By the time she was past the study, Gina knew she had had enough of the conniving scarecrow.

Making a beeline for the kitchen where Sisi usually spent her hours chatting away and posting slutty and provocative pictures, she found her perching on the counter top, her long legs crossed at the knees, her phone held at a relatively far angle from her pouted face. The clicking sound of the camera shutters caused Gina's eyes to roll on their own.

"Hey, scheming insect, what was that stunt you pulled last night?" When there was utter silence save for the shutter click, Gina's temper rose. "Answer me, huh."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

No sentence had ever infuriated Gina as much as these ones did at that particular point in time. Without deep introspection, she reached over and grabbed the girl by her skinny limbs and flung her to the tiled floor in a heap. Before a reaction could be formed out of her, Gina was already on top of her delivering punches and random curses.

Thelma ran into the kitchen, saw the commotion and ran out. The gardener, Osuofia, walked in with the older woman at his heels. He surveyed the situation, shook his head bitterly and walked out. The last gardener lost a well paid job because he 'touched' the owner's woman, and the driver might be out of job soon due to similar encounter. Osuofia was a typical Igbo man, and they were not stupid where money was concerned.

Thelma, out of options, went to the pair still dragging and pulling at each others hair and attempted to drag Gina away from her helpless niece. A hard blow to her jaw from the raining freeload of punches had her scrambling far away from the heated mechanism.

Gabriel marched into the kitchen looking belligerent at being disturbed at work and sighed. Of course, Sisi had to provoke the sleeping tiger that was to be his baby mama. Even he knew not to mess with her.

He reached over and grabbed a kicking and screaming Gina off the bruised and battered crying girl on the floor. It was clearly obvious who was the victor and who was the vanquished.

He struggled with her till they were out and past the kitchen. He didn't let her protesting frame go until they were standing in his back porch overlooking the turquoise crystalline still pool. He allowed her to get a breather before he queried.

"What did she do to you?"

She glared at him and hissed. Loudly. The sound nearly deafened his eardrums before attempting to walk past him. He grabbed her arm and halted her progress. Being forced into the situation, she turned, folded her arms and placed them directly below her bust region, her lips pursed. He released her arm when she glared at it like it was an offending wasp.

"I asked you a question, Gina."

"Go and disturb your 'little sister', Gabriel, and leave me alone."

He expelled a tired breath, massaging the nerve at his nape delicately. "I admit I knew she was lying last night about you being drunk just to get me alone with her but like I told you before, I would never see her that way."

She shook her head in disagreement, getting incensed by the minute.

"Poisoning my drink can affect the baby, Gabriel. She's trying to get me killed and all you're worried about is that I don't give infections to either you or your child. Excuse me if survival of the fittest is the only tune I can dance to!"

He nodded, viewing the problem from her point and agreeing with her methods.

"If it makes you happy, I'll send her off to go stay with my father. He wouldn't mind the company since he's mostly alone at the family house all by himself. That way, you'll only ever have to deal with her on special family occasions."

She held his stare, loving his consideration and yet wondering why. She knew he didn't like her, not in the long term, commitment scenario, but he cared enough about her to consider her needs and comfortability above all else.

"Why would you do that for me?" She dared hope her assumptions were correct.

He flashed her a smile, a genuine reaction that hid the outrage building up in his being due to yesterday's event.

"I wouldn't want anything to happen to my child, and since you'll be carrying him, I want you both to be comfortable and relaxed."

Disappointment was soon turning out to be a constant companion for Gina in this house.

+++++++++

Today, however, the story would be different. Gabriel had called on Friday evening, -three days after the whole cheating drama,- from the Asika agricultural farms in Ibadan, Oyo State, where he had travelled to for business matters to invite her to dinner today at an expensive restaurant. He wanted to thank her specially for agreeing to do the surrogacy thing but Gina wanted to believe it was because the man wanted to apologise for his rash behaviour and didn't know how to express himself yet. Anyhow, she had gone shopping this morning for the perfect dinner date dress. Hours later and she was ready for her date.

Presently, she wore a silver long flowing sequined gown that Gabriel's Mastercard had bought for her along with a matching black strap heels and black clutch. She had made new weaves that almost reached her buttocks earlier that day in anticipation of this dinner tonight. Even her newly manicured nails glistened against the light, glaring evidence that money was good, but spending money was even better.

Once she had doused her pulse points with a spray of the ridiculously expensive perfume that the sales girl claimed went with the gown, Gina was feeling nervous. Like a girl going on her first date. All nerves gave way for melancholy when she realised this was her first ever official date, the frolicking at expensive restaurants and hotels with clients at the strip club not counted.

Shaking away her sadness, she smiled brightly at her reflection determined to forget about those memories and make new ones, ones she'd cherish for a long time to come.

Feeling funky, she flipped her hair and the breeze from the appliance had them swimming with the air. She grinned and then laughed at her childishness. She'd always wanted to do that.

She stepped out of her room when she heard Gabriel's domineering tone dishing out brisk orders to Thelma which indicated he was ready to go. True to his word, he had sent Sisi to go stay with his father, and if Gina never saw the girl again, it would be too soon.

Adjusting her body clutching gown to ease the nerves, she strolled to the edge of the stairs and paused for dramatic effect. The movies always had a slow motion scenes like this and she wanted to try it. Unfortunately, either because he wasn't expecting her to be ready or he was just too blind to recognise real beauty, she spent forever waiting for him to notice her presence.

Impatience forced her to clear her throat loudly at the dying minute which caught his attention and she smiled when his gaze settled richly over her frame, taking in every inch of her appealing form from head to toe. When he let out a low whistle in appreciation, she averted her gaze, subconsciously playing with her silky smooth weaves. His dilated pupils was making her feel some kinda way.

"You look breathtaking," he murmured breathlessly. The drawl in his words hinted he might be having second doubts about the dinner.

Shutting off her inner temptress, she nodded amicably. "You look handsome.

"Let's go," was his reply.

She nodded, taking mental note that he didn't not respond to her compliment. Did he not like being complimented? The man was weird.

She went down the stairs gently, grateful that the older woman had gotten the hint to slip away earlier leaving Gabriel to be the only witness if she were to misstep and went tumbling down the stairs.

She reached the bottom without accident and decided a hair flip was in order. She flipped with too much force and the weaves gave her a whiplash, with half of them flying into her mouth. She coughed and spluttered trying to prevent them from choking her.

Gabriel smiled before reaching over to cup her face, tilting her head until her eyes locked with his.

"Next time, try that hair flipping stunt when we're outside and it's breezy, okay?" He pushed the offending strands away from her face being careful not to crease or smudge her makeup.

She nodded dumbly, the only reaction she seemed capable of making this night so far.

He released her and linked his fingers with hers before guiding her to step in line next to him and they made their way to his car.

The car ride was silent; she was used to his taciturn behaviour and didn't bother chattering away aimlessly. They soon arrived at an expensive restaurant judging by the decor, the car park and the location. Elites knew how to differentiate their stuff from the locals.

They were directed to a table at the far end of the restaurant, hidden from public eye view but held a romantic appeal to it. Gina nearly squealed at how promising the dinner was already turning out.

"Why did you decide on a dinner date? We could have gotten take away like last time," she questioned, itching to know the prompt behind this gesture.

He shrugged, dismissing the matter as trivial. "Sometimes, a well prepared meal eaten in a lively environment such as these is just what the body demands.

"Besides, I figured you might enjoy a night out after being indoors for a whole week." He added as an afterthought which made a beam to cross her lips.

"Thank you. I appreciate the offer." In other words, she was grateful for the date which wasn't tagged 'a date'.

The waiter took their menu and arrived minutes later with an appetiser. She eyed the cutlery in front of her but changed her mind when she saw Gabriel eating with the wrong utensil. She giggled and pointed at his hand when he raised an eyebrow in question and he shrugged, adding that his uncultured self did not like disrespecting food.

They chatted away about random uncultured behaviours they exhibited while growing up, with Gina narrating about fighting with boys in her age bracket all the time because she had a hard time dealing with her rage and stubbornness. Gabriel mused at that, realising it was quite incredulous that he did not engage in physical combats while growing up.

"In fact, the first time I ever fought with my brother was three years ago. The very day he burnt a picture frame in my office out of pure jealousy. I never forgave him for doing that. The fight has been on and off since then."

Gina shuddered at the revelation, briefly wondering what photo the frame held that was so precious to warrant a fight. She opened her mouth to ask only to get cut off by a high pitched squeal that stunned them both resoundingly.

"Gabriel, darling. It's been ages!" A tall, fair, skinny lady in polka dot jumpsuit reached over and hugged Gabriel who had a confused expression on his face. Confusion gave way to anger when she kissed him right smack on the lips as an act of greeting.

He pushed her away from him roughly and she swayed dangerously on her heels, the arm offered by her partner barely keeping her from falling.

Gabriel's eyes narrowed instinctively when he recognised her and her date. Trust Malcolm to pull a stunt like this. Well, he was not playing his game.

"Hello, brother," greeted the mischievous skunk, his eyes roving over Gina's form lustfully. "Who do we have here? Won't you introduce us?"

Catching unto the angle his brother was coming from, Gabriel smirked and obliged him. He reached for Gina's hand across the table and kissed her knuckles, breaking her curious stare from the skinny dot standing beside their table.

He was plainly giving a show for Malcolm's date who looked like she was about to start crying at the display. Gina eyed the woman again trying to piece her face.

Gabriel had a devilish smugness when he opened his mouth. "Sweetheart, I want you to meet my brother, Malcolm and his date. I would have introduced her specially but she cheated on me a month to our wedding so we are not on speaking terms at the moment. Perhaps later?"

Gina's lips gaped, watching in awe as Gabriel reclined back in his chair completely unperturbed.

"You asshole!" Malcolm choked, seeming shocked that his brother would pull that card when he had purposely set the girl up. With his help, no less.

"How can you say that when you set me up?!" She cried indignantly.

Without thinking her actions through, she grabbed a wine glass filled with red wine and splashed it on his face, some flying off in different directions. Gina gasped loudly, which brought all attention to her. A red splotch lay cosily on the left bust section of her gown. This was not the movies. Somebody was paying for the ruined gown and it was definitely not Gabriel or his Mastercard.

"Bia, are you mad? Isi ana emebi gi?"

Stunned by the crude, vile language, the girl whimpered and stepped back to hide behind her date.

"Did you not see what you did to my expensive gown? Where is she running to?" She was already on her feet, trying to ensure the girl understood the enormity of what she had done.

When the girl wouldn't move from her secure position, Gina reached over and grabbed her arm, pulling her out from behind Malcolms' frame. Annoyed, she yanked her arm back and free from the grip.

"Don't touch me again you stupid, classless girl. Do you know who I am?"

If Gina had a naira for every time she had heard that phrase, she'd be a millionaire by now. "I don't know who you are and I don't want to know. You ruined my gown and I want compensation."

The two brothers stared in confusion at the two women, looking lost on how best to resolve the growing disturbance now that more than half of the population here were interested. Trust Nigerians and their gossip appetite that must be assuaged.

"I won't pay for anything. Stop disturbing me because of this cheap okirika gown." Okirika in the local language meant cheap hand-me-downs. Gina took this as the degrading insult she was obviously aiming for.

"You're dreaming if you think you won't pay for this gown after saying all that rubbish from your mouth."

One minute they were arguing, and the next the girl was dragging at Gina's weaves, attempting to yank it off her scalp. Gina pulled at her jumpsuit until she heard a loud rip. The girl screamed and smacked her across the face while she retaliated immediately. The men stepped in at that moment.

Malcolm gave Gina a rough shove as he pulled his date away but Gabriel was quick enough to catch her. Incensed at his brother's action, he returned the shove which sent them tumbling down. Security took off running to the scene now that it was already out of hand but Malcolm was faster.

With a speed that shocked almost every eye witness present, he lurched at his brother which sent the table and the forgotten lunch toppling over in a crash with a crescendo. Gina jumped out of the way to watch the brothers engage in a gruelling physical combat.

Spiked on by the fight, the girl grabbed Gina's weaves and yanked it, dragging her back into their fight to determine the winner. Security, however, stepped in at that moment and diffused the situation before any real damage could be done.

In the end, each party left the restaurant with a painful bruise here and there. It was a first date neither of them was going to forget in a hurry.

++++++++++

Gabriel waited patiently at the restaurant table, bidding his time for when he would confront his brother, and then his father, once they arrived for the unanticipated meeting they had scheduled tonight following last night's unfortunate event.

Queenettes' misguided sense of aristocracy did not faze him since trash would always behave like trash but his brother calling him out in front of everyone had really ticked him off. However, the presence of his ultimate jackpot had cultured his rashness that night considerably. The heavens alone knew how he would have reacted.

As the minutes time ticked slowly towards nine in the night, Gabriel tugged at the green lapels of his jacket, satisfied that the few minutes of waiting had helped his intuition on what to do to curb his brother's childish behaviour once and for all. However, this was neither the night nor the meeting to discuss such methods since Raphael Asika was determined to thump his card.

"I heard about the altercation that went on last night and I must voice my displeasure over it." He started without preamble once the waiter walked away to bring their order.

"Brothers fighting in the office is as much scandal as I can handle but outside the office, and in a restaurant belonging to one of our enemies no less, is total recklessness. A complete mess and something must be done about it!"

"Father, I did not instigate the fight this time. Gabriel and his girlfriend raised hell on earth all by themselves." The prevarication in his tone was supported by the sly smile dancing on his lips.

The brown square mahogany table restrained Gabriel from lurching for his lying, bobbling throat. He would have kicked the bucket in less than ten seconds after.

"I will strangle you once I get my hands on your chocolaty brown neck," he promised unequivocally.

Malcolm shuddered at the glare directed at him which caused their father to roll his eyes at the foolishness.

"And I got wind that the major reason for the fight was because your new girlfriend, who you were on a supposedly romantic date with, did not like your ex-fiancée, right?"

Gabriel's eyes bulged at that statement, realising quite painfully that this night was definitely not going according to plan. "She did not initiate the fight, Father." She may have but that was hardly the point.

His father did not act like he heard him. "Women are the backbone of every relationship. If she's quarrelsome and wild, then she's not the right girl for you since you're violent enough for the both of you."

That was true but nobody was foiling his plans, he insisted within himself. "Gina is a sweet, charming girl who wouldn't hurt a fly. Her lovable character is the reason I've not strangled Malcolm yet for the stunt he pulled yesterday." He fibbed with a beaming smile to support his claim.

"I'm a changed man, Father. Can't you see it?"

Raphael wasn't fooled by the act. "If you claim you have changed, we need to see it to believe you. Seeing is believing, Gabriel."

"On the contrary, faith is described beautifully as the evidence of things not seen. Trust me, you'd better off visualising me as a man in a happy and loving relationship, father." He argued.

"Don't quote a part of the Bible if you aren't living according to its rules, Gabriel." His father chastised, his religious fanaticism visible. "You can't just claim you have a loving girlfriend who you plan to spend the rest of your life with without the rest of the family meeting her."

"What?" Discombobulation seemed inadequate to cover his reaction at this moment. This day was so not going according to any plan he's ever hard at all.

The old man continued notwithstanding. "And since I'm lonely, I'd love to spend some quality time with your girlfriend, Gabriel, both of your girlfriends in fact," he paused to cast his second son a knowing look before continuing, "before I can approve. Women are gold diggers and my sons, unfortunately, have the unbeatable record for picking the worst of them."

Gabriel clenched his fist tightly, trying woefully to tame the raging beast in him threatening to claw out. "I do not agree with this, father!" He seethed.

"It is not up for debate!" Raphael roared, shutting him down instantly. "I've made up my mind, Gabriel. Invite your girl over to the family house next weekend so I can meet her, so everyone can meet her." He indicated the smug idiot sitting next to him. Gabriel refrained from reaching across the table for his throat again.

Dinner arrived at that moment and he picked up his cutleries, pausing to give his two sons a final appraisal. "For your sake, Gabriel, let's hope she's all you claim she is."

~~~~~~~~~~~

Whoo! Too much wahala with this family sha. Malcolm is a manipulator, Raphael is acting like a puppet in his son's hand, Gina is a behaving like a wild animal and poor Gabriel can't seem to catch a break.

Vote and comment if you enjoyed the chapter. Still vote, just in case.

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