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What is she planning?
Luke took in a big breath and slipped his hand over Ashanti’s. He could feel her tremble. Her gaze moved from his family to his face. He gave her a reassuring smile and then led her forward.
Yeye stared at them as they approached. His dark eyes were like bottomless black pools that threatened to drown him if he wasn’t careful.
Luke bowed from the waist in respect.
Yeye acknowledged the greeting with a nod.
Luke straightened and spoke in a loud, clear voice. “Welcome, Yeye. This is my friend, Ashanti.”
“Hey.” Ashanti wiggled her fingers nervously and whispered, “Should I bow too?”
“Relax,” Yeye said, hand outstretched.
But just because he’d said so didn’t mean Luke had to listen. He turned to Ashanti. “Go home. This has nothing to do with you.”
“Just a minute,” Yeye barked.
Ashanti froze, her body already tilted toward the door.
“Stay,” Yeye said.
Ashanti looked to him for guidance. Luke remained silent. Even though Ashanti was not a family member and she could choose to walk out with no ramifications, Luke would not tell her to disobey.
Not to Yeye’s face.
Ashanti swallowed, but dragged her feet back to where Luke stood. “Yes, Mr. Yeye… sir.”
“We apologize for barging in, Luke,” Yeye began. “It was not our intention to speak to you both, but now that you are here I am taking it as a sign that we should involve the parties responsible for this meeting.”
Ashanti clasped her hands behind her back and stared at the floor.
Luke knew she was uncomfortable and couldn’t remain quiet. “Yeye, with all due respect, Ashanti did nothing wrong. If you want to scold someone, scold me. Just me.”
“Look at you,” Nai Nai spoke up. “Acting like you’re a grown man.”
His mother stepped forward. She wore a bright pink blouse and a pair of black pants. She had her hair pinned in a style his siblings had dubbed The Parent-Teacher Swirl.
His mother was not the type of woman to take a back-seat approach when it came to her children’s grades. Whenever they were failing in a particular subject, she’d storm the school armed with questions and demands.
Before every parent-teacher meeting, his mother would pin her hair up in exactly that style.
Seeing it now, Luke knew she meant business.
“I’ve done my best to handle this problem on my own,” she said wearily. He was stunned when he recognized how gaunt her face looked. Had she really been starving herself over this?
“Ma…”
She ignored him. “I’ve spoken to my son. Begged him to see reason. I even buried my pride and pleaded with that woman—” she pointed to Ashanti—“with the greatest sincerity and she responded with insults and disrespect.”
“Hey!” Ashanti took a step forward as if to fight.
Luke snatched her wrist and held her back. When she turned her head and her fiery gaze slammed into his, he said firmly, “No.”
Ashanti fighting with his mother in front of all their family would only make her look like the bad guy and he was sure his mother had already given Yeye and all the others that impression.
“We haven’t done anything wrong,” Luke said.
