Chinny

"...madmoiselle Bouvery Rouge....?" The immigration officer repeated with a stern look into Chinny's eyes, studying her carefully for a moment.
Her deep red lipstick on a no make-up face, and a red straight hair weaved around her scalp till it looked like she was wearing a red turban, long earrings, and a long pink animal-fur sweat coat with white snickers.

"D'ou vienez-vous? Et pour quoi?" he asked

"Je vien du France pour visiter ma mère, elle as mâl." she answered non-chalantly, chewing a gum with reckless abandon.

" elle habite ici?"

"bien sûr, elle est une Nigeriane."

He looked at her sternly again , before saying

"bien venu madmoiselle" as he stamped her blue passport.

"merci beaucoup" she replied as she picked up her moderately sized bag and made for the arrivals with her heart pounding of relief and excitement!

She was back to the place of her birth which held a lot of memories for her. she couldn't wait to relish them all!

She wanted to scream of joy, to burst of happiness- she was kinda free!
No need to hide, or live a fake life anymore, she could finally be herself.

She had left the country seven years ago with a new identity, a new passport, a new name, became a queen in the dark web - Then, there was no going back from there. She only got more fake IDs and passports, lived in different countries, got triple citizenships in different countries including France, with three different aliases in seven years.
She learnt new languages, name it! She did it all.

The only thing she couldn't do in those seven years was answer the name Chinny Olukoye. But no, not here.
She could finally be Chinny, the Chinny- the tall, young, and beautiful woman she was.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sight of a tall, chocolate skinned, well built, and good looking guy holding up a cardboard paper on which the name 'Chinny' was clearly written on.

She smiled

"Uchee..."

*****************************************

Chad

They were done with the hugging, crying and kissing part of a mother - son reconnection and were sitting and talking.

All the while his mother seemed to be taking a liking to the pretty Ebony, Roma.

"Is this beautiful lady here your wifey?" his mom asked winking at him severally.

"uh.. no ... ma'am " Roma cut in with a shy smile.

"Hian! No mum."

"Oh but I like her.."

"mum....?"

"what? Are you not seeing this beauty? Just take a look at her eyes, her nose, her color, her height, her manners , my goodness! Sweetheart you're beautiful!"

"Thank you ma'am" Roma replied again, smiling.

" I was really worried about you taking a fancy to Caucasian women but, alas, here you are nwa m"

Chad rolled his eyes "mother...?"

"Hush hush.." she cut in, not minding his stern looks.

She turned her gaze to Roma who was sitting right beside her.

Chad's mum has always been friendly and warm, it was his father that was ' the problem'.

"Sweetie, what's your name?" she asked with her polished British accent. Yes, she had studied English at Oxford, London, obtained a phD in English, before getting her ' royal wedding'.

"Roma" she smiled shyly

"oh heavens! Nwa m (my child), are you seeing this?" she turned to Chad " oh behold her smile." she was clearly impressed.

"Roma? What's the meaning of Roma?"

" um, it's a short for Romanus Mbong Eket" Roma answered feeling a bit awkward about her name.

" wow, you're from a tribe that shares semantic similarities with..."

"Mother..." Chad interrupted, and forced a fake smile, trying to avoid her geek rantings. She always did that clearly hadn't changed.

His mother smiled and continued.

"...Oh dear, you look like a good girl, are you my son's..."

"no no," she smiled shyly, and avoided Dr Mrs Okorie's eyes.

"Oh no, but you could..."

"mum..." Chad interrupted "... any food or drinks or..."

"Of course dear, lots of them. Somehow I had been battling with this strange feeling recently. Been having dreams and a whole lot, didn't know it was God's sign that my son was coming back to me..."

They smiled

" I know you're trying to change the topic here my dear, but this, is quite important to me so... Roma dear..."

" yes ma'am"

" are you single or ..."

"mum, where is dad?" Chad interrupted, and there was silence.

His mother's mood slowly turned sour and a tension gently built around them.

A huge part of Chad was desperate to see his father, to apologize for seven years ago, to admit that he was wrong.

He'd born this heavy burden within himself for so long. He'd regretted everything that happened that night, he shouldn't have done what he did.

All he wanted was to tell his story to his dad, how he conquered, how he had become a true lion of Duruewuru, and to seek his advice about his white fiancé .

This time would be different, he won't be scared of him, only respectful and calm.
He believed he was now old enough for his father to have 'the talk' with him now.

"You've killed our father now! Are you happy!!? Are you freaking happy now?!" Luma had yelled at him that night.

"Leave him be. Father isn't dead, just unconscious" Nuelle, his elder sister said.

Chad was the third, she was the second. She was the closest to him, but even then , the look in her eyes broke Chad's heart. Especially when she had calmed Luma down and then turned around to say;

" so much for a prince of Duruewuru" and walked out.

He was then ashamed of himself. He knew he had lost it. His heart hurt and just then, he decided his family didn't need him anymore.

He went to his dad's room, stole his debit card and the phone linked with it and off he went, without even packing bags.

He only picked his wallet and international passport and his sole intention was to run away, as far as possible before his unstableness ruins his family.

He stayed in a guest house for weeks, awaiting his admission into an OD Optometry program in the University of Sydney, New South Wales.

His father never searched for him, or went in pursuit of the debit card he stole and he didn't know why. Maybe he was still unconscious.

No one came for him, maybe they searched but couldn't find him. All he knew was that he had paid his tuition, and before his mother could come for him, it was too late, he was to leave for Australia the next day.

She had begged and pleaded that he'd stay, but...

"Your father died three years ago..."