Family, as much as they annoyed you, or stole your girlfriend, or even set your favourite picture on fire just to taunt you, were likened to being the best thing after Christmas. Family meetings, on the other hand, was attributed to the devil's workshop -valid reasons to have a family member's head on a stake. As it stands, Gabriel Asika was slowly reaching that apex.

Inasmuch as family meetings were purely about the coming together of the whole family once a month to celebrate life and good success, to share gossips and to occasionally fight and stab each other with available cutlery, he never warmed up to it.

Truth lay in the fact that celebrations as a whole had since lost its meaning to him which would explain why he lacked the enthusiasm to dress up for it, and even as he proceeded to knot his navy blue Paisley tie while standing in front of the mirror in his closet, he realised regrettably that neither was pretending to be happy.

Happiness was not a virtue or gift of nature that the owners of the universe were eager to bestow on the Asika family, and why would they? The family reeked of bad deeds. Peradventure, they were magically granted a slice, he would still be denied to have taste of it. Why, one would ask? The answer was simple, he was the spawn of Satan and he lived up to his name.

Shaking his oval shaped head slightly to dispel the dark thought, his hand on the tie slipped, which led to the loosening of the knot. The cuss that left his thin, full lips was to be expected.

Gripping the lapels of his blue cotton shirt, he unfolded the collar and removed the tie before deciding to wear his navy blue Paisley detailed shirt instead.

His doppelganger on the other side of the silver-coated glass seemed not to share in his frustration, his dark pupils covered by thick lashes glittering at the mention of the forbidden word: happy.

It really was a forbidden term in this house since he could not recount vividly the last time he was happy, or even anyone in his family for that matter. Only one member of their family had strived for such unattainable goal, and it had cost her life in the end. Grace Mezie-Asika was her name and she was his mother.

Grace was a sensible, compassionate and forgiving woman, at least that was the image she gave off, and although being married to, and invariably living with Raphael Asika was difficult, she had tried to make the best out of her situation. Despite her amazing qualities, she had a major flaw, as would any other human being; she did not possess the capability to love, at least towards her children.

Unlike other sons who doted on their mother lavishly, he didn't feel any sort of filial love towards her. He had tried, but with the responsibility of being a model son and an exemplary older brother weighing on his young shoulders, he had diverted his attention, and consequently, his love to his younger siblings, ultimately failing to reciprocate her sacrifices for her children.

As soon as he reached puberty, however, he had noticed the unmissable trait that explained her inability to love. Although she had tried to pretend numerous times with bloodshot eyes and swollen cheeks, or with grazed knuckles and broken lips that she was madly in love with the hard hearted man she had been lured to marry, Gabriel had seen right through it. Then when the lies from her lips wouldn't cease, his affection towards her had been swept away like a speck of dust in a desert storm. All that remained was an ever growing urge to cause hurt to the man behind her pain as slowly as he could. That man was no other than his father.

The thought of Raphael Asika had his strong jaw twitch uncontrollably and his lean fist clench. Annoyed with himself for even remembering their bitter family history, he raked perfectly trimmed fingers through his low cut mane from back to front before turning to march out of the closet, only to pause when he stepped into the room and saw his unopened suitcase lying haphazardly on the bed, the exact position he had left it the minute he returned this morning.

The unspoken rule was to arrive on Friday and stay till Sunday Afternoon for the meeting that was always scheduled for Saturday nights. He knew his father would have a fit if he learnt of a break in his rules, but Gabriel hardly cared. Truth being that if it wasn't for their inheritance, nobody would even honor the damned tradition anyway, and a refined traditionalist was exactly who Raphael Asika was.

He ran his enemies to the ground to ensure they didn't rise again, or weed them out to secure his lands. Due to his distrustful nature, he ran his businesses all by himself for nearly three decades before allowing investors and shareholders in. To ensure the business stayed in the family, he had driven all his children into studying Agricultural Economics and Business in all degrees and majors.

Having been raised by a strict miser of an aunt after his parents died due to influenza when he was barely a boy, it was a bit comprehensible why Raphael Asika had grown up a hard-hearted man. He hated what life took from him as much as he hated what it brought to him. He had strived and starved just to get by each day until he was hired as a farm hand at an agricultural processing plant; Mezie processing plant.

Months after impressive hardwork had gotten him the needed recommendation, and devoted attention from the doe-eyed daughter of his boss. He may have been industrious, but he was a nobody, and in a time period were wealth mattered so much, it was understandable what an ambitious man would do to get what he wants.

Luring the spoilt daughter of his boss into falling madly in love with him had been too easy, and before Jeremiah Mezie could say 'Jack', he was marrying off his only daughter and more than half of his property to a callous man. Once the Mezies dropped drown from the social ladder, Raphael had revealed his true colours, going as far as being ruthless to both his family and his business associates.

Thirty years after that sham of a marriage was held, and they had only one third of it attributed to years of happiness. The rest of the donkey years were bleak with few tragedies lining the paths.

Done with folding his two cotton shirts and pants, he zipped the suitcase and dragged it into the closet. When he returned to the room, he tried to imagine what it'd be like to miss the meeting. Sighing, he fell back down on the bed to rest his aching broad muscular shoulders, his mind subconsciously riveting back to his family's history.

Over the course of their married life, Grace had given him four sons and a daughter: Gabriel, Malcolm, Anthony, Monica and Joseph. Even though Raphael was sensible to not inflict pain on her in front of their offsprings, it didn't mean his children received the same consideration. One particular event stood out vividly.

At the early stages of rebellion, seventeen year old Joseph had snuck his elder sister, Monica, to a party where they got intoxicated and inadvertently, left her for rape. The news had disrupted the peace of the family, and in a fit of anger, Raphael had unleashed hell on both his youngest son and his wife, since she doted on him more than her other children. Joseph had foolishly challenged his father and was not heard of again following that fateful night in August.

In the aftermaths of grief, Grace had gone crazy threatening to expose him and his dirty secrets. She barely got anywhere with her tattletale before being carted off to the mental institution. She withered away there, a shadow of her former self. To avoid such brazen acts of rebellion, Raphael had ruled his family for the last six years with iron fist and none had ever stepped out of line.

Even as Gabriel reached that conclusion, he knew that usurping was only a matter of time. If not any of his siblings, then him. 

He had been a conformist all his life, doing exactly what he was supposed to do, but when his younger, unserious brother was given a promotion three years ago that put him in the same rank as he, his loyalty had begun to waver.

Pushing the hurt from that situation away, he exhaled deeply before sitting on the bed. Raising his wrist to his eye vision, the time on his gold wristwatch read 6:50. Ten minutes till the meeting starts and he was still in the same mood as earlier. He had hoped that a trip down memory lane would motivate him but his spirit wasn't here. His plans called to him.

Standing to his full height of six feet and two inches, he adjusted the hem of his shirt which he had paired with dark jeans before turning to exit the room.

He was so quick to get this dinner over, he barely noticed he was at the double door leading to the dining area until the unmistakable mocking voice belonging to his arch nemesis filtered past the doors to his ears. Unbelievable! The clown was at it again.

"Am I really truly late, or does Gabriel have the unbeatable record of being 'slow' these days?"

Gabriel rolled his eyes even as a feminine voice spoke up.

"Sit down and stop acting like a fool. It irritates me terribly."

Deciding eavesdropping at the door was a horrible manner, he strolled into the room but paused when the fool stood to his feet to kiss the female on her cheek as in mockery. Gabriel refrained from rolling his eyes again.

"Hello, sister, you look well. Who's the lucky idiot you're milking at the moment?" Malcolm greeted her even as he sat down on his chair in the long dining table. Anthony was sat too, and it was clear they were waiting for him and their father to arrive.

She pursed her lips to study him as one would a noisy pest. "None of your business. At least I'm not the fool playing with the tiger's tail. When will you learn, Malcolm? Stop toying with Gabriel," she admonished.

Malcolm chuckled mirthlessly at her words. "Who says I'm toying with him. Gabriel is a coward. He's not fit to run this company and Father knows that."

Malcolm Asika, the second son, was what Gabriel would term 'a black sheep', his dark skin tone notwithstanding. He had an oversized ego and a low self-esteem, which was mildly stating it since he was always trying to best his elder brother in everything and never quite succeeding.

Although two years younger than Gabriel, he was only an inch shorter. He had the family's aquiline features and soft bottom lips going for him. However, his almond-shaped eyes, which he and the rest of his siblings inherited from their mother, could not portray him as being mean, so he kept a beard instead, just so he wouldn't be called out on trying to imitate his brother. He chose instead to taunt Gabriel every chance he got in order to hide his inadequacies.

"And you are?" Cut in Anthony sharply, glaring at him. "Remind me again the person who has brought more money to this company other than father?" He challenged, hate evident in his eyes.

When asked, Gabriel would chose the third son as his favourite. Why? Because Anthony Asika was the perfect son.

He was the one who did no wrong, the apple of his father's eyes and yet the most deadliest when provoked. At twenty-five, he was a mirror image of Gabriel just missing the deep set eyes but he could pull off a dark, menacing gaze quite alright whenever he was seething. He graduated law school top of his class because Gabriel wanted a lawyer in the family. Despite his legal career, his strict father had him enrol back in school to earn his degree in Agricultural Economics. With an inch taller, he took great pride in flaunting his height advantage over Malcolm just to get back at him for all the times he taunted Gabriel.

Malcolm smirked. "You're his lackey, aren't you? He already has you eating from his palms. This company doesn't need a heartless fool. It needs someone who can take charge in the time of crisis."

"And I take it that's you, brother?" Gabriel said, his brows arching as he strolled into the room to come take his seat at the table.

Malcolm scoffed, glaring at him. "Yes, that is me. You know that but you're just being stubborn."

"And you're being a fool for fighting for what doesn't belong to you!" Monica snapped, annoyed with him.

Gabriel watched the wrinkles form and then melt into her skin and nearly smiled at this flaw.

A diva in the making, Monica Asika was living the good life. This she portrayed with her incessant shopping spree and ridiculous beauty treatments. What the public failed to see behind all that glitz and glamour was the bitter woman inside. Unlucky in love -or marriage, whichever was proper-, Monica was getting ready for her third breakup.

Aged twenty-four, she looked nothing like her brothers, inheriting only their nose and stubborn, wavy hair texture. Standing at five foot and six inches, she was fair, soft skinned and plump. Her personality was quirky, moving from excited to moody in seconds flat. She may have been exempted from working at the company but it came with a cost. Forced to get a degree in Agricultural processing, she inherited her own shares in the family business which covered her expenses adequately.

"That isn't what father says, Sister. This company can go to anyone at his death. It belongs to me as much as everyone else in this room. I must make sure to defend what's mine."

"There's nothing to defend. It will never be yours!" Anthony gritted out.

"Just wait and see. Once I get approval from the board, I'll be on my way to kick you out of this company, dear brother," Malcolm jeered at Gabriel.

Irked, Gabriel retorted. "I'd like to see you try. You're a dog whose bark is worse than his bite. You can't do anything, and you do not scare me."

"You should be scared. You don't know what I'm capable of," he baited darkly.

Gabriel eyed him, annoyed at his taunts. It was a hopeless situation. Raphael had thrown in the gauntlet when he announced last Christmas that the company was up for grab to any member of his family who impressed him before he died, leaving his children to scramble for that right. The top two contenders were his eldest children, the younger two choosing to stay in the background. It started a mini war in the company, with the competitive Malcolm looking for ways to undermine his authority at work. He hadn't cared initially, but Malcolm was beginning to get on his nerves with these childish games.

"And we certainly do not want to know what you're capable of, do we, Malcolm?" Their father said quietly, in a domineering voice as he took his seat, eyeing his second son disapprovingly.

That shut everyone up. Then Raphael looked around the room, noting everyone's' countenance before signalling for the servants to start bringing lunch.

"Monica dear, I have not heard anything about your third husband. Is he still alive?" He asked, studying his only daughter as the servants bustled around.

Anthony snorted at that, even as Malcolm chuckled and Gabriel made a face.

Monica ignored them. "Theo is not my husband and he's fine. He and I are on opposite sides of the fence. It's quite irreconcilable, Father, so there won't be any wedding bells soon," she stated as a matter of fact. What her words meant was that she had moved on from him and had already found a new lover. Theo had been her divorce lawyer when she left Bruce, her second husband.

"He was a good man. He would have made you very happy, my dear," Raphael reiterated quite sadly, tired of seeing her unhappy in wedlock.

"I guess he would have, but then again, so would have Christian," concurred his daughter dourfully.

Malcolm gave a snort. "You and I know that he wasn't going to last. I'm pleasantly surprised he stayed this long. That man was a sissy."

"I don't know what you saw in him, dear sister. He was good as a lawyer, but terrible as a husband or boyfriend for that matter. I opposed that relationship strongly but you wouldn't listen to me." Anthony chuckled.

"Opposed which one exactly? My marriage to Christian or to Bruce? Or my near wedlock with Theodore?" Her eyes had darkened sharply in anger at her brother's words.

Anthony returned her gaze squarely, clearly not scared of her.

"She rarely listens to anyone. Choosing to jump into the arm of any willing man. Frankly, marriage is not for you, dear sister. Give up already and let younger girls get a chance." Malcolm continued, oblivious to her seethe.

Annoyed, Monica picked up her fork and flung it at him, narrowly missing his eye when the cutlery hit his forehead and fell down beside him. "Idiot!" She huffed in exasperation.

"How dare you!" Malcolm cried in disbelief, glaring at his younger sister.

"You deserve it for being an annoying prick," Gabriel remarked, eyeing him judiciously.

"You're the one who's being a pain in my arse. Give up already! This is not a fight you can win," he challenged in anger.

"I will die before I let you have the company that easily!"

"You don't have the right to decide if I get the company or not. You're not the chairman yet!" Malcolm yelled in anger.

"Boys, Enough!" Raphael gritted out through clenched teeth. "We're here to have a family lunch not start civil war two. Now, can there be a little peace and quiet so we can start eating?"

He was clearly annoyed with his two eldest children. The bickering was forced to cease for the moment.

He said the 'grace' to which they all replied with an 'amen'. Then everyone elapsed into silence, focusing on their food.

Gabriel pushed his fork around the garnished rice and chicken sauce with grilled fish and chips at the side. It wasn't that the food wasn't delicious, the cooks had overdone themselves. Actually, his mind was on a lot of things, like he was apprehensive about what Gina's reply to his proposal would be. This meeting was all about the CEOs position and since it was now very evident his father's criteria, he hoped Gina's reply would be positive.

He would be furious if she bailed on him although the option was there but still, he hoped not. A lot was at stake here...

"Gabriel Asika?" Raphael intoned, breaking into his thoughts. "Is the food not to your liking?"

Gabriel eyed the dish in front of him and frowned before replying sarcastically. "The food is delicious."

"Yet, you've barely taken a bite," his father pointed out.

He scoffed. "Yes, well. I have a lot on my mind. There are things I should be resolving instead of sitting here waiting for our horrible family meeting that leads us nowhere."

"If it leads us nowhere, why the heck are you still here?" Malcolm retorted.

"It is only horrible because of your presence, because you are here," was the heated comeback.

Annoyed, Raphael stomped his hand powerfully on the table juggling the dishware and cutleries, and startling his two younger children. The older ones were obviously used to this display of temper.

"Enough already! Can't a father have peace in his own home? Must every family gathering be about you two squabbling like parrots?" He demanded, his glower directed at the two.

No one replied him, choosing to focus their attention on the food.

"Since some people are in such hurry to go home, I'll go straight to the point," Raphael started, giving his eldest son a glare before continuing. "My wish on the company management still stands. All of you stem from the same branch, so I'll give my company to the one who shows the most amount of responsibility. Running a company as large as this requires someone who is mature.

"Seriously, none of you acts your age in this house!" He yelled, his eyes glowering.

"It's these two baffoons sitting at this table Father. They are too childish," Monica pointed out maliciously.

"If your plan is to get yourself into the company, dear sister, it will not work. Focus on your marital problems for now," Malcolm stated, fuming at her.

"Marital problems that you helped start. You are the reason I can't be happy in marriage. You and Joseph ruined my life!" Monica accused indignantly.

"You were the stubborn mule that went to a party you were not supposed to go. What happened to you was very unfortunate."

Monica snapped at his words. "Unfortunate?! Is that your excuse now? You sent me off to the slaughter house with your baby brother and then stayed back when you should have protected us. It's your fault I was raped and it's your fault Joseph is dead!" She cried.

"Did I not say it was enough already?" Raphael snapped too, clenching his fists.

"Why do you insist on carrying on with this charade, Monica? You were a victim of circumstance and the one who took you there should have protected you. He did not and hence paid for his mistakes. You paid for yours. Story closed. Focus on your marriage from now on."

"I cannot do that, Father. I will always be reminded of what happened to me. Seeing that girl will always remind me of what happened. I will never forget and I'll make sure that Malcolm never forgets too!" She stated with venom dripping from her voice.

"You are playing with fire, Monica. Snap out of it already! That girl has nothing to do with what happened to you and you know it!" Gabriel flipped, glowering at her. He was quite touchy when 'that girl' was brought up in any conversation.

"No, but you do, brother. You are the reason why that girl will never see her mother again!" She finished savagely, standing up from her chair.

"Excuse me, Father. I'm tired and I need to go lie down." She then turned and walked away.

Taking it as a cue, the rest of the siblings filtered out of the table too leaving Raphael and Gabriel to have a private chat.

Once they were completely alone, Raphael grated out. "I expect you as my eldest to come to a sort of agreement with your brother. Your constant squabbles and undermining of my authority with him will tear this company down instead of building it up. Over my dead body will I allow that.

"If that girl is the reason this family will not have peace, be very certain I'll remove her from this family faster than you can blink!" He stated furiously, standing up from his chair.

He turned to march out of the room, walking as dignified as possible and leaving his eldest son fuming at his back.

~~~~~~~~

Family dynamics at its finest. Thankfully, my family ain't like this but then again, we ain't this rich.

What is your family dynamics like?

Vote and comment, just to boost my ego.

Thank you 😉😘