Good morning, family.♥️

As expected,  I'm here. I realized y'all don't see the messages on my board, because I announced that I wasn't going to be updating the whole of last week and during the week, I was still getting dozens of messages, why na 😭😩Sha, no issues, I love you guys, but please be seeing the messages I post on my board, yeah??

And as a matter of fact, I have good news to share with you all, so go to my board now and see🌝♥️

Anyways, carry on with the chapter!🍷🍷🍷

~DABI~

I struggled.

I struggled so hard with Marcus, but it was all to no bloody avail.

No matter how badly I thrashed against him, no matter how much I screamed and hurled curses at the top of my lungs, kicked my feet hard and with wild abandon, punched around like a crazed maniac into the innocent air, hysterical, it still made no difference.

It was a bloody waste of time and energy.

Marcus was hell bent on taking me away from there, taking me away from the catastrophe I was begging so hard to create, pulling me away just as I was seconds away from stabbing that knife into that bastard's throat.

I fought and protested, and he was adamant, hell bent on doing everything to stop me. Anything that would get me as far enough from JJ as I could be.

And with my body, thrown easily over the mini-god's shoulder, a strong, possessive arm wrapped, gripped rather, around my waist in a lock hold I couldn't free myself from, and my legs hanging in the air, thrashing around in all my hopeless attempts to escape, Marcus sprinted up the stairway like a jet, easily, skillfully, and shockingly, skipping as many as three to four steps with me hung over his shoulder, like he wasn't even carrying something as weighty as a human being, but as light as a goddamn piece of cloth.

I couldn't believe it.

I couldn't believe how useless I felt.

How could this Marcus Acha of a guy jack me up like this, and dash around with me like I was a stupid feather?

Absolutely, ridiculously outrageous!

"Get your hands off of me." I grumbled, jumped grudgingly away from him as soon as he let me go and tried to drop me on the bed.

"Leave me!" I pushed Marcus hand away as he tried to help me up when my struggling with him caused me to fall over and across the bed foot.

Annoyed at him for a reason I wasn't sure of, I aggressively threw one of the pillows at him in all my rage and Marc stepped back, slightly taken back by my temper tantrum.

"You have to calm down, please," His voice was shockingly patient still, compromising too, almost pleading.

"Leave me alone." I warned him. My voice, stubborn and graveled.

He did as I wanted. Just as he always did. Even when all I was doing was being a bitch to him for no apparent reason that connected to him. I didn't understand how Marc could be so patient and so sweet. It was almost abnormal. And for a fact, it actually went a long way to die down some of the strong negative emotions that plagued me. Almost entirely.

"Aurora," He had called me softly, like he was trying to soothe me into calmness.

Almost was the keyword. He almost took away all my anger with his sweet, kind demeanour.

But, I was still angry.

I was so angry. I was so, so angry and I couldn't even understand why it was so difficult to contain myself. Sitting on that bed, with hands cupped around my own face, and vision blurring and blinding with lividity, I couldn't just stop shaking in all my rage.

"Aurora," He had called me again.

He called my name so sweetly, and my heart blossomed with emotions, but I didn't look up at him. I wouldn't. I didn't answer either. I couldn't. Despite the fact that this boy knew how to check me in order just by being sweet, I was still too angry to do anything more other than fume like an exhaust pipe on the bed.

I wasn't sure which riled me up the most - Was it the fact that that fool, JJ had accused me of being loose? It wasn't just the insult that hit me hard, it was also the fact that JJ had to think of something so vile about me because he clearly could not fathom the thought of his friend, so praised Man like Acha, having something serious to do with a girl like Dabeluchi Orji, so the most reasonable excuse he could cook up was that he was probably had me over in his house, because he was sleeping with me.

JJ would rather believe that I was a whore, than accept that I could be Marcus Acha's girlfriend. That I could be someone important to him. Of course, why me? Why Dabeluchi Orji?

It hurt like a bastard.

Or, was that all that shattered me there, really? Or was it just the plain simple fact that JJ, that stupid goat, had the bloody audacity to call me a retard?

Recalling everything somehow had a way of bringing back to me all the anger that was slowly dying at Marc's wholesome presence, it was all coming back, little by little, building up into something that could have been dangerous to both myself and Marcus Acha, in front of me.

"Why didn't you let me at him?" I glared daggers onto the tiled floors as I asked him.

"With a knife?" He asked me back, his tone calm, yet somehow, doing so well to scream the ridiculousness of my actions to me.

There was a silence between us.

And by every second of it that passed, my head only grew hotter and hotter and hotter and hotter.

"You're hurt, Aurora," Marcus spoke softly, observing me. I wasn't looking at him, but to the ground, but I could tell. I could feel his eyes, scrutinizing and noticing every inch and bit of me.

I said nothing to him.

Don't come closer, Marc. Just leave me alone.

Contrary to what I gave off, I wanted a hug. I wanted his hug. I wanted to cry my heart into his chest, but how could I convey that to him?

"I'm fine, just go ahead with your friends and -"

Marcus shut me up as strong, but tender hands, wrapped gently around my shaking frame, pulling me to himself, in a soft, warm and loving, tender embrace.

I broke into tears that minute, and couldn't contain my tears. I cried and cried and cried in his gentle hold, and patiently, stroking softly my hair, and soothing me with little kisses on my head, he didn't let me go. He couldn't. He wouldn't.

I realised indeed that I didn't want this hug. I actually needed it.

Marcus didn't even fully understand why I was crying so much, but he still held me for as long as it would keep me calm, patiently waiting until my very last drop.

"What did JJ do?" He asked me when he let go.

It was how he went right ahead to determine that whatever happened between me and JJ had to be his fault, and not mine.

It wasn't just that he asked, it was how he asked it. There was not just a deadly drop in his octave, but there was the slightest edge to his voice as well - a shift in his tone that was a thin line between self control and outright, uncontrollable anger.

Anger?

It moved me really how his voice could attach so much weight and thickness to it, almost in a way that scared me, and still be so chill.

Was he angry?

Subconsciously, I was compelled to look at him.

I wasn't even prepared.

Looking at him, barely setting eyes on this boy whom I called a mini god, shattered me sweetly. Beyond words could explain. It wrecked me.

His demeanour was calm and put together, his hands around me were tender and gentle, yet his eyes.... God, his eyes, those beautiful brown eyes that enthralled me completely with the amount of love and kindness and sweetness they held, looked darker.

Now, it didn't only shove to my face all the love he had for me, in almost desperate agony, it showed me a side to him that I didn't expect. His eyes held something akin to anger. Something so vile. So venomous. So unforgiving. It was scary....

But, I couldn't be afraid of him.

However, if there was one thing I tended to do, that was forgetting how much the littlest thing about me seemed to affect Marc in every way possible.

I always thought this boy had me at his mercy, but the actual reality of this, is that whether knowingly or unknowingly, I had this boy wrapped around my finger, head over heels for me, and trapped in all of me - hook, line and sinker.

"Tell me what JJ did." He looked at me with brown eyes that had long lost all soul, ordering calmly, but demandingly.

I couldn't even decipher if he was actually angry or not, because despite his change in demeanour, his hands on me never stiffened or got more aggressive. They stayed the same - gentle, tender. It was like, everything else asides his eyes, was completely untriggered.

Also, I had seldom seen Marc, ever loving and ever kind Marcus Acha, get angry, so I couldn't even tell what this was for a start, and what could possibly come out of it.

In a way, it was a wake up call.

Why? Because I suddenly started to fear what the outcome would be. It was almost as though this entire situation slapped some hard senses into me and gave me an understanding of what a bad move it was on my path to even attack JJ in the first place.

JJ saw me as a basic whore. If he wanted to ruin my life tommorow in school, he could do it without batting an eyelid. He had leverage to repay me back for anything I may think of doing to him. If he wanted to get back at me for what happened back there, he could spread the news to the entire school, he could trend it all in my name, and make the entire population of Castron High see me as someone I am not.

So, what was I even thinking?

And now, with Marc, acting like this, acting as though he was building up for an encounter with JJ that I knew would be anything but sweet, I suddenly started to realise that we were on our way to making all the wrong moves. Considering that JJ also knows about the Dares and Pledges, what's now the worst that could happen them? JJ not only tarnishes my name in School, but does it in such a way that would make it seem to everyone, and Marc that our entire bond came as a result of a dare from Yure's party? I couldn't risk all that.

"Nothing," I answered Marc in finality, there on, looked away from him in order to lie to him effectively.

Soma always told me that if keeping things secret was going to do more good than harm, then keep it. And talking about her though, even if I hadn't understood yet the facts around her and Kaniru's boys, it still remained that someone like Somadina Best was still in trouble with those unruly boys that were, as a matter of fact, very good friends with JJ. Starting something with the boy would not only affect me, but affect her as well, and in turn, the entire group. There was just so much to consider.

"JJ did not do anything to me." I stayed on that word.

Immediately, Marc's hands left me.

"Are you going?" I asked in shock of his unexpected behaviour; That action took me a bit off guard, so off guard that I couldn't help but rise my eyes with him as he made a further move to stand up from the bed, without any warning.

Was he leaving me here?

He wasn't. Thankfully. But for some reason I didn't understand, he seemed to prefer to move away from me and pick a seat by the reading desk.

I almost asked him why he refused to be close to me all of a sudden, but I couldn't bring myself to....

.... Not when he looked the way he looked.

Marcus had his black hoodie over his head, back of elbows resting upon his thighs as he bent over in his sitting position, enough to be able to cast his deadly glare downwards, in a way that made me unable to clearly see his face. It was a posture, so dark and sinister, so disturbing, like I couldn't even begin to fathom all that was going on in his head.

All I could take note of in his self controlling behaviour was that fact that he would not stop death staring the lines of the tiled floors, as though he was trying to break them with the intensity of his glare, and together, we absorbed all the silence and toxicity of the room into our systems, and while my feelings were emasculating by the second, it seemed to me like acrimony was piling up for him.

I watched him, disturbed within me. The muscles at both his temples, contracted, over and over again - an action that proved to me beyond reasonable and unreasonable doubts that he was subtly grinding his teeth against each other.

Marcus was angry.

He was very angry.

"You're scaring me." I said to him.

I could feel the heat of his anger from where I sat - a deep, unnerving uncomfortable feeling I couldn't get used to.

And although he didn't give a response to what I said, I couldn't have been more certain that he most definitely heard my every word.

Instead, he fondled his fingers against each other, slow and steady, as though it was some sort of coping mechanism, and as anger was brewing hotter and hotter in him, he only remained silent for a few more minutes, a few more minutes that started to turn to a lot of minutes. At some point, I was about certain he would never speak again.

I could only wonder though...

Was it me? Was all that directed at me?

Was Marcus angry with me?

"Do you even know how much everything concerning you affects me, Aurora?"

He had finally said something.

And that question hit so different for me, even if I knew.

"I do."

That was my answer. My voice, quiet and soft.

"Aurora, if you do know, then why are you lying to me?"

I swallowed for a reason I wasn't even sure of. I just swallowed. Possibly a thousand words that were at the top of my tongue. I said absolutely nothing back to him. What could I say really?

"I'm not lying." Was all the words I knew.

It was like the entire room was switching between heating up in burning anxiety, and chilling so cold with every feeling that was unnerving. It was a disturbing mix of both, and it was too much for me to handle.

Quietly, his head rose and his eyes traced slowly from the tiles, and landed on me. Stayed on me. His look, concentrated in all his zeroed rage, and ever in the slightest, hurt.

"I'm not lying." I repeated to his face, unfazed and unmoved.

Whatever moved me to be so adamant with this lie, despite the fact that Marcus was boiling up a notch by the second and on the verge of an explosion, I didn't know.

I stared at Marcus.

He stared back at me.

We stared at each other for an eternity.

Until finally...

"Okay." Was all he said.

That confused the shit out of me.

Okay...? What did he mean by that?

Without warning of any kind, or heeding in the slightest to my confusion, like a dark cloth of anger and darkness and everything sinister had multiplied in its fold and washed over him, overwhelming him with what seemed like a mad, insatiable urge to kill and destroy, Marcus stood up.

My senses were quickly on the alert, and my eyes rising with him, in alarm and a rush of panic.

The boy literally dashed up from his chair so suddenly, like a fucking rocket, shocking me further with a quick cracking of the fingers of his now balled and tightened fists, and a swifter cracking of his neck.

"If you don't want to tell me what he did, then I am going to have to find out myself."

He moved to the door with that goal and there were sirens, millions of them, blaring out in my head, like there was a wild fire.

"No, no, no! Wait! WAIT!" I zoomed off like the wind, ran after Marc with everything in me, slamming the door shut with a loud bang, and throwing my whole body onto it to act as an obstruction on his path.

"Wait!" I pleaded, fear, panic, and anxiety in my eyes as I pressed my back so hard against the door I had already shut behind me, "Just wait, please! Wait!" With shaky, trembling, panicking hands, I made a quick action to bolt the master lock, and turn the combination on it, two times, three times, four times, bolting the fuck out of it and not stopping to turn the lock until it seemed like the iron knobs inside it had even jammed, effectively sealing the lock so tight and trapping us both in this room, as Marc towered over me in all his fury.

"I can't let you go out there when you're like this, I'm sorry, but I just cannot!" I swore it on my life as I pressed onto that door like it was the doorway to my delicate fate.

As a matter of fact, it was.

Meanwhile, Marc was angry. Livid, to say. And there was no better way of making that fact now. His eyes, brown beautiful eyes that I once knew to be so kind and warming, were ablaze now, with a wild fire and a furious storm fighting a deadly battle in them.

He looked different. He looked so different. He looked like a man ready to kill. With that fire and storm also came a strong, unnerving determination in those eyes of his, an overwhelming, astounding, even frightful determination in them that he would walk through this door no matter what I do or say.

"Please," I begged him, on the verge of the tears, hoping he would see that doing what he wanted to do would do me more harm than good.

But, he was so determined.

Jesus Christ. What is this?

"Aurora, move from the door."

He spoke through gritted teeth, and that storm rising within me by the second. His voice, an octave deeper, and his tone, low and warning.

Odeshi.

"No." I refused, adamant.

Nothing was going to make me move.

"Aurura, move-" Marc repeated. This time, his tone more gravelled, more edgy, more scary, "Move from the fucking door."

He punctuated his words with a sharp edge to it that showed that he was losing every bit of restraint and self control he had - a stress in his words that actually made me jolt in sync, swallowing hard, and reconsidering actually doing as he said.

I almost heeded.

But, no.

Worst comes to the worst, Marcus wouldn't push me away. No matter how angry he was, he was a sweetheart. He would never hurt me; I was certain of that fact.

"Dabeluchi."

Ehh?

My whole body visibly dropped in disappointment on hearing how odd it sounded to have Marcus call me that.

Now, my name has changed too...?

I had grown so used to him calling me Aurora, and maybe a few times, he has called me Dabi, but Dabeluchi? Was that how serious this whole thing was all of a sudden?

I wasn't even sure how that made me feel. It was a dull, gut feeling I didn't like one bit. I didn't like it at all.

"I will tell you everything." I said to Marc in a heartbeat.

"I'm listening." He agreed easily.

"But you'll have to promise me that you won't do anything rash, Marc. If you do, your actions won't just be affecting me in the long run, it'll be affecting Soma as well. And the entire Igbo Sisters as a whole!" I said to him.

Whether he could concur or not, I had not a clue. There was silence between us for about four seconds as I waited for him to say something back, but he didn't.

Here goes....

"JJ accused me of being a whore," I told him the truth, "He clearly doesn't understand why I am at your house, and I guess that was the best conclusion he could come up with, and that was why I got very angry at him."

Marcus stared at me, unconvinced that I was telling him everything. And he as right, I had deliberately avoided bringing up the Dares and Pledges, it would create too much of a misunderstanding, and I had made up my mind that I would not also bring up the part where JJ had called me a retard, because the last thing I wanted to do was show Marcus how much that had hurt me and fuel his rage towards JJ the more.

"You're not telling me everything," He easily said to me.

I couldn't dare myself to argue that what he said wasn't true.

"What about Soma?" He probed, narrowed his eyes at me in observation, "What has she got to do with everything?"

I had completely forgotten that in the heat of the moment, I had mentioned that to Marcus.

Well, shit.

"Soma got into trouble with them during Saturday Lessons," I let out, "By them, I mean Kaniru and his boys. And since JJ is close to them, I was just scared of the consequences of what may happen to her and the Sisters if you pulled yourself into a fight with JJ because of me. I don't know what Soma did to them, and the last thing I want is to have that group mark our friends group for any reason whatsoever."

"This happened on Saturday," Marcus singled that out, "That was yesterday."

"Yes," I answered calmly, wondering why that little piece of information was all he picked up out of every goddamn thing I said.

"You were in the clinic, very sick when I picked you up yesterday," He easily recalled his facts.

"It was just a fever," I told him.

"You walked with a limp," He opposed.

"Menstrual pain," I countered.

"And what about the back pains?" He challenged with a slight tilt of his head, observing me slowly and patiently waiting for my come back.

At this point, I was certain he knew I wasn't telling him everything.

"I mean, if what you said was all that was the case, then why was it so difficult for you to open up about it that day?" He challenged again, "You kept saying you were fine, and brushing it off, and I didn't want to pressure you because you didn't feel well, so I deliberately shunned it for the time being. Now, all of a sudden, you're telling me a part of the story that I had no clue about - Soma got into trouble with Kaniru and his boys, simultaneously the same day you 'fell ill' -"

God in Heaven.

"And as I'm randomly putting two and two together, I can also vividly remember how you were so concerned about how bad it'd be to get into trouble with Kaniru, which is plausible if you were, say, asking for the sake of a friend, yeah? But, then, you were so specifically horrified when you found out JJ was in my house, and I would love to conclude that you were just scared of my friends seeing you in my house, but then, you seemed to be more worried about the fact that JJ was here, than Sean-"

What the fuck was the detective in this guy?

"- That alone, makes it clear to me that asides your general fear of having my friends see you here, you have other personal issues with JJ." Marcus easily concluded.

Jesus Christ.

"So?" He raised a brow, "Am I right?"

How do I even-

"JJ and I have never really seen eye to eye before, that's all." I answered.

"Well, as far as I know, you two don't even talk at all to be able to establish that kind of relationship with each other, right?" He said.

Right.

"So, then, how many?" He asked me dearly, "How many encounters have you had with JJ before now? And do any of them have anything to do with happened to you on Saturday?"

There was a rock in my throat and I held my breath so I wouldn't choke on it and die.

And may I say...

I think I had underestimated this boy's intelligence for all the time I had ever known him.

"Yes."

I finally had it in me to tell Marcus the truth.

A dagger flashed in his eyes for a second.

Just a second.... And it was gone.

I stepped back away from him. Horrified. Or, at least, I tried to take a step back. All I got as a result, was my back, pressing harder into the door, so hard and so suddenly, as though I was trying to use my back to pass through it in all urgency.

Marcus seemed to notice how badly his behaviour was affecting me for a moment.

"Don't be scared, Aurora," He said to me, and for the first time since this heated conversation started, there was a softening in his eyes.

A softening in those beautiful brown eyes that made me recognize him again.

It made me relax.

"I'm sorry," He apologized, he did sound sincere, but there was something about his demeanour that seemed more guarded.

I couldn't pin down what exactly was on his mind.

"Let's sit down and talk about everything," He said to me, softly.

"Really?" I looked at him and searched for the assurance in his eyes that I couldn't see.

"Yes," He answered, his movements, his body language, his tone, guarded.

I swallowed, nodded in agreement. "Okay."

I looked towards the bed, and stepped away from the door, heading towards it with Marcus following behind me.

Or so I expected him to.

But, there was just one problem.

I wasn't hearing any of his footsteps behind me.

"Marc?" I turned back around to him.

And froze right on my tracks.

"Marc?" I called him again, but most of my voice was lodged somewhere at the back of my throat, masked and hidden in a rush of fear at what I was seeing.

Marcus had his back turned to me, staring at the door like it was his worst enemy, and even though all I could see was his back, it was clear, through the folding and unfolding of his fists, the heaving of his shoulders, and the vibration of his body that he was soaking in so much anger.

And I thought we were over this.

"Marc." I called him again, firmer, my voice wavering in the slightest.

"I'm sorry, Aurora," he said to me.

"Why are you apologising?" I had to ask.

"Because you'll have to forgive me for what I'm about to do."

That was all said, and before I could breathe in and breathe out, Marcus absolutely shocked me, left me outrightly dumb struck, mind fucked, and mortified when he got his hands on the door, and aggressively, with so much power and strength, pulled against the metal lock.

Now, it shouldn't be possible. It should NOT be humanly possible, but however, rendering me a girl wide eyed in stupefied shock, Marcus pulled against the master lock, forcefully, with an inhuman strength that shouldn't exist in the hands of a human being, shattering the entire lock completely, and slamming the damn door right open on the spot.

What the fu-

He said not a word and before my very eyes, what should have been the remains of lock, came shattering onto the ground in miserable bits and pieces.

"What the FUCK!" I shouted in horror, my hands shaking and vibrating in the shock of what I just witnessed.

How the FUCK does someone break a master lock with their fucking bare hands!?

Marcus didn't even pay any mind to the stunned look in my face as he pushed the door away from his path, he stormed out of the room with huge, determined steps.

For a moment, I was still frozen in the shock of everything, and I just stared at the void doorway for the longest time, mouth agape, and eyes, still widened in shock, watching Marc until he was completely out of sight.

And that's when sense hit me.....

I ran after him.

I ran after him with everything in me, racing down the void, echoey corridor, in a thorough, desperate search of him, hoping to get to him before he got to JJ.

"Marc! Marc, stop! Stop, please!" I shouted in the halls, and didn't stop screaming out for him in the empty halls that not only echoed my voice back for me, but also, the footsteps of Marc that could be heard from a distance, marching on, despite all my desperate pleas.

I hoped no one could hear me screaming like this, and assuring myself in the positive, granted that this entire house owned by the Achas' was very, very huge, and did well to absorb noise from certain distances. I only hoped that neither Mama Acha, or Sean, and definitely not JJ was close enough to pick up all my screaming.

I hoped sincerely.

And I didn't stop screaming anyway, calling him back and pleading for hint to forget about this, but I just could not believe how stubborn Marcus could be when he was determined about something.

He basically deceived me.  He couldn't push me off the door, he couldn't hurt me. So, he made me feel like he was ready to calm down and talk, only to break the lock after I stepped away and go ahead to do what he wanted to do in the first place.

"Marc!" I finally found him, a few feet away from me, close to the large stairway that led down to the Living Room, and I increased my running speed, running towards the boy who claimed to be deaf on my calls.

"Marc, please stop!" I got a hold of his hoodie from behind, pulled on it and would have climbed him in all urgency if I didn't almost fall down off him in my first attempt.

Of course, he stopped that from happening. It was his sudden hold on me that stopped me from hitting the ground, and in turn, stopped him from further movements.

"Why don't you just listen to me?" I complained, my voice higher and sounding more frustrated than I intended it to be.

"Why are you trying to stop me!" Marcus shouted back at me.

He shouted. He actually shouted at me, and that took me aback for a moment.

I couldn't even fathom that he could even raise his voice at me for any reason, whatsoever.

"Why? Why are you stopping me? Tell me the worst that could happen if you just let me walk out there right now and split JJ's fucking head in half!—" He shouted at me, his fury exuding off, clearly having lost all self control that I knew him for.

Oga broke a Master lock with his bare hands, for one. Let's be realistic, he could fucking kill JJ.

Not that I would mind in all honesty, but there were so many other things that could go terribly wrong!

"And that idiot, Kaniru!" Marc was on fire, I had never seen him so angry, "That idiot had the audacity to hurt you. He hurt you, didn't he? That's why you wouldn't tell me? He hurt you, right, Aurora?!"

"Marc, please let it go—" I was on the verge of tears at this point.

"When I'm done with JJ, I'm going to find Kaniru in school tomorrow, and he's going to see a side of me that'll scar him for the rest of his fucking life! He's going to regret ever laying his hands on you, Aurora, I'll make sure of it! And you know what? I don't care what happens afterwards. I don't care who comes after me! One of us will have to die tommorow - Me or Kaniru - and that's final!"

"No...." I cried out in frustration, hands fisted onto Marcus's sweater as I tried every way possible to talk him out of this, "No, you can't do this. You won't do this. I won't let you!"

So many things would go wrong. So many, many things. I wouldn't let him.

Marcus wasn't listening to me, gently getting my fingers off the fabric of his sweater, he walked away from me once more.

I couldn't believe he was actually going to go through with this.

If he walked in there and did something bad to JJ, I can't even start to imagine the things that would result out of it. If JJ survived, he would ruin my entire life! He would destroy me, and Marc was not even thinking this through. He could get back at me in so many ways, he could taint me badly to the entire set by spreading the word to them that I was nothing but a whore, he would tell everyone that he caught me in Marc's house and no one would believe anything otherwise that I was loose. Castron High would END me!

And then, Kaniru and his boys, what about them? How would I survive being in their black book? How would the Sisters feel knowing that they all are in trouble with them because of me? How could Marc not think about any of this?

And then, what's the guarantee that Marc would always be there to protect me? What if JJ decides to take him away from me too? What if he not only takes away my social life and the Sisters, and takes Marcus away from me too? What if he manipulates Marc into thinking that the Dares and Pledges was the only reason I agreed to be with him? Then, what?

This was all a mess for me.

I couldn't even run away from it, as I would do to everything that overwhelmed me this way. Running away would mean leaving Marc to continue going where he was going.

So, I did the second best thing I knew to do at times like this.

Crying.

Falling onto the floor like a dead person, I burst into the loudest, most uncontrollable tears I could muster up, forcing all the tears in my eyes out like a river, and pouring out all the frustration, anxiety and fear I was feeling through never ending tears.

I cried out loud. Louder. Louder. And louder. And did not stop crying even louder than before.

And just as much expected, Marcus halted on his tracks, just when he was at the last step of the first half of stairway.

I knew he wouldn't keep going. There was no way Marcus would still walk on if I were in tears like this. I knew him too well. The thought of me in pain was enough to ruin him.

And I am so sorry for using that to my advantage right now.

And as a matter of fact, I didn't even stop.

Not even when I felt Marc's presence there, his shadow hovering over me as he stood there in front of me, watching me, sitting there on the group, knees to my chest, and face buried in my hands, crying out into them in pain and agony.

I cried and he just watched me, saying nothing.

I cried.

He watched.

I cried.

He still watched.

I cried.

He didn't stop watching.

"Go if you want to go!" My voice shook with my sobs, my body shaking and vibrating as I quaked in tears and loud, heart wrenching sobs, "Go! Go! Go! Don't stand here, go!"

I didn't mean that. But I knew exactly what I was doing.

"Aurora, why are you doing this?" I heard his voice over me, asking calmly.

Even he knew what I was doing.

"You know there's nothing you have asked of me that I have refused from you. Ever." He said to me.

He almost sounded like he was begging me to stop emotionally blackmailing him......

...... As if it was actually working.

"You know that, Aurora," He kept saying as though what I was doing was the most unfair thing in the world, and in all honesty, I started to feel the slightest bit bad for doing what I was doing.

But, damn it, Marcus was making a horrible decision, and I wouldn't let him.

"I've never not listened to you because I want you to be happy. Your happiness means the world to me, and no matter what, it comes first to me. It's my happiness to at the end of the day, that's how much everything about you affects me. And that's why I always try to do everything I can for you, anything I can, Aurora. I never bluff or lie when I say I can do anything for you —"

I swallowed hard on the overwhelming emotions that hit me on recalling the reality and truth in everything he was saying.

He was right. He had always been the best. Always. Never for one, disappointing.

"You didn't want the whole set to know we were together," He went on, reminded me, "And I let you have things your way, even though all I want is to let the world know you were mine, Dabeluchi Aurora Orji...."

God.

"You needed a home, Aurora, I let you in mine without asking too many questions. When I knew I had to. All I wanted was the fastest solution to your happiness," He said to me.

I looked up at him for the first time, raised my face from my hand and traced it upwards to his face that stared down at me.

I saw his eyes, the sincerity in them, the mixed hurt and anger in them, and I looked away immediately, looked back down to the ground.

"I always try my best to understand your point of view and in any way I can, compromise for you. And now, Dabi, you—"

He stopped there and the silence between us was enough to evoke a heart attack on anyone who couldn't handle the intensity of the air in it.

"— Now, you want me to keep the guy who had a hand in hurting the girl I love with all my heart in my own house and act like nothing happened?" He asked me and for the slightest moment, I heard the shaking edge on his voice.

It was almost like he wanted to break down himself.

Like, he knew that if I didn't want him to do anything to JJ this bad, so bad that I was crying so much, he wouldn't have the heart to go on with teaching JJ a lesson.

And the thought of someone hurting me enough to land me in the clinic absolutely destroyed him. What killed him even more was the fact that he could not do a thing about it...

Because of me.

I had that much control over him, and the fact that he had to let a bastard go scot-free because I wanted it so....

It finished him.

Utterly dismantled him.

It was like I cuffed him down emotionally. I had his hands, tied. And he hated that he had to withstand everything because of me. He wanted to be angry, but didn't know who to be angry at. JJ? Me?........ Himself?

"Do you even know how this makes me feel though?" He asked me earnestly, "Have you thought about that? How everything makes me feel?"

More than you know.

But I said nothing. I said absolutely nothing to him.

"Good night, my love."

That was all he said, before he turned the opposite direction, and walked away from me without another word.

And all through out the entire night, Marc didn't speak to me.

As much as it was disturbing, I knew we'd be okay.

All I was grateful for was that the house remained in peace all through the night - no shouting, no screaming, no murders.

At the end of the day, Marcus Acha still did as I wanted.  

Well.....

My head is paining me and I can't think of anything more to say, but just air your mind on everything you're thinking, I'd love to know.🌝

Oh, and in side note, Marc broke a Master Lock with a combination with his bare hands, mad oo!😂🔥 Funny though, there was actually one time in secondary school that this boy in my class broke a Master Lock with his hands. Of course, I didn't see him do it, but they were always praising him for being so strong, as pa he was like the strongest guy in our set, so I heard he did that, and the whole set believed that too, and God knows I don't know if that was true or not, but it was crazyyyyy😂

Oh, well. I'm off to Church. Catch you all on Tuesday!😌♥️