“Yes. And yes, I’ve packed.” He hadn’t, but he knew she’d nag if he said otherwise. His stomach filled with that weird sense of guilt and shame at lying to her, but Ajiri had been right—he couldn’t tell her the truth. It was awful to admit it, but his mother couldn’t keep a secret to save her life, especially when it came to her children’s “accomplishments”. So Ajiri had come up with a clever lie about it being a religious retreat, and how Ejiro was “straying from the light” and needed to be saved. His mother had prayed on the phone with him for an hour straight after he’d told her why he still couldn’t come home.
“This is good,” his mother was saying, back in the present. “I’m so happy that at least one of my children is still on the right path. Speaking of, how’s your sister?”
“Still has a girlfriend,” Ejiro said with a slight roll of his eyes, because that was probably what she was really asking. It’d been ages since she actually cared whether Ajiri was fine or not.
“I can’t believe she’s still insisting on this depravity.” Ejiro’s chest went tight and hot. “What does she want me to do? Does she want me to apologise or something? Why is she doing all these things just to hurt me?”
Ejiro wanted to say something, wanted to defend her, but as usual, when his mother went on a rant like this, he couldn’t speak—he couldn’t breathe. After Ajiri and Blessing had started dating, Ajiri had finally told their mother she was a lesbian. Their mother’s response was to at first go on an angry bigoted rant, and when her anger hadn’t gone through, she’d began to weep, hard and excessively, crying loudly about how Ajiri wanted to kill her before her time. Ejiro refused to imagine how she might’ve reacted if they’d told her Blessing was trans.
Ajiri had sat through her furious raving, silent and stone-faced, while Ejiro had cried throughout, so hard he’d ended up with a pounding headache afterward. He hadn’t known why the rant had affected him so much; unlike Ajiri, he wasn’t queer, but hearing those words lobbed at his only sibling and best friend had felt like having them lobbed at him.
“Anyway, let’s not talk about her. How about you, Ejiro? Have you and eh—what’s that her name?—Samantha … have you and Samantha made up yet?”
The tight feeling in his chest was growing worse. “Mummy, it’s been over two years since me and Sam broke up. We’re not getting back together.”
“But you were so perfect for each other,” she said, mournfully, like he was purposefully breaking her heart.
I don’t want to talk about this, he thought but couldn’t make himself say.
“With the way things are going, am I ever going to have grandkids? Your sister is a lost cause. You’re my only hope, Jiro.”
That last part was said teasingly, so he dutifully forced a laugh.
“Have you booked your flight home? You said you’ll come after the retreat, abi?”
“Yes. I told you, I don’t know how long the retreat is going to take”—another lie Ajiri had helped him make up—“so I can’t possibly buy any tickets. It’ll cost too much to reschedule.”
“All right, fine. It’s getting late, so I’ll say goodnight now. I’ll call you tomorrow, yes?”
“Okay. Goodnight, mummy.”
“Ehen. Goodnight.”
She ended the call.
Ejiro dropped the device onto his bed. He pulled his knees to his chest, and just tried to breathe.
He didn’t know how long he remained like that before a body thumping hard against his door jolted him out of it.
“Jesus,” Ajiri muttered, sounding slightly drunk. “Ejiro? Are you in there? Why the fuck is your door locked?” He winced at the curse word. She did go a little potty mouthed after she’d been drinking. “What are you doing in there?” Her voice turned sly.
Ejiro quickly rushed to open it before she could say something embarrassing.
She swayed inside. He closed and locked the door behind her.
Ajiri tumbled onto his bed, shifting until she was resting against the headboard. “This isn’t a good look, Ejiro. A whole party out there being thrown in your honour and you’re here, sequestered in your bedroom. Haba.” Unlike him, Ajiri had picked up the English accent fairly quickly, but when she drank, her Nigerian accent and mannerisms came out in full force.
She stared at him, and he blushed, shifting uncomfortably.
“What’s wrong?” She frowned, squinting her eyes. “You’ve got that—that look on your face.”
“What? What look? I’m fine.”
Realisation dawned. “You spoke to mummy, didn’t you.” It wasn’t really a question, so he didn’t bother to answer. Ajiri kissed her teeth. “I’m so glad you’re doing this Cupid Calling thing. You know, I was so afraid she was getting to you with her manipulation. Blessing and I were so sure that this was it—any moment now you’d actually pack your things and leave.”
Ejiro bristled. “I have to go home.”
“You have to or you feel like you have to?” Ajiri raised an eyebrow.
