~Kene's POV~

"So, Ken, what's your fetish?" Elsie was at the feet of the vast bed, my laptop resting on her white thighs. A tray containing cranberry juice sat beside her.

I was leaning on the bed-stead, typing away on my iPad, AirPods blocking my ears. The voice note I was listening to wasn't very loud, so I could make out her words.

She'd insisted I stay at her house during the Program that brought me here to Abuja rather than lodge in a hotel like I usually did.

"I'm talking to you, mister Aniekwe!" She threw the closest black cotton-cased pillow at me, bringing my attention fully to her.

"You've known me half of your life, and you still didn't figure out my Fetish?" I feigned a hurt look.

"No," she chuckled.

"It's just...I've not seen you in nearly two years," her voice came out sad at that part, "some things should've changed, I guess." She stared at my face.

I looked away from her, fixing my gaze on the iPad and responding with a shrug.

"It's still the same."

"So you still love inhaling the smell of cigarettes," she grimaced at me, trying to loosen up the tension crawling into the atmosphere.

I nodded in affirmation.

"Do you still hate milk?" She quizzed, squinting her eyes at me.

"Nah."

She opened her mouth to talk, but my ringtone beat her to it.

I picked up my phone from the ottoman beside the bed.

Adaeze.

I'd forgotten to call her and knew she would have my ears for dinner with her annoying robotic and prim voice.

It seemed pretty normal for journalists to enjoy talking. Maybe I'm wrong, but my sister Adaeze hasn't proved I was for a second.

I removed the AirPods, smiling into the call. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry," I began speaking immediately after I picked the call.

"You need to apologise to me with a huge treat Jide-Kene, Since Yesterday I called you," her soft voice failed to look stern.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry I was going to call back, but I got very much submerged with work, juggling activities everywhere. I'm not even in Lagos at the moment," I pleaded.

She gave a resigned sigh. "You're quite lucky I'm in a good mood. How are you, jare?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "I'm fine, just work." The ache at the back of my neck said much about how stressed I felt.

"Take it easy on yourself o," she replied.

"How's my boy?" I was referring to her teenage son.

"Joshua is fine. Apart from his usual stubbornness, he still thinks he's a kid. I'll soon disown him, I don tire," she jokingly replied.

I smiled.

"He's always asking about you, though. It's been months already."

During her teens, Joshua was the child Adaeze had due to some painful circumstances. He'd come when we were still young. I was 13 at that time, and Adaeze was 15. It had been one of the sad moments in our childhood as she'd significantly suffered from complications like Vesico vaginal fistula. Painful memories that were embittering when re-lived.

The rest of my siblings and I had taken him in as the baby of the family.

"No qualms. He would be spending his long vacation at my place, deal?"

"Hallelujah, good riddance."

"Irresponsible parent."

She guffawed.

"So, to the reason I called," she breathed seconds later.

"Oh, your reason for calling wasn't even to check on me."

"Do I look like your girlfriend? Abeggy... Err, so make a guess" I could feel her smile.

"You finally broke Rose's kneecap." Rose was her colleague at the television house where she worked, who was always at loggerheads with her.

"Are you for real? Talk something, joor." She stated.

I went for the clichè guess. "You won a lottery?"

When she remained silent, I spoke again. " Then you're pregnant for Uche."

She laughed. "No Kene...well you were kinda close."

"Wait... is this what I'm thinking?" I asked as another smile crept into my face.

"Yeah, yeah...he popped the question yesterday," she giggled like a teenager.

"Woah, Big one," I chuckled. "He's one lucky man. Congratulations."

"I know, right," she aired like a proud peacock.

Uche Richards was the CEO of ROOTh COMMUNICATION plc. They'd dated for over a year and going.

Despite being from a very wealthy family, he'd overlooked that Adaeze already had a child and still went into a relationship, not minding the talks and gossip that she had baggage and wasn't exactly young.

"So we have an engagement party by next week."

"Oh," my eyes were trained on Elsie as she removed the bra she was wearing from her nightie.

I looked away before she'd catch my gaze and feel uncomfortable.

"What is oh? Better come with that girlfriend of yours that you've refused to let me meet. I'll text you the place, time, and date."

Ugh, not again.

"How else do I convince you I don't have a girlfriend before you finally believe me? I'm too busy for relationships."

"Well, that's not what Emi says."

I rolled my eyes. "Emeka is jobless."

"Well, it doesn't change the fact that you are coming with a plus one, else I'll assign Evelyn or one of my single colleagues to keep you company all night, especially Rose...you know how desperate she can be," I could tell she was cruising a devilish a smirk on her face now.

"I don't think I know any of them." Came my scintillating remark.

"Then you would, bye... I've got quite a lot of things to handle. Inform me of your arrival when you're back home," she ended the call.

Wahala.

"That was Adaeze?" Elsie asked, taking a sip of wine from her glass.

"Yeah, her boyfriend proposed," I smiled.

She covered her mouth with both palms, dramatically squealing in delight, her white knuckles glistening under the lights from the snowflakes designed small chandeliers on the ceiling. "Are you kidding me?"

"No," I replied to her rhetorical question.

"She also has an engagement party next week." I picked up my iPad.

"That's cool. We haven't met in a long time, though," she smiled sadly.

"That won't be an issue. You're coming with me to the engagement party if you consent." I winked at her.

"Yayyy!!", She stood up from the bed, twirling around like a child.

"Really?" I chuckled as her freed breasts bounced with her movements from her silk peach nightie.

Elsie was no doubt lovely, and most men would get sexually excited at the sight of this.

Well, it made me feel uncomfortable. Our relationship has been far from that. We'd been quite close growing up together. My relationship with her has always been like mine and my siblings.

Even so, none of my sisters pulled out their bras from their clothes in my presence.

Not that I hadn't toyed with the idea of kissing her sometime in the past when we were still teens, but I outgrew it, I guess.

"Cheers to Adaeze," she raised her glass.

"I don't have a glass."

"Here, have mine," she passed hers over to me.

"I don't mind drinking directly from the bottle," I collected the glass from her, gulping its content. "More."

She passed the tray over to me, settling back on the bed.

"So what are your plans for your birthday Elsie? It's just tomorrow." I looked up after filling the glass.

"Mom's hosting a little party for me at the family house in that stead." She said it like she was talking about the weather.

"Oh," I muttered.

"Yeah." She was looking at me, checking for any reaction.

"I'm having a meeting with the CEO of Mensah corporation by 9am tomorrow, it wouldn't take much time. I think I should be back before evening" I smiled at her trying to deviate from the underlying question I could read in her eyes.

It did the trick. "Do you have plans for me?" She quizzed.

"Maybe?" I went for a vague response, taking a gulp of the drink and giving her a smirk.

She giggled in excitement.

We stayed silent after that.

My attention returned to the iPad as I studied the ledger Emeka had sent me on Whatsapp.

"They said it's a lost cause," her voice distracted me again from what I was doing, and I wanted to tell her that she was disturbing me from Concentrating on my work with her chatter until I saw the look she was wearing.

"What is?" I asked.

"Daddy."

I'd dreaded this topic from ensuing ever since we met again.

The silence that followed was deafening.

My heart was heavy with guilt and anger.

Anger for the helplessness I'd felt as my life had taken a wild turn as those events had impeded it for a while.

Guilt for knowing that I'd put him in that state even without doing anything. Daré Adesina was so much more than a father to me.

I could sense Elsie scooting towards me.

A knock came on the door, followed by a voice.

"Ma'am, the table is set for dinner." The voice belonged to Elsie's housekeeper.

"Okay, we'll be there in a minute," she replied loudly for the lady to hear.

I stood up from the bed, glad for the interruption on the impending topic.

She followed me, maybe relieved too.

She picked up her bra.

"Sorry, dinner is coming late tonight. It's not always like this." She held me back from opening the door.

"No qualms." I gave her a small smile turning back to the door.

She held me back again.

Ahn ahn.

"You don't want me to eat?"

She smiled at my statement.

"What is it?" I quizzed, spotting a smile too.

She played with my index finger, her gaze on my hand.

"It's just..." she looked up at me "...I thought I wouldn't see you again." She folded her lower lip into her mouth, looking down at our hands again.

I was beginning to feel uncomfortable.

So I just hugged her, inhaling the smell of tropical fruits from her low-cut curly hair. She moved on me, pressing into the hug just like she always did.

I pulled away from the hug after a few seconds.

"I love you." She looked up at me, seriousness etched on her features.

I smiled, dragging her cheeks playfully. "Of course, I love you too," I pulled her with me, opening the door. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm hungry. It seems you've filled yourself up with that wine."

She didn't reply as I placed my hand on her shoulder.

My subconscious told me that I was pushing off what I felt her last words meant. This wasn't the first time she was saying that to me.

But I think this one had a connotation to it, and I was avoiding reading that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~Sarima's POV~~

"What kept you this long?" I questioned Somi as she stepped out of the wrought iron gate of the picket-fenced school compound, poking her fingers at her ribs.

A frown settled on her face as she spoke up. "Is it not one uncultured man that wanted heaven to fall before he apologised for nearly breaking my ribs with the door of his car," She hissed.

"Sorry," I handed her the plastic bag containing the corn seeds she got from the market to make popcorn. "So you couldn't leave without dropping your trademark" I rolled my eyes at her.

"Trust me na," She smiled.

"You sha like wahala" I exchanged the other bag to my now free right hand. "How did it go?"

An excited look made its way to her face. "I met with the head cook, one cute dietician. He says I'm resuming next week on probation, though."

"Nice, so how do you plan on juggling School, Ronke's modelling idea and this?" I asked as we waited on the pedestrian walk for a cab.

"I'll figure myself out." she sucked her lower lips

"Better o," I muttered as a yellow cab slowed down before us.

"A drop, Agege." Somi bent so she was at eye level with the driver through the window.

"2,500," came his scratchy voice.

"No be 10,000?"

He looked confused before it gradually dawned on him that she was being sarcastic.

His laughter was too long and boisterous for such a little sarcastic comment, exposing one of his missing front teeth. "You fit talk your own price o"

"500," Somi bargained.

"Ah na crayfish you dey price so?"

"Oga, Agege no too far, commot money na?" I joined in the bargain.

"The road too bad gan, e go cause wahala for my motor and fuel cost__oya 2,000"

Somi made a face at him "No be only 2,000, 700 last jare," She chipped in.

"Nawa o__you no wan commot body from hundred?" He directed an amused gaze at her.

"See, you can just drop us at the junction. We'll get another vehicle from there." I opened the back door and eased into a seat. Somi liked plenty talk.

He nodded as Somi joined me, closing the door after her.

"Fine girls," he grinned at us from the rearview mirror and again exposed the hole behind dry lips.

I feigned a smile while Somi ignored him, operating on her phone while I stared at the tall buildings outside the window.

We stopped for another passenger as the dark-skinned thin teenager__his hair relaxed and spiked, settled into the front seat, and passed a polite greeting our way.

The vehicle smelt like kiwi polish.

After a short silence, the driver turned on the radio on the dashboard, changing the stations until he got to one playing Fuji music.

I spoke up lightly at Somi. "So it's not Adams anymore but the Dietician now?"

She looked up from her Instagram as a sheepish smile reached her lips.

"Ehn Adams is there nau, doesn't stop the dietician from being cute__afterall nothing's happening with Adams and me yet, so__" her shoulders raised in a shrug.

"__You know he has a fiancee," I interrupted her. "And you guys have a date already..."

"Who cares? It's an arranged thing with the girl, not like he's married, and that would have accosted me as my only problem," She responded, her eyes back to her phone.

"Is it his money?" I couldn't help but ask, but immediately regretted doing so. He wasn't the first rich man chasing Somi but seeing how she was with him which was different from how she usually reacted to the others was new.

She turned to me with a deep scowl. "I mean he's a very fine man and all, but everything is happening too fast." I clarified.

"Abeg abeg, don't come and give me lectures." She shifted away from me hissing loudly.

I sighed, looking away. "Suite yourself."

After a long silence.

"Is this Jk's girlfriend?" She waved her phone at my face. She was in a good mood today, that was the reason she was talking to me this soon after I'd made her angry. The normal Somi loved holding grudges, I was like that too, sometimes.

The phone was too close. I had to take it from her to get a good look.

It was an Instagram post, a video of Kene behind the wheel and Elsie taking the video on the passenger's seat looking as beautiful as ever__ teasingly pulling the stubble on his chin so he'd look away from the road and at the phone for just a moment. Luv by Tory Lanez was playing in the background of the video. He said something which drew laughter from her before she left his beard.

It was captioned underneath.

"Today's set aside for this princess...Happy birthday, bubbles."

The following posts had her stand-alone pictures and pictures of them together. Unfortunately, I wasn't opportune to go through them before Somi impatiently asked for the phone as we were already at the junction of our exit.

I handed the phone over to her as we alighted the cab, paying the driver. While we waited for the fast-moving vehicles on the road to get past before we crossed over to the other end. I felt Somi's stare on my face and ignored it all the same.

She nudged me. "Stop pretending you don't know that I'm looking at you."

"Oya what?" I questioned.

"I asked you a question in the taxi."

"How am I supposed to know the answer to that?" I responded with a light shrug.

"Hmm, okay o" she stared back into her phone, scrolling. "It seems like they're dating o. Why are they kissing here?"

Kissing?

"Kissing?" I looked into her phone ambiguously.

It was just a photo of Elsie in an orchard with a fruit basket.

Somi giggled as she crossed over to the other side of the road leaving me behind with her phone in my hands.

"Ode"

"Kissing?" She mockingly mimicked me, laughing harder and clutching her belly from across the differentiation between the roads.

I rolled my eyes, annoyed at her childish dead jokes.

*****************

Stay safe❤️.

Goodness 💓🇳🇬