DETECTIVE TEMIDAYO

CONTINUATION 

"And if it is not my two favorite cousins in the whole wide world! I have been looking for both of you all over the party. This party is so lit, sisters!!" Fikayo squealed happily, squeezing herself in between Temidayo and Ife.

"Where have you been, Feek?!" An obviously annoyed Temidayo asked, taking a piece of meat from the plate of food Fikayo was holding.

"And I am here now. what's happening?? You sound very serious. Kí ló ñ selè?" 

"Please, it has to be something good. The reason you dragged me away from where I was trying to get my precious Amala, better be a good one". Ife retorted, also digging into the plate Fikayo was holding.

"And I promised you another one tomorrow, didn't I? See girls, leave food. I think something is happening. Did you see the baby?" Temidayo asked, looking left and right to make sure no one was eavesdropping on their conversation.

"You mean that gorgeous beautiful fair skinned...." Feek started before Temidayo cut her short.

"Exactly!!! It is the baby's skin tone I want to talk about. How in God's name is our dark skinned Cousin Dolapo having a fair skinned baby with an equally dark skinned woman? The math ain't mathing! Have you girls ever seen any light skinned person in our family?" Temidayo asked anxiously, pausing a bit to allow the girls mull over the question for a while.

The other two girls furrowed their brows in thought for a minute.

"Wait, what if it's the just the baby's baby color. He might get darker as he ages. You know how babies are." Ife countered, shrugging her shoulders.

"I have seen the baby pictures of every single child born into this family. Trust me when I say that everyone is bottom of pot black!!"

"Of course, you have!!" Ife and Feek chorused and burst into laughter.

"I am serious!!" Temidayo cried, sucked her teeth before laughing at herself too.

"We know you are!! On a serious note, it is weird really. Where did the white baby come from?" Feek asked, tossing the last piece of meat on her plate in her mouth. She dropped the plate on a table nearby and slowly wiped her soiled fingers with a serviette paper.

The other girls followed suit, each one still brooding over the matter.

"Do you think we should notify Cousin Dolapo about it?" Temidayo asked as the trio left their former meeting spot and walked towards the entrance of the house.

The party was in full gear now. The live band were done playing and the DJ had taken over, dishing out hot amapiano sounds which Feek was doing legwork to.

"Madam, focus here now!" Temidayo sucked her teeth as she tried to stop Feek from dancing.

"Sorry na! You know I can't help it when I hear gbedu. Okay, back to what we were discussing, do we tell Cousin Dolapo or face front?" Feek asked pulling three chairs together and sat on one while Ife and Temidayo sat on the rest.

"See, me I think that we should just face front abeg. Sebi Cousin Dolapo saw the baby too and if he is not raising eyebrows, why should we?" Ife responded, as she untied her gele and tied it around her waist loosely.

"So, you're saying that we should keep mute and watch while that promiscuous woman brings a bastard into this family? You know, I have always suspected that Tolani woman. I knew her ways weren't pure." Temidayo said, glancing from one girl to the other.

"Wellll, that's not what we are saying. What if you poke around and find that you're wrong. That would be worse. Nobody would forgive us in this family and you know it." Ife responded.

"It took the intervention of Grandma to clear the mess we got into the last time and she is dead. So?" Feek 's gaze sobered as she remembered how things went that night when Temidayo had gone on rampage with her guts feeling about their tenant who she claimed was a fraudster. The family alerted the police immediately and after thorough investigation, the man was found innocent. The family felt so terrible and almost disowned the girls if not for the timely intervention of Grandma.

A long silence ensued. It seemed Temidayo and Ife were relieving the same memories as their faces contorted in a brief moment of sadness.

"Okay, I'd let it go. Let's go back to eating and partying abeg. All these FBI things don dey make hunger dey wire Me." Temidayo gave up her detective work and tried to get the attention of a waiter passing by carrying a tray of Jollof Rice.

She got three plates for them and begged him to get them drinks. 

The three dived into their meals hungrily as they made jest of themselves and everyone else. 

"Omoooor, i envy Dimeji ooo. Imagine getting invited to the dedication party of the child you helped another man helped his wife conceive, and even getting paid handsomely for it. Walahi, when Tems sang about crazy things are happening, she didn't lie." the man in yellow ankara sitting directly behind the trio remarked and chuckled before biting into the chicken lap on his plate.

"Shiii! What is wrong with you?! Is this the place for this conversation? Why not let us get home before you start running your mouth like someone suffering from diarrhea?!" The man in green quickly shushed his companion, as he looked left and right to see if anyone heard.

It was too late. The trio of Temidayo, Ife and Feek heard. They all stopped eating at once, their eyes bulging out of their sockets, Temidayo's eyes doing an "I told you so!!"

TO BE CONTINUED!!!