Lady K

There is nothing worse than being talked down on by the same people you hold so dear, the same people you'd do anything, and I mean everything for. It was going to take more than a few hours, and a new day to forget everything Christian had said to him the day before. Jeremiah had spent the entire morning sulking, and now he just stood in front of the huge mirror at the center of his big all-white dressing room, fixing the button on his sleeves, taking his time.

What was fun about school anyway? It was the same thing that happened all week. Attend a few classes with a few rich kids, and all that, and before he knew it, he was back home again. It was a good thing though, school was his only chance to just get away, to get away from that house. Manuel was going to be back in a few days, and that meant his movements were going to be limited. He could see the two maids that tried to tidy his dressing room from the mirror, and there were two other in his bedroom, keeping it in order. Just how many maids had to clean up his room anyway?

Rich people problems.

Not like he needed all those maids. Jeremiah didn't really have the luxury of having maids attend to him and take care of him all his life. For the first eight years of his life, he was the one attending to the rich folks, and then the next eleven years, he had lived a life of invincibility. At least he had tried to. He lived on his own. Not exactly on his own, since there was this old lady that helped take care of the really big house he used to live in. One of the many mansions that belonged to his family in the diaspora. She cooked for him too. Jeremiah wasn't too keen on eating foreign food. He loved his african dishes too well.

He exhaled, and then walked away from the mirror, his focus on the shoe section of his dressing room. He paused as one of the maids opened the glass, so he could walk in and choose from all of those shoes. There were so many of them. All designers, all different. Most of them not even worn.

"That one." He pointed at the brown suede on the second row. It was Michael Kors. The maid hurried to it, and got it down. She didn't have to worry about cleaning it, since they always made sure all his shoes were clean everyday. Jeremiah put them on as fast as he could, and then turned to another glass. His bag section. There was another maid there waiting for him to make a selection. He looked at his shoes, and then looked at the bags. He just needed one that fit. He grabbed one and walked away from the room.

"Have a great day sir." The maids chorused as they watched him walk to the door as fast as he could. Same old, same old.

Jeremiah paused when he got to the door. He had noticed something there, right beside it. It was the same shoe he had worn to school the day before. The one Kora had stepped on. God, just thinking about it made him so annoyed. He turned to the maids who had stopped what they were doing, and were now looking at him.

"Dispose of this." He instructed. They bowed quickly. Jeremiah opened the door, and then walked out.

"Jer." He let out a weak exhale the moment he heard Kodi yell his name. She was running after him as fast as she could, dressed in her uniform. She joined him as he walked down the stairs. "Good morning." She had a very cheerful look on her face.

"I thought you were never going to talk to me."

"I was mad then. I've forgiven you now." She told him, walking in line with him down the stairs. "You don't have a lot of people that like you on your side. It's useless being angry with you. I won't be able to protect you then."

He scoffed jokingly. One thing he admired about Kodi, was she knew just how to say the cutest things, and when she walked, she always held her head high. Her pride was cute, and her attitude too.

"How long are your classes anyway?" She asked him. "Why do you always come back so late when I'm already asleep? I had a girls night, last night, and all my friends were dying to meet you. It was so embarrassing when you didn't show up, and then after you did, you locked yourself in all night."

Yes.

After the night he had, it was only right for him to want to be alone and shut everyone else out.

"One of the maids said big brother came around." She ran in front of him to stop him from taking another step, because it was becoming obvious that he wasn't going to talk to her, or tell her anything. She needed his attention.

Jeremiah stopped walking. He raised his head to hers. They were close to the dining room now. She looked into his eyes, pouting.

"Was he mean to you again?" She asked him as Jeremiah stared at her. "He was, wasn't he?"

Jeremiah let out an exhale, followed by a smirk.

"And if he was? What are you going to do?"

"Scold him of course." She told him. "Why does he always have to be mean to you? I thought he left. Why did he come back to yell at you?" She said.
"What on earth is he always acting like a mad man for?" She whispered to herself, but Jeremiah heard her. "Always frowning and yelling at everyone."

She turned back to Jeremiah.

"Don't listen to him. Don't listen to anything he says to you. He's just bitter, angry and jealous. You're none of those things."

"How do you know he said anything to me?" Jeremiah asked her. Had she eavesdropped on their conversation the night before?

"Me?" She placed a hand on her cheek, feigning surprise. "I didn't hear anything o." She waved her hand at him, to convince him, and held on tight to her black leather school bag. Jeremiah squinted. It was obvious he didn't believe her. "I didn't hear anything I swear."

But she did. Kodi had happened to take a walk to Jeremiah's room the previous night to beg for his attention, after her friends made her, and had stopped at the halfway opened door when she heard voices. Their voices. That was when she heard everything.

"He's always mean to you, so I just know." She continued. "He's mean to everyone. It's expected. I'm not scared of him, so if he ever gives you a tough time, just tell me. I'm on your side."

"I'd keep that in mind." Jeremiah turned to the other side, so he could keep walking, when Kodi jumped in front of him again. Jeremiah paused again, and then rolled his eyes.

"What about breakfast? You should at least eat first."

"Not hungry." He turned again to leave. Kodi stood in front of him again.

"Can I ride with you to school?"

"No."

"But why?" She asked him. Like the answer wasn't obvious. The Ozors had about four to
five chauffeurs, and a lot of cars. She could use any one she wanted, plus her school and NAUN were like distances apart.

"It's not like you have classes this early. I bragged so much about you to all my friends. How can I walk around school with my head up high if they start to see me as a clown?"

Jeremiah exhaled. This was getting really frustrating. He knew exactly what Kodi was trying to do. He walked away. Kodi sneered. She raised her hand behind him like she wanted to hit him from where she stood, but she was too far to. How could he be so cold hearted, and not care about her feelings or reputation?

Jeremiah stopped walking. He slowly turned back to her, and she dropped her hands quickly. She faked a smile.

"You coming?"

"Really?" She smiled so brightly, and even brighter after Jeremiah turned to leave. She jumped in the air so many times "I'll be right behind you!" She yelled after him, and then hurried into the dining room.

"Mum!" She yelled Susan's name, her eyes glued to Susan and Nicholas who happened to be the only ones having breakfast on the table.

"You're always so noisy." Nicholas told her, taking a bite from his toast. She scoffed at him.

"Come and sit down for breakfast." Susan told her, gesturing to the seats beside hers. "I've asked Noah to get the car ready for you and Nicholas."

"Mum," she cut her off. "I can't stay for breakfast. I won't be riding to school with Nick either."
You should have seen the way they both turned to look at her.

"Jeremiah is taking me to school instead."

"What?" Nicholas asked her. "So I'm supposed to ride to school alone?"

"Did Mum give birth to us together?" She turned to him, eying him. "Are you not a grown man? Why should we ride to school together all the time? It's getting cliché and extremely boring."

"Yo, Chikodi-"

"Why do you keep forcing yourself on me?" She whispered to herself loudly, pouting uncontrollably. "It's not like we're twins or anything." She turned to Susan "Love you Mum, see you after school!" She rushed out of the room before Susan could even say anything else.

"Mum," Nicholas turned to Susan who had turned back to her food. "Mum can you imagine that? He has even Kodi brainwashed. He's turning her to his side too. He's taking everyone slowly, and bringing them to his side." He kept on whining.
"What if he came back to take everything? What if he has an eye on the company too? What's going to happen when it's time to pick sides? What if Kodi takes his side?"

"Calm down Nicholas. You worry too much." She told him, watching a maid pour her a glass of orange juice. She waited for her to leave the room. "To get to the top, you have to lay low, build from the bottom and let the top clear itself without letting your guard down. Christian is never going to let an illegitimate son have control of Benoil. He's going to do all he can to get rid of Jeremiah on his own. He still thinks Jeremiah is his only competition. All we have to do is wait for him to do so, while we build from here, and once he has gotten rid of one of our problems for us, he'd become our only problem. The only problem we'd have to fix. We'd take him out slowly."

Nicholas leaned closer to the table.

"What if we can't?" He asked her. "Christian has a lot of powerful people behind him. We can not underestimate the influence his maternal grandparents have. Mum, your family's power is nothing compared to theirs. We can't do anything if they give him full support, even the board of directors won't be able to help us. If he wins, if Christian takes over Benoil, Mum, it's over for us. It goes into his generation, and the generation after that. We'd have nothing. Our lineage won't have anything at all."

"Who says he's going to have a generation?" She raised her eyes to his. The frown on her face carving in. "Who says he's going to have children at all?"

"Come on Mum. I know the current situation between big brother and Natalie, but at some point they are going to decide to have children. If that day comes Mum, we are going to have a lot of loose ends, and problems to fix. I'm talking of us losing every right to Benoil."

"Haven't I told you not to worry?" She asked him. "When have I ever not been able to fix all our problems? Natalie would never be able to birth a child into this home, that I can assure you. Christian's generation is going to end with him. So what if our plan fails and he somehow gets Benoil in the future? Let's say he mysteriously dies in an accident a few days later, or a few weeks or even months later? Who do you think the board is going to vote the company to? Especially once they find out the second in line is nothing but an illegitimate child?"

Nicholas thought for a while.

"Me." He said, almost in a whisper.

"Good." She dropped her glass. "So why are you worried? Benoil belongs to you, and you alone. It can only be yours, or no one else's. I've watched my children get neglected for eighteen years, and treated like they didn't have the right to live, like they are not a part of this family. Five percent shares?" She scoffed. "While an illegitimate bastard gets fifteen all to himself? Never. That would be over my dead body, so just wait. Just wait for our time, because it will come, and when it comes, not even God is going to stop us. I'll bring hell on everyone and everything before I let anyone take what's rightfully yours. What is ours."

A smirk appeared on Nicholas' face. Anyone could see how his mother's words were soothing to him. Exactly what he was hoping to hear.

There are actually a lot of things to say about these two. A lot of things you should know, and I won't save you the suspense, but all I can say is; Susan meant every word she had just said at that table. Every single one of them, and you should know, she wasn't even getting started yet.

If there was anything, or anyone worse than satan, a complete camouflage and carbon copy of evil, it was her.

Suzan Ozor, and she was just getting started.