Short Story: Proud Mum Moment

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One beautiful Sunday morning, Ifeoluwa, a married woman, had just finished having her bath when her 4 years old daughter came into the bathroom, covered in paint and screaming, "mummy come and see".

Ifeoluwa followed her daughter out into their bedroom, unclad, wondering what the fuss was all about. Right there in the room, she saw it. Her daughter had made a painting on her easel, a messy one but artistic all the same. It was a proud mother moment for her and she immediately sought to have the memory captured.

She asked her daughter to stand with the painting which had been set right in front of her dressing mirror, got her phone and proceeded to take some pictures.

Her iPhone 12 camera produced remarkable images from their mini photoshoot session, creating an impression of something not too far from a standard studio session.

The overwhelming pride that she felt looking at images of her daughter, led her to send the pictures to her class group page, a group she shared with 69 other students who were studying Fine Art at the Obafemi Awolowo University. She tagged the picture "baby girl is taking after her mum".

A lot of her classmates viewed the images, nobody replied. Ifeoluwa checked through to see the number of people that had viewed the pictures, over 40, and not one single person made any comment. She felt bad. All the pride she felt initially started to give way to hurt and a sprinkle of anger.

She decided to upload the pictures on her Whatsapp status in the hopes that she would get the awwwww's she so badly wanted. 10minutes after uploading, 15 people had viewed the status update but still no comments.

Then she got a call. A call from the man she broke up with before she got married to the father of her daughter. He was laughing really hard and told her to take a close look at the pictures she uploaded on her Whatsapp status.

Ifeoluwa was confused and wondering why he was laughing so hard. She cut the call and proceeded stare hard and the picture. It was in that moment she realized that the pictures not only had her daughter in it. Her reflection was right here, showing on the mirror which was just behind her daughter. She had nothing on, apart from the iPhone 12.