CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Family Meeting
Leaving the garage through the door to house, Maria met me at the entrance
“Melissa and Delphine are here to see you” She muttered. They must be here with my contract
“Where are they?” Alice asked as she walked next to me
“Living room” The elderly chef responded
“After you” She directed at me. I moved into the living room where Melissa and the lawyer patiently waited.
“Where the hell have you been since morning, keeping us waiting for you?” Melissa blurted out angrily.
I stand corrected... She was not waiting patiently
“Do I have to answer that?” I replied sassily
“You be…” My angry sister-in-law started
“We went to the bank” Alice retorted.
“Are you serious?” I raised my eyes at Alice. Such a switch
“Why were you at the bank?”
“Why are you here?” I ignored her question and I could see that irked her
“I asked you a qu…”
“We are here with your contract” Delphine cut in as she raised from her seat and handed me the file. I opened it and saw Kylian’s signature on all the documents
“Everything you wanted is in writing, all you just have to do is sign it” The lawyer instructed
“I hope you don’t mind me reading it”
“And have you waste more of our precious time” Melissa retorted
“Melissa, calm down” Delphine countered her “Of course, you can go through the file”
“Melissa, you can go if I am wastinh your time. I am sure the good lawyer won’t mind waiting for me”
“Don’t worry, we will wait” The lawyer stated while Melissa rest back into the couch.
I spent the next hour reading through the documents which I noticed are in two pairs. I guess one for me and one for them, whatever clause, I don’t understand, I ask Delphine and she was kind enough to explain them to me. Like Delphine said, everything Fazya agreed to was in the contract, including the sex clause. I signed all the documents when I was satisfied with everything written in it.
“Do you love your new house?” Delphine asked as she hands me my own copy of the contract
“Would you change it if I say I don’t?”
She just smirked
“When is Kylian coming?” I asked
“We will get across to you and Fazya said you need to call your parent.” she said and left the house with a pissed Melissa.
I know I should call them but I just don’t know what would be my reason for acting like a rabid dog
After lunch, I took myself on a tour round the house. When I say lunch, I mean some cereal and milk. I could not put what Maria made for me this afternoon into my mouth, so I settled for junk. I am not going to lie, I miss home badly. Maria’s food, even makes it worse. I knew this was going to happen but I thought with Kylian, I could get through it. The next time am in town which I am sure will be soon, I am definitely visiting an African market to get African ingredients for food. I think I will die if I don’t get the proper food into my body
I walked round the house and from where I was standing, I could see a cliff. Maria said the river is at the back but I am standing close to a cliff. So I moved closer to the end and looking over the cliff, I saw stairs. If I am count the stairs, I would say they are up to forty and at the base of the stairs, the river flows. I saw the boat floating close to the stairs. I looked at the view before me, it was so beautiful. I wished I could wake up to this every morning
I looked up at the house, it is practically a glass house….. a beautiful glass house which is mine. My glass house. I smiled and raised my head up to look and I noticed an outdoor terrace on the first floor. Where the fuck is that?
I ran back inside and went up the stairs, tried to find my way to the back of the house from inside. After few minutes of wandering, I saw a door and I opened. I walked into a really large bedroom, bigger than the room I slept in the hotel. It had a 72 inches flat screen attached to the world, a king sized bed, a mini fridge and things that were not in room I slept in yesterday. I stepped into the terrace and it looked like the one at the hotel, just bigger. instead of a swimming pool, there was a Jacuzzi which made sense as there is a swimming pool at the other side of the house. There was a dining set at the other end of the terrace. This is what a master bedroom is suppose to look like
I stepped back into the bedroom and I saw that the bed has been slept in which mean someone is using this room.
Who the fuck is staying in this room while I slept in a room smaller than my parent’s bedroom....
I hear a door opened and close, then I saw Alice come out of the bedroom in towel and she was startled when she saw me standing in the room
“Why the fuck are you staying in the master’s bedroom while I am in a room smaller than my mother’s kitchen store back in Nigeria?”
“I didn’t think you would mind” she finally said after she spent minutes trying to get her composure.
“Well, I do. Get your stuff, you have ten minutes to leave” I ordered her and left.
I stood at the terrace holding my phone after spending about two hours moving my stuff into the master bedroom and racking my brain on what to tell my parent but on that end, I came up short. I put call through to my parent anyway and Mama picked
“Mama…”
“What happened to you, Bewaji?” She yelled at me in our native language, Yoruba. Soon after, Baba joined the video
“Kylian and I got into a fight and…”
“Is that the reason why you decided to act like an untrained child, embarrassing your husband, his family and our family. You are…” And like that for the next thirty minutes, I spent listening to my parent chastise and rebuke me for been rude to Kylian. When they were finally done expressing their disappointment, they hung up the call on me.
I let out a sign of frustration and hang my head over the balcony in sadness. Even if I had told them the truth, they would still have found fault in me.
“Ma’am” I looked up and saw Isa “Dinner is ready”
“Okay, I will be down”
“Yes, Ma’am” She turned ready to leave
“Ask your Alice to get everyone living under this roof in the dining room” it is time I get to know everybody
“Alright ma’am” she said and left. After I had freshen up and I went downstairs in one of the new dresses I got in Nigeria. I found Maria at the base of the stairs carrying food to the dining room
“Where is everyone?” I asked
“In the living room”
“Please come with me, I want to talk to everyone” I said and went towards the living room. I saw Jude, Isa, Alice and one young man waiting here.
“Hello everyone” I greeted them with a smile on my face
“Hello Ma’am” They responded
“Please sit” I instructed as Maria comes in. everyone sat on the round couch while I sat down on a single one not attached to the rest of the couches
“I am Bewaji Bendel but please call me Bewa. Can I get to know you all with your roles in this house?”
“I am Maria Clouder” Maria said as she stood up
“Please sit and introduce yourself” I muttered gently
“I am Maria Clouder, I am a chef and also in charge of this estate”
“In charge like what?”
“Cleaning and cooking mostly”
“Okay then” I nodded then raised my hands to Isa
“I am Isabelle Clouder, I assist my mom in her duties”
“Okay” I nodded and gestured to Jude
“I am Jude Clouder and I am…” Wait a minute, did he just say, Jude Clouder like Maria and her daughter
“Clouder?”
“Yes, he is my husband” Maria clarified. Wow! So, I was right.
“So what do you do?”
“I am your driver and also in charge of maintenance in this house, anything that needs repairing and maybe changing”
“Okay” I looked at the other young blonde guy in the room “Are you a Clouder too”
He smiled and responded “Yes, ma’am. Esaia Clouder, I am the youngest”
“Wow!” I laughed. I have a whole family working for me “Alice, are you also…”
“No, I am Alice Beauchamp” she interjected
“So Esaia, what do you do?”
“I run errands”
“Okay, Alice?”
“I am your PA, I am suppose to follow you around and make sure you follow the rules”
“Of course” I muttered “It is an honour to be living in this house with you all and as you all know I am married to Kylian Mbappe. To that effect, I will love for us to live in cordial relationship with each other but I have two rules of my own”
“What is it?” Maria enquired
“I want you to give me the respect you would give Kylian and I promise to return it too”
“Of course, you are the boss” Maris assured me
“The second rule?” Alice asked
“The official language in this house is English, no French, no German, no Italian. Any other language apart from English is barred, is that okay?”
“It is your house, you makes the rules, of course it is okay” Jude asserted
“Then I am sure we will live good life together. That is all, do you have any questions for me”
They looked at each other and then Maria said “None”
“Good, time to eat. Is the table set?” As much as I am scared of what I will see on that table tonight, I need to create a good rapport with this family so that my life in this house can be a bit bearable.
“Yes, it is” Maria said as she stood up with Isa and went into the kitchen
But as I stood up, no one followed me
“Are you not eating?”
“We will after you are…” Esaia replied
“We are family now” I retorted “And family eat together, so let go”
They awkwardly shared a look with each other
“You heard the lady, let go” Alice announced
Everybody took their seat on the table and then Maria dished out mine first. To my greatest surprise, tonight’s dinner was Jollof rice
“Oh my God!” I exclaimed
“I would love to make you your favourite but I could't get the ingredient in time for dinner and I can't let you go to bed with junks again”
“How did you make this?”
“Youtube” Isa interjected. I was almost brought to tears at this woman’s commitment to my dinner even though I knew she was just doing her job
“Thank you”
“Try it” Maria urged me and I did.
Damn it! And just like that my hope came crashing when I tasted it. This is not Nigerian jollof nor is it Ghana jollof nor is it any African country Jollof. I won’t even classify this as French Jollof
.....It is the intention that counts anyway. This woman wanted to feed me tonight and this will fill my stomach tonight. I looked to see everyone’s gaze on me, including Alice.
“Delicious” I said with a bright smile on my face. There was a loud noise as they all dug into their food.
TO BE CONTINUED NEXT SATURDAY
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