It brings me so much joy to see the huge milestone we have achieved. Here's to twenty thousand reads, mi familia.✨💫 I am immensely grateful and I do not take it for granted. Loads of love from your girl.♥️

Without further ado, let's dive into this chapter.🌝

The song for the chapter- People by Libianca.

           _________________𖧷_______________

                      "𝑀𝑖𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑖𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑙𝑙,
                         𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑦 𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑙𝑦
                                 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑎𝑙𝑙?
                                       𝐻𝑒𝑟."

           _________________𖧷_______________

               ~𝚂𝙷𝙰𝙺𝙸𝚁𝙰 𝙽𝙸𝙽𝙸𝙾𝙻𝙰 𝙼𝙰𝙻𝙸𝙺~

Have you ever craved something so bad that you are willing to do anything, to give anything to get it? 

Sleep was that thing I desperately needed right now.

Not even food. Not even a massage. I just needed to close my eyes and drift into oblivion, where it was easier to drown in emptiness than being stuck here and battling to suppress the things I had shoved at the back of my mind. They were desperately kicking, scratching and clawing at iron doors that barricaded them from my consciousness.

They had been flickering incessantly like a switch, consuming me for the slightest second with me stuffing them back inside behind that iron door. Each clamour was stronger than the last, and that was why I was in dire need of sleep.

That way, I got an escape from all of these and there could finally be some quiet. 

That desperation was like a dull throb initially, but now it had taken residence in every inch of my body, right to the core of my soul and absorbed me with a burning need to take a faster route out of this mess. It was easier shutting that voice out, but now, it was echoing incessantly in my head to give in.

To let go.

Your escape is right in front of you if you'd just take it. The voice slithered in like a frosty sensation, sucking me in its embrace and thickening around me like a chilly fog.

I blinked, my eyes snapping to the white bottle on my dresser. It was holding onto me as much as I was holding onto it. It felt as if it had suddenly developed a mouth overnight. 

Like something had breathed life into it and I could feel it move from that table, its compelling presence creeping behind me, calling out to me in whispers to take the help it had to offer.

I should have thrown the pills out when I had the chance, but a tiny part of me had always known that I would come crawling back to them.

The more I stared at the bottle, the more my restraint waned. 

I didn't want to take it, but I needed to sleep.

I breathed, my fingers reaching out slowly to grab it. Multiple voices clashed in my head, growing louder but only a particular duo seemingly stood out like an angel and a devil perched on my shoulders. 

As I reached for it, there was a voice nagging at the back of my head, pleading desperately for me not to take it, but the other one was louder, probably because I was unconsciously giving it power and tuning out the first one.

The bottle was luring me into its hold and I was falling for every bit of its promises of oblivion. 

I snatched it off the table, and a surge of liberation coursed through me. For a fleeting moment, all that pain, that tiredness, that despondence merged into one huge ball of hope. 

At this point, my body didn't feel like mine anymore because my hands developed a mind of their own, unscrewing the cap I pat the tip of the cover against my palm, a few white circular pills rolling out.

I could taste the dizziness on my lips. I could feel it. I could breathe it in and it was exhilarating. The closest thing to being alive I had felt in days. Heck, there was a rush of that familiar lethargic feeling after effect that gripped me in the guts.

"Quiet," I whispered. 

Go on. It urged me.

I brought my palm to my mouth and a glimpse of that dark, dreadful place flashed in my mind, vividly, like a swipe of black paint against a white canvas. That cold, awful feeling associated with it, that terrifying emptiness enveloped me for a moment, lodging a burning question in my throat.

So, I take it now and what happens afterwards?

Sure, a long, peaceful and refreshing sleep awaited me but the aftermath only screamed dependency in bold red letters.

My shoulders slumped in defeat immediately and that anticipation washed away, replaced with an exhaustion that had its claws buried deep in me.

I wasted no time in shoving the pills back in their bottle and I tossed them in my drawer, sealing it shut. 

My haunting reflection caught my gaze in the mirror and I held it. My eyes assessed my naked figure and all I saw was a shell. It should irk me. I should be furious. I should be disgusted but I couldn't even bring myself to feel anything. I was trying so hard to feel something but I was too drained to do it.

The duo cornrows I had managed to weave my hair into the last day I went to school looked like tacky faux locks that I had been carrying for six months. I had only been carrying it for three days but it wasn't even a sight to behold with how unhinged it made me look and that was as a result of me sinking my fingers into them and tugging at them.

My eyes were nothing to write home about. With how dead they looked, I was compelled to wait for a few seconds, hoping to catch any minuscule form of life in them, but there was none. Even their brown shade had taken a darker turn, almost like a deep, dark, haunting abyss. 

The only thing that looked put together about me were my nails. The rest of my looks could be summed up as a loony mess.

Undeterred and unfazed, I rose to my feet. Maybe I shouldn't have because it felt like an invisible wind wanted to knock me off my feet. 

Okay, maybe I shouldn't have dumped my breakfast into the toilet and flushed it like I had been doing for the past three days to convince Mama Heather that I was eating.

I moaned out in pain, holding onto the edge of the chair in front of the dresser with a weak grip. My hands were almost slipping off it, but I garnered the trails of strength I had lurking left in my seemingly frail body, staggering over to the bed. I collapsed on it and tugged at my covers.

I shut my eyes, hoping that would convince sleep to crawl out from wherever it was hiding and consume me.

But, jokes on me. I just lay there, quite motionless.

A soft knock infiltrated the silence that permeated my gloomy room, causing a twinge of distress to settle within me. I was tempted to ignore the person at the other end of the door, but the knock persisted, rendering me an irritable bear.

"It's not locked." I didn't understand how my hoarse voice managed to sound audible. But the person must have heard it because the door creaked open and I was forced to look in its direction.

I furrowed my brows at the sight of the maid, who looked like she wanted to be swallowed by the gift bags, boxes and bouquet in her hands.

"Where the hell did those come from?" I asked curiously, taking a sitting position against the numerous pillows that were propped against one another behind me.

The covers slipped off my chest, but I couldn't be bothered about it.

"Good afternoon, ma." She greeted me.

"Shakira," I corrected her and she stalked forward cautiously.

My eyes were fixated on the things in her hands, surveying them with scrutiny and panic brewed within me as a realisation thickened around my neck like it was choking me, causing my heart to drop to the pit of my stomach with an echoing thud.

Are they from Stefan?!

That was the first time I had even willed myself to conjure his name or even think about him in days and I was struck by a jab in my guts which knocked out the sparse breath hanging in my lungs.

No, no, no!

"The delivery man only got me to sign. He didn't say who it was from when I asked him." She supplied immediately, sounding like she wasn't stopping to catch her breath.

I eyed the boxes warily.

"Drop them and leave," I ordered her, without sparing a glance in her direction. My gaze was anchored on them and I couldn't bring myself to move towards them.

She exited the room and shut the door behind her, leaving me with the mysterious boxes.

It wouldn't hurt to open them and know who it's from right?

My eyes lingered on the alluring red roses that were tucked elegantly in a black paper wrap but I didn't pick it up. I ignored it.

I swallowed and sucked in a deep breath, leaping to grab the first one. I practically yanked the red ribbon off the first black box. I couldn't help but applaud the creativity of whoever did this. Malteser bars were strapped together to form a love shape with big golden balls of chocolates stacked in the middle of the shape. I stared at it introspectively before dumping it back into the box and sealing it shut. 

The next one was a cute black gift bag with red flowery designs splayed on it. I shoved my hands into it and retrieved a box of perfume from it. My jaw automatically slackened at the sight of the Chanel Perfume. I was big on Perfumes and as I retrieved the circular glass object filled with pink mesmerising liquid, I knew without a doubt that this wasn't some watered-down version of Chanel Perfume. It wasn't a copy. It was original and would cost approximately two hundred thousand naira or more.

My thoughts were beginning to run haywire at this point and I was racked with impatience as I tore the next box open, looking for anything that could reveal who the gifts came from, but I was even more stunned when I stumbled on a red mini Jacquemus bag.

"What the actual fuck?!" I screamed at no one in particular. 

I grabbed the last bag frantically, fishing out two black velvet boxes. They shared a striking resemblance and the only thing that allowed me to differentiate them from each other was the sizes. I pried the two boxes open simultaneously and I sure as hell wasn't prepared for the glow that almost blinded me.

The rose gold neckpiece and feminine Rolex Wristwatch felt as though they were staring at me, playing dirty mind tricks on me and I decided that I had had enough already.

My heart lurched to my throat, hanging there when I found a little note in the bag.

It read;

Gorgeous things for a gorgeous girl.🖤
Xoxo, O.

       We should not lie, we should not steal.
        Olafimihan Adrian Adewusi is one heck
                of a romantic bastard.😂🤲😭♥️
                      See gifts nauuu!😭

A fresh breath of relief unfurled in me when it became clear that the gifts weren't from Stefan, but that feeling was ephemeral because the final piece of the puzzle eventually clicked the more I stared at the note.

A light scoff tore through my lips and I snatched my phone off the nightstand. It was so cold. I hadn't touched the device in a while. It was messing with my sanity in different ways and I had to do away with it. My heart skipped twice when I reluctantly tapped on the flight mode button.

I put my phone in flight mode because I didn't want to speak to anyone.

More like you didn't want to speak to him.

I blocked it out.

My breath caught as I waited for my phone to regain its network. It was as though the invisible ties that wrapped around the device let loose and it began flooding with a shitload of messages, the notification sound filling the room. It was so triggering and I was almost tempted to turn off the phone, but I was a girl on a mission. I had to ignore the unimportant things and focus on the pressing issue at hand.

The air I sucked in was shaky, causing my lips to tremble as I shut my eyes, struggling to pull myself together. My finger glided on the screen of my phone and I unlocked it.

The green icon of Whatsapp stared back at me mockingly, taunting me and daring me to fuck the odds and tap on it. To reach out to him, it was only on WhatsApp I could do that. He had several numbers and I couldn't start tracing which one to call. My eyes caught a glimpse of my call logs with a red icon with the number "hundred", which signalled missed calls, hanging right beside it.

I was so sure that ninety-five percent of those missed calls were from him.

I looked away from the call logs, my fingers hovering on the green icon. I reluctantly willed myself to click on it. My soul almost expelled my body when I saw his pinned chat. I had over a hundred messages from him. I didn't allow my thoughts to linger on the messages, robbing myself of the ability to discern the content of his messages.

I aggressively scrolled downwards, biting down on my lower lip harshly almost drawing blood as I searched for the last message he sent me. I found it and tapped on the call icon, directing it to a normal call. I placed it on a loudspeaker and dropped the phone in front of me.

He picked up in a heartbeat.

"Olafimihan Adewusi, what the hell is your problem?" my voice, firm and laced with vitriol, echoed throughout the room.

"Hey, baby." His deep voice burst through the speakers, tainted with soft chuckles.

"Why are you trying to buy me?!" I queried. "And don't you dare call me that again!" 

"You have no idea how refreshing it is to hear your voice again." I could imagine a grin on his face and it didn't make my skin prick any less than it did with irritation.

"I don't," I agreed. "Just the way I have no idea how deep your stupidity runs!" I gritted my teeth.

"As for the gifts, you can call it what you want, but it's just a guy spoiling his girl." He spoke calmly, his voice holding a really relaxed edge that worked my last nerves.

"I am not your girl!" I snapped.

"You'll be." His assertive tone had my jaw slackening in shock. "It's only fair that I begin to normalise spoiling you." He added.

I was dumbfounded for a second, wondering if his delusions got an upgrade because it was thoroughly appalling the kind of audacity he seemed to possess now. It felt as though he changed his supplier because there was no way in hell this effrontery was normal.

"Are you insane?" my question came out in a whisper, thick with surprise.

"If loving you and trying to get you to be mine means being insane, then yes, I am." He fired back instantly, uttering those words with defiance.

"Ola, what part of we had a one-night-stand, get over it, don't you understand?" 

"Still clinging to this narrative?" he chuckled, almost mockingly. 

I was even more convinced that he was sick. He seemed to have been filtering my words and actions these days because he was choosing to believe that there was more to that one time.

"I am not clinging to any narrative! I am being factual. You are the one who needs to get over your petty obsession and let me be!" I shouted in exasperation.

"You keep underestimating how far I am willing to go to get what I want. I waited for over two years. What makes you think I can't wait two more to have you right where you belong?" all the emotions his voice held earlier had completely seeped away. 

It wasn't even his determination that was beginning to scare me right now, it was this lingering thought of the extreme things he was willing to do to have me and it rattled me to my bones.

So much so that the hair on my skin was beginning to gain a mind of its own.

"Get off my phone. Now." The firmness of my voice couldn't conceal how shaky it sounded.

"Sim cards are very easy to purchase these days. If you block this number, I'll call and text you with a different one. You want to turn this into a chase. I am more than ready to take you on. If I have to take firm steps to show that I am meant for you just as much as you are meant for me and belong to me, so be it." His voice was dangerously calm, but they were infused with a petrifying assurance.

I was tongue-tied.

"I'll see you soon, love." With those sinisterly-soft words, the line went dead and my breath followed right after.

I was in a deep shit.

It hadn't occurred to me earlier, but it just did now. 

The gifts that surrounded me appeared to be an extension of his dark promises, looming around me like a sense of impending doom.

"Where the fuck is that bitch that calls herself my best friend?!" the all-too-familiar voice dripping with venom and sass altogether made me freeze.

                                         •••••

The motionlessness that seized me should have been abnormal, but it wasn't. I knew how unpredictable her fury could be. I had been at the receiving end of it on a few occasions. All of which were very justified. There was a puny voice nagging at me in the guts to get up from where I was seated and dash into the bathroom to hide from her.

To hide from her wrath, but it was as futile as it could be because I couldn't bring myself to move.

As stiff as I was, with my eyes fixated on the door eagerly, nothing still prepared me for the way the door was kicked open. I could have sworn my heart lurched in accordance with the violent movement. 

Her lithe frame lingered closely by the door frame, and her eyes snapped in my direction, anchoring on my frame. She had her thick-rimmed glasses perched on the bridge of her nose, and from where I sat, I could feel the heat of her piercing gaze shooting through the glasses, rendering me a little conscious. Her fiery eyes were void of any ounce of familiarity.

"I don't want to say that I said it, but I said it." She turned away from me and my eyes followed her movement to land on the familiar figures sauntering past her to get into the room.

"Christ, Shakira, are you okay?!" Hazel asked, mortified as she skidded over to the bed. Her eyes and tone were plagued with distress.

"Zee, I think you should calm down. Look at her. She looks unwell!" Maureen cried out, joining Hazel on the bed.

I was subjected to their scrutinising gazes that flamed with questions they were dying to get answers to.

"Shakira?" Hazel's soft palm glazed my forearm and I met her gaze, nodding quietly.

"You girls are here." My stiff lips stretched in a small smile and they nodded simultaneously.

"We honestly couldn't go one more day without knowing the reason you ghosted everyone. We offered to accompany Zee to come see you." Maureen explained, her eyes soft and cajoling, almost urging me to begin to spill everything.

At the mention of her name, she marched towards the switch that controlled the air conditioning system, turning it off aggressively. It wasn't until she did that that I became aware of the freezing temperature of the room, but whatever ice balls that hung in here were actively dispelled by the petite girl's rage.

I had grown used to her enough to understand the dual demeanour she pulled whenever she was angry at me. On one hand, she was very pissed off, and on the other, she was doing things that contradicted her anger. 

Like how she was switching off the air-conditioning system so that I wouldn't freeze to death.

That one action lit up a surge of hope within me. Maybe there was a chance that I could smoothen this whole thing out with her.

"I swear to God, you better have a valid reason for ghosting us and robbing me of the perfect evening with my boyfriend!" she fired at me without looking at me. There was no semblance of tease in her voice. It was harsh, demanding and down-right scary.

Just like I said, dual demeanour.

"Zee!" Hazel called her tone chiding.

"You guys can go ahead and coddle her. I am not doing that." I knew she meant those words with the way she had her determined gaze pinned on Hazel in response.

"We are not going to get anything out of her if you keep acting like this," Maureen said exasperatedly. She shot Zee a stare before turning to me. "I think you should take a shower first. You look awful." She tried to make a joke out of it and lighten the atmosphere but it didn't dissipate the concern in her eyes.

"I'll draw her a bath." Hazel offered, skipping off the bed and heading to the bathroom.

"And I'll get you food downstairs." Maureen smiled at me, her tender pat lingering on my shoulder before she got off the bed and headed out of the room.

After the duo left, the air was thick with discomfort that pricked my skin with goosebumps. My throat was parched and each time I attempted to speak up, the words diffused themselves in my throat.

The light-skinned girl avoided the bed like a plague. She slumped on the couch and got busy with her phone. She wasn't bluffing when she said I robbed her of a perfect evening with her boyfriend. 

The leopard print long-sleeved bodysuit, which revealed ample cleavage that was enough to make Jeremy relinquish his entire savings to her and the short black leather skirt she was wearing, proved that beyond and above.

And I wasn't going to lie, I was struck by a horrendous amount of guilt.

She had an unfriendly scowl etched on her face, her shimmering lips pursed in a frown as she tapped away on her phone, scrunching her nose every passing second.

"Hey," I spoke up quietly.

She didn't respond. She just ignored my existence like she was the only one in the room. It was the oldest trick in the book but each time she did it, it found a new way to renew its stinginess.

"I didn't mean to ghost everyone. I didn't mean to ghost you. I just. . ." I trailed off exhaustively. "I had a lot happening all at once and it was really hard to soak in," I explained, my eyes trained on her face, frantic to catch any fleeting expression but there was none.

I had said those words before I realised how stupid I sounded, but before I could take everything back, the Igbo girl beat me to it.

"Trust me, it's not a big deal." She responded after a while, her eyes pinned on her phone. "When your best friend prefers shutting you out while going through a hard time, it becomes a cycle and you just get used to it." The subtlety at which she spoke didn't diffuse the stinging effect those words were meant to have on me because they hit hard and lodged a lump in my throat.

"I—" 

"Shakira?" I swung my head in the direction of the bathroom door where Hazel stood with a serene smile plastered on her face. "Your water is ready." She announced and I nodded.

Casting a lingering stare at Zee, I pushed the covers off my naked body and plodded in the direction of the bathroom. Hazel stepped aside, so I could step in.

She closed the door behind her.

"The tough girl suit," Her soft voice got my attention and I turned to her. "It's a facade." She added and the surprise that must have flashed across her face propelled her to continue. Her smile didn't waver as she walked forward, shoving her hands into the huge, fluffy, crochet jacket that she threw on a cute white top that revealed her belly button, which she paired with Jean shorts.

"She's just really hurt about the whole ghosting thing and I think what breaks her more is the fact that she had been telling us that there was a high chance that you were shutting everyone out. So, coming in here and finding you doing the same thing just shattered her." The tall girl mumbled the last part in a cautious whisper, her voice carrying a hint of hurt.

"She has broken down a few times since we didn't hear from you. At first, she was worried, then she told Issy. Issy told me and we were all worried. We tried reaching you but we couldn't. Left to her, she would have shown up since the first day after we finished exams, but Issy kept telling us to wait because you might show up. When you didn't show up, she decided that we had to come here today." She explained.

"I am really sorry I made you guys worry about me. That wasn't my intention."

"I know." She affirmed. "So, take your bath and get dressed. You can tell us all about it when you are ready." She urged me on, her soft gaze dispelling my angst.

"Thank you," I mumbled and got into the water. 

She wordlessly exited the bathroom, leaving me alone with my thoughts. I don't think that whatever I did would be termed a bath because I was out in no time, dreading spending one more second in that confined space where my thoughts could swallow me whole.

I practically bolted out of the tub once I felt like I had washed up enough. I grabbed a towel and draped it loosely around my body, sauntering out of the bathroom and headed straight for the closet. I threw on the first thing I could find and returned to the bedroom.

Zee was still on the couch. Hazel was seated on the bed in a monk style while Maureen was sprawled beside her, using her phone. The eyes of the duo on the bed snapped to my frame when they sensed my presence and I had to flash them a stiff smile in response to assure them that I was fine.

I sluggishly made my way to bed and plopped on it, uncovering the plate on the tray in front of me. The sight of the food was nauseating, but after remembering the stress Maureen went through to fetch the food, I dug in immediately and began shoving the rice into my mouth, munching on it even though it tasted like grass.

Although everyone kept themselves busy with one thing or another, it was clear that they were waiting for me to talk.

"I kissed Stefan." 

I kept stabbing my chicken with my fork, ignoring the watery sensation that was beginning to gather at the back of my eyes and the way my throat tightened in folds when those words left my mouth. My words hung in the air like a ticking time bomb and it was torture having to wait for the heavy silence that enveloped the room to clear off like a fog.

That was the first time I had admitted that to myself in days because I had been stuck chalking it up to one nightmare that I was in a desperate need to forget.

"More like we kissed," I added, in dire need to hear even one word from them. 

I couldn't for the life of me look up from the food in front of me. I didn't know how I was supposed to face them after what I just said. The stabs I directed at the chicken grew aggressive, and my hands began trembling, falling in sync with my lips.

"Wow," Hazel was the first person to speak up and I automatically blocked out the thought of not wanting to meet their gaze earlier, whipping my head in her direction with a deadly speed.

She looked dazed, but not as gobsmacked as Maureen who wore her shock on her face like an armour, her slightly widened eyes demanding more explanation to the vague statement I just said. Zee, however, didn't say a word. She didn't even look in my direction and that hurt like a bitch.

The confusion mixed with shock that was etched on Maureen and Hazel's faces was the push I needed to continue.

"Everything just happened so fast and it was like I totally dumped my reasoning. And while I was still struggling to comprehend what happened after everything, he told me he loved me." I sounded so frantic, out of my mind in fact, the words tumbling out of my mouth like a burning coal that I couldn't wait to discard.

I stared at them like they had all the answers to the questions that had boggled my mind since then.

"Okay, I mean I should have seen it coming, judging by the position I walked in on in the hallway, the other day but I am still very. . ." Hazel trailed off with a light smile. "Omo, I don't even know what to say again." She kissed her teeth, sinking her fingers into her Auburn curls.

"What did you tell him after he told you he loved you?" Maureen's question knocked my breath right out of me and I was reeling from it for a moment.

I did what any sane person would do after their friend tells them he loves them. I shut down for a moment before I grabbed my things and bolted out of the studio.

"I ran," I answered in a tiny voice.

"Yeah, like a coward." Zee's detached voice converged the remnants of the tension that still lingered in the room, morphing them into one huge ball of doom that hung above us, waiting to drop like the other shoe. "That's pretty much your forte. Running." She added without mincing words.

Her words were outrightly triggering, stalling my breath. 

"It's about damn time you two skipped to the part where you kissed." She looked up from her phone, her eyes locked on mine a challenging stare. She was staring at me like she was waiting for me to debunk everything she said, but even if I wanted to, I couldn't. 

I was utterly dumbfounded by her sheer heartlessness. It was as if she brought her A-game into being bitchy because she was excelling at it with the sensitive chords she was striking with those words, poking at things I would rather leave untouched. 

She knew the things to say to me to make me waver. She had that much power given the position she held in my life and she was wielding it to her satisfaction, driving at a point that I couldn't bring myself to comprehend.

"So, basically, Stefan said the L word and that was the reason you ghosted everyone. Got it." She concluded, her tone flat and unimpressed. She didn't even seem fazed by the way my life was falling apart right now. If anything, she looked like she had been waiting for the chaos to kick-start.

"Is there a point you are driving at?" I demanded, my eyes locked on hers. The question wasn't born out of anger. It stemmed from a genuine curiosity to understand where she was coming from and why she was acting like a bitch. 

"So that you can suppress it too?" she arched a brow at me rudely and I back-tracked for a second, my eyes widening slightly in horror.

"What's that supposed to mean?" 

"Girl, please." She shunned me and went back to her phone.

How could she not see that I didn't even have the strength to go back and forth with her? How could she not understand that I was exhausted and needed all the support I could get?

"I don't want to talk about this whole thing anymore." I deadpanned, my eyes locked on her frame but those words weren't directed at her alone. It was directed at everyone. Then, slowly, my gaze reverted to Maureen and Hazel who had understanding plastered on their faces.

My lips twitched in appreciation and I fell back onto the bed, sighing.

"Wait, hol'up!" Maureen's astonished voice had my eyes darting in her direction. She grabbed the bouquet and was waving it in the air. "Did he send the gifts?" she asked, wiggling her eyebrows at me and I chuckled, sitting up.

"Aww, he's so sweet!" Hazel cooed, her eyes glazing around the boxes that surrounded us. She caught my eyes, waiting for approval and I smiled, granting it to her.

She pried it open and retrieved the love-shaped chocolate.

"This is so creative!" she cried out in excitement.

"They are not from him." I blocked out the waver in my voice. The two girls arched their brows simultaneously, their eyes conveying their shocks and the mixed feelings they were having.

"Okay. . ." Hazel trailed off.

"His name is Ola," I began, grabbing my teddy bear and stuffing it against my chest. My mind chose that moment to drift to a certain blue teddy-bear that was stashed in the bottom of my closet right now.

It was hard having it around me, and right now, I didn't want any reminders of him. I didn't want to see him. I didn't want to talk to him. I didn't want to hear his voice. 

I didn't want to have anything to do with him.

"Not to bore you with details," I chuckled. "He is one of my brother's best friends, who is very obsessed with me, by the way. Things got complicated between us when I slept with him. I was drunk. And now, he thinks that one time means something and has been on my neck since then." While I uttered every single word, I waited for that invisible force to hold me back from telling them but there was none.

That consciousness that ought to engulf me didn't. And then, it occurred to me how I unconsciously trusted these girls enough to voice out that shitty part of my life to them. Maybe it was because deep down, I had this strong conviction that they wouldn't judge me.

And I was right.

I watched them, allowing my words to sink in. Maureen was stuck between squinting her eyes to wrap her head around what I said and closing her mouth and snapping it shut. Hazel flat-out had a hard time concealing the conflicting emotions that lit up her pretty brown eyes.

Maureen pushed her braids backwards, chuckling. It wasn't until then that I noticed the flower-print, ivory and pink dominated, thin-strapped, midi dress that she was wearing.

"Yo, that's sick!" Hazel's perturbed voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Girl, you have no idea." I rolled my eyes.

"Have you told him off?" Maureen asked.

"Countless times, and he comes back even stronger every damn time," I answered, a frown settling on my face, accompanied by a shudder as I remembered our conversation earlier today.

"Maybe you should tell your brother?" Hazel suggested and my breath was punched out of me for a second, those words giving me a terrible strike in my guts.

"No," I whispered. "That's a conversation that Khalil would be willing to have while standing on Ola's dead body." I voiced out, my heart thumping wildly in my chest when the realisation of the dark storm that was gathering in the distance gripped me.

For a fleeting second, I allowed myself to think about how bloody this whole thing would get when it came out, and I was even more compelled to stash the possibility of Khalil finding out about the whole thing in a deeper corner of my mind.

"Shakira?"

I blinked and stared at Hazel, shaking my head.

"No, Haz. That's not an option." My voice carried a strain.

Hazel looked like she wanted to protest and Maureen looked genuinely worried. The corners of my lips tugged in a soft smile, which I hoped would quell their distress to some extent.

"I'll be fine," I assured them. "I have it under control. I have Ola under control and I'll deal with him, so it's nothing to worry about." I went further, but the knot that hung in my throat betrayed the firmness of my voice and solidified my uncertainty, that I didn't have it under control.

Not with the stunt he pulled this afternoon.

"Come here," Maureen beckoned with her arms widely spread for a hug. I leapt over to her with a giggle and allowed her to gather me in an embrace. "I am so sorry." She whispered into my ears, to our hearing. That apology held a double meaning that my mind reflexively traced back to the first conversation that we had in the dance studio the other day.

"Not you though. You are perfect."

She was apologising for the narrative she had chosen to stick with then.

"I didn't get to say thank you for showing up," I told the two girls after Maureen let me out of her grip. "Thank you. It means a lot," I said with sincerity.

"You don't have to thank us. Issy and I are always here if you need us—" She was cut off by a vibration that was coming from her pocket. She retrieved her phone and glanced at the screen to see who was calling.

I think I have another thorough lover girl on my hands because if tomato was a person, it would be the light-skinned girl in front of me. Her cheeks were on fire and the smile on her face was almost stretching to the back of her head.

She looked up, and I couldn't help but be amused by the raw twinkle in her eyes, clashing with the apologetic look that marred her face.

"Sorry, I have to take this." She waved her phone in the air, biting down on her lower lip to contain her smile.

"Please," I smirked, giving her a go-ahead.

"He won't stop calling. Go and attend to him before you suffocate us with love here!" Maureen slapped her thigh and Hazel smacked her back with a giggle, rolling off the bed.

I didn't think Hazel's tiny legs were connecting with the surface of the floor because she practically hopped out of the room.

"Hey, boo!" that was the last thing we heard before she shut the door behind her.

"Ashawo kobo kobo!" Maureen fired back at her with a playful scowl and I laughed. She faced me again, now wearing a light smile. "I'll drop this in the kitchen for you." With one last pat on my shoulder, she picked up the tray and exited the room.

My shoulders slacked in exhaustion and my droopy eyelids were beginning to gel against each other. I didn't even have the strength to dwell on the fact that she was still in the same room with me or that she was acting like a raging bitch. I slumped back on the bed, cuddling my teddy bear to my chest and I carelessly threw the covers over my body.

It was a humongous relief when I felt my eyes fluttering shut. I smiled a little, seeing as I was about to fall asleep. 

For the first time in over twenty-four hours.

But then, I heard the soft paddling of feet coming in my direction and my eyes snapped open immediately. Her fragrance greeted me before she could say a word. She got into bed with me, and wrapped her arms around me, tugging me into her chest. A soft kiss landed on my temple and I sighed at how much comfort her embrace brought me.

"Zee—"

"Don't say a word to me."

A/N

Le sigh. Not to ruin y'all's mood but it gets so bad before it even gets better. Shakira is way too deep inside her head. You'd be surprised.💀 Sorry, but, I have one question, if she's feeling this way, how do you think Stefan is currently feeling? I'll leave to chew on that.

Yes, you can say it. She's a bitch. She's a coward. All of this is true.👍

Again, please keep them in your prayers. They are going to need it because things aren't close to being funny anymore. They are about to get really shitty.

I don't know when next the update will be but I will start working on it any time from now. Do not forget to vote, comment, and share. Let me know what you think in the comments section.

Adiós ✨

Love, Didi.♥️