MY NEIGHBOUR’S DAUGHTER

I kept seeing more of Oyinbo now that she was back and awaiting admission to university.

Every morning, I saw her sitting in front of her house washing her clothes. Then after school, she was still washing those clothes. She always wore this big brown hat to protect her skin from the sun.

The day I came back from school and discovered that she was still washing the same red sweater she was washing before I left for school was the day I discovered she wasn’t really washing for the sake of washing.

She had calculated the times I left for school and returned from school.

She was waiting for me.

Did she like me?

So one delicious hot afternoon, after my last SS2 exam papers, I decided to stop in front of her house, instead of passing by as usual.

The moment she saw me coming towards her, she left the two buckets and ran away into the house.

Was she scared of me?

The next day, I saw her washing outside her house early the next morning. She kept stretching her head to watch out for the front door of my house. But I wasn’t coming out. My exams were over, but she didn’t know about it yet.

I stood by the window to watch her patiently waiting for me as she washed and rewashed the clothes in her bucket.

I laughed as I watched her. It was funny and cute at the same time.

Disappointment flooded her face as she got tired of washing. She just stood up and picked up the two buckets.

I could see her shoulders slump as she walked slowly back into her house.

I used that opportunity to open my house door and step out. On hearing the door sound, Oyinbo stopped walking and turned around in anticipation.

I jogged towards the front of her house as I stared right at her. She stared back at me with an amused smile plastered on her face.

Soon, she came back to her senses and quickly wiped that smile off her face.

She wanted to run away again but I stopped her.

“Dooshima.” I called out to her.

She took little frightened steps backwards and muttered some things to herself that I couldn’t hear.

“It’s okay, I’m not going to touch you.” I assured her, for whatever reason she was scared of.

“No!” She shouted and shook her head. “No! My mother did not sleep with another man!”

I looked at her in confusion.

“That is what I’ve been meaning to tell you.” She said lastly before running back inside her house.

Ever since that day, she stopped coming out of the house to wash clothes.

I was now the one always waiting by the window for her to come out to wash, but she never did.

Until one evening… when I was home alone, I heard a knock on the front door.

I opened it. It was Oyinbo. Alone.