The dining room was quite the graveyard that it had always been. No one made a sound even as everyone was right there, seated in their chairs and helping themselves with the feast in front of them, everyone besides Sommadina of course.

After what had happened the other time, she had done all she could to avoid any form of interaction with Rafael, it wasn't just her that felt extremely awkward by the situation, it was Edwin, Edward, and most importantly, Olivia. She had her eyes glued on her food and spent most of her time fidgeting with her fork. She pretended to eat but at the same time it was pretty obvious that she wasn't, he could notice it, everyone else could.

While Grace was extremely busy stuffing her mouth with food like nothing happened, Edward too, Edwin could notice how Olivia had so much on her mind, and he could also see how it affected the way Rafael acted. No one could blame him though, it was a surprise how he still managed his cool even after what he and Edward had told him earlier.

He couldn't believe it, he couldn't believe that there was the slightest chance that Olivia was trying to leave the mansion again, and even worse, without telling him about it. He could understand the reason for her upset, but he just felt betrayed by the entire thought of it, especially after he had promised her that he was going to handle the situation with his mother.

Olivia turned to her phone the moment it beeped, and then again, and then again. It was a streak of messages popping into her device and it looked like it came from the same person. Rafael couldn't see much since her phone wasn't exactly too close to him but he saw enough to make him raise his gaze to her. He could see the words "Agent" as the sender and could already guess that those were house photos.

He hurried his gaze back into his plate and reached for his fork just as Olivia quickly reached for her phone and flipped it upside down. Rafael cut a slice out of his plantain and forced it into his mouth.

"Who's that?" He asked, pretending like he had no idea what was going on. Edward raised his gaze to Olivia too when he noticed how Edwin already had his eyes on the situation.

"No one." Olivia said as she managed to cut her plantain into a smaller piece. "Just work stuff."

Now she was lying too.

Rafael nodded his head, forcing himself to swallow the food in his mouth so he didn't choke on it even though it was really hard to. He didn't raise his head to her for a second. He couldn't believe that she had lied to him either. Edward slowly reached for his cup of juice, leaving his eyes on Olivia while he took a long sip from it.

"Edward told me that you plan on leaving the house with Grace."

Edward spat what was left of the juice in his mouth out immediately in shock at the mention of his name just as Olivia froze. She clenched on to her knife and fork and didn't make a move right after. Edward knew he had told Rafael everything he knew about Olivia's plans but he never thought he would bring it out like that in front of everyone, including her.

He slowly turned to Olivia to watch her but she didn't look like she was upset with him for it. She let go of her cutlery and swallowed the piece of food in her mouth just as the doorbell rang. She slowly turned to Rafael and exhaled, there was no point hiding it from him anyway.

"Let's talk after breakfast." She said. "Alone."
She went on. He deserved to know and she wasn't going to keep him in the dark. She had let him out of the information earlier because she was worried that he was going to stop her, now he knew, it was useless hiding it anymore.

Rafael left his gaze on her, not quite sure he had the right words to say. A part of him understood her reason to want to leave and keep it away from him but a part of him didn't. He exhaled and was about to say something when-

"Sir." Lucy came rushing into the room as fast as she could. Rafael hesitated for a second, he still needed a minute to take Olivia's suggestion in. He let out a weak breath before he turned to Lucy slowly.

"What is it?" He asked her, not bothering to look at her all the way.

"There's someone here to see you sir." She said.

Rafael exhaled weakly and turned to face her completely.

"Who is it?" He asked her but Lucy wasn't sure she had an answer to that especially with the way she shrugged. Rafael was too busy having his head occupied with thoughts of Olivia and how she had planned to leave him again, he could barely give his attention to anything else, especially when he was particularly late for work.

Lucy's claim seemed very absurd. He wasn't expecting anyone and was sure he didn't know any other persons  that had access to his house address. He didn't know what she was on about and he wasn't sure he needed to. He took off his napkin from the neck of his shirt immediately and dropped it on the table.

"Tell whoever it is to book an appointment with my secretary during office hours sometime within the week." He said getting up from the table slowly. "My home is off limits to strangers" 

Lucy thought for a while like she was trying to remember something.

"She said she's family." Lucy said just as Rafael turned to her frowning even harder but still trying to keep his cool. He couldn't understand why Lucy was being persistent and he sure as hell didn't remember inviting any relatives over. He barely had any to start with.

He scratched his eyebrow as he walked away from the table slowly.

"It's fine," he told Lucy as he became suddenly interested to see who it was. Olivia let her curiosity pull her slowly from her chair too, leaving her gaze on the exit door as she slowly walked right behind Rafael who found his way to the front door.

Maybe he needed the distraction, maybe it was better that he got pulled away from the dining table right before he was about to get into a fight with Olivia. He scratched his eyebrow as he raised his head to notice the figure standing too comfortably in front of the door, taking a good look around, and appreciating his interior. His eyebrows caved in as he squinted his eyes to have a better look at who it was.

"You know, I always knew you had good eyes for good furnitures and fixtures," the voice said as she took further steps away from the door and towards him while he walked even closer. Rafael froze at the sound of her voice, and he was even more surprised when he recognized her.

It was just as he had remembered, she was just as he had remembered and anticipated, she took his breath away immediately. Age had nothing on her and neither did time. She had aged beautifully and sounded the same, just as he had remembered.

He slowly dropped his hand from his face and held his breath just as Olivia walked right towards them, struggling to see what it was they were on about. She froze when she saw how shocked Rafael was

"Ivory?" She slowly followed Rafael's voice till her gaze brought her to the middle aged woman standing a bit far from the front door. She frowned at the realization of her curiosity as to how they both knew each other. Olivia squinted her eyes at the really tall woman in front of them who didn't let her height intimidate the length of her red heels. She had the most beautiful curves Olivia had every seen on a slim woman, and when she smiled at the mention of her name, Olivia could feel her heart freeze from the beautiful sight of her dimples.

"Hello baby brother."

Olivia swallowed hard.
Baby brother?

She could feel her head spin from all the questions she had in it. She couldn't wrap her mind around the words she had just heard. Was that really her? Was that really Rafael's older sister? The same one that he barely talked about? The same one that left the country years ago and never came back? Was that really her?

She had the most beautiful Godmark Olivia had ever seen, just at the same spot as Rafael's, right beside her right eye and her eyes were shaped like his too. Now that she was taking a close look at her, Olivia could see a lot of similarities between her and Rafael. If you didn't look well, it was easy to think they were paternal twins.

"Ivory?" They all paused when they heard a voice behind Olivia. Olivia slowly turned to see how Edwin and Edward just stood there, shocked to their bones with what they had seen.

"Hey guys." She bent over just so she could look at them closely, she waved at them. "You both must be Edwin and Edward." She scoffed in excitement. "Woah, you've both grown so well from the last time I saw your photos."

She dropped her hands and stood straight, pushing her gaze back to Rafael who had barely gone past his shock. She exhaled weakly.

"You made a lot of fuss about how you missed me and wished I was home over the phone last month, and now I'm here, you're just going to stand there and stare at me like you've seen a ghost?" She asked him right before she spread her arms. "Come on, bring it in."

Rafael scoffed.

He didn't believe her. A huge smile appeared on his face as he hurried as fast as he could into her embrace and hugged her tightly, tighter than she could imagine. She wrapped her hand around him too, letting the brightest smile ever appear on her face.

"God I've missed you." Rafael told her in a loud whisper. Ivory shut her eyes and took a deep breath, taking that moment in as her eyes suddenly became clouded with tears.

"Me too Ralphy , even more than you." She said letting him go slowly and sniffed, she reached for the tear drop that hung in her eyes and cleaned it before it dropped.

She laughed.

"I spent three hours on my make up, I can't believe I'm about to ruin it for you lots."

Rafael laughed.

"When did you get back?" He asked her. "You should have told me, I'd have picked you up from the airport-"

"And risk not seeing the look on your face right now?" She kissed her teeth. "I don't think so. You've got a lot on your plate right now baby brother, I didn't think asking you to play chaperone to me was fair plus, I had to make a quick stop somewhere from the airport."

Rafael couldn't help himself, he took a long look at her from head to toe. He just couldn't believe it, he couldn't believe she was standing right in front of him again after all those years. She raised her head and sent her gaze behind him to look at everyone else. Olivia stood straight the moment their eyes met. She could see how Ivory watched her with a look of excitement on her face while she pulled Grace closer and held on to her like she was trying to protect her from the unknown. She swallowed hard.

Ivory slowly took her gaze back to Rafael.

"Is that her?"

Rafael looked at her for a second right before he turned to Olivia and Grace. A proud smirk appeared on his face as he turned back to her. Olivia saw how the look on her face brightened even more as she pulled her hands away from Rafael and started to  walk towards them.

"You must be Olivia." She said even before she got there. She pulled Olivia into her embrace before she could even fight it. She hugged Olivia tight enough for her to take in the scent of her sweet perfume and for it to fill her entire nostrils. Olivia was almost blinded by the shimmer of the golden looped earrings Ivory had on both ears. She could take in the small curly baby hairs behind Ivory's head right before she felt Ivory let her go. She reached for Olivia's hands and squeezed them.

"My brother has told me so much about you, you look even more beautiful than I had imagined. Wow." She left her gaze on Olivia, her words were kind and her voice was very soothing to hear. Olivia could feel her belly carve in from feeling extremely shy from Ivory's compliment. If only her skin was as fair as Ivory's was, she was sure her cheeks would have been blood red by then.

"Thank you." She said in the lowest tone ever.

Ivory gasped.

"You should come with Ralph tomorrow." She told Olivia as she looked her right in her eyes just as Rafael turned quickly to face her. Olivia turned to him nervously, she had no idea what Ivory was talking about. She hoped Rafael explained it to her but with the way he furrowed his brows, she wasn't sure he knew either.

"Tomorrow?" He asked her causing her to turn to him immediately to meet his confused gaze. "What's happening tomorrow?"

Ivory pouted her lips.

"What else?" She asked him. "Dinner at my house of course." She said.

Rafael scoffed.

"You have a house?" He raised a brow at her. "Already?"

She pursed her lip and then nodded.

"Yeah, I got one yesterday. I figured I needed someplace to stay if I was going to stay here for a while, and what better way is it to celebrate such a big win without eating delicious food and catching up with family huh?"

Rafael exhaled.
Twelve years and she had barely changed, she wasn't even close to being less dramatic. He drew a sharp breath and scratched his brows.

"I'm not sure tomorrow is fine Ivy." Rafael said before he dropped his hand. "It's a weekday, and I've got work at the office."

"Come on, stop. It's only going to take a minute. She slouched and turned to Olivia. "It would be fun really, and a good way to catch up, Mnnn?"

"I uh-" Olivia started and then slowly turned to Rafael who kept giving her a signal to decline her offer. She swallowed hard and turned back to Ivory who just kept staring into her eyes with hope in them.

Olivia wasn't exactly sure how she could turn her down on the first favor she had ever asked her.

"S-sure," Olivia drawled, "we'd love to."

"Great!" Ivory clapped her hands in excitement, shifting her gaze from Olivia until it settled on Grace who just stood there, watching the scene like everyone else.

"And you must be Grace, my brother's special and only God daughter."

Grace chuckled.
"Good morning Aunty." Grace told her with a bright smile on her face. Olivia couldn't explain the kind of comfort and excitement she could see in Grace's eyes as she spoke to Ivory, she had the same look on them like she always did when she spoke to Rafael.

Grace was the happiest and brightest whenever she got to speak with her godfather and now that Ivory was here, Olivia was happy to see that there was someone else in Rafael's family that actually thought of her and Grace that way. She could feel a heaviness leave her chest and found herself smiling even brighter when she thought of it.

"Kenechukwu?" Sommadina's high pitched tone as she mentioned Ivory's name rang across the room as everyone turned to the direction of the hallway.

She was hurrying as fast as she could to the small crowd while Benita tagged along right behind her, looking extremely confused and yet excited at the same time. Sommadina increased her pace, spreading her arms wide as she got even closer to Ivory who just stood there, watching. She let out a weak exhale just before Sommadina stopped right in front of her and reached for her hands gently. She placed her hands on both of her arms and pulled it down gently until it found Ivory's hands,

"My child," Sommadina had tears lingering in her eyes, just as Ivory settled her gaze on her. With the way Sommadina looked at her it was almost like she was examining her from head to toe.

Not that anyone could blame her, no one had seen Ivory since she left twelve years ago, and for reasonable reasons. In as much as she kept in touch with them when she could over phone calls and emails, there was still a lot of her that felt unavailable to them. On several occasions, Ivory had made it clear that she wanted no part in her family's drama and so it was easy for her to be written her off as rogue.

"Mother." Ivory frowned when she noticed the tears in Sommadina's eyes. She could identify how excited and worried she was at the same time. No one would have ever thought that she'd be back home, especially at the time she did.

"You've lost a lot of weight," Sommadina said, "you've grown so tall from what I remember too."

Ivory tried to hold back the tears in her eyes. She turned her gaze to where Benita stood, teary eyes and all. Sommadina let her go when she noticed how  she slowly pulled her hands away and started to hurry to Benita.

"Nanny?"
Ivory opened her arm wide and hugged Benita immediately, and as tightly as she could while Benita rubbed her back.

"Nwam." Benita sniffed before she pulled her away to take a good look at her. "Is this really you my child?"

Ivory nodded.

"Come on you guys," she sniffed as she turned to them all. "I was only see gone for a few years. You're making me feel bad for leaving." She turned back to Benita

"I missed you so much Nanny,"

Benita's smile widened even more right before Sommadina hurried towards them and pushed Benita away gently just so she could get Ivory's attention. She reached for Ivory's hand.

"Come on," she told her. "There's so much I need to know, so many things about what you have been up to. There's so much to tell you too."

Sommadina turned to Benita,

"Get us something refreshing to drink, perhaps a bottle of champagne." She told her just as Benita nodded to every word.

Sommadina slowly turned back to Ivory and started to pull her away gently before she could say anything else. Olivia swallowed hard and turned her gaze to Rafael the moment his loud ringtone caused them all to give him their attention as he reached for his phone.

With the way he let out a weak sigh and rubbed his forehead before he picked it up, Olivia was sure he knew who was calling.

"Hello Tony." He said walking away from them, walking away from her without doing as much as looking at her. Olivia turned to meet his back facing her as he walked further down the hallway. "Eh, eh, slow down-"

His voice turned to echoes until she couldn't hear them anymore.

She exhaled.