#JUST_BEST_FRIENDS
Author: Sam Freddy
CHAPTER 36: DEEP REGRET.
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Rocking a blue bucket hat with extra dark sunshades, a navy blue long-sleeved jacket, a white baggy shirt inside and black jiggy jeans, coupled with a matching pair of white socks and black and white Nike shoes, Isioma sauntered out of her lecturer's office like a boss, feeling on top of the world.
Mike, who had been waiting for her on a bench for over ten minutes, jumped up on seeing her. She had a big smile on her face, which prompted Mike to ask, “It's about time! So how did it go?”
“Well, it seems I won't be having any more trouble from Mr. Rochas, pal.” Isioma reported, pocketing her sunshades. “The big bad wolf has surrendered, miraculously.”
“Aha! You see? I told you my plan would work!” Mike embraced Isioma out of sheer excitement. “Now you've gotten justice.”
“Yeah, all thanks to you and your confidential friends, or sources, or whatever you called them.”
Mike laughed, feeling Isioma's arms around him too. “You're welcome, funny girl.”
“Hey!” Isioma broke the hug and pressed her finger against Mike's chest. “Just because you've helped me doesn't give you the right to call me a girl. Address me properly. I'm a 'lady', not a 'girl', and I am not your mate.”
“Can you imagine?” Mike chuckled. “Is it because I look so young? How old are you?”
“I'm twenty-one. You?”
“Same here. We are age mates.”
“Nah, I don't think so.” Isioma disagreed. “We may be age mates physically, but we aren't mates mentally. I'm sure I'm more experienced than you are.”
“Really?” Mike folded his arms. “How so?”
“Duh! It's a well-known fact that girls are always smarter than boys in many areas of life. It's a no-brainer.”
“Oh, really? I see. In that case, why didn't you think of a solution to your problem on the day I met you weeping here, Miss Smarty Pants? Why was I the one that brought up an idea for your sorry ass?”
Isioma's smile broke into laughter. “Heck! You got me!”
Just then, Jordan appeared from a passageway that led to the lecturers' block, and he was equally surprised to see Isioma standing right there, laughing so close to a drop-dead handsome fella.
“Whoa! Look who we have here.” Isioma jested, as Jordan approached them. “If it isn't Mr. River Jordan himself, my former crush.”
Jordan stopped before them, feeling awkward.
Isioma noticed. “Well, Jordan, this is Mike, the guy I told you about that was helping me with my unfortunate issue,” she said to clear the air. “And Mike, meet Jordan, my best friend for now.”
Both men shook hands and greeted each other after Isioma's introduction, but something about Jordan's mood just didn't sit well with Isioma's vibe. She saw the look of uneasiness on his face, despite the façade he was putting up.
“Is everything all right, JD?”
“Yeah.”
“You sure? 'Cause you seem kinda flushed.”
“Me? Flushed? Nah, I'm good,” he faked a smile. “So what are you doing here?”
“Well,” Isioma played along, paying attention to his mood, “you won't believe what just happened!”
“What happened?”
Isioma noted the sudden rise of enthusiasm in his voice. “Well, I woke up this morning to a phone call from Mr. Rochas himself, and guess what? He asked me to come see him in his office ASAP. I alerted Mike about it—” she glanced at Mike, and for a split second, she noticed a rather odd look on Jordan's face at the mention of Mike's name, but she continued speaking regardless, “—and he told me to do it, that he would also come over to know what's up. So I came down here and the first thing this so-called lecturer showed me was my actual test score recorded in his note, before begging me to forgive him and keep what happened between us. I swear I almost laughed at his folly, but somehow I stayed professional till I was out, and now you know why I'm here. Ta-da!”
“Wow, I'm so happy for you!” Jordan exclaimed, genuinely. “This is amazing!”
“I know, right? All thanks to Mike.”
Jordan acknowledged Mike with a simple nod, and a slight smile.
“So what brings you here, JD?” Isioma asked, concerned about Jordan's weird behavior. Maybe his coming here had something to do with it, she wondered.
“Well, nothing much. I was just heading to the HOD's office before I stumbled into you guys. I should probably get going now.”
“Um, wait, I hope all's well? Do you have any trouble with the HOD or something?”
“Not exactly. I just want to ask her some questions, that's all.”
“Okay. In that case, I'll see you around, I suppose.”
“Yeah. Bye.” Jordan fixated his eyes on the ground as he left, leaving Isioma to wonder about what exactly was wrong with him today, and she might be wrong, but she personally suspected that this whole thing boils down to when he saw her laughing with Mike.
Did he have issues with Mike before now? Or was he jealous? She could never tell, but she was determined to get to the bottom of this case, someway, somehow.
__________
Every now and then, Yomi would board a bus to school or to his workplace, and today was one of those days. He sat at the edge of the last seat of a danfo bus, conscious of time. Soon, the bus swerved into the school's gate and went on till it got to the bus stop, and then all the passengers alighted, including Yomi.
So, Yomi was on his way to his department when he got a big shocker: Idara and Tayo, holding hands, both coming in his direction. He wanted to look away or turn back fast, but they'd already seen him, so he had no choice but to keep moving until they clashed on the way.
“Hey, wassup, bro!” Tayo shook hands with him. “Long time.”
“Yeah, long time.” Yomi broke their handshake, struggling to stay cool. “How are you, man?”
“I'm cool, bro. You good?”
“Yep, all good.” He could barely look at Idara in the eyes. “And you, Dara? How are you?”
“Fine.”
Idara's monosyllabic reply didn't help Yomi's guilty conscience at all, but fortunately for him Tayo chipped in with, “So where are you headed, bro? I'm pretty sure lectures aren't starting until six in the evening for your class. Idara told me.”
“Oh, yeah. Actually, I, um, have an appointment with my lecturer. I need to get some handouts from him which can't be found elsewhere, not even in the school's library and the bookshops. They're very important and limited and I'm afraid they'll be sold out before tonight, that's why I'm acting fast.”
“Oh, nice. Idara, do you know anything about that?”
“Yeah.” Idara replied Tayo, seriously enduring Yomi's awful presence. “I've gotten mine already.”
“Great.” Tayo smirked, then faced Yomi. “Well, I had a class before and Idara decided to wait for me till I was done. So, um, now, we are actually heading to the beach with Idara's mom and pops and her little brother to chill for a while. But since I didn't come with my car, Miss Janet would be coming to pick us up outside the school's gate. In fact, she's on her way as we speak. Isn't it amazing how there's peace between them all now?”
Obviously, Tayo wasn't aware of the conflict between Yomi and Idara. He must've thought that they were still in good terms with each other and that Idara had informed Yomi about her family's reunion, hence his enthusiasm about the topic towards Yomi.
But Yomi, on the contrary, was completely confused. First, he sees Tayo and Idara holding hands in public like long-term lovers, which he found somewhat disturbing, and suddenly he's being told about some sort of reconciliation between Idara's family? What was really going on here? How much had he missed out on so far?
“Oh, wow.” Yomi was partially tongue-tied, feeling lost like a needle in a haystack. “I bet it's really amazing. I'm really happy for them, to be honest.”
“So am I.” Tayo admitted, squeezing Idara's hand carefully. “Well, I guess this is the point where we set Yomi free. We wouldn't want to delay his appointment now, would we, Elle?”
“No, not at all.” Idara smiled cheekily, relieved. “He should better get going now. Time's ticking.”
“Totally.” Yomi left their presence after awkwardly adding, “It's a pleasure bumping into y'all. See y'all later.”
A pleasure indeed.
Deep down, pleasure was nothing close to the actual feeling Yomi had. His conscience prickled him badly, infusing tiny little holes all over his wretched heart. Guilt overwhelmed him like mad, causing him to recall the awful, stupid decision he made that put him in this situation in the first place.
As he walked further, he remembered that night; that fateful night when he told his childhood best friend to give him some space, that same night when he broke her heart into micro pieces, just because he felt that it was the right thing to do.
But now, deep regret overlaid by immense guilt engulfed him, because all he did to Idara was for the sake of his relationship with Candice. A relationship that was seriously failing by the day. A relationship that had obviously lost its spark and now had to be forced. A rather one-sided affair that had pushed him into losing the people he loved, like Isioma and Idara, both of whom he really, really cherished till date.
Looking back, Yomi saw Tayo draping his arm around Idara's shoulders, and for some reason, it broke him even more. Seeing Idara living her life smoothly without him shredded both his heart and his very soul. It was too much for him to bear.
Admittedly, when he cut ties with Idara, he stated that it was only temporary, but he never expected her to move on so fast as if nothing ever happened between them. The lady he met just a moment ago was definitely not the same lady he knew anymore. Something about her had changed. There was this fresh aura about her, this refreshing, powerful confidence she now possessed that shook him to the bone. She'd changed for good, big time, and that implied that she probably didn't hold any feelings for him anymore, to his dismay.
Why exactly was he uncomfortable with seeing her so happy with Tayo, though? He wondered. Was this jealousy, or just simply guilt and regret?
Had he made the biggest mistake of his life that would haunt him forever, by losing this wonderful, Godsent rare gem? Had he?