Mr Cole sat by the wine table, feeding his saddened heart glass after glass. Connor walked in, sighed, then took the wine from his father, who was about to take another shot.
"Dad, stop, please," Connor sighed.
"I'm a bad man, I'm a bad father, I failed as a father, failed as a husband, I wasn't loyal, I made mistakes, and now some kid that's my kid is clashing with my legitimate kid, that's a word for messed-up shit!" Mr Cole cried.
"Everybody makes mistakes, pops; we just gotta know how to correct them," Connor said, kissing his father on the head.
"Don't you ever make the same mistake I made: love your wife, and when you go on business trips, avoid porn and pack enough moisturiser."
"Hmm, Dad!" Connor laughed, walking over to pour himself some wine.
"I'm not masturbating," Connor added with a chuckle.
"Better be; it's better than putting a kid in a prostitute," Mr Cole scoffed.
"Dad!" Connor looked at his father.
"I know you're going through a lot, because you're about to die and you realize you've got some shit to fix before you go, and all that, but you need to know something, you're not just trying to fix your shit, you're trying to fix the whole family's shit, your mess is the family's mess, and getting drunk won't solve a thing."
"Lola was right, Lilly and I are puppets because we chose to be. We want you to die without feeling the pain of failure. We're supporting you, we're fixing your shit too, bringing him home, letting him know you're the best father, but you keep acting like a failure, and that weakens us, Dad. Mom could've gotten all mad and racist too, but she didn't. You need to make Lola understand, and maybe set a rule or two to put her in her place," Connor added.
"How? You heard her, my fourteen-year-old daughter knows what internet sex is; how did she even learn that?"
"It's technology, Dad. How about you take her phone away, then be there for her and talk to her? She needs you, and I've got your back, and stop taking shots; you'll die sooner if you keep this up." Connor smiled, patting his father on the back.
"I love you, son," Mr Cole said, smiling.
"I love you too, pops." Connor hugged him.
Lola walked into her room and could hear Lilly's sobs even though she'd covered herself head to toe with the duvet; you could barely tell she was in the room, since they were both so slim. Lola sighed, climbed onto the bed, under the duvet, her sister's eyes wet. Lilly turned away from her.
"I'm sorry you got hurt," Lola apologised.
"Don't apologise to me," Lilly said, her voice thick with a blocked nose.
"I'm going to apologise to mum and dad too, but I need to know you're okay," Lola pouted.
"It's not Mum and Dad you need to apologise to, or Connor!"
"Don't take sides with him, Lilly. He already made a big mess in the family; his mum was rude too." Lola hugged her sister.
Lilly pulled Lola's hands off her and jumped off the bed, her face swollen from crying.
"Why are you taking sides with him?!! you barely know him!!"
"I feel like I know him. Well, I was getting to know him till you called him a perv and put down my cooking because he offered to help. I don't know why you hate him!!"
"Because he doesn't belong with us, Lilly! Imagine what our friends would say if he came to live with us. I was living a perfect teenage life till Dad brought him into the picture."
"You mean till he caught you masturbating with Fin watching, and you threatened him; you're the threat, Lola!"
"Stop hurting yourself, Lilly, okay! I'm sorry I rated your food a 5% because he helped... I give it 100, full score, Lilly!"
"No! You have to apologise to him and give him every reason to want to connect with Dad!"
"He's not going to, Lilly," Lola frowned.
"If you love Dad, or me, or Mom, or even Connor, you'd fix it! I'm not letting my father die and have his soul walking recklessly, not able to make it to the afterlife, because of one stupid attitude his daughter pulled."
"Why are you on his side!? Can't you see he's trying to break all of us?" Lola said.
"He is part of the family, the bloodline too," Lilly yelled, walking out of the room and slamming the door behind her.
"Dear God, I heard a lot of not-so-Christian words; forgive them," Connor prayed, having somehow overheard some of their conversation.
Dean, meanwhile, seemed to have forgotten the unpleasant scene with his father's daughter, his mind taken up by the latest game of Call of Duty as he talked to others over a voice call.
"Yo, grow up!!" You could tell he sounded less bothered.
"Jason had me with the dream league shit... no!... dammnnn!... Jesus!!... no way am I letting you do that to me, man!!!... nah, Tali can't play, he's got trading, says he's got some news update at 10 or something... yeah, I guess London or something... forget how excited I was to meet them... I'm good with my mom..." Dean responded to the other players.
"Dude!!... no!!!" He jumped off his bed, screamed, and gently set his laptop down.
"...no, dude, I think you took advantage of my bad day!... no way you could've won if I was okay... switch to video, bruh, I want to see the pride and ego I'm going to crush once I'm fine," he added, laughing out loud.
A loud knock distracted him. He asked his friend for a minute, took off his earphones, and went to open his door. It was his mom, and probably his stepfather-to-be.
"Something tells me very soon I'll be forced to remove this door so I can easily get into your room," Anita said.
"Máá, invading my privacy won't help, but if you're asking my opinion, how about a doorbell for my room?" Dean shrugged.
"Why are you still holding the door? Do you have a girl in there? Open it wide enough, joor," Anita said, pushing the door open.
"Young man, you're playing games when WAEC is about to start. I'll need to take that laptop!!"
"So... hmm... what's up?" Dean broke the five-second silence.
"Hmm... you have a guest..." Anita blinked.
"Guest?... a girl?... boy?"
"No... a guest you might be happy to meet," Jerry smirked.
"A girl," Anita cut in, and the boys understood her point.
"I wish, máá... but my love life sucks," Dean said, walking to the living room.
"I love you too, you know... thanks for not acknowledging your first love," Anita said, followed by Jerry beside her, like they were braced for a weird reaction from him.
"Seriously?" Dean looked disappointed and turned to head back to his room.
"Duro, wait, hear her out first... she swallowed a lot of pride to do this."
"Sorry, ma... I don't mean to be rude, but she can pick her pride back up wherever she left it... It's my house, my rules," Dean sighed.
"And your mother's roof," Jerry added.
"Thanks, Uncle Jerry, that was helpful."
"Why are you here? To make another scene?" Dean asked.
"No," Lola bit her lip.
"I came to say I'm sorry, and please, I need you back in the family, so my father can be happy," Lola said.
"Let me guess, Lilly made you do it." Dean raised a brow. His mother pinched him from behind.
"Alright, I forgive you. See you tomorrow," Dean said with a fake smile and turned to leave.
"I'm serious, Dean, my family's happiness matters to me, and when everyone in it feels I'm wrong, maybe I am wrong, and it went hard on them when your mom told them... you know... yeah, I'm sorry about that too, you don't know how to keep secrets from your mom... just don't take it out on my dad if you're mad at him, please," Lola pleaded.
That didn't sound like a typical African apology, but the three of them understood where she was coming from. Jerry and Anita gave nods. It dawned on Dean that he was supposed to be angry in the first place, but why should he be? She'd just apologised.