HER LAST WISH Chapter 64

(Moremi)

Zeemah Writes 📝

IF YOU MISS ANY EPISODE CLICK HERE

“Aunt Esther, please just spare him” Layla pleaded to her Aunt for the umpteenth time as she glanced at David who was on his knees, his hands over his head, sweating and whimpering, he’s being in that position for almost an hour.
“You said I should not flog him and I didn’t but you see this punishment, he’s not going to escape it, just leave me and him o” Aunt Esther sigh “What if Phil had insisted we pay for the TV ehn?” She asked…
“At least she didn’t. Phil wasn’t pissed. You shouldn’t punish him this way” Layla said.
“Just leave him, let him know what he did is wrong”
“He already knows that, look, he seems to be in pain” Layla said, still stunned Aunt Esther could punish her son this way.

Aunt Esther ignored her, and concentrated more in tapping her feet to the floor.
“Aunt Esther, please.” Layla said but still got ignored.
“I’m going to serve the punishment with him if you don’t make him stop” She said, looking quite serious that her Aunt had to change her mind.
She sigh and then turn to face her son. “Oya, stand up”
Layla sigh, why didn’t she think of doing that soon enough.
“Thank you mummy, I promise not to do it again” David said as he got to his feet.
“Better. Go to the room, have a bath and sleep” She said and he quickly did as she said.

“Phil totally surprised me. Wow, I never expected her to react that way” Aunt Esther said, turning to Layla.
“Yeah” Layla nodded. Phil seems to have two different personalities, if not more.
Whenever she’s expected to get angry, she would not, but Phil would flare up over what shouldn’t even make her pissed.
She’s full of surprises.

“I still need to apologise to her though, even if she had been planning to buy a new TV, I’m sure she would have just sold this one or give it to charity, now this boy has ruined everything”
“He didn’t do it intentionally, and that’s the reason Phil hadn’t gotten angry”
“But still, it’s still paining me”
“Just forget about it okay? Don’t you think David needs some pain reliever”
“For what? No o, if he sleep and wake up, he would feel better.
“Really?”
“Of course”
Layla sigh. “But would you really have continued hitting him with that cable if I hadn’t stepped in?”
“Yeah, I was just so angry. And since that was the only thing I could find at that moment…”
“That needs to stop Aunt, you can’t hit your son with anything you find at the moment, it’s dangerous, you need to learn to control your anger especially when it comes to him, he’s a child, you need to take it easy with him, although I’m not in full support of the punishment but I think it’s better than hitting him”
“Okay o, I’ve heard you.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course, what you said makes enough sense. I won’t hit him anymore”
“You need to promise me that”
“Really?”
“Yeah”
“You don’t know how frustrating David can be, it’s only cane that use to make him behave”
“That’s because you made cane the only thing that can make him behave, they are other things other than cane that makes a child behave properly.”
“Hm” Aunt Esther sigh.

“Now promise me you won’t hit him anymore”
“I promise” Aunt Esther said after a little hesitation.
Layla smiled, “And you should better keep to it”
“I will, don’t worry”

“Great, why don’t we also relax till it’s time to make our Nigerian dish” Layla looked excited.
They planned to make Nigerian jollof rice and fried chicken for lunch.
Dan is going to arrive soon with others, and they had also plan to bring some deserts and drinks alone.

“Let’s do just that”

~
Their sleep was interrupted when the TV got delivered.
They assisted the men in setting it up and it took some time.
After they were done, they decided to start making lunch instead of just going back to sleep.

**

“Phil, you’re right on time. Lunch is ready” Layla smiled as Phil walked into the living room.
The others were at the dining already, setting up the table.

“Oh really,” Phil said, she knew Layla’s Aunt was going to be making Nigerian jollof rice and fried chicken today and a part of her has been secretly looking forward to it.
She has been perceiving the aroma right from the gate and she just couldn’t wait to get inside the house to have a taste. There’s something about the aroma of Esther’s meals, it makes one get really hungry and yearn for nothing but her meal.
“This looks nice” Aunt Esther smiled, on seeing the new TV.
“Right,” Layla said. “Phil, I’m so sorry about Dave damaging the … old TV, I..”
“It’s fine, he’s a kid, bound to do things like that. Let it go, I’m not annoyed” Phil said.

“Really?”
“Of course, if I was, I would have expressed it, you know I’m not that good in hiding my feelings”
Layla nodded. “Thanks for letting it go”
“C’mon” Phil said, moving closer to the new TV to inspect it.
“How’s Aria?”
“She asked me to say hi to you and your Aunt, she also left for home already”
“Really?”
“Yeah, we left the Cafe the same time”

“I’m going to freshen up” Phil said, completely satisfied after inspecting the TV.
“Alright”

Layla returned to the dining room and started helping in setting up the table.

***

“Wow”
“Feels like we’re in a very classy restaurant” Rylan grinned at the setup of the table.
“Exactly” Dan added.
“I’m feeling that bougie restaurant vibe already” Anne smiled.
“We really did a good job in setting it up” Layla nodded.
“Before we start eating, please hold on, I need to take a picture of this for memory” Fel carefully took few shots of the table, smiling in satisfaction.
“Can we start eating already please” Rylan said.

They said a short prayer and started eating.

***

“Phil, are you going to come with us to the High roller observation Wheel tomorrow?” Dan asked. They were discussing over the delicious meal about going to visit the place, although they already finalised the plan of going there, they were only expressing how excited they are to be visiting the place tomorrow and also touring some parts of Las Vegas in their car.

They all stopped talking and turned to look at Phil after Dan asked the question.
Layla hadn’t bothered asking Phil because she knows she’s going to say no, they had asked her to come with them on their last trip but she had said refused so Layla thought the she’s going to repeat the same and didn’t bother asking her.
“Yeah,” Phil said to everyone’s surprise. “I will love to go”
“Really?”
“Yeah”
“Oh my God, I never thought Phil would say yes!” Fel expressed her surprise.
“Same here” Anne said.
“We are sorry we didn’t ask you earlier Phil, we thought… You wouldn’t like to go” Rylan said.
“Yeah, you refused to go on the last trip with us so we didn’t think you’d want to go on this but that’s not an excuse, we should still have gone ahead to ask you” Fel said.
“I’m sorry Phil, I should have asked you” Layla looked and felt kind of bad.
“C’mon, it’s fine. I didn’t even think to take it as an offense, it’s nothing. If Dan hadn’t asked, I was about saying I would go with you anyway. I do hear how fun the place is”

“I wish you had also gone with us on the last trip, it was so fun” Rylan said.
“I know right” Phil said, she had seen several of the pictures taken on the trip and of regretted she had refused to go with them.
“This is going to be fun also” Fel said.
“I’m glad Phil will be going with us, it kind of make it feel like a complete family trip” Rylan grinned.
“Cliché” Fel rolled her eyes and they chuckle.

“Let’s leave the Roller observation wheel earlier than we planned so we can visit other places also, like springs preserve and origen museum” Dan suggested.
“Yeah, I think that’ll be great” Rylan nodded.
“Why don’t we visit the observation wheel last, after we’ve toured a small part of the city and also visit places we want to or what do you guys think?” Layla asked.
“I think that’ll be better, besides I heard the view of the that place is best when it’s evening” Fel said.
“It’s sealed then” Dan said.

“I hope you guys are not going to do that car race sha. Hm” Aunt Esther sigh and they laugh.
“Really? they car raced?” Phil asked Aunt Esther and that would actually be the first time Phil would intentionally direct a question to her.
If Aunt Esther was surprised, she didn’t show it. Neither of them did.
“Hm, they did o. These children ehn, Fel was driving so fast to the extent that I even wanted to get down, I was even starting to question myself for getting into the car”
Phil chuckled.

Although that was the shortest conversation Layla ever experienced but it really made her heart swell.
She has never been so glad to see two people talk to each other…
Her Aunts. The short conversation might mean nothing to others, but it meant a lot to her.
She knows they probably might not talk to each other again till Aunt Esther leaves but seeing them talk now, even though it’s the shortest conversation ever really melted her heart.
She never knew or even thought her Aunts talking to each other will make her feel this way.

“I can vividly remember Aunt Esther praying so hard and shouting that she’s going to get down, her heart looked to be in her throat that moment” Anne said and they all laugh.

~~
“You should help me tell Aria that David won’t be coming tomorrow anymore but Sunday, I totally forgot we planned to go out tomorrow”
“Oh, okay, I should call her now” Layla said, dialing Aria’s number.

Aunt Esther picked out David’s nightwear, she gave it to him and he walked into the shower to freshen up for the night.
“I’m coming” Aunt Esther said to Layla who was on the call with Aria, she nodded.

She sigh disappointedly when she got to the living room and didn’t meet Phil.
She wanted to apologise to her for the TV David had damaged.
She deliberated if to go to her room or not and then decided against it.
She might be sleeping already and she won’t like to disrupt her sleep.

She returned to the room to freshen up for the night.
Layla was off the call with Aria and was texting her friends when Aunt Esther walked in.
“I told her already, she’ll be expecting him on Sunday”
“Alright, I’m going to make rice and stew on Sunday after we get back from church and you’re going to help me give it to her when you go drop David there. That TV wahala totally made me forget to give her from the meal we made today”
“You’re going to come with me to church?” Layla asked.
“Why not,” Aunt Esther said “We go to church every Sunday at home, I don’t see why that should change here”
“That’ll be so nice!” Layla smiled.
She has always admired seeing people come to church with their family. It’d also feel good to go with her own family.

“You want to turn to fish inside there abi” Aunt Esther said loudly to David.
“I’m almost done Mum”
“Okay o”
“And did you say we’re going to make Nigeria rice and stew on Sunday?” Layla asked.
“Yes, you know I promised to make Nigeria jollof rice and also rice and stew for you before I leave, the jollof is out of the way now, it’s remaining rice and stew and Sunday seems to be right day for it”
“I’ve never looked this forward to meals but it changed since you got here because your meals are just worth it! Damn” Layla sigh.

Aunt Esther’s Nigeria jollof rice is the best she’s ever tasted; it was
just so good. Her Aunt actually never disappoints when it comes to cooking.
“I’m saving the best of my meals till you come to Nigeria. Ah, I’m so going to overfeed you.” Aunt Esther said. David walked out of the bathroom that moment and she didn’t get to see Layla’s sad expression.

***
They stopped at a restaurant to eat after they were satisfied with touring a little part of Las Vegas with their cars.
Minutes after they were done eating, they started driving to Springs Preserve and origen museum.
“Aunt Esther, we’re about to car race” Fel teased as she drove.
They chuckled when Aunt Esther shouted “Please o”

~~
David stood with his mum and Phil, licking his Ice cream happily as he enjoyed watching the high roller observation wheel roll.
Layla and her friends were on it, having great fun, it was their second ride on it and with the look of things, they might go on the third..
Phil, Aunt Esther and her son had stopped at a ride because it was quite scary enough to go on another.

The high roller observation wheel is the tallest in the world with massive Ferris wheel featuring twenty eight handcrafted air conditioned pods made of Italian glass that’s capable of holding up to forty people each.
The place is built in such a way that even if one is unable to get on the wheel, one wouldn’t feel left out just by touring around it.
Everything stands out, their attention to details should be applauded.

They stood enjoying the blissful view, cool evening breeze blowing gently.
“Fel was right, this place looked the best during evenings” Phil said.
“Yeah, she was. It’s so beautiful, I’m glad we took a lot of pictures already, nothing beats having a picture memory of a beautiful place” Aunt Esther smiled.
“Yeah. I can’t believe I’ve been living in this city all these years without touring the beautiful places here, just look how beautiful those lights are. Damn” Phil smiled.
“Right, this place is filled with attractions”

“Can you take a picture of me by those lights please” Phil asked, she didn’t know how she got talking with Layla’s Nigerian Aunt, even if their conversations have been short and random, it’s not bad at all like she had thought.
“Of course” Aunt Esther said and Phil handed her phone to her.
She took a few shots of Philia, making sure to capture the lights also.
She handed her phone back to her.

“Oh, I love it! Thanks Esther” Phil smiled, scrolling through the pictures.
Aunt Esther nodded, she had to admit she liked the fact that they now seem cool with each other, even though they do not feel that free with each other yet to start having deep conversations.
“Let’s just tour the place till they are done, it seems unjust standing in a place when this whole place is filled with attractions”
“You’re right” Aunt Esther smiled, taking hold of David’s hand as they started touring the place.

“Phil, gosh, I forgot. I’m so sorry, I’m yet to apologise to you over what David did yesterday. It totally skipped my mind”
“C’mon it’s nothing, for real. He’s a kid and kids are bound to do things like that. I was actually ready to change the TV even before yesterday”
“Even at that, the fact that he damaged your stuff is still not fair”
“It’s fine, just let it go”
“Thanks so much Phil”

Phil nodded, she doesn’t know how to tell Esther that she wants her to make her hair also, she’s been wanting to since she saw how beautiful Fel and Anne’s looked.
And just when she thought she was ready to tell her. Layla and her friends approached, all grinning happily.

“We aren’t going home from here guys! We’re going to Bellagio casino and Fountains! We heard that place has mad ass views also. Get into the car!”

David squealed happily.

***

Layla and Dan walked into the living room after their friends.
She had gone to drop David at Aria’s and got back home coincidentally the same time her friends arrived.
They had all walked in together but Dan stayed with her as she locked the door.
Aunt Esther will be leaving tomorrow morning and they all didn’t look very happy. Today is the last day they’ll be spending with her.

As Dan and Layla were about stepping into the living room, they noticed the smile and surprised look on their friends face and wondered why but they didn’t have to wonder anymore as they also stepped into the living room.

Her two Aunts were engaged in a seemingly lively conversation while Aunt Esther made Phil’s hair.

“You guys should sit down na, I’ll soon be done with Phil’s hair and then we will go and eat” Aunt Esther smiled.
Phil flashed them a smile also, looking sheepish.

“What’s going on?” Layla couldn’t help but ask. She left home just few hours ago and there hadn’t even been a trace of coming back to see this. Although they all had a great time yesterday but that hadn’t put her Aunts in a great talking terms like this.
They were literally having conversation like they were friends!
How did that happen in the space of few hours!

“Yeah, we need to know the story” Dan said.
“Exactly” The rest agreed.

Phil and Aunt Esther glance at each other and laugh and Layla thought it felt kind of creepy.

“Oh my God, are they possessed! they look like they’re possessed” Fel said, her eyes widening.
Phil and Aunt Esther laugh again….
“Oh my God, it seems so” Rylan said, starting to slowly move back…
Aunt Esther suddenly rolled her eyes in a scary way and Anne was the first to scream, she ran out the door, immediately followed by others who had started screaming also.

“You shouldn’t have done that” Phil said, laughing hard after they’ve all bolted out of the house.
“I thought it’ll be fun to scare them. God, are they ever going to come back into this house” Aunt Esther said and they both laugh again.

………………..

ZEEMAH.