Chapter VI
VI
As far as birthdays went, her twenty-fifth was fairly gloomy.
Tolu had suggested that they mark the day at a Chinese restaurant in Victoria Island; so of course, he was late.
Ebun remarked on the fact that there wasn’t a single Chinese staff member in sight.
They were all Nigerian, and the decor was working hard to make up for that fact—the walls were lavishly painted in red and gold, and there was no lack of porcelain Buddhas, waving cats and trickling fountains.
Aunty Kemi insisted on carrying in a half-deflated balloon.
And her mother was still arguing with the staff at the entrance about bringing in Mo’s birthday cake.
Mo whispered to her mother that she should threaten to curse the restaurant, and then slipped by her to locate their table, followed closely by her cousin.
Eventually Bunmi joined them. She was flustered, but she had emerged victorious. She placed the cake at the centre of the table. The dinner began in a pleasant enough, if wholly unremarkable, manner. And then out of nowhere, Aunty Kemi dropped her chopstick. It rang loudly against the plate.
“So you really won’t tell us who the father is. You want to raise this child alone!”
“Mummy, it’s Mo’s birthday…”
“Monife, talk to your cousin na. She must confess who this man is. Even if he is married, the child should bear his name. A child should know who their father is. It is not good what she is doing.”
“Who is he, Ebun?”
“He doesn’t matter.”
“He doesn’t? He mattered enough for you to open your legs,” Monife said casually, biting into a spring roll.
“Why do you have to be so crude?” snapped Bunmi.
Mo shrugged. “Well, I tried.” She left them to it and wondered what Golden Boy was doing. Did he remember today was her birthday?
—
When they arrived home, she rushed over to listen to the answering machine. He wouldn’t leave a message. The mothers still didn’t know she was seeing him. But there was a part of her that hoped. Maybe he would have left some sort of code. Perhaps he would have played a record.
The machine blinked at her. No new messages.