Jeremiah
"Did you do it?"
"Yes. I had all the groceries and food items delivered to the address as you asked. I'm scared that I might have a back ache from carrying all those rice and beans bags."
"😅 like you even carried anything."
"I did. Should I show you pictures?"
"I'm good."
"Are you sure she won't send them back?"
"You didn't tell them who they were from, did you?"
"Of course I didn't. But I think she knows it was all your handwork."
"Don't worry about it. She has no choice. It's not like she'd know where to return them to anyway. She definitely can't return them to me. Uh- that reminds me, do you still have access to that guy that works for your father? The private investigator I mean?"
"Sure. I mean he still owes me one or two favors. What's up? You're trying to find someone else?"
"Not someone per say. More like an information."
"Information? On who?"
"This new guy that got admitted into NAUN yesterday. I think his name is Charles. I can't remember his last name tho. He's a second level student. I just want to know who he is, and if he ever had anything to do with Kora, and if he did, what it was. I need an explanation to why she acted that way yesterday. She won't talk to me about it."
"Kora again? Wait, you weren't joking about what you said on the phone last night? You're really going to tell her about how you feel? You really like her? You're really going to make a move?"
"Yes."
"🥺 yo, I have real goosebumps right now. You're beginning to get so cute. It's scary."
"Loool, Can you help me?"
"Bro, since she doesn't want you to find out, don't?"
"Nah, I have a bad feeling about this. Something is wrong and I can feel it. I'm unsteady, and I don't like it."
"You're worried about her. It's normal when you like someone."
"Can you just help me?"
"I'll see what I can find."
"Thanks man...For everything."
Thank you for not asking any questions. I stopped my chat with Kingsley, turned off my phone's screen. and threw my phone into one of the pockets of my blazer, holding on tightly to the flowers and tiny bag of chocolates in my hand, taking a deep breath while I raised my head, so I could see where I was going. I was so lost in my phone that I hadn't even even realized I was close to my destination. Funny how I didn't have to look too hard to get to her room. The directions I got on my way were enough for me. I got to the front of her door, and then exhaled, right before I knocked on it.
"It's useless. She's not in."
"And I suppose you know where she is?" I kept my eyes glued to the door, pretending like I hadn't noticed Luke standing right beside me.
"I've been knocking for about twenty minutes. If she was in, she'd have at least opened the door."
I scoffed. He had so much faith in himself. But was he right though? Was Kora not inside her room? I wasn't able to fully understand what had happened to her the day before. She got carried away to the school's clinic before I even got the chance to ask her, and by the time I had gone to check on her at the clinic, I was told she had returned to her dormitory. To cut the story short, that was how I was able to get there. I knocked on the door again. There was every possibility Luke was wrong. Maybe Kora was inside. and didn't just want to see him. I knocked again and Luke scoffed. He must have been really irritated by my persistence. Was she really not in?
I slowly reached for my phone.
"She's not going to answer it either."
Luke was right. I had spent the entire night and morning calling her phone, but she never picked, not even one of my thirty something calls. I exhaled and then slowly put my phone back into my pocket.
"Can I help you both?"
We turned quickly, the moment we heard a voice behind us. There was a girl standing there with her arms folded, staring at us with a huge frown on her face. I recognized her immediately. She was the girl that always hung out with Kora. The one I saw almost everywhere with her.
"You." I pointed at her as she shifted her gaze to me, pouting her lips. "You're Kora's friend, aren't you?"
She inhaled.
I pointed back at the door.
"Isn't she inside?"
"Does it look like she is?"
I dropped my finger. and then exhaled to show my disappointment, pursing my lips a little bit. Luke stepped forward.
"Do you know where she is?" Luke asked her. I watched her move her head slowly to Luke's direction.
"Why would I tell you anything?" It looked like I wasn't the only one she didn't like. She didn't like Luke either. She turned back to me. "What do the both of you want with Kora? Whatever games you both are up to, trust me, now is not a good time. Play your games somewhere else."
I scratched my brows. What was it and everyone thinking I was trying to play a game as long as Kora was involved? How was I to make her understand that I just wanted to see how Kora was doing? To make sure she was okay.
"Do you have any idea how she's feeling?" Luke asked her. "Have you talked to her lately?"
She shook her head.
"I honestly don't know. I'm in the dark, just like you both. All I know is Kora left school this morning."
"What?" I asked her. "She left school?"
She nodded.
"Yes. Her mother came to get her this morning. She won't be coming back for a while. I called her house, and her mother told me she was sick. She asked me to bring some of Kora's books later this afternoon." She eyed us both. "Excuse me."
She walked away from us, and then straight to the door. I exhaled. Something was definitely not right. How did Kora fall ill all of a sudden? I was sure whatever it was, it had something to do with what happened the day before.
I heard Luke exhale, and then he turned to me.
"You heard her, didn't you?" He asked me. "Kora isn't in. We should just leave."
I scoffed, letting a sleek smile on my face.
"I didn't come here with you. What's a we?"
He scoffed, and then placed his hands on his hips. I clicked my tongue, and then turned to him.
"Yes." I snapped my fingers in his face. "You know." I told him. "I saw the way you rushed in shouting her name yesterday. You know what's going on don't you? Why she was like that the whole day. Why she's not here right now? It has something to do with that guy in your class doesn't it?"
He frowned.
"I'm sure you know something. You were her best friend at a point weren't you?"
"What are you up to?" He asked me.
"What?"
"What are you trying to do? What games do you have up your sleeves this time?"
I swear to God, if anyone talked about me playing games one more time-
"Why are you here? All of a sudden you care about her now? Where was this part of you when she was given a black card? When the whole school turned against her after your fiancée humiliated her?"
"What does that have to do with you?"
"It has everything to do with me." He answered.
"No. It doesn't. You're not her best friend anymore. You're a chapter in her life that was closed a long time ago. Whatever it is going on with Kora and me should not concern you."
"Stay away from Kora."
"I can't." I frowned, staring at him. Things were getting really tensed right now. "I don't want to."
I watched him let out a frustrated sigh.
"Stay away from Kora. All you're going to do is hurt her and cause her pain. She is going through enough as it is. She has been through a lot already. You're only going to make everything worse. You're only going to use her, and then leave her."
I chuckled faintly.
"I think you're mistaking me for someone else." I told him. "For you."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I am not you. You can judge me all you want, but I will never be the guy who let her go and embraced her step sister, just to gain favor with her father for his own selfish needs. I am many things, but a coward is not one of them. I'll never let go of Kora because, unlike you, we share a special something. Something you will never understand, and should not be concerned about."
"So what's your plan? You're going to call off your engagement? You're going to let go of Oma's hand for Kora's?"
I nodded.
"Of course, I must. As a matter of fact, I already did that at the gala. Didn't you see it? It was all over the news."
He snorted. I guess my guts were too much for him. I sniffed and then rubbed my nose once, taking a slow step towards him.
"Like I said, your chapter ended a long time ago, the moment you chose to abandon her. You should not concern yourself with whatever happens with her anymore, because I intend to stick by her side for a long long time."
We were both glaring at each other now. Irritated by each other's gaze. You could feel the tension if you stood right in our middle. The heat.
"What's wrong with you two?"
I paused at the sound of the girl's voice. She was out of the room already. I let myself smile a little, trying to shake it all off as I slowly turned to her. She was just staring at the both of us. A surprised look all over her face, with a shoulder bag hanging over her shoulders.
"Hey." I walked towards her. "You know what, I'm actually heading towards the direction of Kora's house. I could give you a ride if you want, or better still, I could just help you give Kora her books myself."
She scoffed.
"You don't even know where she lives."
"I don't?"
I asked her. I blinked twice. Of course I didn't. She exhaled and then pulled the bag from her shoulders. She stretched it towards me.
"I'm really busy anyway."
I took the bag slowly. "It'd be really nice if you helped. You two are part of the reason why her life is so difficult anyway." She nodded. "I'll text you her address on your Instagram."
I was doing really bad at showing how excited I was now. I flickered my tongue on my lower lip.
"Cool."
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Kora
I hugged on tighter to my knees, staring at my mum as she said all she did, but I was barely even listening to a thing. The last and only thing I heard her say before she jumped on my bed was my name. Everything after that was static. I had my mind in space. and I didn't even know what it was I was actually thinking about. My mum just went on and on, laughing in between her words, and giving the worst facial expressions. I exhaled subconsciously, and then sat straight, letting go of my legs.
"Kora." She called for my attention. I reluctantly turned to look at her, my lips still curved in a frown. "Did you listen to what I just said?"
"Can we talk about this some other time?" I asked her. "I really just want to go back to sleep."
"What do you mean? You've been sleeping all morning."
I guess I just wanted to be on my own. That was the reason I left school anyway. Because I needed my own space. Because I wanted a day to breathe.
"Aren't you going to come downstairs?" She asked me. Why would I have to come downstairs? I blinked. She sighed. "You have a guest." She told me. "Jeremiah is downstairs."
What?
"He came to see you." I could see the excitement in her eyes. "Can you believe it? Jeremiah Ozor is in our house. He's our guest, and he brought you flowers and chocolates. Isn't that thoughtful of him?" You should have seen how happy she was. "I already took a selfie with him. Wait till I upload it on my social media. The wives at the club would gladly take me back." She got out her phone and began to press it, while I slowly pushed myself back to my bed, and took out my blanket. I wasn't going to stress much about it. She turned to me.
"What are you doing?"
"What does it look like? I'm going back to sleep."
"You're going back to-" she grabbed my hand immediately, and then pulled me up. I allowed her to. "Didn't you hear what I just said? Jeremiah is here to see you. Jeremiah Ozor. He's downstairs."
"Good for him, I don't want to see him."
"Why not? He came all the way to see you. Are we supposed to just ask him to leave?"
"Yes."
She grunted, and then gave me a hard slap on my arm.
"Ouch!" I rubbed my arm. That hurt a lot. "Mum!" I yelled at her.
"How can you treat an important guest like that? Don't you know that people just don't happen to know important people like this? Can't you recognize a golden opportunity when you see one? He already announced you as the lady he likes. Do you know the kind of exposure you'd get when people start seeing you both together? You'd be a very important person too."
I scoffed. Look at her, so happy about someone else's fiancé.
"He has a fiancée." I reminded her in case she had forgotten.
"Thank God you said fiancée. It's useless if it isn't on paper. That he has a fiancée doesn't mean they'd end up getting married. It's all useless if he ends up choosing you-" I let out an exhausting exhale.
"Mum, can you please- can you not do this right now? Boys and relationships are the last thing I want to talk about right now. I just want to be alone."
"Why not?" She asked me. "Do you want to marry yourself?"
Marry myself? I was only eighteen. I rolled my eyes. I was beginning to wish I had just stayed back in NAUN, and locked myself in my room.
"Are you still like this because of yesterday?" She asked me. "Because of that person you met yesterday? The one whose name we promised never to mention or talk about?"
God!
That was exactly what I didn't want to talk about.
"God, Mum please stop." I rubbed my forehead.
"Kora, it's been three years. You can't keep letting what happened three years ago hurt you like this. You can't keep running from him anytime you see him. You're only going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he hurt you, and is practically trying to ruin your life. He's going to savor in the knowledge that he got away with what he did. You can't keep being so terrified of him. I know it's easier said than done, and forgetting it is almost impossible, but I want you to know that this is affecting me just as much as it's affecting you. Your soul wasn't the only one that broke three years ago, what happened hurt me too-"
"You're going to stop talking about this if I just go downstairs, aren't you?"
I cut her off. I really truly didn't want to have that conversation with her or anyone. At that point, it looked like going downstairs was the only way to run from it. She exhaled.
"Kora-"
"Fine." I quickly jumped from my bed, in my baggy jeans and bogus tee shirt. I was just going to go downstairs, so I wouldn't have to hear her keep talking about it. I thew my legs into my slippers.
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
Jeremiah
My palms were sweaty. I wasn't exactly used to stoping by at people's houses, and being left alone with their Dads, or in this case, their step Dads sitting across me. I could feel Kora's father's gaze on me. He hadn't stopped looking at me with the weirdest smile on his face since I walked into the house. I was beginning to feel awfully uncomfortable. I couldn't even bring myself to look at him for a minute, without forcing an awkward smile on my face, and then looking away immediately, pretending to take quick scans around the living room, and any time our eyes met, the smile on his face just grew wider.
I felt so hot, even with all that air conditioning. I was almost sweating under my uniform. I puffed my cheeks with air nervously, and then puffed it right out, rubbing my palms together. I don't know if I felt that way because of him, or because of the fact that my sides felt so stiff and tightened. My chest too. I could feel a sting on my stitched wound, probably as a result of how nervous I was.
"So you go to NAUN too." His voice caused me to turn to him immediately. I had to. Should have seen the way his face brightened up when I turned. I had never seen anyone so happy to see me in a short while.
I nodded slowly, and then let myself smile.
"Yes, sir."
"I heard that a lot of people have applied to school in NAUN, ever since you started schooling there."
I chuckled.
"I doubt it's because of me. NAUN is pretty known as a big deal all over the country."
"But still, you played a big role. My daughters go there too, you know."
I let out a silent exhale. Of course I knew.
"Of course you know, since you're here to see one of them." I didn't lose the smile on my face, even though my anxiety was beginning to show. He leaned closer to me. "How is your father?"
Of course. I had almost forgotten how my father happened to get into every conversation I had with every business man that pretended to be interested in me at the start of our conversation. "How is his business going?"
"It's going well sir." I told him.
"Please, drop the formalities." He told me. "You're just like a son to me you know. You don't have to be so formal. Feel at home please."
"Oh." I chuckled nervously.
"You see," he shifted on his chair. "I've actually tried to meet your father one on one, it has been my longest dream to at least work with your family once, but he's not a man that can be easily contacted. That gala was my closest chance so far, too bad that it had to end so early." I tried not to frown a little bit now that he brought the gala up. The last thing I needed was to have to defend why I did what I did. "You see, he continued, "I plan to start a business in oil importation and exportation from next year, but someone told me that your father is currently working on a project to permanently refine oil here in the country, in collaboration with the government, without having to export it first. I think with his Vision and mine, we can actually start a legacy that would shake the whole world come twenty, twenty three-"
"Honey, that's enough." I turned to the door as fast as I could, the moment I heard footsteps approaching us. "He's still a child. He probably has no business with his father's business. He doesn't even know what you're talking about. He has his own life. Don't pressure him too much about his father's, or you'd bore him."
Kora's mother said, as she came to a stop right beside him. She gave him a soft pat on his head.
I exhaled, and let my self smile sincerely.
"Not at all, Mrs Olori. I was actually enjoying the conversation."
"I was only trying to start a conversation before you and Kora came downstairs." He tried to explain. I was so concentrated watching Kora walk into the room to even hear the next thing they talked about. Now my smile was genuine, even after she raised her head to look at me. Even though she was frowning so hard.
"Kora," her Mum called for her attention. "Why don't you offer your guest something to eat, and then show him around the house-"
"We don't have food." She cut her mother off immediately. I scoffed. Feisty. I liked this new Kora.
Her mother exhaled nervously.
"What do you mean we have no food-"
"I don't think he wants to see the house." She said, her eyes focused in mine. "This house is nothing compared to where he lives in anyway. I bet there's anything that could possibly amuse him."
"On a second thought." I turned to Kora's mother, trying to be as sweet and as friendly as I could. "I would love a tour, mother."
"Oh my." She went red immediately, covering her mouth with her hands. Everyone could see how excited she was. "You're so adorable." She told me. "And so handsome, like your mother."
I nodded my head. I loved being praised. I turned back to Kora. She was the only one that didn't look excited to be in my presence. She grabbed my hand quickly.
"Follow me."
She pulled me up from the chair, and I got up without even letting her put in so much effort.
"Oh my gosh." Her mother turned to her husband. "Did you just hear him? He called me mother." I could still hear the excitement in her whisper, just as Kora pulled me out of the living room.