"I don't like girls that don't have Igbo names," the eight year old boy spoke with a sassy tone, stuffing his mouth with his favourite snack. "My mummy said Igbo names are better than English names."

"Who told you I don't have an Igbo name? I have two language names because my mummy is Igbo and my daddy is Yoruba." The five year old girl, whose room he was seated in, boasted, placing one of the heart-shaped watermelon pieces in her mouth.

"It's a lie. You only have one name."

"I have two names. Even my brother has two names."

"It's a lie."

"Stay there now. My second name is Chidera while my brother's second name is Chiemeka. If you think I'm lying go and ask my mummy.

"It's a lie. You don't have any second name." The little boy wouldn't stop teasing her.

"I have," she cried. She was getting frustrated. "I have two second names."

The little boy shook with laughter. "Lie lie. Which kind two second names? You see how they use to catch lie lie girls."

"I'm not lying." Her voice became louder and a pool of tears followed. "I'm not a lie lie girl." But the boy wouldn't stop teasing her. Her cries intensified as she kept on trying to get the boy to believe her."

"I'm not a lie lie girl anything...."

"Excuse me." She blinked once, then twice. She could feel the taps but she was just too lazy to open her eyes.

"Excuse me, ma." That was all it took to bring her back to life. Her eyes travelled from the white coloured ceiling to the white walls to the grey coloured wardrobe at the far end, to the young woman that stood over her and then to her properly clothed self. That was enough to remind her of where she was and how she almost died after having sex- no, after being raped by the beast.

Rape.

She gasped, sitting all the way up.

She was raped!

She felt disgusted and her heart swelled with hate.

How could someone be so wicked?

She rubbed her eyes severally and stretched her muscles with a yawn. Weirdly enough, she felt so good, even better than she had been feeling since the onset of the husband selection drama.

"Madam, Oga say make I wake you up before ten o'clock so that you fit chop." She had almost forgotten that she had company. Her eyes went to the young woman putting on a red chequered apron and a matching cap which gave her a typical Nollywood maid look. "Wetin you go like chop?"

"Uhmm..." Her eyes wandered again until it settled on a bowl of water and a face towel lying beside it. She blinked twice and it was gone from its original position. It was now in the hands of the maid. She raised an eyebrow, "What's that?"

"No vex, madam. Oga say make I come carry am since morning but I been dey cook so-"

"Calm down." Tomiwa was getting even more confused. "By Oga, do you mean Tobenna?" The woman nodded. "I don't understand, was he in my room?" She nodded again.

"E be like say na for here him sleep."

Tomiwa couldn't speak afterwards. She wondered if somewhere, somehow, the beast had lost his mind. What was that bipolar attitude for? She hissed, dismissing the maid with a wave of her hand.

"Madam, you never talk wetin you go eat," the maid reminded her once she was at the door. She scoffed because there was no way in hell she was going to eat from the hands of her rapist. She got up and managed to gather all her things.

"Tell your Oga that I said we will meet in court." She grabbed her car keys and made her way out of the house.

"But madam-" The maid stood staring at the now empty space, wondering what she was going to tell her Oga.

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Femi held his phone, anxiety almost eating him up. He wanted to call her, but he was scared. Scared that he might push her even farther away from him.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and he raised his intoxicated eyes that looked like they had not seen sleep in a long time.

Dayo. He hissed.

"See how you want to kill yourself because of a woman." The music at the bar was not so loud and since the sun was still high up, it was almost empty.

Femi hissed again. He wasn't in the mood to listen to any of Dayo's rants. Dayo took a seat beside him and ordered a non-alcoholic cocktail. He still needed to drive.

"Dayo," Femi started, struggling to maintain his composure as the alcohol became too much for his body to handle. He chuckled to himself. "Guess what?"

Dayo frowned, "Do I look like your Korean princess? Abeg talk something johh."

He pushed his body forward in a way that his mouth was now close to Dayo's ears. "I kissed her." His eyes narrowed and his lips spread into a wide smile. "Her lips were so soft."

Dayo cringed at how crazy his friend was acting. "Too much information, Coker."

His face fell. "But then she ran away to meet that dude. She looked so scared but she still went to him."

"Who? You mean the Igbo guy?" Femi nodded. Dayo shook his head. He really wanted to tell his friend to just give up on his feelings for this Tomiwa girl but then he remembered how fatal it could get. He took a deep breath and pulled Femi's phone towards himself. "Have you tried calling her? To know if she's fine at least." Femi raised a questioning look at him. "You said she looked scared."

"Oh.... I tried but I don't know..."

"I'm calling her." Dayo unlocked Femi's phone and dialled 'My Korean Princess'
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Tomiwa still didn't feel like going home. She didn't want to meet her father or even let him see her. But she made up her mind to speak to him about the whole thing whenever she would summon the courage to.

After leaving Tobe's house, she drove straight to a nearby fast food. She ordered a large plate of egusi with two wraps of fufu, a cut of grilled chicken thighs and two 75cl bottles of water. She retrieved one of the bottles of water and finished it in a gulp. Her throat had been feeling so dry all day. She found a quiet spot, sat down and began eating her food as slowly as she could.

After the meal and several thoughts, she decided to pay a visit to Tobi. She found a suitable outfit- a blue pencil Jean with a white vest and a multicoloured kimono with white sneakers and a white shoulder handbag- from the backseat of her car and applied a little makeup on before zooming off to Tobi's Agency. She didn't want to appear like a ghost in front of Tobi's handsome colleagues.

"Look who's here," Carl, one of Tobi's colleagues hollered with a smile as Tomiwa stepped into their spacious lounge. He watched her, staring at her body like he would literally love to fall into her. "Damn baby, you look good."

Tomiwa smiled, "You and this your yeye sweet mouth.Of everything to pull, you chose to pull my legs."

Carl raised his hand in surrender, "I only spill facts baby, no lies."

Tomiwa laughed, "Where's Tobi?"

"He's with his girl on the balcony." Tomiwa almost choked at this revelation. She rushed to the balcony almost immediately.

"Babe, I don't know.... I'm just scared...." The lady was resting her head on Tobi's shoulder, mumbling things to him while he caressed her hands. She was ebony, tall and slender, just like the typical African model. But she had a much wider bust. She could be classified as slim thick. Tomiwa moved closer to get a proper look of her face.

"Ene?" The couple who were now aware of her presence, raised their heads to look at her. "Jesus Christ, Ene it's you!"

"Oh my God, Tom Tom..." she stood up and held Tomiwa in a calming hug. She released her and smiled looking at her face. "You're now a big girl o."

Tomiwa couldn't stop smiling. She was so happy to see Ene. Ene was Tobi's classmate and girlfriend while they were still in secondary school and she took very good care of Tomiwa.

"So are the two of you, like back together now or what?" Tomiwa asked, her stare meeting Tobi who acted like she wasn't even there.

"Did we tell you we broke up?" Tobi didn't sound pleased.

Iretomiwa laughed. She knew how much Tobi hated interruptions whenever he was with a girl he liked. "Ah ahh, Tobi are we fighting? It's just a harmless question naw."

Tobi sent her a deadly glare and Tomiwa laughed in response. "I can't believe you guys still do stuff like this," Ene sighed, tired of being in the midst of their back and forth. "Tom Tom, don't mind him. We got back together a few weeks after I came back to Lagos."

"Ohhh...." Tomiwa grinned, her focus more on Tobi. "Tobi you're not a nice person o. You didn't even tell me my school mother was back."

"So that you'll take all her time for yourself, abi?"

Tomiwa almost- almost didn't hear him. Tobi was acting like a child. Her eyes met a blushing Ene who leaned into Tobi more. She laughed, "I think I've seen enough of the mushiness today." Or so she taught because Tobi leaned in and planted his lips on Ene's. Tomiwa felt nauseous at the weird sight. No one told her to give the duo their well deserved space.

She walked back into the lounge and paused when she felt her phone vibrate. She unconsciously cleared her throat because even her heart felt like it was going to be betrayed by her words.

"What?" She spoke after waiting for a few minutes and there was just shuffling from the other side of the call.

"Yo, Tomiwa. I'm Dayo, Femi's friend. I don't think I'll be able to explain the kind of state Femi's in right now, but I think you should come see for yourself. I'll text you the address." Tomiwa was stunned at how fast the call ended. She was not even given a chance to consent or not.

But what if Tobenna finds out and tells her dad? She was tired of the torture. And the worst part, there was nobody she could talk to about it, not even her best friend or worse, her dad.

What of Tobi, right? Well, she just didn't want him to get so involved in her drama. He was just starting to live his life and she didn't want to spoil it for him.
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Even though the red light, Tomiwa could see Femi from the entrance struggling to drink another glass of alcohol. That was how empty the bar was. He was alone, speaking to himself like some lunatic. She sighed. She had never seen him like this. She composed herself and proceeded to take elegant steps towards him. She dropped her hand bag on the counter and then sat down facing him.

"My Tomiwa...." Femi drawled with a smile without even looking at her. Even though he had stayed for a shorter period with her, he knew her scent. Not the scent of her perfume, her own scent. It intoxicated him. Dayo had called him a puppy when he confessed the whole experience to him and it honestly did make him feel like one. His nose couldn't pick scents easily but since the day he sat close to Tomiwa, her scent became imprinted in his memory like it was an event.

Tomiwa scrunched her nose at the heavy stench of the alcohol coming from him. "Jesus, Femi. What have you been drinking?"

He sighed, trying as much as possible to keep his eyes open. "My Tomiwa, you...you just left me to..to.go to him. It made me ve.. verrryy sad." He picked Tomiwa's hands with his and held them like they were his babies. Tomiwa just watched quietly. "And the worst part, you were so scared. You... you were so scared, but you still went to him. Why? What am I doing so wrong that you'd rather be with him even though he scares you? Why do you enjoy making my heart break?"

Tomiwa bit the insides of her lips. "You've been asking me questions... Why, why, why...! You too, why didn't you call me? You should have called to find out if I was at least okay but no, you didn't and yet you sit here and try to dish out what you can't afford." Tomiwa's outburst made him recoil in shock. It helped him sober up. He regretted it immediately. The statements he made. He regretted making them. He pushed himself forward and engulfed Tomiwa in a hug, taking her unawares.

"I'm so sorry, Tomiwa. I didn't mean to say all that. I was just soaked up in the moment and...and I just.. I just didn't know when I even started spilling those things and....... Shit!" He was rambling. Tomiwa laughed, she found it really cute.

"You're laughing at me..." he pouted.

"I'm sorry, it was just, you know, cute." Femi smiled and hugged her even tighter.

Femi placed his lips briefly on her forehead. "You're so beautiful, Tomiwa. I love, love your scent."

Tomiwa was almost turning blue with the way her face lit up with smiles. She pouted, "So, it's now Tomiwa, no longer My Tomiwa?" Femi felt a little shy and he placed his lips quickly on Tomiwa's pouted ones.

Tomiwa slapped his arm painfully, totally embarrassed. "Ouch!"

"Femi, are you crazy?"

He winked pulling her closer to him by her waist, "Only for you baby."

There was a brief pause. Femi wanted to ask her to date him instead, he wanted her to stop going to HIM. He wanted to tell her how much he loves her and has been loving her. But he didn't want to push her away.

"Are you free this Saturday?" He would tell her, but he needed a more romantic setting.

Tomiwa shrugged, "I think so."

"I would love to take you out-" He smiled, "--on a date."

😬😬😬😬😬😬

Everything is coming together bit by bit.

What do you think about this chapter?
I find it very weird how Tomiwa's so calm even after being raped!!!

Just like the media... Life would be a little better if we get rid of hate 💖

Till next update

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Çaio.