February 22, 2020.
Victoria island, Lagos.

"That was stupid, Yemi." Amusement swirled in Bukola's eyes as she spoke. Yemi stepped back, like he'd been shoved by an invisible force. "You don't shoot ghosts."

"You're really a ghost," Yemi choked out. If he wasn't almost as dark as night, he would have probably gone white in the face. Instead, he visibly exhaled, looking up at the gun hovering over him. His knees shook.

Bukola sighed, shaking her head disapprovingly and letting dropping the gun to the floor without even moving a finger. I felt my shoulders relax and a relived breath leave my lungs. Lara too exhaled.

Looking to the car, remembering what Bukola had done—how she'd started it without using the keys—I realized something: running away from a ghost wasn't possible.

Don't do anything stupid.

I frowned at the voice of Stephan that refused to leave my head. It was like he was here, taunting me with that smile of his.

Bukola waved a hand in the air, snapping me out of my thoughts. She slapped her hands together and stared at me. "You should have listened to me, my love. You should have sent her away when I have you the offer."

"I'm not leaving him! Go back to where you came from because you're not wanted here," Lara piped up, sneering at Bukola.

She laughed in reply, watching Lara with a raised brow. "The second I know what I'm capable of doing and how to control it all, I'm shutting you up for good."

Lara's eyes widened. I pulled her back, shaking my head at her.

"You don't want to hurt me, Bukola," I reminded her. She just shrugged.

"I want to hurt her, not you of course."

"You're going to hurt me if you hurt her." I was taking a bold step here, pulling out the emotion card. Hopefully, ghosts had emotions. "You don't want that."

She considered it for a moment, gaze softening considerably. "You're right. I don't want to hurt you. But, all you've done since I got back is hurt me. How do you think it makes me feel seeing you move on with her?"

"Was he supposed to wait for your resurrection?" Lara snapped, glaring at Bukola. I shushed her and pulled her back again.

"It's okay, I have this under control—"

"No, you don't!" Bukola spat. "I can't believe you'd even want her. Your taste is beginning to fade, I see."

"You won't talk about kara like that. I love h—"

"Oh, shut up!" She covered her ears like my words were piercing them. "You used to love me. You might not now, but you will eventually learn to. We'll be just like we were before," she gushed.

I felt Lara's hand slip into my pocket and fumble around, making me tense slightly. I turned to face her. "What are you doing?"

She furrowed her eyebrows at me and drew out what she'd found there. "Why do you have a spoon in your pocket?"

My eyebrows kissed the sky. The spoon! As soon as that thought crossed my mind, I snatched it out of her hand and turned to Bukola who had her jaw on the floor now. Ever since I'd found out that spoons hurt ghosts, I'd ensured to keep at least one in my pocket. For security purposes.

I let go of Lara's hand and approached Bukola slowly, with a pounding heart.

On seeing the spoon in my hands, Bukola actually didn't move at first. But her eyes never left it, and suddenly, her shoulders looked more tense.

"What are you doing with a spoon, Jacob?" Yemi, who had been mute since being stunned by Bukola, asked. "Are you stupid?"

I wanted to ask that question back at him, but I chose not to. Instead, I kept approaching Bukola. When the space between us was reduced to almost a meter, she finally took a step back.

"J—Jacob," she stuttered, wincing when I took another step. She raised her voice. "Jacob, stop it. You're hurting me with that!" With the way her voice shook, and he way she looked a little pale, pity tugged at my edges.

"What's going on?" Lara asked behind me.

"Spoons hurt ghosts," I informed her.

"That's the stupidest thing I've heard!" Yemi commented.

Bukola gulped visibly. "I love you, Jacob."

I bit the inside of my cheek at her demeanor. As much as I wanted her to leave me alone and let me move on, as long as I wanted her gone for good, I couldn't help it. I couldn't hurt her on purpose. She might have been a ghost, but she was still Bukola. Bukola's ghost.

Guess a part of me still cared for her.

I stopped moving but still put the spoon before me, towards her. This was going to bite me in the butt later. But lately, with everything going on, I felt like I could handle everything. So, instead of exploring the extent to which spoons could hurt ghosts, I dropped my voice and pulled my lips together.

"Go," I whispered under my breath, feeling more defeated than victorious.

She looked like she wanted to say something. She put her hand out. But she decided against it and vanished before my eyes.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

"I'm never using a spoon again," groaned Yemi, dropping to one of the chairs in the sitting room. He exhaled. "I have never felt so scared in my twenty-seven years of living."

Lara shot him a disappointed glance. "I expected you to be more sensible and not shoot a ghost. ³Mumu."

As I settled down in another chair, Yemi sat up. "I freaked out! And I didn't expect the bullet to go through her—"

"But it did." Lara deadpanned. "Next time, believe your best friend."

He looked to my frowning form on the seat next to his. "He's not."

"I'm not," I said back. I couldn't be best friends with Yemi, he was too hard-headed.

"Whatever, I'm just glad that's over," Lara sighed, sitting beside me and taking my hand, squeezing it comfortingly.

I wished I could affirm her statement, but that would mean lying. "It's not over, love."

When her eyes rounded, I'd expected her to jump out of her skin and question me till I could fell her words choking me up. But instead, she relaxed and put her head on my shoulder. "What do we do then? Apparently, you're the one with all the ghost knowledge."

"I'm not," I shrugged, remembering Stephan and his card. "But I know someone who is."

With that, I drew out the card from my back pocket, untangling my hand from Lara's to collect my phone as well. Then before the both of them, I dialed his number.

Stephan picked after the first ring.

"Hey—"

He cut me off before I could finish. "Jacob! I've been expecting your call." Part of me was already dreading this. His voice had an annoying smirk to it. "I believe you've tried and failed to run away from your ghost by now..."