The unexpected call that made her excited ended three words later. "Let's meet up."

❦︎❦︎❦︎❦︎

A week in and Tomiwa was yet to recover from her unhealthy experience at Tobe's. She could swear she would have lost her sanity if not for Chizzy. Chizzy kept her busy with discussions that made her venerate the young lady's intellect.

"Tomiwa-" she shivered at the seriousness Tobi used to say her name, "-its past six am. Are you not going to get ready for work?"

She sat up on her bed lazily, rubbing her sleepy eyes with utmost care. "I'm tired. Maybe tomorrow," was the answer she mumbled to him for the past five working days.

Tobi, who had been at her door all the while, took a few steps into her room. "Tomiwa, what's going on? You've been acting strange."

"I'm fine."

"Then why would you refuse going to work? I know your secretary covers for you and all that, but what if dad finds out?" He paused to breathe. "No, no no, I don't even want to imagine the catastro-"

"Iretomiwa...." Her eyes flew to Tobi's with fear. He motioned for her to get dressed quickly while he distracted dad's attention.

She had not showered for two days straight and just a try to get the odour emanating from her underarms almost made her puke. But she didn't have a second to spare. She pulled her least favorite brown dress over her head and stamped the closest wig to her on her unkempt hair that appeared stunted due to lack of care.

"Iretomiwa..." Her dad called again.

"Daddy, I'll be out in a jiffy...." She tried to sound as calm as possible but the right pair of her least favorite black flats was stuck under her bed and retrieving it was becoming a nightmare.

A cobweb remover and a quick brush later, she stood nervously in front of her dad, thinking of how to explain her unusual lateness.

"Daddy, good morning...." She managed to say.

"You can take the day off." She almost relaxed. Almost. "Tobenna is expecting you at his house."

She could only bite the inside of her lips. She hated that name. She hated the mention of that name.

"I'm sure you've been there before." She nodded absentmindedly.

She would rather become a penniless widow.

"Good. You can take your time. You don't have to come back tonight." She nodded absentmindedly again, choosing to ignore the fact that her own father just gave her the permission to spend a night out.

God, you know me. I would rather become a penniless widow.

❦︎❦︎❦︎❦︎

"Hey.... I'm really sorry. But I want you to stop this." She felt her heart shatter.

"But I can't. I'm in love with you, can't you see?"

"I know... But I'm not in love with you, Tife. I'm in love with your best friend. Heck, I've been in love with her since I understood what feelings are all about." Tears pooled in her eyes.

What a perfect way to reject someone's feelings!

"And I need your help, Tife. I really want to get across to Iretomiwa but it's not been easy. She's been proving difficult and wouldn't even give me a chance. I....."

"Bastard..." She wiped her tearstained face and got up from the fancy restaurant chair. "You know what? Fuck you!"

❦︎❦︎❦︎❦︎

The drive to Tobe's place wasn't successful. Tomiwa could swear that even her 2020 Mercedes Benz E350 wasn't in support of the idea. It kept on switching the driving location until she found herself at the Korean Cultural Center.

I swear it wasn't me. It was my car.

She laughed at herself. She sounded dumb. She grabbed her bag from the back seat and put her shades on. Since she was there already, she was going to maximize every bit of her time there.

After making sure her car was properly locked, she took graceful steps into the building that held a breathtaking architecture. She approached the receptionist who gave her every detail of the scheduled events of the day. It included a tteokbokki cooking class, a face painting class and a KPOP dance class for a relaxing finishing touch.

"I'll have all the tickets." Tomiwa was overwhelmed with excitement. She had always wanted to do this but she never had a weekday off. Sadly, they never opened on weekends. She pulled out her phone and began filming a vlog. Her followers would be getting some delicious content soon.

The dark skinned receptionist smiled sweetly handing the tickets to her. "Just go straight ahead to the door in front of you. When you get there, all the necessary instructions will be passed across to you by our instructors."

"Ne ne, gamsahabnida, thank you." Her Korean sounded even better than she expected. She smiled to herself. Her day was already starting on a nice foot.

She groaned. Just when she thought her day was going to be nice, she found herself standing beside the Femi Coker himself, as his partner for the day. The colour on their tickets were the same. Pink.

"What is he even thinking coming to a place for women?" She mumbled to herself, staring at their matching pink Tees for the upteenth time.

He looked like he was modeling for the t-shirt. Even the cheerful smile that graced his face as he greeted almost everyone in the room and his new hair cut made her insides turn in ways she didn't understand. But she wouldn't admit it. Never.

"I also watch a lot of Korean movies. Plus I'm a die hard fan of Blank Pink. A fan boy for Lisa" He mumbled back, making doey eyes at the mention of his celebrity crush and she almost choked on her saliva.

"What?" As much as the fact that he gave her a reply made her excited, because she wasn't expecting him to talk to her, at least not after what she did to him at the club, she left her face in a disgusted frown.

"Don't look at me like that, Iretomiwa."

"You're still following me around, Femi Coker." She turned to face him, her hands folded on her chest.

"Don't delude yourself, Iretomiwa. You have shown me in every way possible that you're not worth it."

Ouch!

It stung her. But she wouldn't back down. "I think you're getting it twisted. You are not worth it. I mean, your kiosk of a company is not worth it."

Femi gave off a dry chuckle. He wouldn't let her get to him this time around. "Oh, yeah. Right. It isn't worth soiling with your company's dirty money, with your shameless attitude or even with your uncontrolled raging hormones."

"And you can't satisfy those hormones, Femi. Never can, never will." She was surprised at how calm she spoke because at that moment, the only thing she could think of was snapping his neck. Their instructor finally came in and she put up her right hand.

"Yes, miss."

"I'd like to switch partners."

The young Asian woman looked around, "Is there anyone else who'd love to switch partners?" No hands were up.

Femi spoke out after sometime, "I am not interested in switching partners either." Tomiwa's neck turned immediately towards him with a glare and he replied with a satisfied smirk.

The instructor passed her an apologetic look, "I'm sorry, miss."

The cooking activity started in full swing with grumpy Tomiwa refusing to do anything. Deep down, she knew she couldn't do it.

"Are you just going to keep standing there without helping?" Femi asked after a while, his hand stirring the red coloured sauce in a small deep plate.

Tomiwa hissed, nonchalantly scrolling through her Instagram feed like she wasn't the one he was speaking to.

"Iretomiwa?" She needed him to apologise to her first, not call her name in ways that made the hairs on her body rise to full attention.

"Mi..Mind your business."

"Hey. Can I join you guys?" An eighteen year old girl who just walked in stood in front of their work table, staring at Femi innocently. Her well glossed lips and sparkling eyes stood in contrast with the large tissue she carried on her chest. "I don't have a partner."

"Sure, you can." Femi passed her an apron with a smile. "You can wear this."

Mr. Nice oshi!

The duo harmoniously worked on the dish while discussing a few topics of interest. Tomiwa was left alone. It was as if she wasn't even there in the first place.

"You look like Lee Jae Wook oppa when you smile," the girl complimented and Tomiwa rolled her eyes, making mocking facial expressions.

My oppa can never look like this baboon.

'Tomiwa say the truth.'

Okay, maybe just a little but my oppa is still cuter.

"Yeah, I get that a lot..." He answered after a brief pause, adding the rice cakes and fish cakes into the boiling sauce.

The girl moved closer to him excitedly, "Do you have a girlfriend? God, I'll give anything to have a boyfriend as cute as you are."

Tomiwa rested the weight of her body on the second foot, moving closer to the gossiping duo. She was tired of standing.

No, she found their conversation very disturbing.

"Is that lady your girlfriend?"

She couldn't take it anymore.

"Shouldn't you be checking the food to make sure it doesn't burn?"

"I am stirring it, Iretomiwa," Femi pointed out.

Tomiwa think.

"Don't you know the basic hygiene rules? You shouldn't talk while preparing a meal that people will eat."

"You don't have to make a fuss about anything." The girl spoke out before Femi could pronounce the first word on his lips. "You're not even doing anything to help and you've been dishing out orders to him like you own this place."

The number of eyes that rested on Tomiwa at that instant made her shrink. To say she was embarrassed was an understatement. But Tomiwa being Tomiwa, was quick to mask it off. "Please mind your business, I wasn't talking to you. I wouldn't even attempt to."

"You were talking to my boyfriend, so it's equally my business. It is our business."

Femi couldn't bring himself to deny it. In all honesty, he wasn't even bothered.

Tomiwa opened her mouth to reply but she could only produce a chuckle.

She wouldn't waste her time on the little brat with a bitchy attitude.

She turned to return to her position and a drop of the red sauce on the tiled floor sent her flying backwards. She was paralyzed in shock and a sudden rush of adrenaline as her hands flew around her in search of a remedy.

It was all to no avail because she landed on the ground with a terrific thud that made everyone in the hall freeze for a moment. The sharp pain that moved from her head to her feet left her feeling paralyzed.

"Jesus Christ, Iretomiwa."

I'm dead.

Feeling flustered, she shut her eyes, trying her best not to move them.

Femi shook her not so gently. "Iretomiwa? Iretomiwa? Oh God! Can someone please get the medical team or something? Staring at her isn't what she needs right now!"

This is so embarrassing!

Femi picked her up and placed her head on his thighs, hitting her face not so gently in an attempt to wake her up.

In no time, the medical team arrived with a first aid box and a stretcher. Tomiwa was placed comfortably on the stretcher and was moved to a clinic in the same building. All these while, Femi never left her side.

He was worried and scared as hell!

All the panicking participants kissed their teeth in a long hiss and mumbled some curse words at the supposed victim whose laughter now reverberated through the entire building.

The doctor had attempted to examine her axilla where all the excitatory nerves in her body seemed to have migrated to at that moment and her limbs flew in all directions, almost kicking the shocked doctor down while a loud laughter followed suit.

She was definitely the healthiest person in the building.

😂😂😂😂😂
I said I must finish this chapter today and I did🥺💃💃💃. I've been preparing for my 3rd MBBS so I've not really had time to update😭

Soo guys we came in 5th place in the just concluded NOWC 2022

I'm really very Happy.

Please leave comments this time around o. I want to see your comments.

Next Update will be after my exams in May💞💞