Nicodème’s POV
“These are the moments I cherish,” our father says, his eyes crinkling as he looks at all of us gathered at the dining table. “Having all my sons, daughter-in-law—although one is missing today—grandchildren, and of course my wife under one roof.” He places his hand over our mother’s. She responds with a soft smile and mouths, “I love you.”
“Baay ji! We missed you,” little Rosalie exclaims, jumping in her seat, frowning for a second before showing her teeth. Laughter fills the table at her reaction. “Luca—Luca kept counting the days until we could all meet again.”
“Is that so, Luca?” I ask my nephew, rubbing his curls. It’s been a couple of months since we last sat together like this.
“So, you are just going to allow your uncle to mess with your hair like that? What happened to ‘Dad, you are ruining the style?'” My elder brother Edward fakes being hurt, earning an eye roll from Mom and me.
“But Dad…”
“I’m joking, son.” Edward huffs out a laugh.
“Edward, are you on a mission to give my grandson grey hairs before his time?” Our mother scolds.
“Yes, Edward!” Adam chimes, with a smirk that he hides before our parents notice. I shake my head at his instigations while Timothy and Jean try to hide their snickers.
“Are you feeling bored? Probably missing Christy.” I whisper to my sister-in-law as the others get into their own topics.
“Ha. Nick, why are you behaving as if I haven’t dealt with you men for like ten years?”
“Ten years? Okay, now that’s a bit of an exaggeration, don’t you think?” Adam whispers, inserting himself in our conversation.
“Wow, an addition of two years isn’t a big deal.”
Amina has been around the family for years; our mother being her godmother is one of the main reasons. However, she had been living abroad with her father for some time before she moved back here. Before that, we only knew her by name. Long story short, about two years ago, Jean married her.
“He’s trying to get under your skin.” I pour myself a glass of water.
“I know, I’m entertaining him for a bit.”
“Umm, you know I can hear you guys, right?” Adam raises a brow.
“No, hey,” Amina replies, giving him a lopsided smile.
“What’s with the sass?”
“Well, you did insert yourself into a conversation you weren’t invited to?”
“Touché”
They laugh before high-fiving one another. I shake my head at their behaviour, taking a sip from the glass.
“Have you planned out your next trip?” Amina asks me.
“Yep,” I say, popping the p.
“And this time, I’m joining him,” Adam flashes a grin, slinging his arm around me.
“Awww, big bro finally accepted to travel with you?”
“You should congratulate me—it took a lot of work to convince him. I even prepared a whole PowerPoint.” He demonstrates with his hands.
Amina’s jaw drops, “I don’t believe you.”
“Yeah, don’t,” I mutter.
“Mostly because I doubt you would have the energy to do so,” she jabs.
“Hey!”
“Am I lying? You literally complain about hating how ‘ninety percent of your work consists of you creating PowerPoints and that you are sick of it’.”
“Fair argument—”
“Why are you lying?” I glance at him. “He just bombarded my phone with TikToks of memes that could prove his points.”
Amina holds her chest, choking on air.
“Correct. That’s close enough to a PowerPoint. So I’m not ashamed.” He argues, holding a proud look.
“Sure…”
“Auntie Amina, can I use your phone to play games?”
“Sure, sweetie… here.” Amina takes a moment to get her phone from her bag.
“Our games are still here?!” Rosalie comments, peering at the phone over Luca’s shoulder.
Amina nods, letting out a soft laugh at her reaction.
“Kids, why don’t you guys go to the game room for now?”
“Okay, Dad,” they reply in sync. “Thank you for the food Yaay ji.”
“How about me? I also helped cook the food.” Timothy mutters, folding his arms.
“Thank you, Uncle Tim,” they chorus as they giggle, making their way out.
“You really are the baby of the house.” Jean flicks Tim’s head.
“Ouch! What was that for?” He rubs his temple
“See what I’m talking about? It wasn’t even that hard.”
“Thank you for the food, love, and Timothy,” Dad says, pulling out his chair and holding his dishes.
“You’re welcome, honey—it’s alright, let me take the dishes,” Mom offers, taking them from him.
“You’re all done?” Amina checks with her husband, to which he nods, and utters a thank you as she takes his plate and a couple of things off the table.
Tim, Adam and I help out with the remaining stuff. “Maman, you know we can do the dishes, right?”
“It’s fine, we want to chit-chat for a bit.” She shoos us away—we look at one another before shrugging, making our way out. Amina’s giggles echo, later followed by a “Really?!” from Maman.
“Now that Maman has daughters-in-law, we don’t get many scoops anymore,” Adam complains. “Look, she’s even kicking us out. Before she would come to us.”
I chuckle, flicking his forehead. “I don’t think that’s a very manly thing to say,” I smirk.
“Ha ha ha, you’ve got jokes,” he grunts.
Timothy bursts out in laughter. “Good one, bro. Nice payback!” He high-fives me. Adam finds enjoyment in commenting at any chance he gets at anything he finds not manly enough, although we know it’s just for jokes. It’s good for him to have a taste of his own medicine once in a while.
“What’s the topic?” Adam asks, taking a seat next to Jean, his voice holding a twinge of annoyance. I press my lips together, while Tim hides his amusement behind his hands, earning a questioning look from Jean, which I shake my head lightly at.
“Stop it,” I nudge Tim, who is still struggling to contain himself.
“Ah, having you guys here reminds me, there’s something that needs fixing in the backyard.” Dad abruptly comments, breaking the conversation we were currently having.
“Oh, that was the one thing missing.” Edward acts like he is in deep thought. Jean lightly punches him in the arm. “It’s a shame Dad has three boys at home who aren’t capable of doing the work,” Edward smirks, folding his arms. “He has to call the big boys.”
“Hey! Why are you acting as if you don’t know what Dad is up to?” Adam throws his usual fit; you would think he would get used to Edward’s tactics, but he never fails to fall for it.
“Come on, there’s a lot of work to get done.”
“Lead the way, Papa,” Edward dramatically says, outstretching his hand.
“You sure do know how to get on your brother’s nerves, Edward,” Dad adds, shaking his head.
Edward rubs the back of his neck, throwing an awkward smile at Dad. Adam takes the opportunity to stick his tongue out at Edward when Dad turns his back. He lifts his hand to swat the back of Adam’s head, which he successfully dodges, and sticks his tongue out again as he jogs to catch up to Dad, diving into a conversation as if nothing happened.
“What does Dad need help with?” Jean whispers to me, our steps in sync.
“I honestly don’t know. Just a couple of days ago, we were fixing some things. At this point, I’m convinced he purposefully doesn’t mention what needs fixing or hides it when he knows you guys are coming over.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised.” Jean chuckles. “Each gathering we’ve had, there was something to fix. I’m convinced it’s his way of bonding with all of us.”
“Here are a few things that need fixing,” Dad exclaims, clapping his hands before pulling a white cover off some cabinets and wardrobe pieces.
Tim, Adam and I glance at one another, genuinely confused when Dad had the opportunity to put all of these together because it for sure wasn’t here a day ago when we had passed by this place.
“It’s just a few things I noticed in the house that needed fixing.” He says, rubbing the back of his neck. Yeah, he’s definitely guilty. My lips press into a thin line as I lock eyes with the others. It’s as if they read my thoughts as they try to hide their amusement.
“Okay, boys, let’s get started,” Edward says, stepping forward as he claps his hands.
“We agree these weren’t here a day ago, right?” Tim comes up from behind, slinging his arm around me.
“Yep.” We both huff a chuckle as we join the others.
“I bumped into someone today,” Edward mutters as he screws the wood pieces together.
“Who?” Adam and Jean chorus.
His glance flicks to me before revealing who. “Perel.”
The rhythm of my work breaks as my fingers momentarily still.
“Perel?”
“She’s back in the country?” Adam and Dad comment at the same time.
“Just yesterday we had a meeting with her father, but that explains his suspicious behaviour yesterday. I thought I was just imagining things,” Dad adds on.
“She asked for your contact.” He says to me. “Luckily, the client I was meeting with arrived just in time before I could say anything.”
“Hmmm,” I hum under my breath, not sure how to respond to the mention of my ex. A subject that hasn’t been touched on for a couple of years now.
“Thank God!” Tim exclaims, while Adam raises his hands in praise.
“I don’t want to hear that woman’s name in this house, actually, in any case,” Tim grumbles.
“Come on, it’s not that big of a deal,” I breathe out low, my eyes focused on the task in front.
My brothers scoff at my statement, which I shrug off, not wanting to dive into it.
“All I will say is if one truly loves someone, they won’t abandon you at your lowest. Especially when it’s out of your control,” Tim expresses, his voice trembling at some point, which he does a good job of hiding.
“My sons, let’s not reopen wounds,” Dad sighs, lightly tapping Tim’s shoulder. Although it’s not hard to miss the grief that lies in his eyes.
Pain shoots through my hand. I look down and realise I’ve been squeezing the screwdriver. “All done,” I exclaim, releasing it, and pick up the finished drawers.
“Think that should be the last of them.” Jean double-checks there’s nothing more to do.
“Great, then, we can head in. Thank you for the help.”
“Anytime, Dad,” Edward salutes, before stacking a few together.
Wiping my hands, I carry a couple before following behind my brothers.
“You can pass me some. You’ve been standing the whole day, let’s share the load,” Dad suggests, catching up to me.
“It’s alright, Dad, I’ve got it,” I grunt, knowing it was probably half a truth.
Brief silence takes over before I bring up small talk regarding work. Thankfully, he doesn’t press on.
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“Are you guys done? That took longer than expected. Your Dad picked anything he saw that could possibly need some fixing, which was barely anything,” Maman remarks as we join her and Amina in the living room. A series is paused on the television, something they enjoy doing when they have a chance.
Jean laughs, “So our assumption has been confirmed by a witness.”
Maman giggles, “You know your Père, he will use any excuse to spend time with you all rather than outrightly ask. Glad you guys caught on, don’t want y’all hurting my sugar.”
“Wow, Mom,” Tim cries out, facepalming. Edward crinkles his face up, most likely because of her new choice of nickname. Might I add there’s always something new or a remix to it.
“Who will hurt whom?” Dad inquires, coming in, engrossed in his phone.
“Nothing interesting,” Maman responds, waving her hand. “Is it work?” she asks, referring to him being on his phone.
“Ah oui, Paul called, he mentioned my attention is needed for an important email.”
“Do you need me to work on something for you?” I offer, unable to tell if it is urgent or not by the look on his face.
“Yes, let me actually send it through so you can have a read. We will discuss it later; everything has a time.”
Mom cheers up upon hearing his words; she probably thought there would be a change in plans. Something Mom isn’t too fond of, especially due to our busy schedules.
“Did you guys manage to pick a movie?” Jean asks, taking a seat next to his wife—pulling her into his side, she responds by laying her head onto his chest.
“Yeah, we were just watching something else while waiting for you guys to join,” Amina replies.
“I’ll go get the kids,” Edward notifies before heading to the game room.
“Let me go get the snacks and drinks,” I say, making my way to the kitchen.
“I’ll help,” Tim adds, following after me.
“Almost everything is already set on the tray; I just need to put the popcorn into bowls. Please open the chips—”
“Already done,” Tim cuts in, turning around—I catch him eating them.
“Stop eating the snacks,” I warn, swatting his hand away, which he pouts at.
“Fine. Are you done now?”
I shake my head at his eagerness, “Yes. That should be it, let’s go.” I jerk my head toward the door, waiting for him to lead the way.
A couple of hours go by of watching the movie and playing games. Christy had popped up to fetch Edward and the kids on her way back from a conference, as she wanted to pass by to greet us. Jean and Amina left a few minutes later after their departure.
“May I join?” Maman snaps me out of my thoughts, joining me on the porch. I had been getting some fresh air, didn’t notice I had slipped deep into thoughts.
Offering a small, wordless nod, she hugs my arm as she rests her head against my shoulder. “Edward probably told you about his encounter with Perel. Is that what’s bothering you?”
“You know about it?” I look down at her for a second before focusing on the stars.
“He had pulled me aside earlier, as he had his doubts about whether he should bring it up or not.” She gazes at the sky. “The sky looks beautiful today.”
I hum in agreement.
“I told him to go ahead and tell you…” she sighs, “I thought it might be better for you to be prepared, in case you bump into her—you know how our families’ paths often cross. I wouldn’t be surprised if she appeared before you tomorrow.”
My breath catches. How did I forget about that?
Silence stretches between us.
“Nicodème, let her go,” she whispers, shutting her eyes for a brief moment, as if reliving the—unfavourable—events. “You can’t afford to go through that again—” her voice shakes, “I won’t allow it, and I know God has heard my prayers.”
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© 2026 Emmanuelle Ngoie. All rights reserved. The Crying Girl is an original work. No part of this work may be copied, reproduced, or distributed without permission.
