Jeremiah

"Here."

I walked into the really huge room right after Manuel's voice, taking deep breaths as I took further steps inside. It was exactly as I hoped it would be, as I had asked Manuel to design it. I didn't want it to change much from the one I had remembered. I just wanted it to look less like a room for a nine year old.

Just as I had hoped, Manuel had got me the huge 3D painting of the Miami Beach I had told him I wanted, the last time he paid me a visit. It was my favorite place in the whole of US, and it was hung on the wall, right above my king sized bed that was really high off the ground. You'd probably have to climb about three stairs to get to it, and it was close to the tinted transparent glass, where you could enjoy the view of the big pool if you sat or laid in, or even stood close to the bed and looked right outside.

A tiny smile escaped my lips as I slowly turned to the other corner of the room that had a white transparent glass close to it that looked like a door, a big door. That had to be my closet space slash dressing room space and the bathroom had to be somewhere inside too. Right beside it was a transparent show glass with gold handles. I could see my awards from right there. All six of them from different categories and achievements at every stage of my life. I turned to the other side where the mini parlor was. I could count about three sofas made with expensive leather and a huge center table made with glass in the middle. I slowly picked up the TV remote on it and turned to the sixty inches television in front of me, right above the artificial fire place. I pushed the power button and it went off.

I needed all the peace and quiet I could get.

"I'd ask the maids to bring your things up, and snacks of course."

I didn't bother to turn when Manuel talked to me. I just stood where I was, focusing my gaze on my bed.

"For now, just rest. You don't have to join the family for dinner if you don't want to. I'd tell the chairman that you're too exhausted from the journey, and want to rest."

I buried both my hands in the pocket of my plain trousers, not bothering to make a sound or a move, pretending like I didn't hear anything he said. I heard him let out an exhale.

"If there's anything you need," he continued. "Let me know, and I'd ask someone to bring it up to you as soon as I can."

I turned to him quickly. Forcing a convincing smile on by bruised lip, trying so hard to look the least cheerful.

"Thank you Manuel."
He frowned.

"What for?"

I hesitated and then shrugged my shoulders.

"I don't know." I told him. There was no need to get overly emotional. I just wanted him to know. He scoffed.

"Take a shower." He told me. "I'd be downstairs."

I exhaled as I watched him turn around and walk to the door. I turned too and headed to the small stairs. Taking a step after the other, till I heard the door close gently. I had no idea the door was that far from the bed.

I took my phone out of my pocket before I sat down gently in my spring bed, pulling off my yeezys lazily with each leg and then kicking them aside. I literally had no network. I guess the first thing I needed was a Nigerian SIM card. I turned on my WiFi anyway. There had to be WiFi around the house and there it was...

A WIFI signal.

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!

And there came my notifications. A frown spread across my face. It had only been a few hours and still my messages were crowded. God, I shut my eyes for a second, taking a deep breath.

New home, new life, and probably a new phone.

I scoffed, scrolling through my messages, looking for her name. I didn't have to look for long since I already pinned it right on the top of my conversation list. Kora with the red heart shaped emoji. I had no idea why I even did that, but if felt— okay.

I wondered how she was doing. It had been a while since we had any conversations at all. She hadn't even opened my last message. Ever since she told me about her break up with Luke, it had been so impossible to reach her.

I wonder where she was, and what she was doing.
I didn't even get a chance to tell her I was home. I puffed enough air in my cheeks and then puffed out right after I heard a tiny knock on my door. I dropped my phone quickly as the door opened before I had given my consent. One of the maids rushed in with a first aid box. I heard the door shut again. This time, a woman was hurrying behind the maid. It was the same woman that had rushed down the stairs with Christian earlier.

Natalie Ozor.

Christian's wife and the daughter of the Minister of the federal capital territory. That was quite a mouthful. Even though I wasn't present at the wedding, seven months ago, I heard everyone talked about it for six days straight, the diaspora included. It was the wedding of the century.  She was even more beautiful in person, and had the most amazing eyes I had ever seen. Her skin shimmered in the sun and her red lipstick adored her upturned lips. They complimented themselves perfectly, and looked too good on the cover of all the magazines they graced. She looked too good and comfortable for a victim of an arranged marriage.

I watched the maid drop the box on a stool right beside my bed and then excuse herself, while Natalie sat down right beside me, opening the box. I narrowed my gaze on her as I watched her search the box slowly.

What was she doing? Why was she there and what was she looking for?

"I know I should have let the maids do this themselves," she said still looking into the box, "But I wanted to be the one to do it."

She reached for a bottle of Antiseptic and then grabbed a ball of cotton wool with a metal scissors. She dipped the wool into the antiseptic and turned to face me.

"I'm very good at this, trust me." She pushed herself closer to me, pushing the scissors slowly to the bruise on my nose that must have appeared as an effect of Christian's punch. "I'm a doctor you know-"

I hurriedly grabbed her by her wrist, stopping her from pushing it closer to my face, my eyes glaring into hers. What did she think she was trying to do?

She exhaled warmly.

"Emmanuel said you were going to resist." She told me, a tiny smile appearing on her face as her cheeks became rosy. "He said you hated it when people touched your face. You never let anyone touch your face."

She got that right. It was an old habit I've had for a long time, and I had no idea why. But I had zero tolerance for clingy and touchy people, especially those that always wanted to feel my face, hair or my chest.

"I'm only trying to help you. I'm only trying to clean that cut. If you leave it open and unattended to for a long time, it might get contaminated. It's only going to take a minute."

I looked at her for a while. It didn't sound like it was going to be a bad idea. It didn't sound like it was going to hurt either. I hesitated for a while and then slowly found my hand finding its way away from hers. The smile on her face grew wider. She scoffed softly and then pushed the wool close to my nose.

I winced softly in pain the moment it made contact.
God, it stung a lot.

She let out a tiny chuckle that made me turn to her. Was she laughing at me?

"You're just like him." She said, cleaning my wound gently. "He has zero tolerance for pain too."

She had to be referring to my brother.

"I guess we'd have to sue him for doing this to your precious face." She continued. "I'm really sorry for what he did to you. I don't know what came over him."

She turned back to the box.

"He's never hit someone without good enough reasons before."

She got out another ball of cotton wool and repeated the same process, but this time she was aiming for the bruise on my lip.

"But no matter what, he should not have hit you the way he did. It was wrong."

I winced in pain again the moment it made contact.

"Can you be more gentle?" I cut her off, trying not to sound too rude, ungrateful or raise my voice. She stared at me. "Please." I added. I had to sound polite enough at least. She smiled.

"I'm sorry." She turned back to the box and then reached for a bandaid from the pack of small bandaids and then turned to me.

"I'm just saying, you can get upset for what he did, but don't hate him for it." She placed it over the wound on my nose. "He just wants the best for you."

She placed her hand on her thighs and then exhaled, pursing her lips as she looked at me. I looked away slowly just as I heard a loud thud from the door as it swung open immediately.

"Jer!"

I let out a weak scoff the moment I recognized who owned the really loud voice. It had to be one of the very few voices I had stuck in my memory. A tiny smile appeared on my face just as I heard loud footsteps running into the room.

"Jer!"

A girl, about five feet tall, dark skinned and sixteen years of age yelled my name as she hurried to the bed, her oversized pajamas swaying from side to side as she found her way towards the bed. I turned in her direction just so I could look into her bright eyes. The smile on her face brightened the moment she saw me.

"Jer !" She yelled my name and then ran to the bed to embrace me, forcing her way into the middle of Natalie and I, pushing Natalie out of the way completely and intentionally. She wrapped her tiny arms around me, hugging me tightly.

"You're back! You're home." She said loud enough for me to hear. I reached for her arms so I could gently push her off me. She was squeezing too hard. I pulled her gently away, still holding on to her hand. She stared at me for a second. The smile on her face slowly turning to a frown as she examined my face carefully.

"I heard you and Big brother got into an argument today and he punched you." She kept her eyes focused on me. I guess it had to be obvious with the bruises on my face now. I had almost forgotten how fast news spread around this house. "Did he do that to you?" She asked me, pushing herself closer to me. She pointed a finger towards my nose. She was reaching for the bandaid right before I grabbed her finger. She looked into my eyes, pouting while I looked right back into hers.

"Nice to meet you too Kodi." I let a smile find its way on my lips. She sneered and then pulled her finger away from me.

"I was only trying to see." She muttered to herself, frowning.

Chikodi was the youngest in our family and the only girl my father had birthed. She was the apple of his eyes too, his treasure. This, everyone knew. She was spoiled and clingy to everyone, especially me. I remembered how she always managed to pay me visits every now and then, every holidays, even Christmas. It was a wonder how she always got father's approval and permission even though I always made it clear that she didn't have to. I was barely around all through her life but she still referred to me as her favorite brother and I had no idea why.

"I can't believe big brother would do this to you." She snapped, pouting at me. "I've got to meet him. I have to ask him why he'd hit you and hurt you like this."

She got up to leave when I grabbed her hand quickly, and then pulled her back to the bed. She turned to face me in a hurry and then clicked her tongue.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"What does it look like?" She asked me. "Did you do anything wrong? You only went to see someone for a few minutes. I go out to see people all the time. Why did he hit you?!" Now she was raising her voice at me like I was the one that made her mad. "Why does he keep doing this to you, and treating you like a dog."

"And so what?" I asked her. "Do you think he's going to stop if you confront him about it?" I continued.

"Huh?"

"Let it go okay?" I told her. "I was at fault. I should have obeyed him. I should have come home first."

"How are you at fault? How is any of this your fault?" She snapped at me pouting. I exhaled and looked away. I wasn't exactly filled with words.

"Kodi, your brother is right." Natalie added. "Confronting your brother while he's still upset is only going to add salt to the injury. It won't do you or Jeremiah any good."

Kodi scoffed. She slowly whiled around to Natalie.

"I wasn't talking to you." She told her. "I didn't ask for you opinion either."

Natalie rolled her eyes .

"What are you even doing here?" Kodi added. "This isn't your part of the house is it? This isn't your husband's room. Aren't you a married woman? How is it right for a married woman to be in and out of other people's rooms ? Especially if it's their husband's brother? Shouldn't you be in your room, taking care of your husband and talking to him? Advising him not to hit other people as he likes? Talk to your husband, while I talk to my brother. That's if he's ever going to listen to you anyway." She turned back to me.

"Okay." Natalie raised her hands in the air. "Whatever you say." She got up from the bed, the smile on her face didn't falter for once. Of course she was used to Kodi running her mouth all the time. She was the older and mature one after all. "I'd just ask the maids to get this box once you're both done." She told me and then turned to leave.

Kodi humphed and then rolled her eyes.

"God I'm so tired of her."

"You mean jealous." I asked pulling off my jacket. She scoffed.

"Jealous? Me? " she pouted "What's there to be jealous of?"

"I don't know." I told her. "I mean, she's married to our older brother, which kicks you off your spot as the princess of the house. Plus I heard Dad likes her a lot too."

Kodi scoffed.

"Likes her? Who on earth is passing those silly rumors? What's there to like about her?"

"I don't think she's that bad." I added. "I think she's really cool and pretty. You don't have to be mean to her you know."

Kodi got up immediately. I could feel her eyes glaring at me.

"Hey, Jer, take that back!"

I raised my head to hers. I was clueless.

"You called her cool and pretty, and you're insinuating that I'm not. Take that back right now."

Did I say Kodi was spoiled? Like really spoiled.

"Take what back Kodi?"

She scoffed.

"How can you take her side? I'm your sister, not her."

"Kodi-"

She pouted. I could tell she was so angry.

"I'm the only one on your side in this house and you can't even take my side." She yelled at me. I exhaled, rubbing my forehead to curb the headache I was beginning to feel.

"I can't believe you'd take her side. I'm so mad at you right now." She cleaned her face with the back of her hands. "I won't talk to you again."

She turned to leave. Why on earth was she being so dramatic?

Kodi stormed away from the room. She always looked so cute anytime she threw a tantrum. It was one of the things I liked about her. I scoffed as a tiny smile spread across my face.

Bang!

She was really going to break my door down now.
I chuckled.