Kora
The school's clinic.
I hated being in the school's clinic. I hated being in clinics entirely. Ever since three years ago, I had tried so hard to avoid ever visiting a hospital as hard as I could, but this time, being in the clinic wasn't a bad idea after all. I could last the whole day just laying in that bed, pretending to be asleep so no one bothered or noticed me. I didn't need anyone's pity, I didn't need to be with anyone. I just wanted to be alone, and pretending like I was asleep was the only way I could get the privacy I needed. Truth is, I was so scared to open my eyes. I was really scared to open my eyes after finding out that the entire school was probably talking about me. Talking about the girl that tried to destroy the Orji's by faking her rape, and I was scared to actually see how they looked at me. That was why I kept my eyes closed. I could hear two girls chattering in the room, and then after about five minutes, the chattering stopped.
"You can open your eyes now." I froze. It looked like I wasn't alone after all. Luke was still there. Had he been sitting there watching me all along? "Everyone's gone."
Did he mean it? Was everyone really gone? Was it okay for me to open my eyes? How on earth did he know I had been pretending. Oh, I forgot, it was Luke, sometimes it felt like Luke knew me better than I knew myself. He was always good at predicting what I did. At reading me. Of course he could see I was faking it. But then again, the noise had stopped, and the room felt so quiet, really calm, it felt like we were alone. It also felt like it was safe for me to open my eyes. I opened my eyes slowly. Taking my time. The ceiling fan was the first thing to catch my attention, right before I slowly rolled my eyes so they could catch a glimpse of Luke. He was sitting right beside me with his legs crossed, and his arms folded. I exhaled and then tried to sit up immediately.
"Ouch." I had almost forgotten I still had a sprained knee and it hurt so badly, even though it was covered in a bandage. He sat up quickly and then leaned closer to help me, not like I needed his help anyway. I was doing pretty well on my own.
"Easy." He told me, holding on tightly to my arm until I was sitting fully now. "Are you okay?"
I turned to him, my eyes taking a long look at his really bright eyes. I was almost lost in them for a moment. I swallowed hard and then slowly pulled my arm away from him.
"I'm fine." I forced a smile on my face, so he didn't have to worry much about me. He exhaled. I knew he didn't buy it.
"You still have to stay here a little longer. The nurse said your sprain isn't major, and you'd be fine in a couple of hours."
Oh, like that was the most of my problems.
"Oh." I turned to my bandaged leg. So much for playing handball with the team, wasn't it? I slowly turned back to Luke. "Thank you." I told him. At least I knew how to be grateful. "For helping me back there and for staying here with me too."
"It's nothing. I just wished I had come earlier. You've never really been any good at sports. Remember how you always pretended to break your leg back in secondary school because you didn't want to play football with the other girls, and the coach always made me carry you on my back to the school's clinic?"
I chuckled the moment I began to remember those memories. The good old days. Luke was laughing too.
"And then I got upset that one time when the opposing team from Greenville scored a goal against us while I was away?"
"Yes." I laughed. "I remember. You had to rat me out to the coach. You walked up to him and told him that I was fine, and I was only faking to be hurt. All the girls in my class got so mad at me that they didn't talk to me for a week. You didn't talk to me for a week either."
"It was four days."
"No, it was a week."
"It was four days."
"I did the counting. It was a week. I remember perfectly. And on the last day of the week, you sent me a text to meet you at the cinema, and then you made me see that really boring movie as my punishment. What was the name of that movie again?"
"Sage." He reminded me. "You ran all the way in your pajamas."
I laughed so hard at how funny those memories were. God, the good old days we had. The memories I had with Luke were one of the bests in my entire life, and talking about it with him made everything feel okay, I had almost forgotten everything that had happened earlier, almost. And then when I did remember, my laughter began to fade. I was sure he could see it. He frowned a little bit too and then stretched his hand towards me. He paused, focusing his gaze on the sheets while I held my breath, trying to see what he wanted to do. He reached for my hands, making me slowly turn to them. He held my hand in his and then took a deep breath.
"I've missed those days." He said "I've missed you." I could see a tiny smile drawing itself on his lips. "I shouldn't have let you go. I shouldn't have said those mean things to you, I shouldn't have taken that deal with Racheal and your step father, and I should never have turned my back on you and pushed you away." He slowly raised his head to mine.
"L-Luke." I whispered his name because I didn't know what to say.
"I'm sorry, Kora." He told me. "I'm sorry for everything. I'm sorry I turned my back on you when you needed me the most. It only took me until a few weeks ago to know that leaving you was the biggest mistake of my life. Nothing has been the same since you left. I thought if I had just kept on pushing you away and acting like I didn't see you even when I did, I thought if I just focused on my dreams, on the reason I left you in the first place, it would make it easy for me, it would make forgetting you easy for me but it hasn't. I can't get you out of my mind Kora. I can't stop thinking about you and about everything I've let go away,"
"Luke-" I tried to pull my hand away, but he held on tight to me.
"I regret it." He told me. "I regret ever doing and saying those things to you. I regret that I turned my back on you and tried to forget you. I want us to go back to how we were. To how it used to be between us." He smiled a little bit. "You know, when you were you and I was just me, when there was nothing else-"
"Luke-" he wasn't even trying to listen to me or let me speak.
"We can still make it work. I can end things with Racheal this moment and explain my reasons to your step father. I'd withdraw my application from NAUN if he asks me to. I'm ready to do anything, pay whatever the price is. You still love me don't you?" He pushed himself closer to me while I just stared at him dumbfounded. "You said we are soulmates, we are destined to be together. Our names are still written in the stars. We don't have to throw it all away. We can still make things work. We can still be happy."
"Luke." This time I pulled my hands away as hard as I could from his. He wasn't letting me speak. He wasn't listening and I knew I had to make him listen to me. I looked into his eyes one last time, because I knew that was the only way I was going to get him to listen to what I had to say. I exhaled.
"Not anymore." I told him. He squinted his eyes. What I was trying to say was.... "We are destined, but not the way you think." I continued. "Luke," I exhaled. "I love you, I don't think I'm ever going to stop loving you, but not in that way anymore. What I'm trying to say is-"
"You have feelings for someone else?" He cut me off.
I blinked twice.
"What?"
He scoffed and then threw himself back into his seat.
"It's him isn't it?" He continued. "The rich boy in old money. The popular one you always hang out with. Jeremiah."
I exhaled. Why was Jeremiah getting into this conversation now?
I looked at Luke for a long time, trying to defend myself , trying to decide if I should accept or deny his accusations. I wasn't even sure of my own feelings. How on earth was I supposed to defend them?
"Come on Kora, I know you like him, everyone know you like him."
"It's not- it's not like that."
Now it was hard to keep my eyes on him.
"We're just friends. Or at least we used to be."
There was an abrupt silence for about three seconds. I felt so nervous. Why on earth was I starting to feel so uncomfortable? Luke leaned towards me.
"So I don't stand a chance? I can't win you back?"
I raised my gaze to look at him, my lips were moving, but I wasn't even saying anything.
"You're saying I should give up on you? Shouldn't I at least try to win you back?"
"Luke-"
"This was my mistake and I'm going to fix it." He told me. "You would never have been with him if I didn't push you away first. I'm not going to do it again. I'm never going to push you away or turn away from you ever again. I'm going to hold on tight from now on, until you come back to me."
I held my breath. I didn't know what to say, I was short of words big time.
The door opened quickly, and an average heightened woman in a white coat walked in with a file in her hands. Thank God. It was just the distraction I needed.
"Obidi." I turned to her quickly the moment she called my name after walking towards us, stopping right in front of my bed with a huge smile on her face that forced me to reciprocate. That was Mrs Favor. She was the assistant nurse in NAUN. "How is your leg?" She asked me. "You think you can walk?"
I nodded. I'd even crawl if it meant I could leave that room at that point. Leave Luke and avoid answering all his really weird questions.
"I should be able to. I didn't hurt myself so badly anyway."
She nodded her head.
"Good." She told me. "The dean of student affairs wants you in his office as soon as possible."
The dean of students affairs? I narrowed my eyes on her, hoping she had anything else to say to me that was going to give me a hint on why I was suddenly summoned to the administrative building, but she didn't. She just turned and then walked away.
That was weird.
Why on earth was the dean suddenly asking for me?
Goodness gracious. Did he hear about the Charles' rumors too? I had enough on my plate right now and having the school's administrative department summon me all of a sudden to explain myself was the last thing I needed at that moment.
I shut my eyes for a second, and then drew a deep breath. Could my day get any worse?
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
It was a long walk to the administrative hall. I got there at last, but I still felt so cold. I rubbed my arms to keep myself warm a little bit. Who on earth kept air conditioners in hallways? What was the point anyway?
Second time in the administrative building and I could say the rumors were really true, the administrative was the most dreaded building in NAUN. Students hated to be around that place. At least that could explain why there wasn't a single soul I had met on my way to the elevator that was supposed to lead me to the second floor, where the office of the dean of student's affairs was . The entire building gave me the chills.
Ding!
The door to the elevator opened and then I walked out of it, right on the second floor. It was just as empty and lonely as the first, but I could see all the CCTV's hanging on every corner. I mean, who needed security and people walking up and down the building when you had all those cameras? I took a step towards the brown door that was at the far end of the hall. That was the door I was supposed to go through to the dean's office, but then I stopped, my heart skipping a beat when the door opened. I quickly ran back to hide behind the wall. I knew the dean had summoned me, but I really hated to imagine that I'd bump into him on my way to the office. I tried to catch my breath. If you had seen me with the way I hid, you'd have thought I had actually killed someone.
I peeped through my hide out. It wasn't the dean at all, but I knew who it was walking out of the door. It was someone everyone knew. It was Christian Ozor.
I squinted my eyes. Why was Christian coming out of the dean's office anyway? The door opened again and I could see Jeremiah running out after him.
"Christian!" He was trying so hard to catch up. They were both walking really close to me now. What on earth was I going to do? I was beginning to panic. Should I have just ran back into the elevator, or just run along towards the dean's office like I was supposed to? I relaxed on the wall, hoping it covered me enough, hiding me well, especially since they were getting really close to me now.
God, I was going to look really stupid if I got caught like that. I held my breath, trying so hard not to make a sound. The footsteps stopped. What? Had they stopped walking? It felt like they were just a few feet apart from me.
"Thank you for coming instead of Susan." I could recognize Jeremiah's voice without even trying to see him. Jer never really talked about his family. He barely talked about his brother, and I was kind of dying to know the kind of relationship they had out of TV. I slowly leaned closer to the wall. That was the thing about me. I just didn't know when to stop. I never learned my lesson. I never learned to mind my own damn business. I peeped through, just so I could see. I had never seen Jeremiah smile so brightly in front of anyone. Not even me, but Christian, Christian on the other hand just looked like he didn't have the time to stand and talk. The frown on his face was really huge and scary.
"Not like I had a choice." He told him. "Father made me come here. You know me, there was no way I was ever going to come here on my own."
"But still, you did." Jeremiah looked so calm. I had never seen him so calm, gentle, and respectful before. "It really means a lot to me."
"I wish I didn't." Christian cut him off. "I honestly wish Dad stopped making me do things like this, stopped making me constantly go beyond the number of things I can tolerate because of you. You're happy I came, but that's not the same for me. Coming here only proves that I've been right about you all along."
"I can explain." Jeremiah took a step towards him. "I can explain what happened with -"
"I warned them. I told them they should never have let you come back. I warned them to send you back to the country they brought you from, back to the states, because I was so sure you were never going to change, that you were going to do what you do best, destroy things and cause trouble wherever you go, but they didn't listen, now look. Our family has stayed six years, six whole years without a single lawsuit, six whole years of being at peace with everyone, you've barely been here six months and you already got us one."
"I'm sorry."
"Do you have any idea what could happen, how much stain could be on our family's reputation when people know what you did? When videos of how you abused that boy goes public? Not once, two good times-"
"I had my reasons. I didn't mean to hurt him like that but I had my reasons, He deserved it." I watched Jeremiah try to defend himself.
"He deserved-" Christian chuckled. "What on earth are you talking- who made you a judge over anyone? Who gave you the right to hurt anyone, no matter what the person did? You've done worst to people. I lost my entire life because of you, I didn't bash your face on the wall because of it. Why would you hurt someone else because of a fight that isn't yours? Because of a girl?"
"She's not just any girl." He raised his head to his brother's. "She's someone that is important to me."
"And so what?" Christians frown got deeper. "So what? So that makes you Superman? No one's worth soiling this family's reputation for, Ive worked so hard to build what you have right now, the privileges you enjoy right now is a result of my hard work."
He grabbed Jeremiah by his collar and squeezed so hard. I covered my mouth with my hands quickly so I didn't gasp so loudly. Was it always like this? Why was he being so mean to him? Why was he being so verbally and physically abusive, and why was Jeremiah not fighting back?
"Do you know how hard I worked for all of this? While you just lived your life how you wanted in the states, burning all the money you never worked for a day in your life on latest trends, parties, and girls, I put my entire life and time on the line. I walked so you could run. Do you think I'm going to let your silly emotions ruin any of that? How many times do I have to fix your mistakes? How many more times do I have to deal with this?"
He glared at Jeremiah. "To deal with you? How much more do I have to take. How much more do I have to suffer for being tied to someone like you?" He raised his voice a little bit, trying to control his pitch, so no one noticed. Even though he looked so upset, it was obvious that he was aware the cameras were recording. He tried so hard to keep his calm, even though it didn't look like it.
"Why don't you just act dead like you've always done? Why don't you just act dead and try to stay out of trouble, to stay out of my way." He held on harder to Jeremiah's shirt. "Or better still, why don't you just die? Why don't you just disappear from my sight forever? Why don't you just die, so I don't have to deal with any of this?!" He yelled and then let go of Jeremiah's shirt immediately. "Argh!" He yelled stomping his feet as hard as he could to show his frustration, while Jeremiah drew a deep breath.
I watched Christian turn away so he could catch his breath. Taking deep breaths with his hands on his hips. I could see the look in Jerry's eyes. I had never seen him so miserable in a while. How on earth was he still standing, and not in tears after all he had just heard. It had to take you getting used to hearing stuffs like that to not react in a way everyone would expect you to.
"He raped her." Jeremiah said after about three seconds. I dropped my hands from my mouth unconsciously. Did he just- Christian slowly turned to him. "He raped her." Jeremiah repeated. "And she's someone that I have feelings for. Someone that I want to protect. I couldn't just stand and watch. I couldn't just stand and watch him walk around school a free man. I know it wasn't in my place, but haven't you been so mad when you see someone you care about get hurt?"
"What?"
"That was how I felt and I don't regret it. I'd do it over again and again if it meant I'd make him pay for what he did to her."
"Hey, Jeremiah-"
"You can hate me all you want, and blame me all you want but I'm not going to hate myself for defending someone I care about." Jeremiah fixed his shirt so it didn't look so rumpled anymore. "We'd be late for the meeting." He took a step towards the elevator. I pulled back.
Oh my goodness, what was I going to do? What on earth was I going to do? I couldn't get caught. I couldn't let them see that I had listened to everything. I had to do something before they got close. I ran to the elevator, pulling my hair behind my ear and then taking a deep breath as I heard the footsteps approach closer to me. God, I shut my eyes for a minute. I was so nervous. Did they know? Did they catch on? What is wrong with you, Kora?
I quickly turned. The least I could do was keep up with the act. Pretend like I had just arrived. I frowned. I spotted Jeremiah first. He was walking towards me. Should I stop him?
I wanted to, but something pulled me back. I didn't think that was the right time, besides, he had his eyes focused on the elevator, pretending like I didn't exist. He walked past me without even looking twice.
Scoff.
Christian was right behind him, adjusting his jacket and pretending like he wasn't trying to rip Jeremiah apart moments ago. You should have seen how they acted like nothing happened. Christian exchanged a quick glance with me, right before he got into the elevator too. I slowly turned so I could take one last look at them, while the elevator door prepared to close. How could they look so alike, but act nothing alike? How did they look so perfect in front of everyone, while there was so much hate between them. Just how much did I not know about him? I had my eyes glued on Jeremiah, but he wasn't looking at me even though I was sure he knew I was standing right there. I couldn't explain it but there was this sadness I felt in my heart. An emptiness. The elevator door began to close slowly. I wanted to run to him. I wanted to hold him, but I couldn't. I let out an exhale and the door closed.