with the old man.
"Where are you going?" The car went silent.
"Home?"
"Son, I'm taking you home."
"Doesn't seem like it, sir." Dean shrugged.
"We're taking you home; Dad and I were just having a little misunderstanding."
"My blabbermouth caused it; maybe getting down and walking home wouldn't hurt."
"Your brother just went off-topic; that's all. I don't want your mama thinking I'm an irresponsible father. She doesn't already think you're safe with me, and you walking home alone would confirm it," Mr Cole bit his lip.
"She won't. I'm seventeen; I've lived through worse than walking two houses."
"But..."
"Omo, shey these ones no dey hear word ni?" Dean thought to himself... guess he'd whispered it out loud, because they'd heard it.
"We hear you," they chorused.
They had no choice but to let him walk himself home; he'd already opened the door, and if Mr Cole tried to start the car now, it could hurt him. Dean tuned out their goodbyes, though he didn't ignore Lilly, since she hadn't made a big deal out of his business, so she got a proper goodbye from him.
As Dean walked home, he wondered if he'd been rude, getting out and deciding to walk. Was he mad at them? He wasn't sure. Did he feel intimidated? No... it just felt kind of good to see his brother clash a little with his father. He'd always figured he'd one day have to be the big brother, all composed and well-behaved around his younger siblings, at least that's what his mother always said. But maybe, just maybe, it was okay to speak his mind around his siblings and his mother too, as long as he found the right way to do it, so he didn't end up getting slapped for being rude.
He got to the gate, and as he knocked, he found himself smiling, picturing how his mother would react if he ever spoke to her the way his brother had spoken to their dad; the whole family and half his friends would hear about it. His mother opened the gate for him, a small shock, since the gatekeeper wasn't around, but it didn't matter; he was just happy to see her. With the same excitement, he hugged her, and she rubbed his head and kissed it. He was seventeen and still hadn't reached her height.
"Ah ah, you are growing up!" Anita admired his height.
"Máá, I'm seventeen, and I still feel like I need more of a growth spurt."
"Your father isn't that tall, but don't worry, it'll shock you when you realise you're taller than me."
"What am I even saying? You already reach my head; no be bend, you bend head!"
"That's true," Dean shrugged.
"Where's Lawal?"
"Oh, he went to check on the generator; no light, and we've been told there won't be light tonight. I was there with him before your father called."
"Oh, he called?" Dean raised a brow.
"Yes," his mother nodded.
"Did he say anything?"
"No, just that you felt like walking home. Don't let whatever he said bother you," Anita said, not wanting to say more.
"That reminds me, wash your hair tonight; I could taste bugs on my lips," she added.
Meanwhile, Mr Cole and Connor still had things heated up in the car. Poor Lilly felt ignored and out of the conversation, unable to calm either of them no matter how hard she tried with her sweetest face. They had a quiet drive home; sucks, right? At least she got to spend time with her other, more level-headed brother, who wasn't mad at their dad.
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Mr Cole took a little of his frustration out on the front door as he opened it. Connor didn't care much either way; he was heading straight to his room to cool off with music and games, and Lilly would end up gossiping the whole thing to Lola. He ignored the house staff's greetings and demanded to know where Adline was.
Adline, overhearing her husband's upset voice from the kitchen, headed straight to the living room with a napkin still in her hand; she'd clearly been having a good chat with her kitchen staff, the kind of easy rapport she always had with them.
Seeing her kids and husband with upset faces, she handed the napkin off to a staff member, hugged her son and daughter, and tried to find out what was wrong. Lilly shrugged, then went straight upstairs to her room.
"Honey? Is everything alright? Did she do something stupid?"
"Maybe ask Dad," Connor frowned, hissed, then headed upstairs.
"Wonder why you still put up with his shit," his voice echoed back.
"Connor!!!!"
The only person left to ask was her husband, seated on the sofa, sulking. Sulking? Not quite, just upset, in his own way.
"What happened?" She sat beside him.
"You happened, Adline, you happened."
"Me?... I didn't do anything wrong; I was home all day."
"Yeah, sure, that's all you do. You're the perfect parent; you never do anything wrong," Cole sighed, working to keep his temper in check, since he still wanted his kids talking to him later.
"Shhh... don't say that; no one's perfect," Adline said, pausing.
"Cole, if anything's wrong, we can settle it as a couple," she said, taking his hands, which he pulled away shortly after.
"Okay, what's going on? I'm trying to help here, honey."
"Why don't you set everything right, then? At least when I die, that one bad thing my children hate me for, I could be redeemed of it."
"What bad thing?"
"That I'm the unfaithful one in this marriage." Cole gave a faint, forced smile.
"We both messed up, and you know that, and yet you're the good parent. I've been the victim for years, and that was fine with me, until today, when I realised if I don't clear this mess up, the one child who sees me as a father figure won't look at me as one anymore!"
"Arrgh, there he goes again," Connor cut in.
"How did you get here? I thought you'd gone to your room," Adline said.
"I did, but I had to come back, just in case he tries anything stupid."
"Of course, I'm the bad one!" Mr Cole said, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Yes, the victim, you have a child with another woman."
"Oh great, look, Adline, you're the good parent, no secrets."
"Yeah, she's the good parent. I watched her put up with your mess and accept the kid too!" Connor said.
"Yes, sure, son, at least I kept my own kid! He's alive, and pretty soon he'll be calling me daddy, just like the other three," Connor laughed sarcastically, picked up his stuff, then headed back up to his room.
That was a strange thing to say. Connor noticed his mother go quiet, lost, speechless; she reached for a red wine.
"What?" Connor stood in front of her, somehow demanding to know what his father had meant.
"What!!"