I pushed Derrek away instantly. I didn't know why I did but my hands had reacted before my brain could register what they were doing and I instantly regretted it. I felt even worse after seeing the disappointed look on Derrek's face.
"I'm sorry. I-I don't know why I did that. I was out of line." He apologized, taking a step back from me. He couldn't even look me in the eye.
I parted my lips to speak but I couldn't say anything, even though I wanted to. Instead, I watched him leave the kitchen after apologizing some more.
"Tiara!" I groaned, face palming myself multiple times. Why did I push him away? He was about to kiss me. I had always wanted him to but now that it had almost happened, I pushed him away. Why?
I gave a heavy sigh and went over to get the mop leaning by the wall to clean up the water that had spilled on the floor. After that, I looked around the kitchen for more chores I could do to pass the time. It wasn't like Derrek's kitchen was a mess or that I felt I had to clean up, the truth was that I didn't want to leave the kitchen cause if I did, I would have had to see Derrek and things were going to get very awkward between us. I hated awkwardness. I couldn't stand it at all and if I could, I would have jumped out of the kitchen window to avoid it. Sadly, the window was shielded by iron bars to prevent anyone jumping out obviously. Plus, we were seven floors up. I would never have made it to the ground in one piece.
After minutes of running possible scenarios in my head, I summoned up the courage to step out of the kitchen. I was so determined to tell Derrek how I had felt about him just a few hours ago but I freaked out when he tried to kiss and now, I was terrified of seeing him again. There was something really wrong with me.
Slowly, I walked to the exit with my hands clasped in front of me and peeked out once I got to the door. I searched out for Derrek but he was not in the living room or in the dining area. Taking in yet another deep breath, I hurried into the living room. I was just going to grab the purse I had left on the couch and leave before Derrek resurfaced.
Nodding at the plan I had come up with, I proceeded to the couch and snatched my purse before sprinting for the door. I pulled the door open and was met with a surprise. I screamed as I almost crashed into Derrek. What was he doing outside? When did he leave the house? I didn't hear him go out.
"Whoa!" Derrek chuckled and I took a few steps back with my hand over my racing heart as I took in deep breaths to calm myself down.
"Do you think this is funny?" I glared at him. "I almost had a heart attack!"
"You should have seen your face." He continued to laugh and I rolled my eyes at him. "You seemed in a hurry to leave though. Is everything okay?" The smile was soon wiped away from his face and I was reminded of what had almost happened in the kitchen.
"Uh." I dragged, thinking of an excuse. What was I supposed to say? I feel awkward now cause I acted like an idiot when you tried to kiss me? "Ana called. She said it was urgent." I fibbed and his expression morphed into a worried one.
"Is she okay?" He asked and I nodded, avoiding eye contact with him. I needed to get away from him ASAP before I embarrassed myself any further.
"Thanks for lunch. I'll talk to you later." I said and made my way to the door but Derrek didn't step aside.
"Tiara." He called in a low, breathy voice and I glanced up at him slowly. He pressed his lips together for a moment and took in a deep breath before he spoke. "I, um, I'm sorry I tried to kiss you. I didn't mean to over step my boundaries at all, I just, um—" He paused for a few moments. "I'm really sorry."
I had never seen Derrek look so soft before. He was stuttering and he looked so nervous and embarrassed, rubbing the nape of his neck, looking everywhere but at me. This side of Derrek made him look a million times cuter than he had before. The confident, six feet plus Derrek Dune was gone now and stood before me was a Derrek who stumbled on his words and could barely stand in one place as he spoke. He couldn't even make eye contact with me and I could have been terribly wrong but I thought I had figured out what was going on with Derrek at that moment and that thought gave me a shot of confidence to do what I never thought I could have. I didn't even stop to think of the consequences of my actions if I was wrong as I took a big step towards Derrek.
In a swift movement, I stood up on my toes and planted a kiss on Derrek's lips. The moment I did, I felt butterflies let loose in the pit of my stomach but at the same time, I panicked as I realized what I had just done.
I jumped back, instantly regretting my decision but I managed to glance up at Derrek, hoping he had felt butterflies like I had.
My breath hitched as soon as our eyes met. Derrek's eyes stared into mine with so much intensity that I couldn't think to look away. In a moment, he walked up to me and pulled me towards himself by wrapping his arm around my waist. He guided his other hand around my neck and leaned into me until our lips met, sending out electric sparks through me. My eyes fluttered closed as I tilted my head upwards to get closer to him.
This time around, my hands didn't push him away, instead, they wrapped themselves around Derrek's neck, holding onto him like they were scared he was a dream that would disappear if they didn't hold on tightly. I never wanted to let go of him. I could have stayed in his arms forever. He felt so warm and cozy and he smelled like the sea, lemons and mint and it was so divine.
I had imagined what this moment would have felt like but I could have never actually prepared myself for the way I had felt. Everything felt so perfect that it felt like a dream. My heart had been beating rapidly in my chest but it seemed like everything around me had slowed down and then it all faded into the background, revealing Derrek and I into a whole new world of our own. I had never felt so strongly for Derrek as I had in that moment and from the way he held me, I knew he felt the same way. He had held me so carefully like I was a delicate egg he was afraid would break but at the same time, he had held me like I was his life line. It was a moment of complete bliss, so, I had been extremely pissed when the sound of my ringing phone had broken us out of our perfect bubble.
Derrek and I jumped apart at the loud tone and I hissed as I pulled the phone out of my purse. I saw Naborhi's name on the screen. She had the worst timing ever.
I gave Derrek an apologetic smile as I answered the call and he gave a nod as he took a few steps away.
"Hello?" I answered.
"Your cousin is trying to mess with me but I will not stand around and let a bully try to ruin my life!" She yelled, taking me by surprise. My ear tingled from the sudden loud sound.
"Ruby? What did she do? What's going on?" I asked, panicking on hearing my cousin's name. She had been too quiet for a while but I guess she must have been scheming underground. Why had she gone after Naborhi though?
"I just wanted to give you a heads-up. I'm going to kill your cousin." She hung up immediately after, leaving me utterly confused and scared.
I tried to call Naborhi back but she wasn't picking up. I stopped to think for a moment. I knew Naborhi was crazy but she wasn't murderous. She wasn't really serious about killing Ruby? What had Ruby done anyway?
"Are you okay? What happened?" I felt a hand on my shoulder and I blinked back to reality.
"I think something really bad is about to happen." I predicted. A Naborhi and Ruby clash was going to blow up the entire world.
"Bad? Like what?" Derrek questioned further as I made my way to the door.
"It's Naborhi. She's going after Ruby. I need to stop her before she does something she'd regret."
"I'll come with you." I heard Derrek say from behind me and a moment later I heard the door close.
Derrek hurried up beside me as I walked down the hallway towards the elevator.
I dialed Ziora's number as I called up the elevator. Maybe she knew what had happened between Naborhi and my cousin. She wasn't picking up.
"Don't worry, Tiara. Ana won't do anything rash." Derrek assured me as we got into the elevator but that didn't ease my mind one bit. We both knew that wasn't true. Naborhi was a crazy, impulsive person.
"Let's pray she doesn't." I began to dial Tosin and she picked up at the second ring.
"What?" Tosin answered in a groggy voice before she let out a yawn. She must have been asleep.
"Have you seen Ana recently? She just called me, saying she was going to kill Ruby."
"Is that why you woke me up?" Tosin groaned. "Come on, Tiara. You know she's not serious about that."
"She seemed pretty pissed, Tosin. You know how Ana gets when she's pissed. All logic flies out the window." I could recall the numerous fights my friend had been involved in when we were younger and even now, she hadn't changed. She could be an agbero. She wasn't a Warri girl for nothing. Sure, murder was a stretch but I was certain she was going to do some damage on Ruby and although, I wasn't Ruby's biggest fan, nothing good could have come out from Naborhi beating her up. Ruby would have pressed charges and Naborhi would have surely ended up behind bars. That would have been bad for her reputation but of course when Naborhi saw red, she didn't think of the consequences.
"That girl and her anger issues." Tosin sighed and I heard a shuffling sound before she spoke up again. "Did you try calling Ziora?"
"She's not picking up. I'm heading over to Ruby's house. Hopefully, she's there and Ana isn't." I informed and she gave another sigh. I heard a beep and took the phone away from my ear to see an incoming from Ziora. "Ziora's calling. I'll update you when I know more."
"Alright. I'll be waiting." Tosin said and hung up.
"Hello?" I answered Ziora's call.
"Tiara, what's up?" She answered. She sounded pretty calm so I could only assume that she didn't know what was going on either.
"Have you seen Ana lately?"
"Yeah. She left my hotel room a couple of minutes ago. She didn't seem too happy."
"Did she say what it was about?"
"I didn't ask. Ana's always mad at someone about something." Ziora sounded very nonchalant and for some reason, it pissed me off.
"Are you kidding me? So, you don't care if she's on her way to murder someone?" I yelled at her.
"What are you talking about and why are you yelling at me?" She yelled back.
"Ana's on her way to murder my cousin."
"Oh. She's been complaining about Ruby all day. Something about her blowing up her phone non stop." Ziora revealed. "I had my own problems to deal with today, so, I wasn't exactly paying attention to Ana. Did she tell you what Ruby did to piss her off that much?"
"Something about Ruby trying to ruin her life." I recalled what Naborhi had said earlier on.
"Dammit! How are we going to find her now?"
"I'm heading over to Ruby's house. Meet me there."
************************
It's about time Ruby showed up. 🙄