Annabelle rubbed her forehead allowing her manager to repeat her words over and over again without a change in her expression. The latter soon noticed that she wasn't listening and she threw her hands up in frustration. Annabelle was even more sure that if there wasn't a phone in between them, her manager would enter the phone and pull her by the ears.

"Are you even listening to me at all?" She asked and Annabelle nodded her head.

"I heard everything you said. You repeated it at least ten times; if I don't remember them by now; you should question how I got into CUA" she replied and her manager sighed softly.

"You have a shoot next week just before your exams, will you be alright? It's almost that time" her voice softened so drastically that one would wonder what was wrong.

"I'm taking my drugs so I should be fine. Besides, it's just a shoot, it won't affect my grades or whatever" Annabelle replied, "Has preparations been made for Jemimah too?" She asked and her manager nodded with a smile.

"Yes, yes. That girl is really pretty" she replied and Annabelle smiled lightly, "She's cute too" she added.

"I need to go somewhere now; I'll get back to you" she continued and her manager ended the video call.

Annabelle leaned back into her chair, it was uncomfortable. Wooden chairs had always been uncomfortable for her yet she had to sit on them throughout classes. Her head felt light and she cradled it within her palms.

She had lied. She had somehow forgotten her drugs in the hostel and her classes gave her no opportunity to return back to the hostel and pick them up. Luckily for her; her stomach hadn't acted up. All she needed to do was to go and see Jethro and then run back to the hostel, hopefully her stomach could hold out until then.

But she thought wrong, halfway up the stairs; a sharp pain coursed through her and she immediately clutched her belly. Her face squeezed in pain and she closed her mouth tightly trying to prevent a sound from escaping her throat, another sharp pain brought her to her knees but Annabelle remained adamant in not letting a sound escape her lips.

A familiar scent drifted by her nose and she hadn't had time to think about where she had first smelt it when another sharp pain coursed through her again.

"God please" she whispered and with another sharp pain; she lost consciousness but she didn't fall. She had no idea where she had fallen; but the familiar smell kept her company as she lost her last shred of consciousness.

—-----------------------

Annabelle blinked her eyes rapidly trying to identify where she was and what was wrong with her. Recalling her memories made her groan in dissatisfaction.

"Hey! Are you awake yet? Are you alright?" A cool voice rushed into her ears and Annabelle frowned. No matter how nice the person sounded, why was she being awoken with questions?

Using her hands as a pivot; she tried to sit up on the bed and instead, an arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her to a seating position. Annabelle definitely didn't miss that her spine turned rigid at the touch and goosebumps appeared on her skin. She turned to see who it was and her brows were immediately raised in surprise.

"It's you. The pine guy" she exclaimed and the guy chuckled folding his arms.

"Uche. That's my name" he replied and Annabelle nodded her head.

"Where are we?" She asked quietly while rubbing her forehead.

"The hospital. Saint Gregory" Uche replied, pausing as he continued; "I figured that you wouldn't prefer to be sent to the school's hospital so I opted for one outside the school and I was right. The nurses recognized you immediately and they seemed to know what was wrong with you" he added and Annabelle swallowed.

"Do you know who I am?" she asked, turning to meet his unfazed eyes.

"Anna. Top ten most influential teenagers in Africa, top three in Nigeria. Model and actress, first year pharmacy student" he replied without a change in his tone and Annabelle nodded.

"The usual. What do you want?" She questioned again and Uche finally changed his expression with his furrowed eyebrows.

"What do you mean?" He asked in confusion.

"You helped me, helped me to keep it a secret that I fainted by sending me to a private hospital. Concerning who I am, there's no way you could have helped me for free; I'm asking you what you want" Annabelle replied, watching Uche's expression carefully. Her eyes widened slightly in surprise when he burst into laughter.

"Do you know who I am?" He asked and Annabelle shook her head.

"Is there a reason I should?" She asked and Uche nodded lightly, an amused smile still on his face.

"No, there's no reason for you to. Let me reintroduce myself; my name is Uzoma-Lale Uche. My surname is quite unique, so I'm sure you already know who I am. Now considering who I am, do you think there's anything I don't have that I would want?" He asked grinding widely and Annabelle shrugged.

"You never can tell with rich people. They have the weirdest hobbies" she replied, pushing herself to lay on the bed.

"Thank you Uche, for your help. Goodbye" she added and Uche chuckled.

"You are chasing me away already?" He asked and Annabelle turned to him, "Is there a reason why I should allow you to stay here?" She asked.

"You have helped me greatly and I'm very grateful. I have asked for what you want and you have introduced yourself in return. Considering your status, there's nothing you could want. So what else would you want to do in my ward? It's not like we are childhood friends trying to catch up"

"Damn" Uche replied pulling a face, "I promised Lashe I was going to stay with you till you got better" he added and Annabelle stared at him in shock.

"Lashe? You know Lashe? Where did you meet him?" She asked in quick succession and Uche smiled lightly.

FEW HOURS BEFORE

Uche leaned against the doorframe staring at the girl on the bed. The moment she had fainted; he had gotten a fright. He had gotten back to his hostel before recognizing her. Of course he knew her, of course he heard about her every now and again but he didn't think she would be that pretty or that outspoken or that ''you can't keep your eyes off me.

Without fail, for a week; he stalked her social media pages trying to get an idea of her. She had a terrible reputation. She was mean, she was sassy, she was unfriendly, unpredictable and lots more. Despite her unpalatable reputation, if she posted a designer bag, it would take less than 5 hours for the bag to get sold out. If she posted a picture of herself wearing earrings, everyone would scour the earth to get the same earrings. Nobody could doubt her ability as a model or an influential figure.

As for her reputation, Uche had chosen not to believe it. He was going to find out the true Annabelle and if such a sassy, rude, unfriendly girl had stolen his heart without him realizing; so be it.

He didn't think he would run into her that evening or that she would faint right in front of him. He remembered the way she helped onto his shirt when he caught her in his arms. He had been scared out of his wits but he still had a bit of rationality to take her to a private hospital outside school. He had immediately called his driver not missing the surprised and shocked looks form his driver and bodyguards when he took her into the car.

He had been more flabbergasted but assured when the nurses immediately wheeled her into a room and started giving her drips without a change in their expression.

Her phone kept ringing over and over again and it wouldn't stop. A slight furrow pulled at his brows and he immediately swiped and accepted the call without thinking.

"Anna, are you okay?" a raspy deep voice rang in his ears and he immediately became irritated.

"Excuse me, Anna is not here" he replied in an unfriendly manner.

"What do you mean she's not there? Where is she? Is she alright?" A feminine voice rang almost immediately in his ears and Uche glanced at the phone to check the caller. He had watched Annabelle's Instagram live about her sugar Daddy so he knew they were close.

"Oh sorry. She fainted and I brought her to the hospital: Saint Gregory's. They seemed to know what was wrong with her" he replied quickly.

"Oh my God. We are video calling right now, please pick up" the girl replied and Uche nodded as a video call request immediately appeared on the phone. He accepted it and changed the camera to show the sleeping girl on the bed.

"She's alright now. The nurse said she's stable but needs to rest for a while" Uche informed the two of them. He had immediately recognized Lashe and the girl; Ibukunoluwa, his girlfriend. He would have never thought that they were friends with Annabelle.

If worldwide loved teen singer and model Lashe was friends with Annabelle and they were close to this extent; Uche couldn't reconcile the ideas together.

"Oh hi, you are?" Lashe asked and Uche pursed his lips, "My name is Uche, fourth year Pharm student" he simply introduced.

"Oh hi Uche, thank you very much for bringing Anna. We are going to call someone to stay with her so you can go about your business. Thank you" Lashe said and Uche shook his head.

"There's no need for that. I'll stay with her till she's alright. I have a personal driver to drive us back to school" he quickly added and watched as Lashe raised his eyebrows at him.

"I know who you are and I know who she is. She's safe with me, I promise. I'll look after her" he continued.

"Please do. Let us know if there's a problem" Ibukunoluwa said and Uche nodded his head.

"I will"

"Thank you"

Annabelle stared at the boy in front of her; her mouth agape.

"Why would you promise to look after a stranger?" She asked, surprised but feeling warm.

"I'm a fan," Uche replied and Annabelle chuckled.

"A fan?" She asked and Uche nodded his head.

"You are a lousy fan" she interjected with an amused smile and Uche chuckled.

"I agree and by the way, your pictures don't do justice to how pretty your smile is. It's prettier and more attractive in person" He commented and Annabelle raised her eyebrows at him.

"Is that you hitting on me?" She asked her lips curved upwards while Uche shook his head maintaining a straight face, "No, that was me staring an obvious"

Of course he was hitting on her.

-----------------------------------------------

Hi guyssss. I saw your excitement on the last chapter and I'm telling you that it's about to go downnnnnnn. Who missed this duo? Because I did and I'm so loving them alreadyy. Ouuuuu.

Uche is such a delight and I promise you that that's all he's going to be throughout this book and of course an obsessed lover boy, hehehe. Now you have new questions, what's wrong with our Ice queen? Leaving it to your rich imaginations.

Tag your friends to read and drop your comments to support the upcoming coupleee. Hehehe.