Neighbour Diaries: Meeting Relatives

Yeah, small world indeed! But in all fairness, I should at least have suspected, or gotten a clue. I mean, this girl who lives with her mom in the flat next door should have given me an idea that they weren’t just ordinary tenants. Becky’s mom works, but I doubt she makes that much money to actually afford that flat. And she once joked about how I afford the flat, because they were “so damn expensive”. The rest of the tenants in those flats were really prominent families. Now I knew the answer. The flats belonged to Becky’s family, which is Jojo’s family! Now that I found out that she is Jojo’s cousin, first cousin at that, and I found out the not-so-nice way. I mean, when Jojo opened the door, I was caught between surprise, shock, and total mental blackout of what to do next. So, I said, “hi Jojo”, like I hadn’t just seen her, yet she had just come from my flat. She stood there watching me; I think also wondering what to do about me. A few minutes ago, in my flat, she must have realized that I wanted her to leave. And she now knew why I had wanted her and her sister to leave; so that I could come to my neighbour’s. I had never discussed Jojo with Becky, I had no reason to. I didn’t even think they knew each other, yet they were cousins. My girlfriend Jojo, while not being the jealous kind, could be very mischievous and scheming, and I felt sorry for any girl she crossed paths with. But this was her cousin, and my greatest defense was that I, at least wasn’t going behind her back with Becky. There was nothing between us; I just liked her a lot. But of course, try explaining to your girlfriend that you “just like another girl a lot”. Your chances of being believed are approximately zero. After what seemed like an eternity, Jojo said, “come in Shem”. And knowing nothing better to do, I walked in. There was Martha, Jojo’s sister, Becky’s mum, and Becky herself, all looking at me. Becky smiled for me, that smile that melted my heart, clearly happy to see me but oblivious to the conflicts being fought silently. She stood up, hugged me, and without asking, went to get me a drink. Jojo was watching her like a hawk, probably already making her plans. I didn’t even want to think about what was going through Jojo’s mind, knowing how twisted she could be. After the introductions, we all fell silent. I didn’t know what to say because in that room, there were conflicting personalities; Jojo was warm, but calculative. Martha was simply mean. Becky was sweet and all innocent. Her mum probably knew what was going on, and I ended up ignoring the rest and talking to her. We had met several times and she was quite used to me, so I didn’t find it hard to talk to her. After just five minutes, Jojo and her sister stood up to leave. I offered to escort them, but they declined. I wasn’t really up to it anyway. About two hours later, I headed back to my flat, and the first sign that something was not right was the door; it wasn’t locked. I walked in, wondering who could have opened my door, and there was Jojo. Of course she had a spare key. In addition to being my girl, she owned that flat. I didn’t really want to talk, and I made it known to her. She simply laughed and shaking her head, went to the showers. Then she told me, “please, don’t mess with my little cousin’s head. I love you, but if you hurt her, I will kill you.” She said it in an apparently non-threatening way, but I knew she meant it. There is something about Jojo that makes you believe she can do anything. ANYTHING! I didn’t really feel that threatened, but this was Becky we were talking about. Becky was innocent; she didn’t deserve to be part of my mathematics with Jojo. I didn’t want to explore that particular route, not with Becky in mine and Jojo’s cross hairs. Ends