Dimma reached home, went straight to her room, locked herself inside and began sobbing.
Her mother decided to allow her be.
“Just let her be. The poor thing has been through enough” Dee Ikenna said, feeling pity for Dimma
“Yes, that’s why I decided to leave her alone. She is my daughter and very strong, soon she will come out of it”
“Ngozi, tell me, hope Ugonna is not making plans of marrying that woman’s daughter?”
And Ngozi hummed: “To tell you the truth, I’m scared of my son’s future. I don’t know what he sees in that Diogor. He has made it clear to me that she is the one he will be marrying.”
“That will never happen. I will talk him out if it”
“Hmm, I don’t think there will be need talking to him. You know my son and how stubborn he can be when making decisions. Anyways, it won’t still be a harm to try. I hope he listens to you.”
“What about Dimma, now she missed the exam, what is she going to be doing now?”
“That I don’t know. I just hope she reconcile with her brother and return to the restaurant. They should be working together as siblings. I hope she will listen to me this time.. I just hope, cos she can’t be staying at home doing nothing” she said as they remained silent, having so many things going on in their minds.
Dimma sobbed for close to 26 minutes and decided to console herself. She began thinking on what to do with her life from that moment.
She then thought of opening her own restaurant business.
“But won’t that require huge sum of money?” When she relayed her decision to her mother, she objected it.
“You should be thinking of returning to your brother’s restaurant and not opening another one”
“Mama, that business is Ugonna’s own. I will leave it once I get married, that means I don’t have any business of my own. I want to establish this business so that I will use it to fend for myself and also sponsor myself through school. So that your son won’t have any reason to accuse me of stealing his money again. I need to have my own business” she continued persuading her.
After seeing reasons in what she said, Ngozi then tried advising her to look for another business instead of the one she had in mind.
“But why restaurant? Why not look for another business, like opening a shop in the market. You can sell provisions, foodstuffs or even Ladies wears”
“No Mama, and besides, I don’t know anything about them. I’m sure I will do well in restaurant. All I need is money. Just help me and borrow from your meeting members, in few months time, I will pay them back.”
Ugonna wasn’t happy when he heard the news about Dimma opening her own restaurant because, he knew what that means.
“How can that be? And you allowed her Mama?”
Ngozi was shocked, looking at him asking him the question.
“I don’t understand, can you come again?”
“We already have a business for the family, why does she want to open another one?”
“Oooow, so you know that it’s a family business? When you allowed other people to make decisions for you in that restaurant, you forgot that it’s a family business.”
“There you go again, when are you going to stop bringing up the past?”
“Listen Ugonna, Dimma needs her own business as well. What you did to her proves that she is nothing to you, in fact, you treated her like a trash in that place. Slapping her in front of ………”
“Enough Mama! I said enough!! When are you going to stop? Please, if Dimma comes back, tell her to see me in at once. That her madness needs to stop”
He then went into his room and began imagining the effect he will experience in his business if Dimma opens her own restaurant business.
“I remembered how the customers loved her. The happiness on their faces when they eat her foods. I knew about how many customers I have lost after she stopped coming to that place, and now that I’m trying to bring her back to restore my business to it’s former glory, she is thinking of opening her own? Never, I won’t allow that to happen. I must get her to return to my restaurant. She should come back… But how do I persuade her? I really need to persuade her”
When Nneoma and Diogor got the information, they imagined the effect it will create on Ugonna’s business.
“That girl sef, so she wants to keep my husband out of business, abi?”
“Shut up, he is not yet your husband” Nneoma shunned Diogor
“But he will soon be. Mummy, you are a master planner, can you please come up with an idea that will prevent her from establishing the business? I’m beginning to hate that girl, she has given me enough headache already”
“Hmm, well let her start the business, she is going to watch it collapse before it even began” Nneoma said
“Really? Mother, you are too much…. Please tell me, what idea have you got?”
“Diogor, I don’t have an idea yet. You are beginning to irritate me! Are you sure you are even my daughter? Can’t you do anything yourself? That girl is your mate, you should learn to deal with her yourself. Instead, you are here complaining that she is giving you a headache… Shame”
“Jeeez…. What’s that anger?
But Mother, I’m still learning from you, that’s why I always seek for your idea, when I grow up like you, I will start behaving like you, you know” Diogor replied
But Nneoma hissed and left the place.
My Sugar Baby by Ngozi Lovelyn
To be continued
Warning- No part of this work should be copied, use, reproduce, redistribute either electronically or manually without permission from the authoress.
Copyright – ngozilovelyn.com 2018
