JUST BEST FRIENDS

CHAPTER 42: GOODBYE.

Everyone except Yomi shot Danladi a mean look for spilling the truth, especially in Yomi's present condition.

“Y'all should free the guy,” Yomi attempted to laugh, but his lungs restricted him so fast that he found himself coughing instead. “Argh!”

“Are you okay?” Idara asked, alarmed. “Do you need a doctor?”

“No, no, I'm fine.” He said, coughing his last. “Do not call a doctor, please.”

“I don't care what he says. I'm calling a doctor.”

“Wait, Isioma,” Yomi called out, “don't call anyone, please.”

“Like I said, I don't care what you say.”

“Chill.” Tayo held Isioma's arm before she could leave. “Maybe you should just hear him out. He's serious about it.”

Scoffing, Isioma retained her position and earned a weak smile from Yomi.

“Thanks,” he felt the increasingly awful churning of his stomach, as though it was infested by bugs. “God, my insides hurt like hell!”

“You deserve it.” Danladi fired at him. “You're a murderer, after all. Congrats.”

Everyone offered Danladi another mean look, including Yomi this time around.

“Danladi!” Isioma scolded him sharply. “How can you make such accusation in his condition?”

“To hell with his condition!” Danladi blasted Isioma too. “This guy killed someone, for God's sake, and you all are busy pretending like you don't know, like it's a normal thing! It's sickening!”

“What makes you think that he killed Candice?” Isioma asked. “What if he's just a victim of circumstance? What if he walked in there and saw her dead, and then took the pill out of so much grief, huh?”

“What are you saying? Are you even listening to yourself at all?” Danladi shook his head, his frown thickening. “Look, just so you know, the police are flooding the building as we speak, and the last time you saw me walk out of this room was to answer a call from my dad. He told me that Candice's body has been taken to another hospital for investigations, and that the doctors there suspect that she was murdered, judging from the awful position she was found and the bruises around her neck. I didn't want to talk about it before, but I can't hide it anymore. Somebody killed her, and we are looking at him right now.”

Initially, everyone but Danladi had thought that Yomi had taken the pill under pressure, considering how much he loved Candice, but Danladi had just brought up a fresh perspective to the whole issue that seemed logical enough to them and aroused their suspicions immediately.

“Yomi, is that true?” Idara asked, gazing at him, hoping it wasn't. “Did you kill Candice?”

Without holding back, Yomi admitted with, “Yes, I did. I personally killed her. She deserved it.”

Shocked, Idara stood up from the bed and stepped away from him. “Oh, my God!”

“She deserved it,” he repeated without remorse. “She did.”

Everyone except Danladi was surprised with their eyes popping out and their mouths agape. How could it be? How could Yomi of all people, who couldn't even harm a fly, kill an actual human being? How?

“But why?” Idara's lips trembled. “Why, Yomi?”

“She ruined my life!” Yomi said bluntly. “All thanks to her, I am now HIV positive, in case you all didn't know.”