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This chapter is dedicated to SHANOVA!!!(Shade and Nova) so if you don't fancy our power couple, (which I wouldn't understand why shaaaa) you can skip😂❤️

                                 
                                          ~SHADE~

Nova and I spent approximately two hours- the whole entire time for Saturday Lessons- talking and laughing in Maliwu icecream spot.

Initially, it felt a bit odd being outside alone - without the limo or the guards or Madam K. It was a good kind of odd, if I may say. If that makes sense.

For the first time, I stepped out of the gate of Castron High by myself. Well, with Nova by me, occasionally laughing at my reactions and telling me over and over to just relax.

It was 4:02pm by the time we got out and the roads were so busy.

We stood on the scanty pedestrian walk by the school. Of course, it was scanty. People wouldn't just be standing on the pedestrian walk that led to the gates of Castron High for no absolute reason. But, by the opposite side of the road, amidst all the cars passing by with dangerous speed in between, I could see a good number of people around there.

I couldn't even take my time to focus on them, because on the road in front of us, cars kept passing, one after the other, with speed, most of them blaring their horns noisily.

I winced a little in discomfort of all the palava infront of us, and put my hands to my ears to try to muffle the horns.

"They're so many cars," I informed Nova on top of my voice.

"Well, that's Lagos Street for you," he enlightened me, rather calmly.

He didn't even look too bothered.

He was used to all of this?

Really?

Ofcourse, I knew the streets were busy here. But observing the streets of Lagos from a tinted limo glass window isnt the same as being on it.

The newness of the whole thing didn't even make me realise that_

"Those people by the other side are staring at you, Shade." Nova said, reading my thoughts before they could even play out in my head.

That's when I looked to the opposite side of the pedestrian walk and really focused on it. The people there ranged from old to young to middle-aged. Some were boarding cabs and taxis nearby, others were running or brisking to cross the busy road and some, just hung around - maybe waiting for the best time to cross? I couldn't tell.

Amongst the people who hung around there for a reason that was unclear to me, I saw a group of girls who looked in their late teens or early twentys', having on tank tops and some funny looking jeans. ALL of them stealing looks at me and having on confused faces as they discussed with each other. Seemed to me like I was their topic of discussion, anyway.

"Why are they acting like they'd never seen a celebrity before?" Nova laughed, referring to the girls.

I didn't laugh.

I instantly got reminded how news could spread in this country. If those girls started taking pictures, I would be doomed because Madam K would find out I did this.

Wait sef_

What if the people crossing with their cars were even taking pictures or videos? Goodness Lord!

"Jeez, people stare though," he remarked, only to get me looking back at the girls at the opposite side of the road. This time, one of them started pointing at me.

Jeez, pointing really?

At that point, I started hiding my face to avoid any problems.

I watched Nova as he stood beside me, my hand in his' as he shuffled his feet on the ground and moved, looking at different sides of the road like he was waiting for something.

"How much longer do we have to stand here?" I had to ask him.

"Till you're ready," he answered promptly, eyes still on the road.

"Ready for what?" I just had to ask again.

"Ready to cross the road." He answered.

My heart dropped to my stomach.

Cross the what!??

What the hell!

We'd get killed! The cars in front of us moved like they were on a hit and run mission and he wanted us to cross!?

"No!" I object immediately and for some bizarre reason that didn't seem good enough to me, Nova broke down laughing.

What part of this funny?!

"Oh my God! Shayde, can you just relax?!You're killing me!" He went on, trying to calm himself as he laughed non-stop at my reaction.

Father help me.

If you're wondering if we ended up crossing that road, we most certainly did.

And it wasn't just funny.

However, Nova held my hand tightly as  we crossed, so amidst the storm and thunder it felt like crossing that deadly road, I felt a bit safe.

It got more interested when we entered the cab.

It felt wierd, even a bit claustrophobic, being in such a little space. For some reason, it amused me.

No one was in the cab, but me and Nova, and yeah the driver ofcourse, but still it felt like I needed more room. It creeped me out and excited me at that same time. I don't know if that makes sense.

And everytime the cab bumped, I'd giggle as we went up and down and Nova would just look at me and smile. Sometimes, he was forced to laugh with me too.

Then, we got to our final stop; Maliwu icecream shop.

Well, I knew the name because the name was boldly written on a banner on front of the whole place.

"You like?" Nova said, before we got in.

"Well, I like the limestone on the ground," I replied.

The ground seemed to be coated with limestone. The place wasn't a building or anything. It was situated outside. More like an open space of wooden tables and seats with umbrella coverings. Each table had about four seats and they were quite a good number of tables around.

Most of them were filled up too apparently with people having icecream, so as Nova and I walked in, the attention we got was something else.

Luckily, Nigerians don't scream and cry and stump all over celebrities when they see them in public - especially in a place like Lekki where there are one too many celebrities living there.

But boy, they'll stare, and sidetalk. Some may steal pictures or videos. And that's exactly what was happening as Nova and I 'walked down the aisle' of spectators. All I heard from the multiple whispers was 'Shades of Green' over and over and the eyes darting our direction never looked away.

No one should video me here abeg. Madam K will hang me.

That's when I started seeing some people pulling out their cell phones.

Oh, God.

They didn't make it obvious, but I knew they were stealing pictures or videos of me with Nova.
Whether Nova even noticed what was going on in his surroundings, I don't even know.

"What flavor, mi lady?" Nova's voice distracted me from everything, as soon as we got to where looked like the counter.

Without giving much focus to anything else that wasn't Niva, I answered; I don't know, vanilla?"

"Girls and Vanilla," He commented.

That's when I turned my to my front, to the counter, to see the two young girls in uniform smiling at me and Nova. Not a regular 'welcome customer' sort of smile. More like a 'I know that's Shade Onam' type of smile.

"I'll have chocolate, ladies" Nova said to the girls, a smirk plastered on his face.

Instead of going about the order, the girls rather continued smiling sheepishly at me and Nova, like people about to win a lottery.

"Hi," The one with bigger eyes said, waving shyly at either me or Nova, or both. I couldn't be sure.

"Hi," I replied with a smile.

"And how do you do?" Nova asked them in a playful sing-song tone.

"Are you Shade Onam?" The other one with the forehead chirped in immediately, totally ignoring Nova, possibly unintentionally.

That question was most definitely set to me.

"Yes," I replied and both girls mouths dropped for a split second, before they started looking at each other in surprise and cheesing like they didn't know what to say next.

"My name is Laurette,"

"My name is Mode,"

"We're big fans,"

"My small sister LOVES you!!"

"Is it true that you attend Castron High?!!"

"Oh my God. I can't believe I'm seeing you in person,"

"You're even prettier in person!"

All these flew out of their mouths in the space of seconds. I could only smile and reply curtly, as it was the nice thing to do, right?

"Is he your boyfriend!?"

What? Are they talking about Nova?

"Is he your boyfriend?" The girl with the bigger eyes asked again, her look moving towards Nova beside me, almost like she was checking him out.

Nova and I laughed.

We just laughed.

The answer to that question was laughter.

In the beginning, It felt a bit odd being here. However, towards the end, I seemed to get more comfortable and used to all the staring. I decided to just let it be and focus on having fun with Nova.

Besides this was all I ever wanted - being outside on my own, I mean. If Madam K was somehow going to find out and kill me, I might as well just make the most of this moment then.

                    *Click*

I looked at the cute picture I just took with Nova and smiled.

"See how pretty you look," he complimented.

"Oh, please!" I laughed.

Sadly, I couldn't do more than keep the picture there in my phone. I wished I could post it, but I couldn't.

"Nova..," I called him, after we had long finished our icecream.

"My love?" He replied, with a smile. I giggled a little. He was always smiling.

"I know this was just basically me and you having icecream and nothing more but honestly..," I tilted my head to look at him,"..this is the most fun I've had in a longgg time."

He blushed, but, before my ivory prince had the chance to say a word, I heard a song chiming in from nowhere. I almost got startled, but then I realised that was Nova's phone ringing.

He just picked up the phone that was lying on the table next to mine.

"Cute ringtone," I remarked. It was unlike guys to have a ringtone that sounded so soft and warming like that.

He half smiled at what I said.

"It's Seasons by Hillsong Choir," He told me.

"It's a gospel song," he added, blushing like a little child, before he looked into his phone screen.

I almost forgot how Nova awfully cheesed about everything and anything connected to Jesus. He was the sweetest. With me, I honestly couldn't even recall the last time I went to a church.

Anyway, I noticed his face breaking into a confused frown as he looked at his phone screen.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Krisdana's calling me? Strange. Hope there's no problem" his reply came, but it sounded more like a soliloquy.

Surprisingly, he just hung up.

"I'll call her back when we aren't on a ..should I call this a date?" He joked.

I laughed a little.

"You're sweet," I said. "But, I think you should call her back..just in case..yunno.. something's wrong,"

He looked at me for a few seconds as if contemplating.

"Okay okay fine," he replied, vut when he got his ohone back up to call back, his phone chimed again. This time, sharply.

"She texted," he said. Then after staring at his phone for a while, his eyes drifted to mine.

"She wants me to come to her place?" He told me.

What?

"Really?" I said. "Is there a problem?"

Nova basically just shrugged.

"Hope not. It's surprising she'd want me of all people in her house. Especially when Yure is there," he said.

"Bet you aren't used to surprises," I had to say. "I've had better ones. Like for example.. Giwa texting me this morning to wish me happy birthday and ask if I was okay through the week I was absent in school."

Nova sniggered, "Woah, I thought she was furious with you."

I shrugged. I thought so too. Since the whole issue about my party.

Well, it was quite like Giwa to be a tad bit caring when she wanted to.

"Maybe you should go to Krisdana's place," I suggested to Nova, a bit worried myself.

"Just text her back and tell her you're coming," I added and Nova nodded, and just got back to his phone typing away.

I watched the way he looked while he focused, typing into his phone. His pink lips sort of paused and his eyes were squinting a bit. He was so adorable when he focused like that

"Done," he spoke up, turning his attention back to me immediately.

I smiled a little as I looked at him and he reciprocated.

Just then, someone joined us on our table.

I looked up to see a girl I had never seen before, sitting on one of the empty seats opposite us.
A shy, almost nervous-to-death smile was on her face as she looked at me and Nova.

"Hi," she waved to me and Nova. Her voice was almost unheard. She seemed too thrilled and a bit nervous.

I smiled at her to calm her down.

"How are you?" I replied as Nova just waved back.

Her smile widened. She turned to look at some other girl  on another table who was watching us and smiling as well. Both of the strange girls giving off some form of eye contact between themselves. They were most likey friends and I'm guessing one decided to come over and talk to me.

This should have been about the hundredth time someone had come over to our table to talk to me here.

"I'm fine," the girl nervously said. "C-Can I take a picture with you, Shade?"

"A picture?" I said, a bit uneasy.

She nodded so quickly and nervously squeezed her phone infront of her chest tightly as she awaited an answer.

I hated to let her down but I couldn't be taking pictures with people anyhow. Madam K had strictly instructed me never to do that. It's bad enough I was here.

"I'm sorry, I can't..," I had to say.

The girl's face slowly dropped, like she was hurt. I felt so bad instantly.

"It's not that I don't want to," I said immediately, placing my hand on hers' that had now dropped on the table in dissapointment.

Her eyes immediately mived from me to my hand on her skin and her eyes were almost a bit widened, like she was thinking "oh my God. Is she touching me?"

"I have something better  for you," I said to make her feel better. That's when I reached out into my purse and got out a well packaged box from it.

"They're some really cute earrings in there," I told the girl as I gave the packaged little box to her. She looked a bit surprised, but slowly reached forth to take the box from me.

"I haven't opened it since I got it last week. Consider that a gift," I said.

She smiled gratefully and her eyes darted back to her friend, on the other table, who she had earlier made eye contact with. This time, I saw her friend was already videoing everything.  I sort of laughed.

"Thankyou sooo much," the girl said.

"Most welcome," I told her and she scurried away from there, rushing back to her friends table and both of them gushed with themselves.

"That was so sweet," Nova said.

Well, Guess so. Atleast, I didn't let out a wrong impression with her. I tried not too. Somehow, people still see a way to see worst. Hopefully, she didn't.

"Oh and look, your friends are here," Nova's voice came again.

My friends?

I followed the direction his eyes were fixed. I just so happened to see Hassana and Prissy walking into the ice cream spot together, talking and laughing.

"Would you look at that? Looks like I'll be getting more icecream," Nova said, urging me to take his hand so we could go and meet my friends.

As we walked towards Hassana and Prissy, Nova kept making me laugh my heart out.

This was truly my best birthday so far thanks to Nova Igwe. It's strange really, considering we basically did nothing, but have icecream and talk.

But it's those little things that somehow matter the most to me. I could only smile and wish everyday was like this. Hanging out with Nova and doing the most random things with him for fun.

I smiled to myself.

In all honestly, I couldn't get enough of my ivory prince.

I really didn't like this chapter much though 😂💔Maybe because I'm looking forward yo reaching a part of this book that is ITCHINNNGGGG me to writeeeeee. If you're a writer, you'll understand what I mean😩😩👌

What do you guys think about Nova?? I LOVE this character so damn much!!!!!!! 😩👌

Is Shanova your ideal couple??😩👌