Two days passed after that. Tamilore still felt hurt by what Bisola did (unintentionally) and Bisola felt like she had to apologise to her sister.

It was evening. Almost everybody was in the living room, except Tamilore and her husband. Tamilore was outside, while her husband must have been inside their room. Bisola boldly went outside to find her sister.

When Bisola stepped outside, she didn't see her immediately. She had to walk to the back of the house before she found her leaning against a wall, staring into the distance.

She walked towards her, as quietly as she could, and she knew Tamilore saw her, yet she did not react to her presence.

Bisola touched her shoulder gently. Tamilore stiffened a little, but it was gone as quickly as it came.

"Tamilore," she said softly. "Please don't be angry with me. I didn't mean it like that at all."

There was silence, and then Tamilore closed her eyes briefly. Then she open it, breathed through her mouth, and nodded.

Bisola cracked a smile. "Thank you."

Then a tear slid down Tamilore's face.

"Don't cry," Bisola said, wiping the tear off.

"I'm offending everybody. I'm fighting with everybody."

"Aw." Bisola felt broken by her sister's words.

"No you're not. We love you. You're allowed to feel how you're feeling. Broken, hurt, confused. Just know you have us." She paused. "You have us," she reiterated.

"How can I have you," Tamilore whispered, "When you could very well be the kidnapper of my baby?"

* * *

The next day was somewhat serene, if everybody decided to forget about the missing baby.

Bisola and Tamilore had made up. They were both in the living room, alongside Tiwa, Itunu, Kola, and Dami. Modupe was still keeping to herself, choosing to stay alone in her room and eat there, and nobody attempted to go to her because mad Modupe could be a terror. Whenever she wanted to be left alone, she had to inevitably be.

Bisola spoke up, "This place is dirty. Titi!"

The girl who had been washing piles upon piles of plates came scrambling forward.

"Go and bring a broom and come and sweep this place," Bisola ordered.

The girl nodded and walked back into the kitchen. She returned with a broom and packer.

Obviously Titi couldn't ask them to stand up, so Bisola helped her out. "Please, you will have to stand up," she told them. "This girl wants to sweep."

Nobody could argue with the Mummy of the house, so they all got up, going to the dining room.

Titi swap the room, put the rug back on, packed the dirt, and went into the kitchen.

They returned back to the living room, perching on the sofas.

Few minutes later, Kola stood up, his hands on his waist. Then he asked, "Can we at least turn on the TV?"

"TV ke? Haba," his wife said.

"So we can know what is going on in the outside world," he said.

Bisola eyed him, but she wasn't being very serious.

"Okay, okay. Damn."

Later in the day, they were still sitting in the living room, doing nothing. It was around six now.

"Where's Dipo?" Kola asked.

"He's inside," Tamilore answered.

Just then, a loud barf sound could be heard. All eyes turned to Dami.

She had vomited all over the centre rug. Bisola and Kola sprang up. Bisola, not even caring that there was still vomit all over her body, lifted her up and placed her on her legs.

"What is wrong with you?" Bisola asked her child concernedly, as though she could respond back.

She stared at Dami. She didn't look sick at all, oddly.

"Maybe she ate something her stomach didn't agree with," Kola offered.

It seemed that way, since Dami just stared back at her mother.

Tamilore was concerned too. She looked at her expensive rug pitifully and turned back to her niece. She looked worriedly at Dami, then calmed down when she realised there was no serious problem.

Itunu got up and went into the nearest guest bathroom. She returned with a large bowl filled with water and carried it towards her aunt Tamilore. Tamilore gratefully received it and started to use the water to clean her face and her mouth.

"Sorry ehn," she said to her.

Titi had noticed what happened, so she came from the kitchen and went to the scene.

"Titi," Bisola said, "Please come and clean this place."

Titi looked at the disgusting sight and nodded sadly.

"Go and bring sand," Tamilore said.

Titi went into the kitchen and took a dirty packer. As she walked outside, she couldn't help feeling tired. In fact, she felt so emotional that she could burst into tears any second now.

All by herself, since only that morning, she had been sweeping and mopping floors, washing toilets and bathrooms, washing plates, cooking, cleaning the kitchen area, and now she had to clean disgusting vomit.

Meanwhile, she thought bitterly, she wasn't the only house help in the house. Bode had not touched any single housework since the day he came. He claimed to be sick but Titi didn't think he was really sick. As she dug the purple packer into the earth where the bushes were planted, she frowned, gritting her teeth. She was tired and hungry, exhausted. She knew what she'd have to do, but first, she had to clean up the mess the three year old created.

After she cleaned up the living room area where Dami vomited and scrubbed the rug as best as she could, Titi went outside the house, trying desperately to get the stench of vomit away from her body. She needed to breathe fresh air.

She walked to the back of the house. There was something about going outside after so long, feeling the illusion of freedom although in reality they were under lock and key, imprisoned, that made one want to wander.

When she got to the back of the house, she saw Bode there. He was using a smartphone.

"Bode?" He looked up in panic. "What are you doing with a phone? Who owns that phone Bode?"

He frowned and turned away from her, his back facing her.

"Answer me, Bode! Whose phone did you steal?"

"It's my own," he finally said.

"How...do you have a phone? That nobody knows about?"

He didn't answer her.

"Anyway," Titi said after a few moments, "That one is between you and your Oga. Ehen, are you okay at all?" Her voice reflected anger instantly.

"No. I told you, I'm sick."

She hissed, closed her eyes in anger to prevent herself from lashing out at him. She clenched her teeth and spoke in between them, with a calm type of fire, "Bode you're not sick. Stop lying. You're pretending to be sick and why is what I want to know. It's not as if you don't work at Grandma's house, and you've been staying there for three years plus now, so I don't know why you'd be faking sickness to avoi---"

Her eyes bulged out of their sockets when Bode placed his lips on hers.

He kissed her for two seconds and she almost felt herself easing into it, when her senses came back to her and she placed her hands on his chest, pushing him away from her firmly.

When they broke apart, Titi whisper-screamed, "Are you mad?!"

But she did not wipe her lips.

Bode looked around, making sure they were alone. "Titi," he smiled confidently, his eyes closed, "I have heard you touching yourself at night. Let me make you feel good."

"What?"

He stepped forward. He was so close to her now, leaning into her. She could feel him breathing against her neck. He grabbed her waist.

"We don't have much time. If you want what I'm suggesting, say so now."

We don't have much time? Is the case about to be resolved? Does Bode know something?

Titi sighed. She let down her defences. She didn't have to be so uptight all the time, it was okay to have some moments of enjoyment. She was a human being too, although nobody in this house treated her like one.

And how did this boy learn to be so sexual? She tightened her hip muscles. She was aroused.

Titi wrapped her hands around Bode's neck.

* * *

Night had come. Everybody had eaten, and most had retired into the room for the night.

There were still plates to be washed when Titi complained of cramps. She couldn't wash the plates so Bisola offered to do the chore for her.

Tiwa had said she would, but Bisola refused, saying it was good for her to carry out some activities. She argued that it was a form of exercise and it wasn't too strenuous.

Her husband agreed with her, but he told her to stay in the living room and called Bode to do the dishes instead. He told Bisola to check on the kitchen after he was done.

If Titi wasn't already affiliated with Bode now, she would have been overjoyed. She would have rubbed it in his face that he was made to work, and everybody saw through his lies now.

One hour later when Bisola was sure that her husband had slept off and wouldn't be coming out of the room anymore, she got up and walked into the kitchen. Bode raised his gaze from the sink, saw her, and smiled.

She smiled back. "I knew you were not sick."

"I'm not," he said. "I just wanted..." he walked towards her, wiping his hands on his shorts, "To stay a while longer."

Bisola smiled again. "I texted you so many times on the phone I gave you. Why didn't you reply?"

"I had not brought it out."

"Oh." She embraced him, placing his hands on her waist. Bode sniffed her perfume.

"How is my son?"

She pulled away from him. "I've told you." She had a serious expression on her face as she spoke firmly. "You can't call him your son. We had an agreement, na."

Bode rolled his eyes. "Then why do you keep coming back to me?"

"You act like you don't want me. Why did you stay behind for me, too?"

Bode stayed mute.

She hugged him again. "Please, let's forget about that."

After a while, he nodded. She smiled against his neck.

Bisola and Bode did not just come to be by chance. Bisola had never been happy in her marriage; she never really loved Kola, her husband. She only got married to him because he got her pregnant---they were dating, but she did not love him--- and she couldn't suffer the shame of being pregnant out of wedlock.

So much, that even when she got married to Kola, she still stayed with her mother because she was so close to her. She lived in her mother's house more than she lived in her husband's, and that was where she met Bode.

His handsomeness and dark, dark skin got to her. And then one day, Bisola saw his dick print through his trousers and sowed a seed of determination in her mind; she was going to get a taste of it. She began gifting him various presents, luring him to her. One day, she offered herself to him, making her intentions known to him. Bode was too shy to refuse her, and later he became into it, treating her way better than Kola ever did.

One thing led to another and she got pregnant. She was certain it was his, although at the time, she was also having sex with her husband Kola. Bisola didn't care; she had already fallen in love with Bode. She told Bode, and Bode was scared, but she convinced him that she would tell Kola it was his, and he agreed. She had felt a tiny bit bad because she got pregnant through her extra marital affair but then she saw some messages on Kola's phone---he had been texting a "LOML"---and all feelings of guilt evaded her mind. He was cheating, she was cheating too. An eye for an eye, a leg for a leg.

Bode had slipped his hand into Bisola's core and she moaned. Bode moaned too, feeling his dick get erect. He was having the time of his life.

If they had been conscious of their environment, they would have seen Itunu just outside the door. Itunu had not slept yet, but she was about to so she came to drink water when she heard their voices. She peered through the pee hole and heard everything they said, and also saw them.

She was frozen in her spot. Just as she stole away, Bisola caught a glimpse of her face.