HER EXTREMELY gorgeous blue eyes stared at me.

"You can come in. Both my parents are not at home at the moment."

"Thanks," I replied, entering her blue house and then I sat on one of her sofas. She followed suit and sat next to me.

"So, are we going to bake together as you promised?" She asked, smiling, which divulged her beautiful dimples.

"Yes, where is the kitchen?" I immediately got up from where I was seated.

"Let's go there." I felt her grab me by my hand, which sent butterflies to my belly as it was so unexpected.

Her kitchen was completely orange, and I stared in awe at how it did not look terrible despite that.

"What will we bake? I have the flour, butter, eggs, and pretty much everything we need."

"We can bake some brownies. Do you know how to bake those?" I asked, tilting my head to the side to look at her.

"I actually do not know how to make those. Please show me how to."

"It's super easy to do so, but please note that I am not good at explaining myself, so I will just show you how to do it."

"Okay, but honestly speaking, it's so cool that you know how to bake. Guys that bake are so hot."

My lips curled into a smile. Girls find it hot when a guy can bake? Well, I guess I have been hot all this while.

"Can you cook too?" She asked.

"Yes, I can. Before my mom died, she taught me how to cook because I was her only child. We spent a lot of time together, so she taught me everything she knew."

"I am sorry to hear about your mom, but do you realize how hot that makes you sound?"

I giggled slightly. "What's hot about that?"

"When a guy can cook or bake, it shows that he is humble and different from most men. It's just very attractive. I am sure any girl can agree with me."

"Really, what else is attractive to females?" I said, whisking the eggs.

"Every girl is different, so what another girl will find attractive isn't what another will find attractive, but they are some things that are common."

"Please tell me some of those things." I grabbed some sugar, salt, and vanilla and mixed it with the egg I whisked.

"Some girls will care about the looks, other girls will care about his brains, others about his money, but what all girls want is a guy that will love and care for them. That is all he needs to be truly attractive."

Her words made me think deeply. "Okay, how can I show I love and care for a girl?"

"The little things matter. Show that you're interested in her for her, not for other perverted reasons. She needs to see that you care about her through your words and actions. Be respectful and patient with her. Girls love that."

"Okay, this is very interesting tell me more." I grinned, realizing how weird I sounded at being so curious. I then got the melted butter and put some chocolate into it and mixed it.

"Oh no, I end here." She chuckled.

"Why? I know you have more to say." I retorted, mixing the chocolate butter carefully.

"Yes, I do, but I can't keep lecturing you about females. I want to talk about you instead." She tagged the collar of my shirt and grinned deviously.

"What would you like to know?" I scrunched up my face, wondering what she wanted to ask.

"Hmmm, let's see," she rubbed her chin. "What was your first kiss like?"

I laughed. Out of all questions she could ask about me, she asked me that question?

"I stared at her. She was so adorable that I just wanted to kiss her. So I placed my lips on hers. They were so soft. I wonder why it feels so good to kiss babies." I beamed, waiting for her to realize what I meant.

"Wait, hold on. Did you just say a baby?" She burst into laughter immediately.

"You asked about my first kiss. The first person I have ever kissed is a baby. Kissing is meeting lips, isn't it?" I smiled.

"Not that kind of kiss. I mean, with an older girl you like." Her hand flew to her forehead.

"Oh, that." I laughed, pretending not to know what she meant initially." I haven't yet had my first kiss."

Her jaw fell, and she raised her eyebrows dramatically. "You're joking, right?"

"Nope. I have never had a girlfriend either." I added.

"No way!" She widened her blue eyes. "But how is that even possible?"

I laughed. "What do you mean?"

"You're so cute. What girl would not want to be your girlfriend?"

"You think I am cute?" I smiled slightly.

"Yes, you know my favorite part about your face?" She paused, and I stayed silent to let her finish her sentence." Your eyes! You have extremely pretty hazel eyes. It makes you look hotter. Brown skin plus hazel eyes equal hot Luca."

I lowered my head to keep her from seeing the wide grin that formed on my face.

"Thanks," I answered, but my voice came out lower than I expected. I suddenly remembered that I have been hiding my eyes when it's my strongest feature.

"You're welcome, but what's up with the somber face?" I didn't even realize my face reflected the sadness of the memories that slowly came to mind.

"You said my eyes are my best feature, but I never let people see them," I replied.

"Why and how don't you let people see your eyes?" Her voice softened, reflecting a lot of concern.

"It's a long story." I got the baking tray full of the brownie mix I made and put it in the oven.

"If you're comfortable in telling me; you can tell me. I will listen."

"My dad has Caucasian origin, so he has hazel eyes and I got them from him. It's rare for a brown African guy like me to have hazel eyes so, in school, I got bullied for my eye color a lot. People would give me a lot of attention for them and they gave me many awful names. One child called me freak eyes, and that name circulated and they called me that.

It deeply hurt me how bullied I got, so I spoke to my mom about it and she made me change schools, but even in other schools I got undue attention and with that attention came a lot of bullying.

My mom had to make me change the school I went to again and encouraged me to wear contacts every time. Those contacts were to make my eyes dark brown, to prevent such situations and since then, I have been wearing contacts to cover my actual eye color."

"I am so sorry about that experience you had to go through, but always remember that your eyes are your strongest feature and that probably explains why you were bullied for them. People only bully when they notice a strength you have that they don't. Let no one make you feel bad for being unique. As long as they don't feed you, what they say or do is of no importance."

Her words impacted me. For a second, I forgot she is not a real person. The way she sympathized with me and listened carefully to my story made me feel like I was talking to a real person.

"Thanks for that. You made me realize I don't have to hide my actual eye color."

She placed her soft tiny hands onto mine. "Luca, promise me you will stop wearing those contact lenses from now on."

I glanced at our hands. She was right about suggesting that. I needed to be myself without fear." I promise."

She smiled in response and her tiny arms wrapped around me, hugging me, which made me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

"Luca, my grandson!" I heard my bedroom door creak open and so I immediately removed my virtual reality headsets and caught sight of my grandmother standing at the door.

"I am so sorry for forgetting to knock I am just excited to see my grandson. Did I interrupt anything?"

"No, why do you ask?"

"What are those weird things attached to your head?" She asked, disgusted by them.

I immediately removed the sensors from my head." They are just something I was using for my video game. It's nice to see you granny, what brings you here?"

Her eyebrows knitted together. "What type of game is that? Is that juju you're practicing now?"

I smiled. "No, it isn't don't worry it's just a game." I walked over to her and hugged her." I missed you a lot."

"I missed you too. I have amazing news for you, by the way."

"Please tell me." I grabbed a chair nearby and made her sit on it.

"You remember mister Okafor the man I told you I had a crush on?"

"Yes, I do." I chuckled.

"He finally asked me to be his girlfriend!"

I laughed at her excitement. "That's amazing news, gran."

"Even at my old age, I am still sexy enough to get guys. Be proud that you have a sexy grandma."

"Gran, you just know how to make my day." I burst into laughter."I am glad you came to visit."

"I came here so that I can visit your father at the hospital. I will go there right now, so I thought I should check on my grandson first."

"Thanks, I appreciate the visit. When you come back, I want to know more about how you made mister Okafor ask you out."

"Yes, my son, I will give you all those details when I come back, otherwise see you later." She got up from the chair and went out the door. For an old woman, she always acted like she has so much energy.

"Bye, gran." I smiled and shook my head.

"Is that juju you're practicing now?" I remembered her words, and it sent me into laughter.

It wasn't, but the experience felt magical. I spent time with Chioma and she listened to me. It was all unreal, but it felt so real. Maybe it was juju indeed.

_______Authors note_______

This story is designed to have characters with real experiences.

Luca is strange but he is a very realistic character you are still learning about.

His bullying experience is very realistic and as weird as this sounds a lot of kids go through bullying just for their eye color.

Others are even bullied for simply wearing glasses.

One black Nigerian girl was heavily bullied for having blue eyes. So it's true that people can be bullied like that.

Otherwise,

What is something new you learnt about Luca from this chapter?

I would love to hear it.

Btw, I just placed an image of hazel eyes above. In case you would like to see what they look like.