01:41 pm, October 5
Tokyo, Japan.

'It was our utmost pleasure doing business with Pengine Motor Corporation and we hope to have many more in the nearest future,' the head of the board of directors said.

'The pleasure is ours,' Mide replied, shaking hands with the man.

At this all the board members stood up and shook hands respectively with the two representatives from Pengine.

'On behalf of the whole board of directors, may I interest you in a light dinner party at the company's conference center, later in the evening?' the head further said.

'To celebrate our success in the collaboration of our companies,' the CEO explained.

Eartha looked at her husband and he nodded his affirmation.

'Of course, sir. We're much obliged to attend,' she replied, smiling.

'It's our utmost pleasure,' the board replied.

'This brings us to the end of our meeting, and the beginning of our contract,' the board head said.

'You must be tired from being at business all day,' a board member said.

'As usual, accompany car is coming to pick you up. You should get fully refreshed before coming for the party,' the head added.

'Thank you for all your hospitality, you've made our stay in Tokyo a very wonderful one,' Mide and Eartha said.

'Don't mention. It was a pleasure doing business with Nigeria.'

At this everyone stood up, shaking hands again and started to exit the boardroom in groups.

'I heard you're leaving on the seventh,' Mr Kuromiya, the CEO said, sidling up to them as they headed for the elevator

'Yes, that's when our return flight is booked for,' said Eartha.

'We have the main time to quickly look around the city.' Mide smiled.

Kuromiya laughed. 'You have all of tomorrow to explore Tokyo and see our wonderful views. And I'm sure you'd enjoy it.'

'Oh, we would,' said Mide. 'From the little we've seen, we're impressed already.'

Mide pressed the button for the underground parking garage.

'If you'd like, the company can arrange a vehicle and a tour guide for you . . .'

'Very well, that'd be much appreciated. Thank you, Mr Kuromiya.' He looked to his wife. 'Or what do you think, Lollipop?'

Eartha squeezed his hand lightly and smiled. 'That'd be amazing,' she said.

Mide thought she looked slightly unenthusiastic about it but put the thought off as he couldn't work out a reason why she'd be.

'Alright. I'd have that arranged immediately. Thank you.' Kuromiya looked pleased at this.

They'd now reached the first level underground parking garage.

'Have a nice day, sir,' Mide said as the doors slid open.

'And you too. We look forward to seeing you at six O'clock.' The CEO smiled and stepped off the elevator.

Eartha smiled fondly at her husband and slid her arm into his, resting her head on his shoulder. 'I'm so glad this is over.' She stifled a yawn. 'Where's the driver? I'm very tired.'

Several minutes later they arrived at their apartment and got refreshed. Then it was time to prepare for the dinner party.

'Raspberry Ripple,' Mide started, looking into his wife's eyes.

'Mm-hmm?' Eartha paused from adjusting his bowtie to look up at him.

Mide smirked playfully. 'Spill it, Dandelion Fluff. I know something is bothering you.'

Eartha took her time making sure that the bowtie was standing in the perfect position. Then she stood back and examined her handiwork.

'Darling, you look wicked in tuxedo. Chur!' She winked.

Mide looked pleased and tossed his head back. 'What can I say, I was born to?'

Eartha slapped his chest, feigning annoyance. 'What a big show-off.'

'Tangerine Tea, what is it?' Mide asked softly, instead.

Eartha sighed and went to stand in front of the bedroom window. The new guest apartment allocated to them by their hosts was an exotic, high-end business overlooking the distant sea: part of the Sea of Japan.

Half of the sun had gradually disappeared into the horizon and the remaining half cast a pinkish orange glow over the sea so that the choppy waters appeared to be shimmering pink and blue.

'Don't you miss Nigeria? Don't you miss home?' she said.

Mide started at the unexpected question and then chuckled. 'Of course, I do, Heart. What're you talking about?' He raised an eyebrow in question.

Eartha turned to face him, resting against the window seat. 'Then let's go home tomorrow.' She pouted. 'The views of Japan can wait another time.'

'But it's just the day after tomorrow. Monday would be here before you know it. Besides, we already agreed to Mr Kuromiya's arrangement.'

'It's not too late to call it off na.' She pouted some more then sighed and threw her hands up. 'Mide, I'm tired of here. I'm tired of missing Adekunbi. I want to see her. Do you know how long it's been since we've spoken to our baby? Twenty eight days!

'Apart from that day you spoke to your brother and he said she was doing fine when he left her in the village. Mide, come on! How can we be sure she's still okay?'

'That's because our line was changed by the company and then reception wasn't that good. And don't be ridiculous, Raspberry Ripple, there's no reason she'd not be okay with Mama.'

Eartha raised an eyebrow, feeling chagrin slowly rise in her core. 'Oh, okay. So I'm the one being ridiculous, abi? I'm the one being ridiculous for worrying about not seeing neither hide nor hair of my daughter for a month! Mide, what on earth are you saying?'

Mide shut his eyes and took a long pull of air then released it, opening his eyes. 'I'm very sorry for saying that,' he started, softly. 'I didn't mean it that way — I miss Adekunbi too. What I was just saying was that we should take tomorrow as a break and rest properly before flying back to Nigeria.'

Eartha crossed her arms over her chest and remained silent.

He went over to her and gently cupped her cheek. 'We should fly back to Naija* tomorrow, that's what you want, right? Okay. Okay. Tomorrow then. I'll book us an early flight.'

Eartha's lips tugged to form a smile and she threw her hands around him. 'Thanks, Heart. I love you!' She threw kisses all over his face.

'I love you too. And I'm sorry for . . . what I said earlier.'

Eartha kissed him in reply, chuckling. 'Yeah. I can't wait to see our little munchkin again.'

Mide felt a weight he didn't realize was there lift off his shoulders.

'Me too,' he said, sighing in satisfaction. 'Lollipop, you're going to mess my tux.'

Eartha nuzzled against his neck. 'Hmm, you smell really good, too.'

Mide chuckled. 'When didn't I?' He rolled his eyes. 'Rainbow Drip, you should get dressed—

'Oh crap!' Eartha exclaimed, looking at the wall clock. 'It past five already! When is the driver coming by?'

'Five-forty,' said Mide, smug.

She disengaged herself from him. 'Tchh, I should get dressed.'

'That was what I said,' said her husband.

'Lemme joor,' she hissed and made for the closet.

'We're going back home, tomorrow,' she sang.

Which was why, very early the next morning  they were seated in a Nigerian airline going home to meet their family.

What they didn't know was that there was another kettle of fish for them to open.

                        ♟️🍒♟️🍒♟️🍒

'Home, sweet home!' Eartha threw her arms around and breathed in deep. 'Do you smell that?'

Mide, who looked grumpy reluctantly sniffed at the air.

He hadn't slept well enough before they had had to head to the airport for their flight to Nigeria, and he hadn't been able to sleep well on the nineteen-half hour flight either, so it was no surprise that the poor guy was dead tired from lack of sleep.

'Smell what? All I smell is the damn airport,' he said, tired. 'Babes, please, can we go look for our car now?'

'You're a spoilsport,' Eartha chided playfully. 'Smell the Nigerian soil joor.'

'This early morning? I'm tired sef,' Mide murmured, running a hand over his eyes.

Eartha took a proper look at her husband. 'Ehya, pele dear. Did you sleep at all?'

'No!'

'Sorry o. Let's get going then.' She pulled out the long handle of her travel bag and then took hold of Mide's own. 'Did you say you've gotten the car keys from the keep?'

'Yes. I even had to pay extra before I could get it. Apparently, the deposit didn't cover warming the engine everyday.'

'Oh. Don't mind them.'

They soon reached the long-time garage and found the purple Pengine car exactly where they had left it, fresh and shiny.

Eartha loaded their bags into the boot and put the rest in the car.

'Sorry, dear. You can lie down at the back.'

'Thanks, Tangerine Tea,' Mide said gratefully and slid into the back seat. He lay down as much as he could, folding up his legs against the car door with his back rested against the luggage pushed to the other end of the car.

Eartha got behind the wheels and revved the car. 'So, where to now?'

'I suggest we look for the nearest hotel and lodge. If I don't get rest before this hour is over I think I'd die.' He sighed expressively.

'Oh. For how many hours then? We still have to travel down to the village o.'

'I don't know o. Lemme sha sleep and wake up first. You know that after we get Adekunbi — which would take hours — we still have to go to the HQ in Kaduna —'

'That one can't be today again o,' Eartha said as she pulled out of the parking lot.

'I know, right, babes,' agreed her husband.

'I just remembered I'm starving, by the way. That hotel seems a very good idea.'

Few hours later . . .

The glare from the lit chandelier when Eartha switched it on penetrated through Mide's deep sleep and he opened his eyes.

'Wakie, wakie!' Eartha said with flourish and pecked his forehead. 'I was starting to think you were drowning a fish in your sleep.'

'How long did I sleep?' He threw back the duvet and sat up, yawning.

'Just seven and a half hours.'

'Woah, I was madly tired. What's the time?'

'Three forty-two.'

'Wow. The day is almost gone so fast.'

'How do you feel now, babe?' Eartha came to seat at the edge of the bed beside him and touched his naked shoulder.

'I'm not sure, I don't feel very refreshed . . .' he trailed off. 'And I'm hungry again.'

'Lucky I ordered room service. They'd be here in a minute.'

Mide sighed in relief and relaxed. 'Thanks, Rainbow Drip.'

Eartha winked and relaxed against him.

He breathed in her hair. 'Come to bed,' he whispered.

She nuzzled more into him and sighed. 'We don't have time, Love.'

'Why?' He nibbled on her earlobe.

Eartha parted her lips and moaned. 'Stop. Not now.'

She stood up away from him, brushing her hair back from her face with both hands. But the heat in her eyes made it obvious that she wanted to go back to him.

'We'll be late to the village,' she explained. 'I already picked out your outfit and packed up, we're leaving immediately we're done eating.'

Mide understood her worry. 'Okay, Rainbow Drip.' He winked seductively at her and got out of the bed anyway.

'I'm going to take my bath now. When room service arrives, Mide, please tip the person.'

'What? I tip services a lot,' Mide protested.

'Yeah, right.' Eartha rolled her eyes and started to tie her hair up.

'While you take your bath, I think I'd call Mama to inform us of our visit. And then Femi and other people.'

'Sounds great,' Eartha said, slipping on the bathrobe. 'And the company, too.'

She closed the ensuite door.

All that reminded the sky of the retired sun was the faint, dusky  glow of the twilight. It was at this time that the villagers trudged back home from their daily jobs and some started out for their nightly ones.

The result was that the narrow roads were filled with people moving up and down, noisy motorcycles with dim or no headlights hooted as they transported people and goods towards their destination, and a few rickety lorries passed in between them once in a while.

But the dark coloured expensive car with the powerful headlights looked out of place on the dusty roads and the tired people kept shading their eyes from the strong glares of the lights to try to make out the car or it's occupants.

Eartha, behind the smoked glass of the car, sighed in frustration for the nth time as they continued to move at snail's pace.

'It'd really do all of us the world of good if they all stopped pausing to stare and move out of the way!'

Miss tapped his hands on the wheels in rhythm to the music flowing softly from the speakers and glanced at her.

'Dandelion Fluff, ain't nothing we can do about that. This part of the road is narrow, hopefully, when we reach the wider part we'd be able to move faster,' he assured.

Eartha hissed. 'I think we'd move faster if you'd horn at them.'

'No need for that. We're almost there,' Mide said.

'It's kinda strange that Grandma has not called to know of our journey progress,' Eartha observed.

'Maybe it's the poor network again,' she concluded. 'Shouldn't we call her again? So that she'd start getting our girl ready. You know how Adekunbi is with traveling, that girl takes years to pack anything.'

'Aren't we spending the night here? It's dark already.' Mide said, a frown forming on his forehead.

Eartha's smile deflated. 'Oh. You got a point there, I guess.'

Mide started to laugh. 'Wait o, you actually wanted us to pick Adekunbi and go back today?'

Eartha rolled her eyes and punched him in the arm.

Mide continued to laugh for some seconds, to the disgruntlement of his wife.

'Better watch where you're going,' she murmured.

'Oh. Look, here we are.' Mide pulled off the road into Mama's compound. 'See, we didn't even know when we reached home.'

He slowly guided the car to a halt in front of the building. In the bright headlights he could make out his mother sitting on a bench outside with her chin resting on her palm. She didn't appear to have noticed them and made no move of standing up. Taiwo came out of the house, probably to check out the owners of the car and he looked shocked on seeing their car.

'That's strange,' he said, frowning.

'I know, right,' Eartha agreed, already reaching for the door. 'Do you think something happened?'

'I don't know.' Mide turned off the engine and undid his seat belt, pushing open the door, too.

Eartha realized that it was now very dark outside and couldn't see her feet except by the car interior lights that were still lit.

She shuddered, turning on her phone flashlight and started towards the older woman sitting at the porch.

'Good evening, Mama. Ẹ́ káalẹ́ mà,' she curtsied very low in front of the woman.

Silence greeted her in reply.

'Welcome, ma,' Taiwo said, prostrating on the porch. 'You didn't tell us you were coming o.' He chuckled nervously.

He had a sickly sweet smile plastered on his face and Eartha's inner warning bells immediately went off like a bullet. She could practically hear the peals echoing in her cranium.

She frowned and took another look at the mute woman, shaking with trepidation and almost choked on her breath. 'Where's Adekunbi? Where's Eniiyi?'

When, in the next second, no one answered, ghastly? thoughts began to run through her like a freight train.

'Where's my daughter?' she asked louder this time.

'Tangerine Tea —'

Eartha snapped back to face her husband who was just arriving from the car. 'Olumide, ask your mother where she put my daughter,' she said hotly in one breath.

The guy looked very confused at his wife's strange question. 'What in the —?'

'Gone,' Mama spoke up, a lone tear sliding down her cupped cheek into her palm. She wouldn't look at them. 'Eniiyi ti lọ.'

Eartha gasped in shock, her phone slipping from her grasp to the ground. She staggered back and Mide quickly caught her by the waist.

'Mama, what the fuck are you saying?!' he demanded. 'Taiwo! Where's Adekunbi?'

Taiwo fidgeted behind Mama on the porch. 'It's not what you think, sir. She's alive, but isn't here.'

Mide quivered in rage and wanted to climb up the porch steps and shake the nonsense out of the younger guy.

Taiwo seemed to sense the rage waves coming off Mide in the darkness and spoke up again. 'She was cast out of the village—'

Eartha turned into his arms with a loud sob. 'Mide, do you hear that?!'

Mide was bewildered about the issue at hand. He wasn't sure where to start comprehending anything. But first he had to calm his poor wife down. She wouldn't quit sobbing into him and now she was heaving and he feared she might faint.

So he first gently coaxed her to the car, promising to take care of the issue. He'd almost gotten her to sit down when she shook out of his arms in defiance and started towards the porch again.

'This is a joke! It must be! She was standing right there on that damned porch when we left her here, so how could she be gone?! To where? She's inside, they're just making a sick joke. I'm going to call her number right now and my baby is going to pick up, because she always does!'

Mode had never in his marriage to Eartha seen her in hysterics. She had been grumpy many times before and had once almost had a panic attack when he suggested they enroll their daughter in a boarding school, but it was nothing like this. And by God, it scared him. It scared him shitless.

He tried to calm her down, he himself boiling with rage and unasked questions. He finally got her to sit in the car and immediately locked up.

She realized what he had done and started to bang against the glass, screaming what he was sure was nothing but profanities, but he couldn't hear her — the car was soundproof.

Then he went back to the porch and, ignoring his rigid mother, pulled Taiwo up to his height by the neck of his T-shirt and found out how it had all happened.

When the boy was done, he shakily let go of him and turned around, his mind numb and his teeth chattering. He didn't even register that Taiwo had crashed to the ground.

'Mama, what have you done!' he stammered, his bloodshot eyes filling with tears.

'Olumide, I —'

'Mama, do not start, please!' He screamed, throwing his hand out to her, as though to wade her off. Then he clenched that hand into a fist and shakily breathed in deep, with his eyes closed and his nose flared.

He released the air and slowly retracted his hand. 'You know what? I— I don't have time for this right now. I'm coming back to deal with this sick village and it's people.'

'Get me all her belongings!' he barked at Taiwo who immediately disappeared inside, almost peeing in his shorts.

'My son, why—'

'Mama, do not call me that!' he turned his angry eyes on her. 'You knew I was your son and you willingly threw my daughter out. Your own blood!'

Bile rose up in his throat in disgust. His mother started to say something but he wasn't listening. Taiwo appeared with Eniiyi's box and he snatched it from him and started to climb down the steps.

'Sir,' Taiwo called in a quavering voice.

'What?' snapped Mide.

'The policemen left a number just in cas . . .'

Mide snatched the piece of paper from him, took a look at it and continued down the steps with the paper clenched in his fist.

'I'm coming back for you!' he told them.

On opening the passenger seat door Eartha threw her fists at his chest.

'You son of a bitch!' she cried, tears flowing endlessly down her face. 'Why did you —'

'Shush shush, Eartha dearest, it's okay.' He caught of her wild fists and gently but firmly held them together. It's okay, Dandelion Fluff. She's in Enugu.'

She stopped trying to wrench her hands free from his grasp. 'Enugu?' she said, her eyes wide and shining with tears.

'Yes, Tangerine Tea. It's a long story, get in the car and I'mma tell you all of it on the way out of shitpit.'

Eartha obediently sat back in the car and let him put the box in the boot then join her.

'Where to, Mide?' She asked in a small voice. 'It's dark.'

'Anywhere away from this village,' he spat out in bitterness. 'There's a town after the village, it's about half an hour away if we hurry.'

'How are we going to find our baby?' she asked the foremost thought on her mind. 'What the hell happened?'

'I got a number.' He waved the piece of paper as he pulled unto the main road.

Then he took a deep breath to steady himself and started.

'Two weeks after we dropped Adekunbi here . . .'

*(Slang) Nigeria