E shock you?😂

I wasn't supposed to update today oo, but I don't know what touched me. So, yeahhh, enjoy this chapter!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️

~DABI~

Omoh.

No saint needed to tell me, neither did I even have to look for myself to see just how much madness the class group chat had been blowing up after the 'stunt' that me and Marc had pulled in school today.

And my God, classmates sure did have enough to talk about today. Starting from the entire chaos that happened with the whole Soma thing, the Soma thing itself, and well, the icing on the cake which was the confession of me and Marcus Acha that was made so publicly.

I didn't even look to see what they said about us on the group chat. With everything in me, I avoided doing so. I also found myself calculation just how many more school days we had left before we vacated for the term, just to give myself a rough number of days I had left before a break. Somehow, I was happy that I was not alone in this. It could have been worse. But at least, Marc had got my side. We were in this mess today and shockingly, in some way, I found it hilarious. 

Better by Khalid was playing because Chika left her speaker in the room and her phone that shuffled her songs and alone, feelings unwantedly getting too mixed up with the beautiful song that played, I stared there at the green rimmed mirror for what seemed like an eternity, asking myself for about the hundredth time if I looked 'okay' this evening or not.

Nothing feels better than this....🎶

Nothing feels better....🎶

Nothing feels better than this...🎶

Nothing feels better....🎶

The lyrics of the song played and as much as I felt happy about getting one burden off my chest - which was me and Marc's secret - I still had loads of others too. Like a gut scared feeling of how our classmates would judge us. How they'd judge Soma because of me, no because of Miranda. How they would judge the Sisters as a whole. And most urgently right now......

What on earth Marc would think of this nonsense I was wearing this night.

"Well shit Dabz, you look like a fire cracker." A random compliment passed me by and I whipped my head back immediately to catch a glimpse of Chika stepping coolly into the room with a dark hoodie over her head and some darker sweatpants, fishing out her phone immediately just as soon as the song playing switched to some other song that I didn't know.

"Are you going out to see Acha?" She asked me as she scrolled through her phone, a rather impassive look on her face while at it. "You look nice."

"Well, I am going out for him," I told her the truth. "Our Dance Class got accepted into the first stage of this contest, and Yukerya, our dance instructor, well she invited me to this get together at Greenland Park—"

"Oh, the Bonfire Party?" Chika cut me off, raising her head up from her phone to ask.

"Huh." I blinked.

"The Bonfire Party that's taking place in Greenland Park tonight," Chika elaborated.

I frowned in confusion.

"How do you know there's a party?" I asked Chika.

"Well, I don't exactly live under a rock, Dabz," She responded, a small smile tingling at the corner of her lips as she clearly joked around.

"I mean, I thought it was a small Dance class party," I told her. "Yukerya actually called it a 'get together'."

"Yeah, a get together of about one-third of the most popular figures in the entire Lekki and Port Harcourt," Chika expatiated with eyes wide at me, "Dabz, you're going to a celebrities party and you didn't even know?"

Blood of Jesus.

"Shit, girl, you could meet freaking Semeeha Iris in that place. Or burst my brain, Ariana Grande!" The light skinned girl was clearly speaking with exaggerations. 

"I don't understand." I plopped into Chika's bed, with confusion written all over me. "Why would Yukerya invite me to a celebrities party?"

Quietly, Chika sat with me.

"Well, Dabi, to be fair," She started slowly, like I was a child that needed words to be broken down to understand, "Since the night of Wonder Coast, you've have dozens of fan pages with some of them having over half a million followers on social media, so you're legit bigger than about a half of the 'influencers' who are going to be at that bonfire thing."

I looked to Chika and I wanted to debunk.....

But she wasn't wrong.

"Wow." I said quietly.

She sprung up quickly and I watched her drag her dark hoodie down, watched her brown natural hair fall to her shoulders as she walked to the cupboard by her bed where she picked up her glasses.

"Congrats, my celebrity friend," She wore her glasses, threw me a smile, before pulling the mini cupboards open and pulling out things that I had not seen in a long, long time. 

Her Boxing gloves.

"Oh, and I saw the video of you and Marc trending on the School's Social Media page—" Chika started telling me and I swallowed hard at the sudden and unexpected news.

So, me and Marc had already moved from the Class Group chat to the School's Social page.

Jesus. 

"— And everyone's trolling us, ba?" I asked Chika,

She paused for a moment, just in the middle of carrying her black thick boxing gloves along with her to one of the punching bags at the corner of the room. She only stopped for a moment and the next moment, she continued in her steps as she replied me.

"Well, I won't lie to you, there will always be haters onto thy grave." She said to me.

"So they hate me and want me dead." I nodded in understanding.

"Oh my God, Dabz," Chika actually quaked with laughter that stopped her movements for another second.

I stared at her back and wondered what was funny.

She stayed that way for a moment, backing me and laughing a muffling laugh into her hands before she finally turned around to face me.

"Dabz, I know it's not supposed to mean a thing, but you have over half the set's support," She told me. "The other small quarter are bitter and unfortunately, that's their cup of tea."

Oh.

"So, you're saying more people support me and less people hate me?" I wanted to clarify.

"Yes, Dabi, but that should not be your consolation—"

But it was.

"—Your consolation should be that you were brave today, and damn the consequences." Chika said to me.

Well, what I did today is a flex.

"I'm proud of you," Chika smiled warmly at me, "The Sisters would be proud too, you know."

A weight dropped into my stomach.

Hearing about the other Sisters who weren't speaking to me right now. Who probably hated me right now gave me the most unsettling feeling.

"How is Soma?" I asked Chika.

I asked with a heavy heart. I was not sure I was ready for the answer to that question, but I asked still.

Chika looked like she had all under control. Like my question didn't affect her. Like she knew how to answer with absolute caution.

"Thanks to you and Marc's stunt, I can say a huge lot of attention has been turned away from Soma," She answered me.

That wasn't exactly the kind of answer I was looking for, but in a slight way, it was comforting to hear.

"I don't know if you did that on purpose," Chika said, "Trying to turn the attention of set away from Soma with your stunt, I mean. But thank you anyways. Thank you for doing that. Soma would appreciate."

"But how is she?" I asked insistently.

Chika looked hesitant to answer, but I pressed on.

"You left school to see her, and you didn't let me come with you," I reminded her. "So, how was she when you saw her, Chi?"

"Look, Dabi, leave it be—"

"I can't!" I protested, whined, complained. "They hate me, don't they?"

"The Sisters couldn't ever hate you," Chika told me.

"You're not telling me the truth," I almost cried.

"Okay, fine, Dabi, things are not exactly pitchy on their end, alright?!" She almost snapped at me.

Almost.

The words that I wanted to cry out next were swallowed down my throat.

"They'll come around," Her tone dramatically went down as she told me softly. "Just. know. that."

There was a certainty to her voice that was almost suspicious.

Made me wonder if she was up to something.

"Okay." Was all I answered.

And hence, silence ensued between us as Chika walked to the corner of the room where her punching bags were, zipped down her hoodie jacket and I watched her take it off quietly to reveal all she was wearing inside which was a black bra top.

"Don't worry about anything, Dabz. Just remember that I have everything under control—"

Chika was talking as she threw her hoodie jacket to her bed, but all she was saying was not even fully decoding in my brain as I quietly gasped in awe at what I was seeing.

"Wow." I muttered to myself, but I doubted the possibilities of her hearing me.

Chika's muscles had grown and it was beyond obvious. It was too obvious to have been noticed and I asked how it was possible that I had missed out on all of that up until this point.

It was the added firmness and toned hardness of her stomach that made me notice everything else overall. Before now, I only noticed the lines on her stomach as little imprints of the abs that were forming. It wasn't there before, but you could see it was on its way. But now, those lines were much more defined. Clearer. Deeper. And you could see that the muscles on her stomach were firm and strong, her abs well defined for anyone to see that this was a girl who didn't play.

And also before, Chika's arms looked like an understatement of it's strength die to her naturally slender stature. Sure she always had an athletic stature, but I mean, she would had to flex hard enough for anyone to see even a little of the potential of all that she got, especially on her arms.

But now, one look at her arm — she didn't even have to flex — and you could see the upgraded build on it. Her arms looked firm, it was clear she was lifting something, and somehow, even if she looked stronger than before, given her arms and her strong tummy build, it didn't make her look any less like a girl.

Strong arms. Toned tummy. Boxing gloves on and eyes determined, set and ready to pound on those bags, Chika still looked like a girl. A strong girl.

And my God, the babe absolutely rocked it!

She almost inspired me.

"One, two, three." I heard her breathe and count, and without warning, she slammed a fist into the punching bags, a powerful scary punch that swung the hefty bag back with dangerous force, nearly created a crater in the thing. Scared the absolute crap right out of me.

Undeterred, focused, almost looking angry, she slammed another, and another, and another,  and another, unloading a series of furious and fast like lightening punches into the punching bag, barraging it with dozens of power shots in the space of fucking seconds.

Her punches were stronger than I remembered.

Like times ten.

I got scared.

That meant Chika got stronger too.

But, she was already strong before. So, why was she working so hard to get stronger and stronger?

"Chika." I called her, but she was apparently too busy to answer.

"Chika." I called again, and only rougher punch sounds greeted me.

"Chika." I called again, but nope, no response. Just a suddenly angry girl and her punching bag.

Why was she so damn angry?

"Chika, you never talk about your underground fight club anymore!"

I shouted above the aggressive slam sounds and that was more than enough to stop her with tremendous force that nearly rocked her backwards.

Well, that did it.

Immediately, she stopped punching and just froze automatically, stared at the punching bag like she could see right through it.

"I noticed." I said. Softly.

Quietly, she turned to me and her shoulders were starting to relax. That made me know that the whole entire time before I finally got her attention, while she pounded at her punching bags, she was also very very tensed.

"How?" She asked me.

There was the littlest hint of confusion on her face.

"I just kinda did," I said to her. "You never talk about it anymore. I don't even know the last time you went there to fight. No one ever says anything about it anymore."

It was always a little question at the back of my mind, but never a prioritized question until now.

I had never been to her underground thing, but the twins were always her biggest wing woman and I had all of Chika's matches — which she always won— stored in their phones.

But, since Ss3 started, I have never heard she or anyone say a word about it. If Chika went down there anymore, then she did it behind our backs. Because I doubt anyone knew.

Chika stood there and she looked like there was a truck load running through her mind.

I had to ask, "Are you okay?"

She looked up to me, almost sharply, like she was snapping out of a reverie, and sighed.

"Yeah," She answered. "I just didn't think anyone noticed that."

There was a silence between us. An awkward, somewhat wistful smile from Chika as she shrugged, trying her best to convey her words as casually as possible when I knew it wasn't that 'casual'.

"Why?" I asked her.

There came that shrug from her again, trying to make me believe that it was some casual thing.

"Nothing serious, I just stopped going there," She said.

Hmm.

"My last match was a day before resumption," She told me, "And I haven't gone back there since then, Dabz. That's it."

I wanted to wade it off as her naturally growing a disinterest for it, but the moment a flash memory came to my mind, I frowned in remembrance.

On the first day of Ss3, on resumption day.....

Chika had shown up in school with a nasty, bruised black eye.

There was something Chika Chioma was not telling me. It was so obvious.

"Chika?"

"Yes?"

"You're not telling me everything."

Chika stayed quiet, her mouth moved but she didn't speak. I knew I was not wrong. There was something she wasn't saying. But what?

"It's not important, Dabeluchi." She said. She sounded..... Annoyed.

"It sounds important," I responded, hinted at her change of tone.

"I want to box," She said to me, her tone dismissive. "I don't want to talk about it abeg."

So, something did happen.

I didn't say anything, but watched as Chika went back to the punching bags to slam away with all her might.

Punch!

Punch!

PUNCH!—

"OKAY FINE! I'LL TELL YOU!" She screamed at me out of the blue, scaring demon out of me as she suddenly whipped her head to me in sudden intense frustration.

Jesus.

Immediately, she calmed down.

That scared me even more.

I mean, for a moment there, when Chika screamed out of the blue, it actually felt like I was seeing a different person.

A person that was too angry to be the Chika I knew.

Chika was warm and kind. Not angry, bitter, livid, and rage filled like that person who had screamed at me just previously.

But the switch. That scared me even more. Never in my life had I seen such duality in my life flash at my face in such short seconds.

"You really want to know why I stopped going there?" She asked me.

Her voice was calm.

Her demeanour was calm.

She was calm.

"Yes." I answered.

Shrugging again, like it was not such a big deal when I knew it most definitely was, she told me her truth, "I lost a fight, Dabeluchi."

That confession threw me off balance.

Hard, I swallowed, sunk it in.

Chika? Lost a fight? How was that even possible?

"I lost a fight," She repeated to me, threw her hands into the air in a 'There you have it!' gesture.

She couldn't have been serious.

I had watched videos of Chika Chioma taking down men twice her size in that place. She couldn't have been able to lose a fight?

"It's not possible," I blurted out.

Chika deflated subtly in what looked like disappointment, and I figured that this was a much bigger deal than she was giving off.

"I mean, how?" I just couldn't believe it. "I'm sorry about that, Chi."

So, that explained that black eye that resumption morning.

"First loss all my life," She said, chuckled bitterly, "Dabz, I have taken down people way older than me. Drug dealers. Ghettos. Even some professional boxing instructors and it wasn't enough to beat that guy in that fight that day. I'm basically a joke."

"Just because you lost one fight? No, Chi," I wanted to say, but she was still talking.

"He is a really big guy," She told me.

"Then, don't be so hard on yourself," I told her.

"No, Dabz, physical strength does not matter," Chika refused, shook her head, "Yes, it could be an advantage, but a person's physical strength means close to nothing in a fight with someone who's supposed to be as skilled as me. I mean, a nine year old could take me down in a fight if they applied the right skills. But, this guy wasn't just big, b, he was also very skilled and that was the frustrating part of it all!"

And wow, she sounded frustrated.

"I was no match," She said, sounded like she was beating herself up about it, "Made me kinda question my confidence in my abilities....."

"No..." I said to her.

"Imagine having so much confidence in something you know you're very good at, only for one fuck up, one eye opener, that something that hits you so hard in the face and dawns reality on you. Makes you to realise that you may not even be half as good as you thought you were," She opened up to me. "It's a really shitty feeling."

Hearing Chika talk like this hit different.

I always looked up to her as someone who was beyond human, who could do everything and never make mistakes, someone who was not scared of anything and had no insecurities too....

All the Sisters did too. We all looked up to Chika Chioma as someone so perfect. She was the mother of the group, she literally made it a job to ensure that we all were okay.

Had I ever asked myself...

If she was okay?

"

So, did you give up?"

I asked her. Quietly.

Chika looked at me and there was that  firmness in her eyes. That strong, firm, determination that I knew moulded her entire being.

"I never give up." She said to me.

Wow.

"I could wait," She told me, "I could wait until I am ready, but I never give up, Dabeluchi."

What was this girl?

"And, I know how to wait," She assured me, a painful smile lingering on her face, "I could wait for as long as it takes me to be ready. I can wait until I am certain that it's the best moment to strike and prove to myself that indeed, there is nothing that I, Chika Stephanie Chioma cannot do."

The silence in the air was so thick as she spoke. It choked me almost. I had never heard a girl sound so determined.

PUNCH!

PUNCH!

PUNCH!

She was back to her business without a warning or a note farewell to me.

I watched her and I could see how much she was putting into it, giving her entire being, her might, her energy, power and vigour into every punch she threw into the bag, like it was the only thing she knew, the only way she could stay sane.

In some way, it was sad to watch her.

It got sadder every second that I watched.

"I have something to tell you," I spoke to Chika as she was busy.

PUNCH!

PUNCH!

She didn't respond to me.

PUNCH!

"It's sort of relates to why I was staying in Marc's house, and why I'm staying in your place now," I continued speaking to her nonetheless.

Somehow, I felt this was the best time to tell Chika. She would take in the shock of it all better as she's already throwing her heart into those punching bags.

PUNCH!

PUNCH!

I continued talking;

"My dad has a mistress—"

PUNCH!

I shuddered at how hard that one was. I jumped, had my heart sink down into my stomach so freaking hard. Why did she punch that hard?

"— And she lives with us," I continued telling her. "My father's mistress lives with us."

PUNCH!

PUNCH!

PUNCH! PUNCH! PUNCH! PUNCH!

Jesus.

"And I did something really bad to her," I dared to continue telling Chika.

I watched her stop a little, hesitate, and I knew she heard me. But then, the next second—

PUNCH!

PUNCH!

"It happened some time ago, Chi. I burned her face with a hot pressing iron and my dad found out so, I ran away from home and haven't been back there since then. Marcus took me in."

PUNCH!

PUNCH!

PUNCH!

"Chi, I should have told you guys about it, but I didn't want to—"

PUNCH!

PUNCH!

PUNCH!

"Chi, maybe you should take it easy before you hurt yourself," I started to get very concerned.

PUNCH!

PUNCH!

PUNCH!

PUNCH!

"Chika, stop," I said.

"PUNCH!"

"PUNCH!"

"PUNCH!"

"PUNCH!"

"Chika!" I called her sharply.

PUNCH! PUNCH! PUNCH! PUNCH! PUNCH! PUNCH! PUNCH! PUNCH! PUNCH!—

"CHIKA!" I screamed out loud, with every thing in me.

"ARGH!" She screamed right back, threw the heaviest punch into the punching bag and started to wrestle the entire thing like it was coming at her, like it was a human being, punching at random, with wild abandon, throwing the bag around and basically fighting with it and I jumped up to my feet, alarmed.

"Chika!" I shouted her name but the girl was long ballistic, and I was scared, way too scared to come in between.

With one final kick at her punching bag, she screamed out in agony, threw her punching bags right off her hands and onto the wall, punched even harder with her bare fists and I closed my eyes, scared she must have bruised her knuckles. Kicking the punching bag again, more aggressively this time, she threw her fists into the air and dashed to her bed to sit down, with hands pressing hard on her head that hung low, her  frustration clear.

"Chika..." My voice trailed off when she started hitting her head, groaning, slapping her hands hard right on her head like she was losing her goddamn mind. I was so scared. Was she mad?

"Chika..." I called her but she wasn't answering me.

She just sat there after basically assaulting herself, still, head down, shoulders slumped, hands pressing against head, quiet.

"Chika, should I go?" I asked her.

No answer.

"Should I call your sister?" I asked again.

No answer.

"Maybe I'll just go and call her," I stood up to make a move as I talked.

"Wait—" I was shocked when he voice came behind me, urgently.

I stopped. Turned around to look back at Chika.

"Don't call Stella," She said to me.

Her voice.... It was calm again.

She also looked normal again.

"I'm fine," She said. "A lot was just going on in my mind, but I'm fine."

Does that mean she was not hearing everything that I said about Delilah and my dad and burning her face with an iron?

Did she miss all of that?

"I'll go now," I told Chika anyway, glanced at my wristwatch that read 7:51pm, "Marc and I were supposed to meet by 7pm. I'm almost an hour late. Will you be okay?"

"Sure, I'll be great, my guy," She dismissively waved me off.

"Chika, are you sure I shouldn't call Stella?" I asked again.

"Don't call anybody." She said to me.

I nodded slowly.

"Okay," I agreed.

I turned around to leave.

"Dabi, wait—"

Chika called me again.

I stopped.

"This woman you burnt with a pressing iron...." I heard her say behind me and I tried not to act too shocked.

So, she did hear me.

Chika heard everything I said about my Dad, Delilah, and the iron burn incident.

"Yeah?" I answered. Had my back still turned to her.

"Describe her," She asked.

That..... Was odd.

I should describe my father's mistress? Why would Chika want me to do that? That as very odd.

"Please," She said to me. "Describe the woman you burnt."

I turned around to meet Chika, eye to eye, with a slightly confused frown on my face.

"Um... Okay," I somewhat stammered, tilted my head to the side to stare at Chika as I said, "She's, um, tall...."

Chika looked at me like she was ticking off imaginary boxes in her head and my confusion was not even in the slightest, masked.

"Yeah?" She urged me on to continue.

"She's light skinned," I carried on.

I saw her forehead crease slightly like she was a bit confused, but she asked me to carry on.

"She's slim too," I said. "And she has a nice figure."

"What was she wearing the evening that you burnt her?" Chika asked me.

That was an awfully specific question to ask...

"Red," I answered Chika anyway. "She was wearing a red dress."

"A red dress," Chika repeated my words.

"A red dress." I confirmed.

"Hmm." She hummed.

Silence.

"And what age grade would you say she was? Twenties?—"

"Thirties," I told her as a matter of fact, "She's in her early thirties."

Chika stared at me. Impassively.

"You're sure about that," She raised a brow.

I couldn't be more sure. Since I was a kid, I've been so sure about everything that had to do about Delilah. Even this.

"Delilah is very pretty, sadly, so I'd bet anyone who saw her would think she was younger than her age, but the witch is not that young. Nor that nice." I told Chika.

"And her name is Delilah," Chika took note of that, eyebrows peaked up in sudden interest.

"Yes," I said.

"What's her full name?" She questioned.

That question took me off guard.

"I..." I stammered for a moment, confusion was all over me.

Chika looked at me, patiently waited for my answer.

"I don't know." I told her.

"Oh," Chika only said.

"Oh." I repeated.

"Okay." Chika nodded.

"Okay." I nodded too.

More Silence.

"I... Umm.. Have to go," I swallowed. Hard. Turned around to start leaving.

"Wait, one more thing—"

I had no idea why I was so nervous, but I stopped. Turned around. Faced Chika. Tried to maintain composure.

"Yes, Chika?" I asked.

She stared at me for a long, long time.

"Look there," She said to me, showed me to the dark rimmed mirror at her bed side and not knowing why she was asking me to look, I looked and stared at my reflection in the mirror.

"What colour are the rims of the mirror?" Chika asked me.

What the fuck?

"Yellow." I answered.

"Yellow." She repeated.

"Yes." I answered in calmness.

There was a deafening silence between us.

Chika was not saying anything more to me and quietly, I turned around, making up my mind to start leaving on that note, wondering within me why Chika wanted to know the colour of the purple rims of her mirror.

She didn't call me back.

And I didn't turn back.

I walked away and zeroed my mind on the long night that I had ahead of me. A long night that I knew was going to be the perfect distraction from all of this.

What's on your mind?💀

First off, I'm sorry this chapter is short, but I had to divide it oo. Because the scene I wanted to fit in here may make the chapter too long😭 So, I shifted it oo. And those asking to see Sean, don't worry, he's literally two chapters away. You people will see him wellla!!!!😂❤️

Reread this chapter sha. Especially the conversation with Chika and Dabi at the end. Because I will refer you back to this very chapter one day😂❤️

Bye, for now!! I'm going to watch Netflix. See y'all next week!✨