CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

 REASON FOR THE SEASON

"You did a great job, tonight", Mrs. Adeola smiled at me after the Carol. 

A few months ago, who would have thought these kinds of words will be spoken to me by her? Cleo was really a blessing to my life!

"I'm very glad to hear that, ma'am. Thank you for being here", I bowed to her slightly. 

"I don't regret coming here at all. Thanks a lot, dear, and do have a good night's rest", she gave me a hug.

"And you too, ma'am", I waved at her as she left my premises.

"I kept these especially for you", Toby also handed me a big bowl of popcorn.

"Thank you so much", I realized I didn't take anything since morning, and I started to dig in.

"Thanks. This tastes so good", I complimented him.

" There's something I want to tell you Nifemi, and I hope you won't be offended by it", he avoided having eye contact with me.

"Of course not. It's a free world", I prepared my mind to take whatever it was he had to say to me.

"I just wanted you to know I appreciate everything you did back then. I didn't mean to take your feelings for granted", he said.

"It's okay", I smiled." That's bygone. Believe me, I don't have any hard feelings towards you"

"Thank you very much", he smiled.

" Hi, Nifemi", his girlfriend gave me a brief hug."Thank you so much for giving us this opportunity. It means a lot"

"You shouldn't be thanking me. It was all..."

"....our idea", Cleo interrupted me." Thank you also for coming ", he shook hands with both of them.

"It's time to go home", Bisi hugged us as well." Thank you very much, Lil sis".

"See you soon", I waved at her and the rest, as the school's driver turns on the ignition of our school bus which he was going to use to convey them home.

"We did it! Yes!" Cleo and I shouted at the top of our voice"

"Rose, you're crueler than I imagined", Shola said as we all gathered in the theater room to have our last meeting." I almost choked when you were giving me the concoction back then"

"You belched terribly as well", Rose made fun of her.

"Did anyone else hear Rose farting on stage earlier ", Michelle called our attention and everyone laughed."It smelled like a rotten egg"

"Shut up! I never like eating beans but I was forced to eat it because of the play", she hissed."I should sue you for that".

"I couldn't believe Freaki could still speak English on stage after reciting the Yoruba incantation flawlessly on several occasions", Bola added, and we all laughed.

"The Audience loved it anyways", Freaki said with pride in his eyes.

" I really enjoyed my role", Loveboy smiled."I'm even thinking of changing my stage name to loveking, and you'll remain my queen", he fixed his gaze on Shola who started blushing.

"Alight, everyone", Cleo's voice made everyone in the hall quiet. " I'm very grateful to you all. This project would have been impossible without you ", We gave ourselves a round of applause then he continued."It must have been hard for you guys to leave your comfort zone, but you did. That only means you can do more great things in life".

" Woo ho", We made some noise.

"I hope you all had fun", he asked us afterward.

" Yh,  man", We chorused.

"That's good to hear", he smiled." Tomorrow, I'm going to distribute the profits made to everyone's account. Aside from flooding your wardrobes with Gucci products, make some investments with it, okay?"

"Yes, Suh", we chorused.

"Thanks for being part of the team once again. See you at the Landmark beach for our party!"

THE NEXT DAY

I couldn't get a wink of sleep the previous night because I kept on looking at the pictures we took at the carol service. The guy who stood in for Shola also did a good job capturing memories that mattered a lot to me and Cleo, the carol team, and Marie's high as a whole. Yet, I had to send plenty of pictures to people who want me to do so and reply congratulation messages.

"Good morning, my sunshine", Grandma barged into my room, hugged me for a while, and prayed vigorously for me. I could see the joy in her eyes when she was called out to take pictures with Cleo and I after we got another award.

"Thank you very much, grandma" I also said to her."This wouldn't have been possible if you didn't enroll us in Marie's high"

"Let's thank God more", She smiled." I hope you're getting ready to do house chores. Tomorrow is Christmas oo"

"Grandma now.."I mumbled." You know I've stressed my self a lot these past few days. Shebi Bola is there".

"Ehn..ehn. Well-done oo, agbaya!", It figured out Bola had been standing outside my door and eavesdropping our conversation.

"Help your elder sister now", I tried to cajole her."I'm too tired right now"

"Same here. Do you think it's beans to make up for more than twenty actors?" She foght for her interest as well.

"It's alright. Ko si wahala", Grandma walked out of my room, and we quickly went after her.

"We're very sorry, ma", We knelt down to apologize to her.

"Ah ah...I'm not angry oo. Haba!" Grandma laughed."I'm going to call a house cleaning agent to take care of the house".

"Woo ho!", We screamed."Thank you very much, grandma."

"You're welcome", she smiled." But have it at the back of your mind that the money I pay these people will be deducted from your monthly allowance."

"Yes, ma", we agreed with her decision.

So instead of spending precious moments cleaning the house, Bola and I begged Uncle B to take where we could get all the items needed to decorate the house, then we followed the Marie's Angels, and our other friends to a gift shop to get Christmas gifts for our loved ones. 

"I wish I could just fill up my boot with every goddamn thing in this store", Rose said at the store.

"Language, babe", I cautioned her.

"Stop acting as my big sis, b*tch cause you can never be one", Rose whispered to my ear.

"I like this watch", Shola drew our attention to a Rolex Day-Date 18 CT Gold Watch.  

"Yh. It's very handsome", Michelle examined them well. " The best gift you can give to my Dad is a Rolex. He loves them more than cars".

"Who are you buying this for?" I asked her.

"My Dad obviously. Is there any other special man in my life aside from him?" She replied.

"Hmmm", We said in unison.

"Aren't you goanna buy Loveboy a gift?", Pelumi asked her.

"Nope", she said with a serious tone."I still have to get mum and my two little sisters Christmas gifts as well."

"Thank God I only have to buy two people gifts- my mom and my boyfriend though he doesn't like me buying him gifts", Pelumi gave one of her goods to the attendant near us for packaging.

"Why don't you buy her this?"Aisha showed her a Federico Mahora Rich Face Cream.

"Yh. She seems to think she looks like a gorilla when she's not wearing a makeover", Shola added, and they laughed.

"I don't care what you guys think of my mum. Y'all are just hating we have a relationship you both don't have with your moms", Pelumi told them.

"You can say that again", Shola accepted defeat.

" Girls, I'll join you guys soon. I want to use the restroom", Michelle excused herself.

"Alright, boo. Don't take too long", Rose replied her.

"I need to use the restroom as well", I followed her hastily.

" Hey, what's up?"Michelle greeted me as she came out of the restroom, and washed her hands in the hand basin with a perfumed hand wash and applied a drop of sanitizer afterward.

"Hi, Michelle", I smiled." Would you mind if I talk to you for a second?"

"I don't", she dried her hands, and focused her attention on me."Is there a problem?"

"Nope. I just want to ask what Cleo likes most. Shoes? Perfumes? Clothes?"

"If you're planning to get him a Christmas present, that's sweet", she smiled."Unfortunately, that dude is not a fan of luxurious things but he will still appreciate whatever you give him".

"Okay. Thanks for your time"

"It's nothing", We joined the rest.

In the long run, Pelumi still got her mom the rich face cream, with a Louis Vuitton bag. Shola got her parents two Rolex wristwatches, and two new ball gowns for her sisters. Aishat got her grandma two designer turbans and a Hamilton shoe bag for her little brother. Michelle got her brother two pairs of Prada glasses, and couple wears for her parents. 

Though Bola insisted at first, we still ended up collaborating to get grandma a Christmas outfit. Moreover, we also bought two footballs for the boys, a new pack of Victoria Secret's underwear for Gbemi, and two beautiful multicolored leashes for the dogs.

Rose was rather shopping than just getting Christmas presents for her loved ones. For each person, he has about four gifts wrapped, and she got for ten persons!And the funniest thing is that each of her gifts was more than two hundred thousand.

"Bola, is this the last bell?"I feebly asked her at home during the evening, as we decorated the huge Christmas tree in the living room.

"Yep", she answered and I quickly inserted it, leaving her to do other finishing touches."Are you not the big sister?"

"Wo, na you sabi. I'm too hungry", I entered the kitchen to serve myself the Spaghetti and fish sauce Grandma made since lunchtime.

"Oko mi", Grandma entered the kitchen to pet me."I'm very sorry to disturb you, but the boys were sleeping when Bayo went to barb his hair, and you know tomorrow is Christmas".

"Ohhh, Grandma now", I grumbled." You know we've been out since morning, and how Lagos traffic...."

"I know. Jor mabinu. I'll give you money for Uber", she wanted to compensate me.

"Can you see yourself?", Bola made fun of me.

"Oti to oo", Grandma made her keep quiet." I should have sent you instead".

It didn't take long for me and the boys to arrive at the twenty-first century barbershop. The individual running it seemed very nice. He gave me a compliment as soon as I stepped into the building and promise to give me a nice haircut. Though I disappointed him by telling him only the boys were gonna get that, he still told one of his apprentices to get me a cold one.

Hello! I wasn't referring to the cold one in, "Daddy's Home" 😂. It was an unopened can of Malta Guinness.

"Do you want them to use a new pair of clippers?" He asked when he was about to start barbing their hair.

"Excuse me, is that part of your package?" I enquired from him as well.

"Yes, miss but you have to pay for the clipper separately. Once you do that, it's permanently theirs, so they can take it anywhere they need to barb their hair ", He explained to me.

" Oh....That's cool", I exclaimed.

🎁CHRISTMAS DAY🎅 🎄

Bola and I woke ourselves as early as possible to prepare some coconut rice, and chicken stew for breakfast then made some fresh orange and pineapple juice.

Afterward, we all went to grandma's bedroom to wake her with interesting Christmas songs, and Bola took shots and videos of us doing so with her Snapchat app.

Grandma was very happy with everything we did, including the Christmas outfit we gave her, so she didn't hesitate to put it on after taking her bath. Thereafter, she prayed for us and we started eating.

As we did that, the kids lifted their plastic cutleries carefully because they didn't their new pair of Christmas clothes, which Aunt Simi sent the previous day to get stained. Since she didn't send ours, the kids have been "shakaraing", us but we also rocked our new pair of 'Frozen' pajamas well😊. I was glad Bola agreed with me that Christmas should be more about showing lots of love to everyone around you. After all, they're the reason for the season. Baby Jesus was born to die for their sins and yours too.

"This movie is just too funny", I laughed as we watched, 'The Grinch'.

"Come on. Why are you making it sound like this is the first time you're watching it for the first time ", Bola replied me.

"Well, this is actually the first time I'm watching it", I said shyly.

"Really! You really are nerdier than I thought", She made fun of me with her siblings.

"Don't mind them, my dear. I'm on your team. I've not watched it before as well", Grandma supported me.

"Grandma, when are you distributing the gifts na?" Tominwa kept disturbing her and looking at the spot where we arranged them.

"Why are you such in a hurry? Are the gifts running away?" Gbemi and Bola attacked him at the same time.

"It's Christmas day oo. You people should stop attacking my son", Grandma pulled Tominwa closer and patted his head."I'm going to share the gifts now because I want to go get a nap.

"Come on, grandma. Who sleeps on Christmas Day?"Bola showed great displeasure at grandma's plan.

"The woman who gave birth to your mother", Grandma gave her the answer she didn't want to hear.

"Ohh!"Bola exclaimed."I thought she was birthed by a toad", She said and stood as far as possible from grandma. 

The rest of us didn't know what to do or say. We tried to utter words but our lips wouldn't move.

"You're just lucky today is Christmas", Grandma ignored her, and gave me the first parcel she laid her hands on." This is for my first and lovely granddaughter".

"Thanks, grandma", I blushed.

"And these are for my young and innocent grandchildren", she gave Gbemi, Tominwa, and Segun their parcels as well.

"Grandma, don't tell me you didn't get me any Christmas", Bola's eyes began to water.

"Well....no matter how much of a prodigal grandchild you are, I still love you", Grandma finally gave Bola her own parcel."Merry Christmas my darling".

"Thanks, grandma", Bola hugged and pecked her.

As grandma retired to her room, we also moved to the game room to play cards then we did some karaoke. At about 6 pm, a delivery man came to deliver a package meant for Bola but she refused to disclose the identity of the person who sent it to her. Then, I started feeling bad for being the only one in the house who got a present from grandma only at that moment. 

I waited all day for Cleo to send me one, even if it's small. Each passing second made me feel l like I was wasting my time expecting too much from my complicated relationship with him but I still couldn't help longing for him.

"Sis, your phone has been ringing upstairs", Gbemi informed in Bola's room, where I was getting my hair coiled for the party we planned to attend the next day.

"Thanks, lovey", I took it from her." Have you been in my room for a while?"

"Yup", she confessed. "I've been staring at the portrait picture you took with Senior Cleo and praying you two end up together".

"You're not serious", I smiled." What you should be praying for now is that I make enough money to take care of you all"

"You already have that kind of money", she took my purse and pour my new naira notes all over the place.

"Are you kidding me right now?" I said to her with bewildered eyes.

"Your better ignore this witch and attend to your missed call on time. We don't have all day", Bola urged me.

" Yes, ma", I unlocked my phone.

It was Cleo who called very late to wish me a merry Christmas. I still had to call him back though.

Anyways, he also sent me the parcel I spent several hours waiting for😁. It contained a white a sleeveless V neck A-line Long tulle dress with a red boater hat, silver heels, and a special necklace with both our names shipped on it.