The Blue House S01 E13

“Banke do this thing now!”
“I will I just haven’t decided which one I want to do.”
“Discuss it with your husband and come to a decision quickly!”
“Yeah…I want to talk to my Mum first though. Besides you don’t have to be scared about me getting pregnant so soon. Kunle and I barely have sex.” She said rolling her eyes.
This piqued Helen’s interest. “Not having sex? Why? And what does your Mum have to do with your family planning?”
“We’re sort of having issues…” Banke said evasively.
“What kind of issues?”
Banke huffed. “I really don’t want to talk about it…hope you understand?”
“Yeah it’s okay. No problem at all but if you feel the need to talk about it you know where to find me!” Helen said with a bright smile.
“Of course! Our cookies should be warm enough now, I heard the microwave ping.” She said rising up to get them, leaving Helen worried about her.
**********
“I hate this binary!” Joy was saying to Ayodele.
“It’s very simple, just do it the way I have  taught you and you’ll get it.” Ayodele said.
“Okay…” Joy replied gathering her notes together.
“What did you get in your social studies test?”
“Thirty eight.”
“That’s good, you’re getting better!” Ayodele commended Joy.
Peace sat with them at the dining table brooding over the fact that Ayodele was paying Joy too much attention. What did Joy have that she didn’t have? She wasn’t even as pretty as she was yet Ayodele seemed to prefer her company. She watched him smiling at her and she was filled with envy and rage. How dare Joy take her boyfriend?
“Ayodele explain this question to me” she said trying to get his attention, turning her book towards him.
“Isn’t this the same question we worked on yesterday? How many times do you want me to explain it?” Ayodele said wearily.
“Don’t worry I’ll get it myself!” Peace replied tartly rising up and storming off.
“What did I say now?” Ayodele said to Joy who shrugged.
**********
Ronke got up from the couch to join Dapo at the dining table, he had just finished his dinner.
“Hope the food was alright?” Ronke asked not just because she wanted to know but because she needed an ice-breaker.
“What sort of question is that? You better say what you have to say and don’t ask me foolish questions.” He said irritably.
“I’m sorry” Ronke said meekly. “Ayodele brought home a letter from his school. The fee for his JSCE is fifty thousand.”
“I trust you! I knew you were coming to give me another bad news. Fifty thousand? Okay I’ve heard you.” Dapo said sarcastically. “Anything else?” He asked.
“N…no” Ronke replied timidly.
“Alright! Goodnight old pregnant woman!” Dapo said and left her at the table.
**********
“Kunle… are you sleeping?” Banke asked walking into their bedroom.
“No, I was just trying to relax. What is it?”
“I want us to talk about Teniola”
“Okay…what about her?”
“We need to make a decision about the creche. I’m resuming work in the next three weeks.”
“Yeah…let’s take her to Havillah”
“Take her to Havillah? No… I want her to go to Rubies.”
“But that’s some distance from your office besides it’s too expensive. Why not let her be in a creche that’s close to home, we have a maid that can pick her up and the fees are very reasonable. I prefer the staff there, they’re more mature and they look like they know what they’re doing.” Kunle said.
“Kunle I don’t want Teniola to go to Havillah”
“Why?” Kunle asked surprised and confused.
“I have my reasons” Banke said simply
“Would you care to share them?” Kunle said trying to be patient.
“I want Teni to have a good start. My parents took us to good schools and I want that for my child too.”
“But Havillah is not a bad start. It’s one of the best…”
“I want my child around sophisticated children.”
“And who told you that the children at Havillah are unsophisticated?” Kunle asked now sitting up.
“Look Kunle I don’t expect you to understand, just trust my judgement.”
“I’m sorry I can’t do that. We can’t afford Rubies anyway.”
Banke was disappointed in Kunle. “What happened to you? Throughout the time we courted you never said you couldn’t afford anything. Now you’re almost stingy, you censor my spending! You don’t treat me like you used to and sincerely I’m getting very unhappy and becoming less attracted to you.”
Kunle was speechless, he was doing his very best to make sure they lacked nothing and owed no one. But this was becoming more difficult with the mounting bills. Why couldn’t Banke understand that? Suddenly Kunle remembered what his mother had said when she first met Banke.
“Kunle you can’t marry this girl. She’s more than you can handle.”
He hadn’t understood her then but now he did.
“Okay she’ll go to Rubies.” He said.