Aunt Shola came out of Ayo's room. The tension in the air was palpable even to Dara who arrived a few minutes ago. Her gym bag hung on her right shoulder, all sweaty but not out of breath.
Her mother threw her a glance but looked away almost immediately, turning to Ayo.
"This is your fault."
Ayo lowered his head.
Seeing that he was dejected, she swallowed the next words that wanted to come out of her mouth and shook her head with her eyes closed.
"I don't even want to start thinking about it. What happened? How did she survive, what exactly has been going on in the past few days...?" She ground her teeth before continuing, "...but I can tell that girl is carrying more guilt than she should at her age."
Ayo's head stayed down, his hands respectfully crossed behind his back. No words from him could paint how sorry he was for taking Aunt Shola's instruction with levity.