Gone 20

It was very difficult for the older woman not to laugh, but she tried as hard as she could to suppress the laughter that was welling up within her.

"When the principal had found the file, he handed it over to me and said we had a new student and he did the introductions and then as was the tradition in my class as of that time, I...well, it was my very first time trying it out but I had decided to do it anyways for which I would regret later...!" Temi said.

The old woman frowned.

"Regret? What do you mean...?" She asked.

"When the introductions had been made, I...well the principal, using eye signals, urged me to...I asked him what his name was, and then asked what class he was and would be in...!"

"And of course the course he was going for...and...!" Temi paused as she bit the insides of her mouth angrily as she looked away.

The old woman watched her with a smile on her face.

She found the girl talking beside her to be very funny...

She couldn't stop laughing.

"And then what happened?" The old woman asked.

"His response was such an annoying one, I almost had my hand reached out to his hair and pulling them all off strand by strand...!"

Temi said as she displayed how she would have done what she had just said, causing the elderly woman to burst out laughing.

Holding her head as she laughed, the old woman asked;

"And then what happened? How was his response that had you wanna pull out every strand of his hair off...?"

"He answered in a very slow, sluggish ad lazy manner that, even the principal had a disgusted look on his face...!" Temi said as she rolled her eyeballs.

The old woman laughed all the more.

"Though when I had asked about his class and what his name was and, what class he would be in, his response was very sharp!" Temi said.

"Really?" The old woman asked.

Temi nodded.

"Really...!"

"But when it came to what he wanted to be, he just, relaxed in his chair, and face me a sluggish, and annoying response that even the angels pausing by would have to mark him, so that next time, the gift of promptness would be given to him!" Temi said.

At this point, the old woman had already laughed really hard, she was already holding her side.

"Oh, Temi...!" The old woman said.

"Take it easy Grandma...!" Temi said as she reached out to the old woman.

When the old woman had calmed down, she asked;

"And then what happened...?"

But Temi said;

"How 'bout we leave it all until tomorrow?You've laughed hard enough...!" Temi said.

But the old woman was adamant.

"I called you here, do I'm gon' listen to the whole of the story until the end...so let's go!"

Temi that had been hoping that she'd agree to get proposal of shifting the conversation until the next day, let out a sigh as she slowly lowered her head and gently shook it in negation.

"Grandma, you are one hard but to crack, do you know that?" Temi asked.

The old woman smiled as she clapped get hands, taking what Temi had said to be a compliment.

"Oh, It's the fist time I'm hearing that, and it's been so long...!"

"Thank you dear for the compliment!" The old woman said.

Temi stared at the old woman in disbelief with her mouth wide open.

"Ma'am, y...you took what I said as a...as a compliment?" Temi asked.

The old woman looked at her with a smile on her face.

"Hm? Wasn't it a compliment?" The old woman asked.

Temi still stared at the woman in utter disbelief with her mouth dropped wide open...

Looking away from the woman, Temi thought of something but only pursed her lips in place of saying it.

After sometime, Temi continued...

"When I had asked him what class he would be in, he said that he was going to be in one of the tech classes...!" Temi said.

"Nodding my response, with the file in my hand that I had come for, I greeted his parents one last time, and, then at the principal, and then with a turn, I left the room."

"I never thought that I'd see him in 'my' the very next day...!" Temi said.

The old woman frowned.

"But, aren't you like a...what's your career line? What do you want to be when you grow up? What are you going abroad to study...?" The old woman asked all at once.

"It has to do with business management...Entrepreneur...!" Temi responded.

"Business management...Entrepreneur?" The old woman asked with a deeper frown.

Temi nodded.

"Yes...!"

"Why business management? Aren't you into tech or science or anything that has to do with...anything related to the medical field or something...?" The old woman asked in disbelief.

Temi smiled as she understood the old woman's shock.

"That's what I've been told to go for, but I wanted to follow in the footsteps of my Dad...!" Temi said.

"Oh, your Dad's into business...?" The old woman asked.

Temi nodded.

"Yes Ma'am, my Dad's a business and entrepreneur mogul, so I wanna follow after him...!" Temi said.

"I love the way he handles things...especially when it comes to work!" Temi said.

"Who do you take after from either of your parents...?" The old woman asked.

"Whose brains do you think you have from either of them?" The old woman asked.

"I'm more likely to say my Dad's when it comes to business, work, and anything that has to do with you know, the office and those kinda stuff...!" Temi said.

"But I also carry my momma's brain when it comes to household stuff too!" Temi added and then she paused for a while.

"Not that my Mum's not into the office work...but she's always occupied with 'Momma' duty...you understand what I mean, right...?" Temi said.

The old woman nodded with a small smile in he face as she understood what Temi was trying to say.

With her head lowered, Temi played with her shirt as her mind was elsewhere.

The old woman watched her.

"Thinking of home...?" The old woman asked.

Temi suddenly had tears in her eyes.

"I miss them already...!" She said.

"Don't worry love...you're gonna still see them again...!" The old woman said as she gently placed her hand on Temi's hand as she let the tears that were gently dropping down from Temi's eyes land on the back of her palm.

"I know I'm still gon' see them again...!" Temi said.

"But I didn't feel right...!" Temi said.

The old woman frowned.

"Don't feel right?" The old woman asked.

Temi nodded.

"Yeah, like as if something bad gon' happen...!" Temi said.

"Shhh...!" The old woman said.

"Be careful of what comes outta your mouth!" She gently shunned.

"Haven't you heard that there is power in the tongue...?" The old woman asked.

Temi looked at the woman, then a little smile crept up to her face.

Turning her head away, Temi looked out the window as she said;

"When I began attending that school, I've...!" Then Temi paused.

"I've always enjoyed the loneliness and isolation as of that time...!" Temi said.

"I always sat alone and so never had...!" Temi paused as she pursed her lips.

"I never had much friends...!"

"Did you even ever had true friends...?" The old woman asked.

"I never had true friends either...!" Temi let out a dry laugh.

"Everyone always had their groups...I and my 'friends' also has ours, but, I never felt like I belonged...you know...?" Temi said.

"Have you ever felt like you don't belong in a certain group even 'though' you're in that group and amongst the founders yourself...?" Temi asked.

"It feels like as if you're a ghost to them or something...like as if you're invisible...!" Temi murmured as she looked down and fondled with her shirt.

The old woman smiled.

"I had three girlfriends...one moved to another country, but we still kept in contact with her until a certain time, a certain something happened, which I'm really not in the mood to talk 'bout right now...!" Temi said and paused.

"When that happened, she just ceased from communicating with me all of a sudden without a notice...!" Temi said and looked out the window.

The old woman chuckled lightly as she raised her hand from the back of Temi's palm to her shoulder as she said;

"When the time for someone to be in your life has expired, no one's gon' tell you when they gon' leave ya!"

Temi looked at her and then lowered her eyes down to her clothes.

"The same way they came into your life without making a noise is exactly the same way they gon' leave...no permission!" The old woman added.

Temi looked at the woman.

Staring and holding her gaze for a while, Temi later looked away.

"I've always felt left out...!"

"Whenever there are discussions going on, I'll never be involved...when I do want to be involved, they change their topics or just leave the classroom...!"

"To the extent that if I leave the classroom, they begin their discussions, but when I returned, the class would become...!" Temi paused as she thought really hard on something.

"You know a graveyard...just like a graveyard...!" Temi said.

"The place would grow so silent, you would hear the crickets chirping...!" Temi said.

The old woman let out a laugh.

"I mean, I felt alone though I was in a classroom...a room filled with people...it was...now that I think of it, I find it funny!" Temi said.

The old woman was still laughing when Temi said;

"But I believe that God was, and still is, tryna teach me something...but I don't just know, I haven't figured it out yet...!"

The old woman stopped laughing, but the teary eyes that she had, she wore a small smile as she said;

"You may be right...God might have been using that as a lesson to teach you something...It's just left for you to open up your heart...!" The old woman said.

Temi looked at the woman.

Holding her gaze for a while, Temi slowly nodded before saying;

"Yeah...Yeah, I think you're right...!"

And then with a smile on her face, Temi looked down at her hand as her fingers plated with her shirt.