Song of the chapter: Thinking About You by Frank Ocean

...

Abena felt a light feather move across her neck. She sighed and turned the other way, wanting to continue her beauty sleep. The feather didn't relent, instead, it moved swiftly to her cheek and placed a kiss on it, before kissing her lips softly.

She opened an eye and was met with a thoroughly naked Tobi, and she shut her eyes immediately, not caring that she already saw it all. She heard his heart warming chuckle above her, and she had to bite her lip to stop the smile that threatened to tug at her lips.

"Go away." She mumbled. "You're interrupting my beauty sleep."

"You don't need this much sleep ife, you're already beautiful." He replied smoothly, before kissing her again.

"Are you going to be like this now?"

"Like how?" He lifted an eyebrow although her eyes were still closed.

"Extremely cheesy?"

He burst into laughter, still hovering over her. "I'll be how you want me to be, babe. Now get your sexy ass out of the bed, except you want to walk back to Nigeria."

She felt him stand upright and she opened her eyes, knowing that he wasn't standing over her anymore.

But he was still naked.

"I don't want to go." Abena whined, focusing on his face and making sure she wasn't looking anywhere else, and by 'else', I mean 'down'.

"Come on Abena. We have to." He said in frustration. "I promise, when you give birth, we would all go wherever you want to as a family: You, the twins, Demi and I."

A broad smile appeared on her face before she could even stop it. And the fact that he mentioned Demi too just made it all better.

A family.

She sighed happily. It had been a while since she had one.

"Well, Miss. Omotosho, are you going to remain on the bed naked, and staring at my completely handsome face, or are you going to stand up so we can get ready for our flight?"

She scowled at him and threw a pillow at him, which he caught with ease.

"Show off." She said, sticking her tongue out at him.

"It's only meant for you." He winked and she rolled her eyes.

"I'll be using the shower first. Or else you want to join me." He offered, and went into the bathroom.

The events of the previous day swept through her mind, making her smile sheepishly.

She didn't regret a thing.

"Oh, and when we get to Nigeria, my entire family wants to see you." Tobi said, sticking his head out through the door, and her face suddenly went pale.

What?

...

"Your entire family?"

"You said you wanted me to tell the world. So, I started with my family." He shrugged. "Bread or cereal?"

"Bread." She pointed at the fridge. "Yes, but I'm not ready."

"Sandwich? Or just plain bread with eggs?" He asked, bringing the bread out of the fridge. "Abena, I'm not asking you to meet them now."

She sighed in relief.

"You''ll be meeting them tomorrow." He finished and she glared at him.

"What's the difference between now and tomorrow?"

"A lot of hours." He said matter-of-factly. "Now, did you say you wanted toast?"

"Yes, toast, with eggs and sardine, and tea, with lots of milk. And bananas. Please tell me we have bananas." She instructed.

"Yes we do. Stop freaking out because of bananas." He joked. "But, on a serious note sha, I love you. And I want you to meet my family. You've met my mother, but I still have aunties and uncles and cousins. And I want you to be a part of my family. You and Demi. You're family now." He said softly.

"What if they don't like me?" She asked, watching him place the bread in the sandwich maker.

"They'll love you. You're irresistible." He smirked.

"Like, what if they say I'm too..."

"Too what?"

"Too poor." She said, her voice was barely above a whisper and she avoided his gaze, suddenly finding the tiles interesting.

"Abena..."

"This isn't a fairytale Tobi. Poor and rich just don't go. They'll look at me and then they'll hate me, then you'll succumb to their pressure, and leave me." She said.

"That would never happen ife. Look at me." He walked away from the sandwich maker and stood in front of her, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Look at me ife. You know you want to. I know how much you like looking at my face." He teased, earning a laugh from her.

"I don't care if you don't have money. Money isn't everything, and I would gladly give it all up to be with you." He promised.

"Gladly?" She lifted an eyebrow skeptically at him.

"Well, maybe not gladly. More like hesitantly, but I'll do it anyway." He shrugged.

She gave him a look, clearly offended.

"What?" He whined. "Its a lot of money. I'd eventually do it, but just with a lot if hesitation." She rolled her eyes, fighting a smile.

The third, well now second, richest man in Nigeria would give it all up for her.

"So you don't mind introducing a girl with a sad past and a child to take care of to your family?" She asked, with a small smile.

"Nope. I can't think of any better girl. Besides, my life was totally boring before I met you. Now, there's drama." He joked and she laughed.

"I thought you liked the way your things were?" She teased.

"I thought I did too. But it turns out I was missing one more thing." He said, placing her sandwich on the plate in front of her, and pouring some hot water into her mug which had a tea bag in it.

"Oh. What was it?"

"You."

...

"I was wondering, since you're going to video call Demi before we leave, can I talk to him too?" Tobi asked carefully.

"You want to talk with Demi?" Her eyes widened in surprise.

"It's fine if you don't want me to. He seems like a sweet kid and I felt like it would be nice for him to see me so that when he finally comes home, he'll be used to that, but if you don't think it's fine, I'm totally cool with that. What was I thinking anyway? What was I even going to say? I'm sorry for-"

He stopped when he noticed the look she gave him. She was holding her fist to her mouth, trying to stop herself from bursting into laugher, and she was failing miserably.

"What?"

"Who knew the Tobi Ademi could be so flustered?" She laughed.

"Who was flustered? Leave me abeg." He pouted.

"I was going to say yes, but then you started talking and blowing it out of proportion." She said.

"Sorry." He shrugged and she waved it off.

"Come on. Lets chat with him quickly so that we can go." She said, pulling him down on the couch.

She brought out Tobi's laptop and signed on to Skype. She called him, and they waited in anticipation for the caretaker to pick up.

Suddenly, the face of a little dark skinned boy appeared on the screen. He was smiling broadly, and waving at her, not even looking at Tobi.

"Aunty Bena!" He squealed excitedly, and Abena chuckled.

"Hello my love. How are you doing?" She asked, her smile increasing.

Tobi looked at her and smiled. He was the only one in her initial family that was left, and her eyes shone when she looked at him.

Even he couldn't compete with little Demi.

"I'm fine! The doctor said that I'm getting better quickly, and I'm going to come home soon." He grinned enthusiastically.

"Well that's great love. I can't wait for you to come back home to me." She said sincerely.

"Who's that?" He asked, pointing at Tobi.

Tobi cleared his throat and straightened up. He felt like he needed Demi's approval, as stupid at that sounded. After all, he was going to be the big brother of his twins.

"This is my friend: Uncle Tobi." Abena said.

"Hello Mr. Uncle Tobi." Demi greeted confidently, and Tobi chuckled.

"Hello Demi. You just get better okay? When you come back. I have a house full of toys for you to play with." Tobi promised, and Abena knew he wasn't joking.

"Okay! So we're all going to stay together?" Demi asked hopefully.

"Yes Demi. We would all stay together in a big house with lots of food and toys." Abena laughed.

"Well what about Grandma? Would she come too?" Demi asked quietly, clearly used to his grandma's hostility.

"No Demi love. Grandma has travelled for a very long time. She won't be coming back." Abena said delicately.

Demi grinned at them. "Okay Aunty Bena. Have you been eating a lot of sweets aunty?" Demi asked innocently.

"No why?" She raised an eyebrow in confusion.

Demi shrugged. "You're really fat now."

...

Abena had no idea what to wear. Tobi's aunty and cousins were coming soon, and she was still standing in front of her mirror in a bra and panties, staring at all her clothes.

She remembered her talk with Tobi that morning.

Just be yourself, he said.

She shrugged to herself and picked out a plain purple maternity dress.

...

"Tobi. How many times do I have to tell you not to employ pregnant women as the help?" A high pitched voice asked as Abena walked down the stairs, with a strained smile on her face.

But the smile quickly wiped off on hearing the woman's words.

"Aunty. That's not the help. That's Abena." Tobi quickly said, rushing to Abena's side and helping her down the stairs.

"Oh. Abena." Aunty said, looking at Abena skeptically and with distaste.

"Good afternoon ma." Abena greeted with a curtsey.

"My dear, how are you?" Aunty gave a curt reply, still looking at Abena's choice of clothing.

Or rather, Tobi's choice of women.

"I'm fine ma." Abena said uncomfortably, avoiding Aunty's gaze.

"This are my cousins; Pamilerin, Pelumi and Peju." Tobi introduced her to three people. Two men and a woman.

Pamilerin was the older one of the cousins, standing almost taller than Tobi, he gave her a cheeky smile.

Pelumi, the second man, just nodded at her and returned back to his tablet, looking like he was forced to come.

Peju, the only woman didn't even bother to greet Abena. She just gave her the same look that Aunty was giving her.

A look that said, 'Gold digger.'

"You guys, this is Abena." Tobi said, placing a hand on Abena's back while Abena placed a hand on her stomach, feeling like she had to protect her babies.

"Okay, so how about lunch?" Tobi asked, trying to break the tension.

...

Lunch wasn't really bad, and before Abena knew it, it was over.

Aunty and Peju had left, giving an excuse that Abena didn't really listen to.

Pelumi just shook Tobi's hand and said congratulations before leaving, not even glancing at Abena.

With the way he was acting, you would think Tobi was the one carrying the child.

Pamilerin stayed, and he and Tobi stayed in the sitting room, talking and joking, while watching the sports channel.

Abena had sat with them for a while, before getting bored and leaving, trying to give them some privacy.

Some time later, she walked down the stairs, wanting to go to the kitchen for some water. She heard Tobi and Pamilerin talk in hushed voices and couldn't help but go closer to hear what they were saying.

"Who's the girl? She's beautiful." Pamilerin said.

"Yeah I know." Tobi replied dreamily.

"Well who is she?" Pamilerin pressed.

"She's just a girl..." Abena left before she could hear anymore. She forced herself up the stairs with a heavy heart and tears running down.

She was back to being just a girl.

...

"Abena? Are you okay?" Tobi asked, letting himself in. He noticed a packed suitcase in a corner, and Abena was lying down, staring at the wall, with her back facing him.

"I'm just a girl, shay?" She asked quietly.

"What are you talking about?" He asked, clearly confused.

"You told Pamilerin that I'm just a girl." She repeated.

"Abena-"

"I thought we were past that stage."

"We are." He said frantically.

"I thought you loved me."

"I love you Abena. Not loved. That's not all I said, you have to believe me." He begged.

"And your family. They hated me. They treated me like I was inferior. And you didn't say a word to them about it." She pointed out.

"Abena-"

"This is all wrong. Us. We are all wrong. I'm just a girl. After everything, I'm just a girl." She sobbed.

He walked up to her in an effort to comfort her.

"Don't. Just leave me."

He sighed and left the room.

Back to square one.

...

👋👋👋

Hello people!

The Contract is #380 in romance!

Who's amazing?

You guys! 😆😀😊

Well, who just loved Little Demi?

And what else do you think Tobi said to his cousin?

Is Abena giving up on them so easily?

And what do you guys think about the cousins?

Why does class sometimes act like a barrier to love? 😕😑😑

How was this chapter? Good? Okay? Bad?

I'm still waiting on more interview questions guys

Dont forget the Nigerian Watty Awards people. Deadline to vote is the 31st of July. In order to vote:

1) download the book called The Nigerian Watty Awards (if you haven't done that yet

2)Go to the part titled: Voting part 1

3)Comment beside the following with a +1

Best female character: Abena

Best male character: Tobi

Best couple: Tobi and Abena

Writing Queen: @blackxbelle

Best undiscovered: @blackxbelle

Giggles and tears: The Contract

4) One vote per person please or else your vote would be cancelled.

5) Go to the part titled: Voting part 2

6) Comment beside The Contract with a +1

7) Only one vote is allowed.

Thank you guys 😆

Advice, suggestions, criticism, they are welcome. Let me know what I'm doing wrong or right.

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Keep on being amazing, my lovely bananas;

☺

- Timi