dedicated to Jjomolola1 for her engagement in the last chapter :) bihh, you melted my heart. ❤️ just had to update early again. enjoyyy my luvsss
.
013| THAT TINY SMILE, AND FORTY-FIVE WORDS

~H A N N I E L~

"This assignment, I can't do it at home. Our next English Language class is tomorrow in the afternoon."

"I swear, library straight up." Dabirah pushed her chair back and stood up. She looked at me, "You coming?"

I thought about it for a moment and shook my head, "Nah."

An 8000 word essay was a piece of cake for me. I could do that at home.

Right now, I just really wanted to speak to Grey eyes.

"Okay bye." My three friends waved at me simultaneously and I waited for them to completely disappear before I turned my chair to face Grey eyes.

She glanced at me for a moment and then let out a sigh. It was almost inaudible. If I wasn't so keen to knowing everything she did, I probably wouldn't have seen her sigh.

"What do you want, Hanniel?" She glared at me.

I smiled at her pronunciation of my name. Her accent, I decided, could drive me crazy.

"You can't be seen talking to me. So, stop smiling."

~K O M I S O L A~

His smile creeped me out.

Made me uneasy.

It was deceiving, cunning and manipulating.

Each time our paths crossed ways, he'd always give me that smile that made my insides feel queasy.

"You haven't spoken to me all morning," Hanniel said to me.

He didn't know me. That's why he was doing all of this, right?

To the extent that he had turned his chair to face me earlier.

"Stop smiling," I found myself telling him. His smile was making me really uncomfortable. "And why do I have to speak to you?"

On a small note, my subconscious forced me to thank Hanniel for helping me the other day when I had a panic attack.

Up until now, I still didn't know who had called me. Seeing as Hanniel turned around immediately I also did, it definitely must have not been him.

But for the fact that someone was actually there to help me... For the fact that for the first time in my life, I wasn't alone through a suffocating moment...

Then maybe, I should've thanked him.

"Why aren't you at the library?"

In CH, we had a weird timetable. Asides from our normal class subjects, there were absurd subjects such as Studying and Library were put on the timetable and we probably had them about a total of five times in a week.

It was only for SS2-SS3 classes.

"Is there any reason for me to be there?"

Normally, the librarian, a woman who was always pregnant, was aware of our class going to the library around this time and she marked attendance.

But I couldn't care less.

If I wasn't having classes, then I'd be in the Leisure Room.

And since recently, the Leisure Room had been getting occupied a lot more than usual, I chose to stay in class.

"It's about to rain again,"

I looked out to the window, the clouds were getting darker and the sky was just a slight contrast to them, a little bit brighter than the heavy grey.

"What do you want?" I asked Hanniel.

"Me?" He was still smiling. "I do want something actually. But for the first time, I'm scared of being straight forward. So, baby steps."

"With who?"

"Hm?"

"Baby steps with who?" I repeated, a mental scoff going off in my head.

My stomach was full of words to say but the courage to spit them out had been buried away a long time ago.

And of course, I wouldn't want to talk to a weirdo who counted my words.

"You still remember that?" Hanniel laughed slightly.

For a second, I became confused but I realized I had voiced out my thoughts. Again.

"As of now, you've said a total of 45 words to me. That's a huge improvement on my part." He flung his arms a gesture and laid back on his chair.

"And," he continued. "I think we're both weirdos."

That made crack a tiny smile.

So tiny and instantly, I wiped it off.

~H A N N I E L~

You know it's a huge improvement when she speaks 45 words to you in one period and cracks a tiny smile at you.

That was the only thing that made me smile to myself like a weirdo at the kitchen island.

Maybe I was a weirdo.

"You're smiling like a weirdo," Mum pointed out as she dished pancakes unto a plate for me.

"I am not actually offended at that," I snapped my fingers to support my claim and smirked at Mum.

"Who's got you smiling like this? The girl?"

I knew Mum was referring to Grey eyes.

Mum didn't wait for my answer as she kept on talking, "Oh and by the way, you're following me to church on Sunday."

I groaned to myself and threw my head on the island. "Seriously, Mum?"

I groaned again.

"Seriously what? I know you haven't been attending church during your stay in Abuja. I wonder how you know more Bible verses than me and can even pray better than me." Mum scoffed and hissed.

Actually, I was a spiritual person.

Well, not exactly spiritual.

But at least, I knew my place with God. And every time, I was sad, I'd always confide in God.

Asides from the life I had created for myself, the one true thing that provided me comfort was God.

Even though I wasn't perfect.

But in all honesty, who was perfect?

That also didn't mean I liked church though.

My last church was full of hypocritical people and I couldn't really handle that.

It doesn't help when you have a Nigerian mother who forces you to go church. In the least, every Sunday.

"Hanniel, you can't live under my roof and not attend church. Besides, you're a Christian. What Christian doesn't attend church?"

"The Kings Ministries will be having a special Easter service on Sunday. And our General Overseer, Adebayo Adedire will also be attending." Mum continued.

My interest peaked at that.

"The General Overseer? Isn't that Grey- I mean, Komisola's father?"

Mum nodded. She glanced at my pancakes and frowned at me for a second. I wasn't really eating them but that wasn't the matter at hand.

"Yes, is that her name? Komisola?" Mum asked.

"Yes."

"So, are you still attending the Easter Service?"

"Not missing it for anything in the world."

~
hanniel finally made komisola smile :)
haven't got much to say, just very pissed, sad, angry & disappointed atm.
now ik when Zendaya quoted in Spiderman: No Way Home: “Expect nothing and you won't be disappointed”, she was really telling the truth.

anyway, bye luvsss <3