The next morning Tom had not been at the table for breakfast. The thought that it could have been because of her, stung Nina.

Erica and her best friend took a stroll after breakfast. They claimed that they needed to stretch some muscles.
They went on a small adventure in the small forest at the edge of Erica's father's land.

"Hey what's up with you," Erica asked. "You've been quite all morning."

"I'm okay. It's just that I have a bit of a headache," she said, avoiding Erica's eyes.

Erica's brows creased. "Really? How's that?"

"How?" Nina's voice was almost an alarm.

"Get serious Erica. I drank a little too much wine. Thanks to your brother's dinner" she snapped.

Mrs. Woods had called a party in celebration of Tom's return.
She had ordered for the best food to be cooked and various types of drinks had been bought. Spirits, wines, beers and champagne flooded the tables.

The night had been lovely, besides the fact that Nina and Tom had had an incident that no one else knew about except the two of them. Nina's conscience haunted her because of the way she had treated him earlier that day. She wanted to express how sorry she was but he had ignored her the whole night.

Tom would get close to her, only to pass by without saying a single word. He had even brushed his shoulder against hers, something that was not a mistake.

God, He's so annoying. She had gritted her teeth and clenched a fist with her free hand, the other holding a glass of wine.

With a single twist of her wrist, she had thrown the red liquid over her throat. Glass after glass,  she drank herself lame.

Erica's voice brought her back to the present. "Why'd you drink too much of it?"

"It was tasty. Duh!"

"Then stop complaining, since you were enjoying it, Nina. Let's get back to the house."

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

Cossy was hanging clothes on the line when the girls met her.

"Cossy have you seen my brother anywhere?," Erica inquired.

"No," Cossy replied. " Where are you girls coming from?"

"It's non of your business old lady," Erica snapped, and entered the house.

"Don't mind her," Nina said, with a pat on Cossy's shoulder.

"Trust me. I've learned not to." She smiled.

"That's great then." Nina gestured a thumbs up to the woman and she entered the house, after Erica.

Erica's and another person's voice could be heard from the living room as Nina rested her elbow on the breakfast bar in the kitchen. Must be her brother. She didn't give much attention to the voices and went ahead to get something from the fridge.

She swung the door open and paused, unable to make a choice. Her eyes danced over the cans and bottles of different shapes and sizes that decorated the fridge, some soft and others hard drinks.

She settled for a small tin of yogurt and closed the door after picking it out.
Nina froze the moment she saw the reflection in the door she had just slam shut. He was there, sitting at the breakfast bar behind her. She tightened the grip on the tin in her hands, gathering up courage to take a step from where she stood.

She could feel his stare on her back, making her crave for the ground to swallow her up. Oh God. I can't deal with this. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She then walked to the rack, picked a spoon and turned about the breakfast bar, at the end furthest from Tom, to escape the kitchen.

"Nina," he whispered.

She stopped in her tracks, turned and looked straight at him. Nina took a step towards the slab and rested the tin on the slab, placing the spoon atop the tin.

Nina folded her hands across her chest and looked at Tom, unamused.

"What?" she snapped.

"Girl you've got such an attitude." Tom's chin rested on his hand, on top of the breakfast bar as he stared at her.

Nina twitched her lip and furrowed her brows as her stare hardened on him.

"You know it wasn't a big deal but you made it look like a hideous crime. I sent you out of my room because I wanted to be alone. I wanted to think and cool down, alone. But you..... "

Tom interjected before she could finish.

"Are we still talking about that? Cmon baby, I'm long over that."

Baby! Why in the world does he call me that?  She wanted to confront him about calling her such an appropriate title but she hesitated.

"So what is it that you want to talk about?", she said.

"Did I say I wanted to talk?"

Unbelievable. Then why the hell did you call me?  She felt the urge to smack his face with the pan that lay beside the hot plates.
He had called her when she had been about to leave, and now he was acting like a bitch.

Luckily for Tom, he had discovered Nina's weakness and he was using it to his advantage. He knew that she was very sentimental and naive, so he continuously messed around with her.

Nina was so infuriated by everything that he said. They had known each other for just one day but the grudge they had for each other felt like it had lasted for years. For some reason, they kept colliding, but never  on the best terms.

"Alright. I know you want an apology, so, here you go. Have it."

Nina picked the spoon and tin of yogurt and placed them right in front on him.

"What's this?" Tom was perplexed with what was happening.

"It's yogurt"

"I know," he yelled.  "I mean why give it to me."

She paused, as if in thought, and finally turned to his face, looked him straight in the eye and told him exactly what was happening.

"My mother says there's no better sorry than a sincere act of sacrifice. Strawberry is my favorite, but I have given it to you now."

"Hmmmm.  He looked up, eye brows furrowed, as if internalising what she had said.  "Okay"

She stepped away from him. "We're good now?"

"Not so fast princess. Let's make a deal. If you feed me just three spoonfuls of this, we'll be cool." He tore the seal of the tin and handed out the spoon towards Nina.

She opened her mouth to object but hesitated. She yanked the spoon from his hands and ducked it into the thick pink cream.

She scooped a spoonful and held it up. "Open your mouth. Will you?"

Tom obliged and dropped his jaw, creating room for the table spoon to fill his mouth. His teeth graced over the metal and a clicking sound could be heard from inside his jaws. He smiled once the spoon was out of his mouth.

"What's funny?" Nina asked.

"Nothing. I think the yogurt just tingled my taste buds."

"Stop distracting me. Finish the other two and then we'll be cool."

He smiled and did as he was told. The third time was a bit funny for both of them. The spoon had accidentally touched Tom's nose and covered it in pink cream.

Nina had laughed so hard at him before he noticed the cream on his nose.

"Baby I want to laugh too. What's funny."

He took another scoop and fed himself as Nina sat on the stood beside him, her face buried in the slab as she laughed her head off.

"You won't tell me, huh! Alright. Let's see if you won't tell me after you see what I'm about to do."

Nina's head shot up and eyes immediately darted over to Tom. She wondered what he was going to do, and as usual, he unveiled yet another surprise.