This chapter is dedicated to Just_Gamma I can't say it will cheer you up since the first three chapters are kind of depressing, but enjoy❤️

˗ˏˋ༻ʚ♡︎ɞ༺ˎˊ˗

Unlike the usual interrogation room in the station, which was dark and contained a desk with a lamp on it and two chairs facing each other, the school's guidance counsellor's office was different.

The inspector had taken his spot on the counsellor's seat, and the female police officer was seated on one of the visitors' seats with a notepad in hand and a recording tape on the desk. One after the other, students came in and got questioned by both officers, with the counsellor and principal present, just in case something out of the ordinary happened.

"How would you describe your classmate, Danielle?" The inspector asked, his scrutinising gaze on the pretty girl sitting across from him. She was Toyosi, and she wanted to be anywhere but here. The inspector could sense that, but there was no way he'd grant her desires if she didn't give him something substantial.

"Like every classmate?" Toyosi shrugged, pulling her fingers to her teeth, something she usually does whenever she was nervous. "She was an okay student."

"Okay student?" The next student who was being interrogated by the inspector, scoffed. Her name was Ore, and unlike the previous student that was before her, her face was filled with malice. "She was the worst; everyone hated her."

"Hate is a strong word." The next student who had walked in after Ore left introduced himself as Hymn. He laid back on the chair, his long fingers drumming on the wooden desk. "I would say she was disliked by most students."

Quiet filled the room as both officers, the counsellor, and the principal looked at the next student who wasn't speaking. Unlike the others before him, he looked the most laid-back. He kept playing with the hem of his jacket without uttering a word.

"We need your words, Krystian," the inspector sighed, looking at the mute kid.

Krystian diverted his attention from his hem to the officers. The principal and guidance counsellor knew him as someone who wasn't cold, so they weren't sure why he wasn't cooperating. "Can you tell us something about your classmate, Danielle?"

"Am I obliged to?" Krystian asked in a clear voice. Both officers looked at each other before the inspector decided to shake his head.

"You are not obliged to; in fact, you can leave here of your own free will. Just know that you're hindering justice." The inspector said to him: Interrogating the students was one thing, but getting the students to speak to them wasn't mandatory. The inspector was sure one of the students would be bright enough to know that fact, and he was looking at one right now.

"I can speak to you, but in the presence of lawyers," Krystian said, getting up. He had always been a cautious kid when it came to scandals like this, so it wouldn't tarnish his father's reputation. "Can I leave now?"

The inspector stretched his hands towards the door with mixed expressions, saying, "Be my guest."

˗ˏˋ༻ʚ♡︎ɞ༺ˎˊ˗

I stood close to a pillar as I watched the guests surround my sister and her boyfriend, Trust, as they showered their sympathy. Just like everyone else, I was wearing black. Mine was quite different because of other items. I had a black mask on, not because of anything special, but because I didn't want to smell the fake sympathy of others.

It was finally the weekend and the official date of Danielle's funeral. A lot showed up. None of them were present in our lives, and none showed any care towards Danielle when she was alive. I got introduced to uncles I hadn't seen before, though they claimed to be staying in Lagos and were good friends with my parents. They also bragged about being there during my parents' funeral. What was there to brag about? Being there for someone when they are dead but not there when they were alive?

Aside from the mask on my face, there were also the black shades used to cover my red, swollen eyes. Unlike others, I wasn't crying. No one was allowed to judge me for not crying. I'd cried so hard the past week and a few days, that it felt like all the water in my eyes had dried up. Let's not forget the black hat above my head. It wasn't because I was trying to be stylish—far from it. I was trying to avoid the scorching sun above us.

"Hey," I heard, looking in the direction of Debby to see her waving for me to come over. Beside her were four other people who looked the same age as me. Debby wasn't with Trust, which gave me the push to walk over.

"Yes, sis Debby," I said once I got close enough. I wanted to be alone after they'd placed Danielle six feet under, but I didn't want to look like a burden.

"These are your sister's classmates," Debby said. I looked at all four, which consisted of two boys and two girls. Both girls were the same height as me. Though both were fair-skinned, one was fairer than the other. The boys were taller compared to the girls. But one of the boys was a few inches taller.

"We are Danielle's classmates, though we aren't the only ones here." The fairer girl said, moving forward to speak for the other three. "We just want to say how sorry we are that this misfortune has befallen your family. Danielle was good to us and was loved by all. We, the students of the Ss3 Art class, decided to donate a little token for you and your sister. Please accept it."

I looked at the brown envelope in her hands and proceeded to accept her kind gestures. Now, I felt like crying. It was nice to know that Danielle was loved by a lot of students at her school. But if she was so loved, then why did she commit suicide?

"Danielle must've been going through a lot to do what she did." I looked at the slightly taller boy as he spoke. "But we should all remember her well so she can rest in peace."

I nodded my head and said, "Thank you." I turned to Debby to give her the envelope, which she took hold of with a small smile.

"Thank you for coming today," Debby said to them. "I really appreciate it."

"We should head over to the others," the fairer girl said. "Please be strong."

They all turned and left the place. My heart wasn't as heavy as before, knowing Danielle was loved, but it didn't explain things.

"I'm going to the car to get water." That was a lie; I just wanted to get to somewhere less crowded.

"Take this with you," Debby told me as she handed me the envelope. While walking in the direction of the car, I tried to make my mind as blank as possible. I moved to the car and got the water, though I wasn't thirsty, before placing the envelope in one of the compartments on the dashboard.

Resting on the hood of the car, I noticed the four from earlier. They were standing far from those, which I presume were students. I wanted to walk over to them and ask about my sister's amazing stories, so I did. But my steps got stopped when the other girl opened her mouth.

"Toyosi sounded so believable; Danielle was loved by all my foot." The girl snarled.

"She wasn't that hated," the fairer girl responded. "Right, Hymn."

"I do not give two shits about her, to be honest." The guy I was so sure was Hymn shrugged. "I mean, she was just there."

"It was proven to be suicide, so she must have had her reasons." The slightly taller boy answered.

"I second that," the fairer girl added.

"What reasons would she have?" The other girl questioned. "I think everyone deep down knows she didn't commit suicide. That girl was hated by everyone, including you, Toyosi. I'm pretty sure you wanted her gone, just like everyone else. No one's here for you to fall into pretending."

I felt my hands ball into fists as I listened to their conversation. Was this what they thought of Danielle? I thought they were nice and loved her, but I was wrong. I wanted to walk up to them and smack them all in their faces, but I decided to hold myself back and head to the car.

˗ˏˋ༻ʚ♡︎ɞ༺ˎˊ˗

That evening, I was a mess. I couldn't help but think about the things those four had said and the things I could've said if it weren't for the fact that I wanted to be the bigger person. I guess I chose the wrong time. There was nothing about the situation that would've warranted me being the bigger person. It was my sister's funeral, and they chose to make a mockery of her existence.

I was furious; I wanted someone to talk to. I couldn't talk to Debby at the moment because she was making dinner downstairs and her ever-loving boyfriend, Trust, was doing the honour of keeping her company. The only person I was dying to talk to was Seidi, but the only way I could talk to her was through Mrs. Emma, and it was already too late to make that call considering the time. So instead, I proceeded to look at my photo album.

A lot of the photos in the album took me down memory lane. Right from the start, Danielle and I were always dressing to match. We couldn't have hand-me-downs from Debby because we refused to wear anything that wasn't matching. It was funny just thinking about it; we were only five at the time. Debby always complained about being the odd one out, though it was not a serious complaint. She'd complained to our parents about Danielle and I having weird languages. And it was true. Whenever my twin and I were close to Debby, we usually talked in the language we'd made up just to rile her up, and it worked. Good days.

"Hey," I looked at my slightly opened door. "What're you doing?"

Debby walked into the room and stood closer to me. "Just looking at some pictures."

Debby let out a smile as she looked down at the picture in view. It was a photo of Danielle and me on my mother's lap during our nursery graduation ceremony. "You cried hard when you lost your graduation cap and thought you'd get in trouble."

"Everyone had theirs except me. Danielle gave me hers to stop me from crying, and Mum paid the school for the lost cap." I had a retentive memory. I could remember anything from my childhood.

"Come on." Debby took the album book from me and placed it aside. "Dinner is served."

I wanted to ask if I could bring mine up to my room instead of eating downstairs with her boyfriend present, but I knew that would be uncalled for. I got up from my bed and followed Debby. We finally got downstairs, and I helped Debby serve dinner before sitting on my reserved chair.

Halfway through the dinner, Debby decided to break the silence. "You'd be going back to school after this week, Delphine. I really hope you don't dwell too much on this."

The fork made a clicking sound as I placed it on the ceramic plate. "I . . . I was thinking of changing schools."

I wasn't thinking of changing schools; I just thought about it after witnessing how two-faced those four were. Their reaction, knowing no one was present, proved my sister didn't commit suicide.

"Not now, Delphine." Debby placed a hand on her temple. She looked drained out, and it felt like I was worsening the situation. "What about your school?"

"I just want to be closer to Danielle. If I'm far away, I'll keep thinking about her non-stop." I wasn't sure if I was lying. It sounded like the truth, even to me.

"What about your friends? What about Seidi?" Debby went on. "Hardly any school enrols a student in Ss3 class."

I fell quiet after that. Debby was right. Hardly any school enrols anyone in SS3.

"Come on, love." Trust spoke up next, and I almost groaned. If he was going to worsen the case, he should've just shut up. "You need her around as much as she needs you. This is like a win-win, you know?"

I stared at Trust. He did say he wanted the opposite when I said he'd be the happiest if I was gone.

"But—" Debby started but stopped herself. "What school do you have in mind?"

"Greenville High," I said, waiting to see the reaction from Debby. "I want to be closer to Danielle. And aside from you and this house," I gestured to the space around us, "Greenville High is the next closest thing."

"The students had nice things to say about Danielle," Debby mumbled to herself. I wanted so badly to tell her the truth. To scream that they were double-faced and meant the opposite of what they said. I wanted to burn the money everyone in Danielle's class had donated. It wasn't like we needed it. "But I'm scared. She committed suicide for a reason."

I stretched my hands towards Debby and held them in a tight squeeze. "I'm strong enough to take care of myself."

"But Danielle . . ."

"I'm not Danielle, but Delphine," I said to Debby. "I will take care of myself."

Debby pulled her hands away from me and sank into her chair with a hesitant look. A minute passed with no word from my sister, and I felt like giving up.

"I'll call Mrs. Emma and ask if it's possible to waybill your stuff." Debby looked at me. I widened my eyes, surprised she was considering my request. I looked at Trust to see his crooked smile, which, no surprise, dimmed the little happiness I felt inside.

"You promise to be careful?" Debby asked.

"I promise," I responded with a nod.

"Okay," she sighed, "one of these days I'll take you for enrollment. Can we eat now?"

As a response, I placed a large portion of the food in my mouth. That action did the trick of putting my sister at ease.

˗ˏˋ༻ʚ♡︎ɞ༺ˎˊ˗

I sat on my bed with my laptop on my lap after taking my bath and brushing my teeth. It was late to call Mrs. Emma considering the time, but I had other things in mind. We all opened emails during Ss1, and luckily for me, I had the jotter that I'd written Seidi's email on. After connecting to our WiFi, I proceeded to type.

𝙷𝚒 𝚂𝚎𝚒𝚍𝚒, 𝚒𝚝'𝚜 𝙳𝚎𝚕𝚙𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚎. 𝙸 𝚖𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚜𝚊𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚜 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚘 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎𝚜 𝚝𝚘𝚐𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛. 𝙱𝚞𝚝 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚢 𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚞𝚗𝚛𝚊𝚟𝚎𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢'𝚟𝚎 𝚍𝚎𝚌𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚙𝚞𝚜𝚑 𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚙𝚎𝚝. 𝙸 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝙳𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚜𝚞𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚍𝚎; 𝙸 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚖𝚞𝚛𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚍, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙸 𝚏𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚙𝚎𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚘𝚛 𝚠𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚋𝚎 𝚋𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚎. 𝙸 𝚠𝚒𝚜𝚑 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚖𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚒𝚝 𝚜𝚎𝚎𝚖𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚗𝚘 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚔 𝚝𝚘, 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚂𝚒𝚜 𝙳𝚎𝚋𝚋𝚢. 𝙼𝚛𝚜. 𝙴𝚖𝚖𝚊 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚋𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚢𝚋𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚖𝚢 𝚜𝚝𝚞𝚏𝚏 𝚜𝚘𝚘𝚗. 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚖𝚢 𝚕𝚘𝚌𝚔𝚎𝚛, 𝚙𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚌𝚊𝚜𝚎𝚜, 𝚋𝚎𝚍𝚜𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍, 𝚋𝚞𝚌𝚔𝚎𝚝𝚜, 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜—𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚒𝚜𝚗'𝚝 𝚖𝚢 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔. 𝙻𝚎𝚝'𝚜 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚞𝚗𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙶𝚖𝚊𝚒𝚕, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙸 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏. 𝙾𝚑! 𝙳𝚘 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚜𝚌𝚘𝚕𝚍𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘𝚘 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚍𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚙𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚎, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚢 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚖𝚎; 𝙸'𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚎.

I sent the email and shut down my laptop. None of us checks our emails, so I made a note to myself to inform her about it whenever I make a call to Mrs. Emma.

˗ˏˋ༻ʚ♡︎ɞ༺ˎˊ˗

'One of these days' turned out to be a Wednesday. Wednesday happened to be Debby's least busy day, but even at that, we were late to Greenville High. Debby had decided to take me to the school today for enrollment, and it would've been best to go in the morning. But now it was past six, and I wasn't sure if anyone was still in school.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry." Debby rushed as she quickly pulled the key out of the ignition.

"This isn't my fault!" I couldn't help but grumble as I rushed out of the car with her, and we both raced to what looked like the school's main building, seeing it standing amongst smaller connected buildings.

We got to one of the stairs, and I trailed after Debby. She seemed to know her place around the school. Debby's phone started ringing. It was echoing, and so were our footsteps, and that was because of how quiet the place was.

"Hello? Yes, yes, I'm heading to your office now," Debby said in a rush. The call ended after that. We got to a lobby, and I joined my sister in taking larger steps. Finally, we got to the door with the label Principal's Office written on it.

Debby knocked a bit, then opened the door. We both stepped in, and I first digested the large room. The principal was a dark woman sitting patiently behind her desk. She stood to greet my sister warmly by giving her a half embrace. The principal wasn't on the chubby side, but she wasn't slim either. She had a mixed aura of friendliness and strictness.

"You must be Delphine," the principal acknowledged, moving closer to me. "I can see Danielle in her," she continued, turning to Debby.

"I'm so sorry we are late; I had this client last minute and it was so urgent."

"It's fine," the principal replied, moving to sit behind her desk. "I understand. I made provision for everything that has to do with your sister's enrollment before the staff left. Her uniform and books are all here."

"Thank you so much," Debby said.

"Thank you, ma," I added.

"It's fine," the principal waved off. "Danielle was one of the best students in her class. It's just sad that this happened to such a bright young girl. I'd also made provisions for all students to get a chat with the guidance counsellor just in case there's another troubled teen."

"That's for the best," Debby responded.

"Alright," the principal said, opening a drawer at her end and bringing out what looked like a record book. "I just want Delphine to come over and fill in some details."

I got up and moved to the desk. The first blank space needed my name, which made me hesitate a bit. I turned to Debby, who'd been looking at me this whole time. "Um . . . Sis Debby, can I use Delphine Peter instead of Delphine Udeme?"

Udeme was our grandfather's name, which was what we used as our surname. Peter happened to be our father's name but was only used as an initial.

"Why?" Debby sat up a bit.

"I think if everyone knew I was Danielle's sister, they'd treat me differently and might be nice to me out of pity." I said to her: "I want them to genuinely like me for me. I don't want anyone to know I'm related to her."

"But won't this name change affect you in the future?" Debby asked.

"Well . . ." The principal trailed in. "She can use it as long as she doesn't use it during her WAEC registration, which could affect her certificate. And if she does, a name affidavit can be her solution."

I heard my sister sigh. To be honest, we still had months before WAEC, and I was sure to find the killer before then.

"Fine, do whatever works for you." I proceeded to write down my name, age, and every other thing that was needed for documentation before handing it over to the principal.

"All we need now is her transcript from her previous school," the principal said.

"Her things are getting sent here from her old school. I'll ask her guardian to help with that." Debby got up and moved towards me. "Thank you very much, principal."

"You are welcome. Here are your things," she said, placing the wrapped uniform, sportswear, textbooks needed for my class, and the school's exercise books on her desk. I took the exercise books and the uniform, while my big sister helped with the textbooks and sportswear. "Why don't we go out together? I'm done for the day."

"When can she start school?" Debby asked on our way out.

"Tomorrow is fine, but she should start on Monday. She must have settled down both physically and mentally by then," the principal responded.

"Monday it is," my sister said as we approached the stairs. "Thank you so much once again for doing this on such short notice and being patient with me."

"You don't have to thank me all the time," said the principal. "You're welcome."

˗ˏˋ༻ʚ♡︎ɞ༺ˎˊ˗

I finally placed the textbooks on my bed and lay down with a sigh. Going up and down every time to get my stuff was work. I'd called Mrs. Emma the previous day and had finally spoken to Seidi. She promised to check her email as soon as possible. Remembering our conversation, I got up and sat on my reading table while opening my laptop and moving to my Gmail icon. My previous school had a computer room for students to use for practicals or to study. It was available only during school hours. That was the only thing helping Seidi and me aside from Mrs. Emma's phone.

I clicked on the new email from Seidi and read silently:

𝙳𝚎𝚕𝚙𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚎! 𝙶𝚘𝚍, 𝙸 𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚜 𝚢𝚘𝚞. 𝚂𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚘𝚕'𝚜 𝚋𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚝 𝚑𝚞𝚛𝚝𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚠𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚋𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚔. 𝙸 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍, 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑. 𝙸𝚝 𝚑𝚞𝚛𝚝𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚜𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛; 𝙸 𝚌𝚊𝚗'𝚝 𝚏𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚖 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐. 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚖𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚋𝚎 𝚑𝚞𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚗𝚘𝚠. 𝙳𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚢; 𝙸'𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚢𝚘𝚞. 𝙸𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚟𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚕𝚕, 𝚕𝚎𝚝 𝚖𝚎 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙸'𝚕𝚕 𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚙 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚢 𝙸 𝚌𝚊𝚗. 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝? 𝙻𝚎𝚝'𝚜 𝚎𝚖𝚊𝚒𝚕 𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚑 𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚘𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚠𝚒𝚌𝚎 𝚊 𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚔. 𝙷𝚘𝚠 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝙵𝚛𝚒𝚍𝚊𝚢 𝚘𝚛 𝙼𝚘𝚗𝚍𝚊𝚢 𝚜𝚘 𝚠𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚜𝚞𝚖𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚎 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚗 𝚋𝚘𝚝𝚑 𝚜𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚘𝚕𝚜? 𝙴𝚊𝚝 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚢 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚝𝚘𝚘 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚞𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗, 𝚘𝚔𝚊𝚢? 𝙸'𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚛𝚢 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚜𝚌𝚘𝚕𝚍𝚎𝚍 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝚗𝚎𝚌𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝚍𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚙𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚎. 𝙱𝚢𝚎!

A smile formed on my lips, and I quickly wiped the tears that escaped my eyes before shutting the laptop. This was what I needed.

˗ˏˋ༻ʚ♡︎ɞ༺ˎˊ˗

That's it for this chapter. I hope the third person's POV that's in italics isn't confusing, and I know you know what the transmission meant. It shows what went down after the incident, and then back to the main story that's in Delphine's point of view. The italic won't last long, I'd only display it when necessary that's all.

With that said, what do you think about this chapter? Let me know in the comments.

Hope you're voting and commenting o... It's 2024, try to graduate from being a ghost reader 👻

Update schedule: Wednesdays and Fridays (at least for the first 14 chapters).