"You're welcome to our humble abode, Chini. Hope you like it here," Mandy gaily said.
Chini's eyes scanned the room. Ifes and Mandy did a nice job of ensuring their room was squeaky clean. The decor was beautiful too.
"It's absolutely my pleasure." Chini grinned.
Ifes harrumphed and glanced over her shoulders as she slipped her feet into her white and green flat slippers. "Like you have a choice."
Mandy slapped her on her back. "Be nice. Don't be rude to our guest."
"Ouch!" Ifes winced.
"Good for you." Chini smirked.
Ifes rolled her eyes. Chini rolled hers back at her, still smirking.
"Ok girls, let me go make us some sandwiches," Mandy said, breaking the duo's eyes-battle.
She changed into white shorts and a blue T-shirt that had 'I love you' boldly emblazoned on it with a white and red ink.
Slipping into her ash-colored slippers, she walked past Chini and Ifes into the kitchen, her feet giving off a muffled flop, flop sound as she moved.
"See you girls soon. And no fighting," Mandy said in a nanny or baby-sitter tone. She did a back wave, lifting her hands and waving it without turning to the girls.
They raised their hands in surrender, chuckling underneath their breaths. "Yes, Ma'am ," they replied. They sat on the sofa adjacent to the kitchen.
"Why didn't you contact me to inform me of your coming to the US?" Chini asked after they plopped down on their seats.
"You know I didn't have a phone at that time."
"Yes, I can recall that. But you wrote down our numbers in your diary, didn't you?"
"Uh-oh, that? I'm sorry. I somehow misplaced it and that was how I lost everyone's contacts." Ifes face-palmed and muttered, "Careless me!'
"And you didn't care to come over to my house?" Chini interlocked her arms over her chest, trying to build up guilt in Ifes.
"No, no! I did, but they said you weren't around."
"And it didn't occur to you to ask the gateman for my number?" she asked with one eyebrow raised.
"Please, do accept my sincere apologies. I was so carried away with everything."
Chini feigned annoyance and looked away. Ifes rendered the nicest apology that she could to pacify her friend. It only took a few seconds for Chini to smile again and exclaim that she was only pulling Ifes' legs, that she understood, and that she had forgiven her. They got to discussing other matters.
"So, are you still in touch with our classmates?"
"Yes I am, and we even follow each other up on social media."
"Hmm! I believe most of them have been accepted into the university."
"Yes!" Chini snapped her fingers as a memory flashed in her. "En-hen! Do you remember Chiamaka?"
"Yes, what about her?"
"She was also accepted into UNN the same year as you, but she dropped out when she discovered she was pregnant."
"What! Pregnant?" Ifes exclaimed, mouth agape.
"Yes, I even heard she was sent off by her parents to the boy's house."
"Which boy?" Ifes asked, her face contorted into surprise.
"Her boyfriend. I mean the one that got her pregnant."
Ifes remembered her ex-brilliant and jovial classmate. What happened to her? Why didn't she look straight ahead into her future? The story her friend just told her was quite touching so she decided to change the topic.
"How long have you been in the US?" Ifes asked, shifting to adjust her sitting position.
"I was here for four months before I was accepted into this college. I spent the summer here with my Brother, Onyekachi."
She shoved her phone into her handbag.
Ifes flinched upon hearing that name. Hoping Chini didn't see her, she quickly composed herself. "Yeah, what's up with him?"
"He's fine. He's done with his Bachelor's degree and currently in a medical school in Los Angeles."
The hairs at the back of Ifes' neck stood straight upon hearing that he studied in the States. "Wow! That's nice."
"I met Jidenna through him, although he's two years ahead of my brother and is currently undergoing his residency program."
"Wow! That's nice." Ifes subconsciously repeated the same sentence.
Chini smirked seeing that her brother still had some effects on her old time friend.
"Yeah, you know, he still asks of you once in a while," she said, fixing her gaze on Ifes.
Ifes blushed and it made her facial skin a tone darker. Feeling embarrassed, Ifes turned her face sideways. "Really?"
"Yeah." Chini leaned forward placing her left hand on her friend's right shoulder. "We clearly know you had a crush on my brother, Kachi, back in our Junior secondary school days." Chini grinned.
Ifes batted her eyelashes repeatedly. Well, she was right, but Ifes hadn't been the only student crushing on Kachi. Almost all the female students did; only that hers was overboard.
Chini and Ifes had been in JSS2 when Onyekachi was in SS3 and he was the school's Senior Prefect.
He was one of the brilliant students and the top striker in their school's soccer team, handsome, tall, brown-skinned like the tone of caramelized nuts, black-haired. He always dressed smart and neat. But the most interesting thing about him was that he was a Christian, and so was his sister, Chini.
I mean, who wouldn't fall for him? Who wouldn't fall for someone you could describe as almost complete and perfect?
Chini and Ifes were close friends. They became even closer when Ifes started crushing on her brother Kachi.
The day his set graduated, Chini cried that her brother wasn't going to be coming to school with her. Ifes also took advantage of the situation as her friend and cried with her, but that was because she wasn't going to be seeing him as often anymore.
Ifes smiled sheepishly, taking Chini's hand off her shoulder.
"And so? What about that? Were you not also crushing on his friend, Udoka?" She replied defensively.
Another banter ensued, but they abruptly stopped talking when they heard a sound from the kitchen. They smiled meekly, seeing Mandy coming out from the kitchen with a tray in hand.
"I made us a Monte Cristo sandwich. Hope you'll like it?" Mandy said as she set the tray before them.
"I love it. Thanks." Chini let out a smile of appreciation.
Mandy returned the smile and dusted specks of breadcrumbs from her cloth as she sat down.
"Chini, could you lead us in prayer before we start eating?" Mandy asked.
"Okay." Chini smiled, they slightly bent their heads for prayers. "Dear father, we thank you for this provision. We ask that you bless and continue to be with us in the name of Jesus."
"Amen," they replied simultaneously.
They raised their heads, opened their eyes, more than ready to dive in and devour the delicious-looking sandwiches.
"Now, to eat these babies," Chini said, rubbing her hands together and smacking her lips.
Chini's phone chimed. She groaned. It was a text message from Jidenna. "I will reply to him when I'm done eating." She tossed her phone on the table beside her plate.
"Talking of Jide, what were you telling me about his twin brother?" Ifes asked.
Chini muttered under her breath.
"Hello! No side talks." Ifes waved her hand in front of Chini's face.
"He recently started working with the FBI." Chini unlocked her phone, tapped on her gallery to show her his pictures.
"His name's Kasie." She shifted her phone's screen towards Ife. A young man in an FBI uniform was who Ifes saw.
"He's handsome." Ifes chuckled
"Yes, I can't agree more."
"But I thought the FBI is only eligible to American citizens?" Mandy chimed in.
"Yeah, the twin brothers were born in the US."
"Oh! I see. Citizens by birth."
"Yep!"
"Can I also take a look at his pics?"
"Go ahead."
With Chini's permission, Ifes handed Mandy the phone.
"He's handsome indeed. Omigosh! They are identical twins," Mandy commented as she flipped through the pictures.
Chini's phone chimed again. "You have a message from Jidenna." Mandy looked up from Chini's phone screen as she handed it back to her.
Chini muttered another word under her breath, retrieving her phone from Mandy. She replied to his message. Before she could send it, a call came in.
"It's Jidenna," she whispered to the girls seated near her, rolling her eyes.
"I'll see you in an hour's time," she told the caller on the other side of the phone.
"Jidenna said he wants to see me before going back to California today." She was obviously excusing herself.
"California? That's far!" Mandy said.
"Yes, he flew all the way from California to visit. Thank you so much, I really enjoyed your sandwich!" She drew back her seat grinning at Mandy as she got to her feet.
"My pleasure."
"We go dey talk na (We'll stay in touch)," Chini said to Ifes, and gave Mandy and Ifes a peck on their cheeks.
"No wahala (No problem)," Ifes replied and they both saw her off.