029| All For An Injured Hand

~K O M I S O L A~

I dreaded going home today.

I had no idea when Davies would be back but I still didn't want to go home. Something told me to just avoid going home today. That strong, irresistible instinct that made me have an inner battle with myself because where else would I go to if it weren't home?

The driver came at the appointed time. Not a minute late or too early. Without a word, I got in and pulled off my nose mask.

"Is my brother back?"

I had no idea what pushed me to ask that question but the feeling of dread and regret that consumed me immediately made me feel heavy headed.

At that point, I wished the driver would be deaf.

I thought I saw double when the driver nodded.

I blinked once. Twice. Thrice.

My palms became sweaty and my heart threatened to burst out of my ribs. My chest felt tighter each passing second and there was nothing I could do.

"Yes,"

It was official. I was screwed.

"By the way," the driver glanced up at me for a second. "Madam said I should tell you to not forget your phone at home again."

I raised a brow at his statement. How did Mother even know that I'd forgotten my phone at home?

Well, I didn't exactly forget it. I just left the packet untouched there on one side of my bed for days.

I wasn't being ungrateful. I just really wanted to avoid anything that had to do with Mother.

"We're here." The driver announced, simultaneously stepping out of the car to open the door for me.

We'd arrived at our mansion in Ethereal Estate. For a second, the possibility of Hanniel living in this same Estate with me flashed across my mind and I shook my head.

His mother owned it. It didn't mean she lived in it.

I opened the door and went straight up to my room. My breath hitched in my throat as I passed my brother's room. It felt surreal that he would be in there right now.

It'd been a long time since he left. After the whole video leak incident, Father had immediately sent him to Canada. Coincidentally, he was starting college at that time.

I gently pushed open the door to my room, to find Senior Inaya's hoodie, the sleeping phone packet and one final page of my novel, on my bed.

I closed the door behind me and walked towards my bed. I picked up the page first, followed by Senior Inaya's hoodie and made a mental note to return it to her.

I sighed to myself and began to pull of my clothes. I started with my hoodie, then my shirt and just while I was clad in my bra and school skirt, the door flung open.

"Well, look what we have here."

~H A N N I E L~

Dad was on his way here. I watched every movement of Mum's. She's been baking a lot more than usual lately.

"Give these cookies to Komisola for me tomorrow." I did a double take, staring at my mother in disbelief that those words actually just came out of her lips.

"You know her name?" I gawked.

"Why, of course yes. I like her. She's not what the public paints her to be. Negative popularity sometimes leave a stain on a person's reputation."

Then I realized. Komisola was actually popular. She was infact, very popular. But none of the reasons were good. No one would wish to be popular because of a leaked tape.

Anyway, enough thinking of her. We'd both parted ways and now we lived separately in our worlds again.

"About that," I started, scratching the back of my head nervously. Mum wouldn't like what I was about to tell her. I could see it. She actually supported Komisola and she didn't have a problem with me being friends with her. "Komisola and I are no longer friends."

"Before that, care to explain why there's a bandage around your hand?" Mum's gaze fell to my two hands on the island, particularly zeroing in on my bandaged hand. "You didn't take this to school this morning."

Exactly what Ameenah said.

I knew I had to tell Mum the truth. I never hid the truth from Mum, nor did she to me. But I wasn't sure about now. Things were changing, whether or not I liked to admit it.

"I was involved in a fight," I confessed, avoiding Mum's suspicious gaze turning into a furious one.

From my peripheral vision, I saw Mum flinging her arms dramatically. "Hanniel?! What the...?! Why and how did you get into a fight in a school?! That's not how I raised you!"

Okay, she was angry. Pissed, even.

But I didn't like the last statement.

"Calm down, Mum. Please." I said, begging her. "It was accidental. I just wanted to help Komisola and this guy was about to stab someone I know, I held the knife and..." I trailed off and looked down at my hand, "This happened."

"If that person isn't Komisola, then who? You're keeping something from me, Han." Mum narrowed her eyes at me, and went to the living room to take her seat. "Follow me," she gestured with her fixed nail.

Uh oh.

Whenever Mum left a particular position to go sit down, relax, then it meant the situation was escalating pretty fast.

"What happened to Komisola?" She asked after I'd gotten to the living room. Her eyes were guarded but I could see the slight anger in them. Her nails were tapping on the arm of the white couch patiently, slowly and almost calculatively. "You know you cannot lie to me."

Find about my identity at school then.

I sighed to myself and set my phone on the large glass table in the center of the living room. Our mansion was dimly lit, with soft aesthetic purple lights and most of the building was made with glass. There was an indoor swimming pool and a number of uncountable rooms in my home.

I glanced at the black and white portrait of a house on the wall, black being its dominant color.

"Fine," I sighed again. "A senior was about to strip Komisola today. He was bullying her and I'd walked in on the scene. And then, he started to shred her clothes with a piece of scissors. I couldn't ignore that."

"Couldn't you have called a teacher?" Mum questioned, her nail tapping activity stopping for a second to look up at me.

"From what I've observed, teachers don't really support Komisola. Even the librarian hates her." I said, whispering the second sentence and feeling my heart tighten at the mention of Komisola.

"Luckily," I continued when I noticed Mum didn't say anything, "Two seniors who happened to walk in on the scene also stopped me from fighting with the guys. Well, not really,"

I remembered how varsity jacket guy had growled out the word, "bastard" and punched the living daylight out of the other senior. It looked like they had personal business with each other. Especially when the short female senior had said the guy had it coming.

"One was a male and the other, a female. The male senior helped me in fighting and took me to the school clinic. The female senior also gave Komisola her hoodie to wear."

"If they are seniors, then that means they are in the highest grade. And they helped you fight?" Mum's voice dripped with incredulity and disbelief, her eyebrows pulled into a tight line as she frowned at me.

"Normally, they actually tried to separate us." I admitted.

I wasn't lying. Varsity jacket guy had tried to separate me from the seniors, but the extremely guy kept provoking him and saying disgusting things about Komisola.

The varsity jacket guy attacked him before I could. Trust me, I wasn't so pleased either.

"But they ended up exchanging words and it became really personal. When one of the minions was about to stab the male senior with a pocket knife, I grabbed it out of instinct and..." I raised my hand up to complete my sentence.

"I'm calling your Dad." Mum said with a tone of finality.

I groaned in response, throwing my head back in exasperation. "Could you not react like this, Mum?"

Mum glared at me, eyes blazing with anger and I decided to shut my mouth. Angry Mum was never good.

"Salewa!" Mum snapped her fingers, calling a maid. "Go and bring my phone for me."

"Where is it, Ma'am?" Salewa asked.

Mum eyed her nastily and hissed out loud, "See it on my head."

I intervened on Mum's behalf. She was acting this way because she was angry. Salewa was probably her favorite maid.

"It's upstairs, in the Master Bedroom." I told her, watching as she ran up the stairs frantically.

I laid back in my seat and pressed my lips together. All for an injured hand.

~
Davies is back? i don't even know how to react. you people should pray for Komi sha🥺
anyway, byeee luvsss <3333