I UPDATED THIS MORNING O! SO, IF YOU MISSED THAT, GO BACK AND READ IT BEFORE THIS ONE O!

IF NOT, CONFUSION GO JUS DEY KNOCK ON YOUR DOOR!

And, are we mentally prepared for this one? Because me, I'm not.💀

~DABI~

I couldn't find him.

Truthfully, it was being a feat. I was told to come to the backyard pool, but he seemed to not be anywhere near there. Initially, it was just me, I thought, in the large space out here, surrounded by the nice scenery of the blue pools and the side beach seats, the serene breeze that blew through me too, and smelt like fresh cool air.

And he was nowhere to be found.

I took more steps on the vinyl ground, walking in further to survey the place with the hopes of catching him in sight, but all to no avail.  The night was quiet, and it was calm, and also, it was a bit eerie.

Something didn't feel right.

I felt it in my bones, the strong knowing that I wasn't alone in this place. The lights were dim, the only form of it illuminating the place was the fine gold rays that flashed against the clear blue waters, casting a fine blend into the air. However, in this paradise looking space around me, I felt like there was something underneath, something from Hell, creeping up behind me.

"Hehehehehe—"

I jumped at the sudden laugh that sprung into the air. My body jolted, and my head whipped to the direction where I heard all the noise coming.

"Oh."

Relief washed through me.

It wasn't a killer, coming for my blood. It was just two classmates, a boy and a girl, whose faces I couldn't make out from the distance I stood, laughing by the blue pool, their silhouettes intimate enough to make it clear to me that they were together.

I breathed in again, my body calming itself more as I looked away from the both of them.

My next instinct was to pull out my phone and text him, and with shaky fingers, I started to tap on the screen of my iPhone, all the way feeling a weird lingering feeling at the pit of my gut.

A weird lingering feeling telling me to stop what I was doing.

My heart was beating fast.

And faster.

And faster.

And faster.—

"—I heard it was actually Acha who poisoned Ghadafi. Didn't you notice that it was Acha who gave the Vodka glass to Ghadafi?"

Eh?

Again, I froze.

I halted completely at the voices of chatting and giggling classmates who seemed to be sashaying their way into the pool arena, from behind me, stopping at what I just heard them say.

And it was at that moment, the reality started to dawn on me.

I should have seen it coming, that soon enough, Marcus Acha was going to start being a subject of rumours and misconceptions, because as a matter of fact, Ghadafi did take that drink from him. But, most definitely, my boyfriend could never harm a person.

I knew that.

But other classmates may not.

That worried me.

News in Castron High spread like wildfire. If two girls were already gossiping in the name of my boyfriend, it was more than certain that it was only a matter of days, maybe even hours, that Marc's name was going to be in the lips of Castron High Students.

And for being a murderer?

"And do you also want to hear, Neche?"

I did.

So, fuck it if Neche was not ready to hear more about this, I wanted to, and standing form on my foot, unmoved in the dark and oblivious to these girls to be Dabeluchi, I eavesdropped.

"It's crazy o," The classmate continued, I listened. "I've been hearing some juicy news about some diary. A stalker's secret diary. And, apparently, she has been keeping tabs on Dabeluchi since Jss2! Can you imagine? Freaking Jss2!"

Wait—

The fuck?

"Excuse me."

I spurned around immediately, riled up, my brain ticking itself into a near explosion, and I blazed fire at the gossiping girls, who seemed to look shocked to see me there.

"Who is the stalker?" I asked them, point blank. "And what is this about a Secret diary? A stalker? My stalker?"

Because if I didn't find out now, I may as well end up either drowning one of these girls inside this Marc's pool.

"Tell me!" I demanded. "This stalker, yeah? They're the ones who also leaked my family business too, right? They're the ones who have been following me tail to tail to ruin my life, ba? Tell me! Abi is that worthless spined born-again wannabe, Kelechi Uwa, ba?! Why aren't you talking?!"

"Babe, abeg!" One of the girls quickly fired back at me immediately. "Don't harass us because of something wey no even consine us. Sort your problems by yourself, please!" And with that, she dragged her Neche friend and right before my fiery eyes, stormed out of the pool arena.

I stood there and burned in vain.

My blood was so hot. I could feel it's heat radiating even out through the pores of my own skin, and a part of me, burning, wanted to run up behind those girls and push them into the pool, press their heads down into it's bottom and watch them struggle until they were still...

But, this was not the time.

I had to remind myself why I came here in the very first place.

"For Sean Ayomide."

On that reminder, my body turned on its own accord, aligning with the only section of this arena that I had only carelessly glanced at before.

The only place that was pitch black in darkness.

Right there — By one side of the pool where I was aware was filled with beach tables and chairs, and covered by a fancy shaded roof. Even if, truth be told, I couldn't see anything with the dark, nearly petrifying air that hovered in and around it, like a graveyard.

in the midst of that hell darkness, a glow of subtle light, two of them dotted and sharp as a tiger's eyes, aimed at my direction, marking me on a spot where I suddenly found it hard to move.

But no...

It was no tiger's eyes.

A closer look at it made that bit clear to me. And with an even closer look, it was getting easier by the second to make out the distinction of his very dark skin from the darkness around him, even if they seemed to blend in so perfectly, like a fucking shadow.

Right from the very moment I had walked in here, I felt like I was not alone.

I felt followed.

And watching him sit there under that dark shade with sharp eyes marked on me, it all became clear that those daggers had been following me all the while, watching me.

All the while, Sean Ayomide had been sitting there in the dark, watching me closely.

I swallowed. Hard.

Hard enough to make my throat hurt.

And then, I made steps towards him, cautious and careful, hesitant steps.

After all, we made a deal not long ago. I had requested myself to see him, and all he did was easily give me a location. Sure, it seemed like a set up on his part, but I was willing. I was willing to do anything to help Marc out.

"H-Hi..."

Hesitantly, I stood about two inches away from the table that demarcated the both of us. Carefully keeping my distance away from him, until I was sure of what I was really doing.

"Hi..." I repeated myself again, my voice wavering even slightly more than before.

I had taken jus a few steps, enough for me to start making out his features in the darkness he sat in: his dark skin had more distinction from the dark now and his eyes were whiter, sharper, and with a more up close look, they felt much much more uncomfortable too.

He sat there and stared me dead in the eyes, hands sprawled across the back of his seat as he rested his back easily against it, exuding the arrogance of a rich, Yoruba King, as he stared me down with that unreadable expression on his face — an expression that was so vague and void of any atom of depth.

If he heard me, then, boy, he needed an award for being the biggest and boldest snub in the world. Imagine looking someone dead in the eye and still boldly not saying a word to them.

"You... You said I should meet you here."

I had to remind him. Just in case he forgot.

He still didn't answer me pe se. After taking a brief two seconds to eye me from top to bottom impassively, he nodded for me to have a seat, gesturing to the very beach chair that stayed next to him.

He wanted me to sit next to him.

Right next to him.

"Er... Oh... Okay," I said nonetheless, stammering in hesitance, as I shifted from one foot to the other, inching closer to the table to get to the seat.

It didn't make me feel any better that Sean just kept sitting there, boring holes into the side of my neck with his eyes, watching me in utter silence as I was trying to take a seat right next to him.

And he wasn't even glaring at me.

While this was supposed to be more, um, consoling, it was the actual opposite.

If I walked in here, having him death staring me with daggers in his eyes, it would have been clearer for me to understand exactly what was going on in his head, what he felt about me being here, and just how much he possibly intended to strangle me.

But coming in here to have him stare me down so casually, so plainly, with that vagueness in his irises, and the complete and total relaxation in his body language...

It distabilized me.

That feeling of confusion, uncertainty, anxiety, and even more confusion assaulted everything in me. That feeling of not knowing what was going on in his mind, if I were safe or not, if it was okay for me to be free with him to speak or if it was wiser to pick my words instead.

Or even if sitting this close to him was a good idea.

If he had a bomb in his pockets.

But Sean just sat there, calmly, untethered, his back relaxed against his seat with ease and his long dark fingers almost absentmindedly drumming against the table, as though there was a pop song playing in his head — one he was drumming his fingers along to.

And as he sat there, chill and undisturbed, my mind was in turbulence.

Each second, the air got more choking, an intense feeling of anxiety was slowly creeping onto me, as I lost my mind, slowly and gradually.

"I was expecting you, Dabeluchi Orji."

He spoke, a tone so calm and easy, but in a twisted way, incredibly disturbing too.

And again, those vague, empty eyes set on me, and maybe it was because I found it hard to make out his entire face in the poor lighting around us or maybe it was because I was losing my mind, but I think I saw his lips, lifting into what I presumed was a tight lipped smile.

"Or, should I address you as Aurora?" He cocked his head to the side as he asked, the crinkling of the corners of his eyes selling it off to me that he was rather amused by something.

I didn't fail to note it, however, that subtly mocking undertone of his voice. I stiffened on my seat, adjusting on it over and over in discomfort.

"Only Marc calls me Aurora," I answered.

Sean.... Laughed?

He actually laughed.

Not a guffawing type of laughter, but a chilly type that came off under his breath. I couldn't tell if he genuinely found something about me funny, if he was genuine laughing at me or what I had said or if it or if that laughter was just a cold one, one that he used to keep himself at bay, to mask the anger, to control the urge of him to snap my neck in half.

I couldn't tell anything when it came Sean Ayomide.

And that was what scared me the most about him. It absolutely petrified me.

He was vague and unreadable, confusing, weird, and caused massive discomfort, sometimes even chilly goosebumps. But, he barely did anything, other than sit there and make you lose your mind. Damn it, for all I knew, he may not even be human.

Sean Ayomide may be an alien in disguise.

"So, um..."

It was only in the middle of my hesitating speech that I had noticed that Sean and I had 'company'.

In front of our table were two cups of liquid I couldn't see through in the darkness, but that spiralling straw and that little umbrella, wrapped in the fancily packaged cup, I could easily detect. I stared at the drinks in front of us — two of them— and couldn't help but look between me and him, again and again.

I understood that one of the drinks was for him.

But then, who was the other drink for?

"Drink up."

Eh?

Sean wasted no time, he took one of the drinks and shifted it toward me, setting it in my front.

"Drink up," He repeated.

Taken off guard, I looked at the drink my biggest enemy was offering me in all his charity, and from there, traced my skeptical stare up to his face, that dark face that was just calmly smiling at me, urging me. Waiting patiently for me.

Waiting patiently for me to drink what he was giving me. 

And, well,

God forbid.

"I'll pass, thank you," I said quietly to him. And, I shifted the drink back to him even more quietly, avoiding his gaze that followed me like an evil lingering spirit. "I don't want it, thank you."

For all I knew, he could have poisoned that shit. I had watched a classmate fall to their near death earlier and I was not going to be the second one to be rushed to the hospital tonight.

So, I gave him back his drink, abeg.

However, Sean didn't take it back.

He just sat there, with an unreadable expression on his face, watching me as I awkwardly shifted the cup he had offered back to him.

"Why?" He asked, his voice sounded calculative, like he was masking some sort of frustration and impatience.

I shook my head adamantly, insisting I wouldn't just have it. "I just don't feel like it.—"

"—You should take the drink, Dabeluchi."

Sean ordered.

He ordered me. 

I couldn't miss that his voice was in a deadpan, but that strong note of finality attached to it was glaring. His words punctuates with demand, a dangerous kind that shouldn't be disobeyed. And for another moment, his eyes had darkened into something ferocious, in one second, like a zap of dangerous rage triggered like red lightening in those vengeful eyes.

But that was all the emotion I read off him in that one second.

And, it made me gulp down hard. So hard. And he may have noticed. He may have noticed he scared me, perhaps. And I choose to believe that was the reason why he suddenly let a sharp, razor-like smile flash onto his face the next second.

"Drink it, Dabeluchi," He said to me again, an eerie tone lingered in his voice as he urged me with sinister smiling eyes and even larger grinning lips. "Now."

God, abeg.

He watched me, that creepy smile on his face never fading for a moment, the waiting look in his eyes made me feel goosebumps growing around my body. He waited for me, in some sort of sick twisted anticipation.

I picked up the cup.

He watched me.

I raised it to the base of my lips, tasting the little bits of citric from the straw, so sharp and strong, enough to sting me so hard, just with a tiny taste of the straw.

And Sean sat there, waiting for me to drink it all up.

I pray the Lord my soul to keep.

I drank it.

In one gulp, I swallowed down the strong contents of lemon and ginger, feeling it's sweet burn down my throat, and I hated to admit, loving it, as it set my throat on fire in its bid to go through it and into my stomach.

What is this drink?

My tongue was on fire.

My face was hot.

My throat burned like acid.

My stomach organs felt like they were aggressively rearranging itself.

Now, what the fuck did Sean Ayomide give me to drink, and why?

I turned to him sharply, coughing slightly as the burn started to rise up and down my throat, my face feeling ten times hotter than ever before.

Sean sat there, watching me and smiling, like he had done a job well done. He watched me struggle, and seemed to enjoy it. Seemed to even enjoy down to my inability to even produce cohhorent speech.

"What—" Cough, "The fuck—" Cough, "Was that!?" Cough. Cough. COUGH.

Sean blessed me with a sweet smile, asking, "Didn't you like it?"

I coughed again, my chest burning fiercely over and over.

Yet, Strangely, "I did like it."

His smile broadened even further.

"I knew you would."

What the fuck?

Sean laughed again and shook his head, grabbing his own cup and effortlessly drinking from it like a pro.

"It's lemonade," He started of by telling me, "With a lot of ginger."

I frowned. "Ginger?"

"Ginger." He confirmed with a nod, taking more sips out from his straw, right before turning to me again with that weird smile. "I made it just the way you like it."

Ants crawled on my back.

Instantly.

And damn it, so many of them.

I stared at Sean, who was 'harmlessly' drinking while my body was creeping and shuddering with goosebumps. One question kept lingering on my damn mind.

"I..." I stuttered in hesitation, "I have never told anyone I liked Ginger before, Sean."

"Interesting." Sean hummed in mock delight, sipped from his cup again. "You must be flabbergasted to see that, somehow, I know." And, he laughed. He fucked up my head and laughed about it, like it was the funniest thing in the world to him.

"How did you know?" I asked him.

Full brows raised at me in amusement, "Are you surprised?"

I nodded, yes.

"Well, Dabeluchi, there is nothing I don't know," He just told me, point blank. "I just pick what to make my business and what not to. You understand, brah?"

I couldn't.

I couldn't, for the life of me, understand how on earth Sean was able to know something so random and insignificant, yet detailed, about me. It made me wonder... How much more could he have known about me?

But, Sean didn't give me any source of his information about me. He just scoffed under his breath, and went back to drinking from his cup like nothing happened.

I sat there, mortified.

And he was so unfazed.

Silence stayed between us. Mine, of panic, anxiety, confusion, and shock, and his, probably because he was peacefully enjoying his lemon and ginger drink.

I couldn't even drink anymore.

"I saw your dance video with your boy, earlier..."

He casually brought Marc into the conversation and I died and resurrected.

"Nice moves," He said, I believed that was a compliment? I wasn't sure. "I am surprised that Marc found the balls to go back to Dancing, even after what happened the last time."

I...

Um, what happened the last time?

"You sure do have an effect on him, don't you." He said, his tone was in observance, and I wasn't sure if it was something to be worried about.

Sean looked at me, his cup swaying between his Index and thumb fingers as he asked me, "Does he know you're here?"

I shook my head in the negative, implying a firm, hard No.

Sean smiled, his lips nearly reaching his ears.

"Good." He said to me, dropped his cup on the table and set a straight, serious look into the air. "Because I warned you specifically not to bring him here." Turning to me with eyes that seemed to turn darker by the second, he added, "You obeyed, Dabeluchi. You did the right thing."

Silence.

"Okay, but,—"

"—So, you summoned me!" He cut me off, announcing into the air out of the blue, "You were the one who asked to see me, Dabeluchi, and I must ask, to what do I owe this pleasure? Spill." He balanced back into the beach chair, expecting me to take the mic from there and start my explanation.

And thank God I was straight to the point.

"It's about Marc," I started off, telling him.

He barely reacted.

Barely.

Casually, without a single bother or shake up, he took a sip from his cup, waiting for me to go ahead.

"Well, I... I'm only worried because he is your best friend," I said to Sean.

And, well, that one seemed to do a number on him. But, again, it was barely noticeable.

Very subtly, on that word 'Best friend', the lids of his eyes twitched. It was very slight, hardly easy to pick up, and the next second, he was back to 'normal'. Almost like, once again, nothing had happened.

"Yeah?" He looked at me, with a raised brow that feigned obliviousness. "What about him?"

He tried to feign obliviousness, but that stiffness in his tone gave it all away. For the first time, I was happy to pick off an emotion off him, even if it was something cloud in so much hate, bitterness, and grudge, for Marc.

...All because of me.

Sean sat there, waiting for me to talk, and I was on the verge of bawling my eyes out in tears.

This was all my fault. Because of me, Marc and his best friend's relationship was so strained, to a point that bringing it back seemed like an utopia dream.

And it broke me.

This broke me.

I needed to do what I came here to do in the first place — Fix Marc and Sean's friendship.

"H-He really cares about you," I told him, "I don't understand how you can't see that. And, I agree he made a mistake, but who doesn't? Haven't you made a mistake before? Why can't you forgive him?"

A brick Wall.

That's what I was talking to — An impenetrable brick fucking wall.

Frustration scattered me, tears brimming and burning my eyes so hard, and guilt, shaming me on Marc's behalf. I swallowed. Tried to keep my composure and talk something into him. Or at least, try.

"Sean..." I called his name, my breath shook in my voice, as I reached out for his hand, hoping to break through that wall around him.

I heard physical touch could speak volumes. So, I hoped that notion was going to save me tonight, save Marc tonight too. I reached out to his hands on the table and was relieved when he did not push my hand away.

His hands were soft.

Ironically.

For a guy with such a hard exterior, he had such soft, fragile skin.

"Sean, stop holding things against your best friend," I said to him, my voice shaking even more as I tried to talk to him. Tried to plead. "E-Everything that happened was my fault."

He stayed in his position, quiet, for an uncomfortably long, long time. Whether or not he felt anything, it was hard to tell. But, he didn't push my hand away. So, maybe, just maybe, this was working.

"Sean—"

I was cut off by his unexpected chuckle.

Rephrase, I was completely thrown off balance by it.

It was a chuckle so humorless, so disregarding, so painful. And when his hands left mine the next minute, it felt to me as though the world could open up and swallow me whole and it wouldn't feel as horrible as this.

Sean's eyes set on me, amusement lingering in them.

"So, you came here, just to tell me this?" His lips lifted at the side into a mocking side smile, his head tilting slightly to the side as he questioned me. "You get mind sha." And with that, he laughed again and shook his head, drinking more from his cup, while my tears nearly started flowing down.

I stared at the demon before me, my tears flowing down as anger started to subtly set in, rage building up with my pounding heart and broken spirit.

"What is wrong with you?" I asked him, my voice shaking with fury and brokenness. "You mean to tell me, you feel nothing right now? You mean to tell me that's how wicked you actually are, Sean? That's how wicked and selfish and inconsiderate you can be?!"

He didn't even get angry.

Not even in the slightest.

My words just bounced off him like a boomerang, spiralling to hit me back and annoy me even further when he barely acted fazed or triggered by my words. It was like nothing could penetrate this cold human — not even horrible words.

I nearly pulled out my hair in frustration.

Sean didn't look like he could care less. I watched him gulp down the entire contents of his cup down his throat, as my head grew hotter and hotter by the second.

He was slow at first, taking his precious time to drink it all down, but slowly, gradually, he started to speed up, until he was practically swallowing the contents like a fish, gulping down the lemon and ginger 'poison' like it was the water of life.

"Sean, stop that!—"

He slammed his cup onto the table, the loud banging sound was enough to shut me up in the middle of my worry.  Wincing slightly at the effect of the drink, he swiped the remnants of the liquid that remained at the corners of his lips and with a jolt, jumped right up from his seat.

I watched him rise, and my heart beat rose along with him.

"Stand up."

He ordered me.

"Wait— eh?"

Snap!

I felt the joints of my shoulders slightly shift in dislocation with the force that Sean used to yank me right of my seat, pulling me right onto my feet immediately.

"What's going on?—"

"Come."

"—Agh!"

Sean dragged me.

Without either a warning or a waste of time, he was pulling me along with himself, dragging me with him as he took fast paced steps out of here, heading to the other side of the backyard.

Meanwhile, I struggled with him, trying to shout or scream, but fear had paralyzed my vocal cords so the only sounds I could make were whimpers of anxiety as Sean dragged me to where I didn't know.

"Stop! Someone, HELP ME!" I wanted to shout, but no words were audible enough to be heard by anyone who could have been even two feet from us, and Sean lackadaisically continued, pulling me into a row of stairs from the back of the house — A stairway I had never seen before.

"Where are you taking me?!—"

"—Just shut up and you'll see."

I didn't want to 'shut up and see', I wanted to run. I wanted to run away so, so far, and NEVER come back anywhere near him. But, I couldn't. His grip around my wrists were strong and very, very painful. And the more I tried to let go from him, the further I saw myself moving further up the dark stairway with him, hearing our footsteps thundering and resounding all around the space of the dark, empty stairway.

Whether it was because of the darkness or just the fact that it was a long, long stack of stairs, I couldn't even see the end of the stairway. And that, horrified me. Fear latched around my neck and have me a chokehold, and Sean didn't stop taking me further up the stairs, practically running with my hands cuffed and sealed in his wicked grip.

God. God. God. Help me!

I continued to pray the Lord my soul to keep, shutting my eyes tight and muttering pleasing prayers to God as so many thoughts started running through my damn mind;

Where is Sean taking me to?

Am I getting kidnapped?

Was coming here a mistake?

Is he going to kill me? Or drown me? Or push me off a balcony? Or, I don't know, strangle me to death with his bare hands and leave me here?

Is that why he brought me here? So that no one would suspect he was the one? Or, no one would ever find my body, until it was reeking and filled with maggots?

God, I knew it! I knew I was making a huge mistake from the start!

How was I going to explain to Marc that his best friend abducted me?!—

"—Argh!"

Sean 'flung' me into somewhere.

I'm not shitting you. He literally threw me in here, like I was a handbag. My eyes were still shut so tight and I could only feel my body been thrown away from his hold, breeze whooshing through me, before my body hit against something hard and strong, and thin, like a protector.

It was so windy here. So breezy. All around me, air whooshed back and forth, slapping my face and blowing my hair, and I heard footsteps coming behind me — Footsteps I knew belonged to Sean.

Horrid, I opened my eyes with force.

And, immediately.

With hands latched against the hard protector, holding it tight in a vice grip, I looked around me, surveying the roof top that I was in, and holding my heart in my hands. God forbid, but we were about six floors up and underneath me, I could see the entire landscape of Lekki Chamber Estate, along side the fast driving cars that whooshed past back and forth, ready to crush anyone who came in their way to powder.

God. God. God...

So, Sean brought me here to throw me off the roof top?!

I needed to run.

But, no such luck.

The moment I set a foot back to pace out of here, Sean's hand grabbed me tightly, halting me on my tracks.

"Don't test me," He warned with eyes that blazed dangerously, and the next second, I was pushed back again into the protector, my chest hitting against the rail a bit too hard as he forced my head up to look up into the landscape. 

"Can you see that?" He asked me, but I was not sure what exactly I was supposed to be seeing. He had one of his hands, cupped around my tiny face, fingers digging into my skin, as he forced my head to stay the position he wanted, in a bid to have me looking out into the landscape.

Normally, I'd love to stare at Landscapes. There were very pretty and aesthetic, and it almost made me feel like a god to have the ability to watch an entire city from a higher grounds. And nothing beat the landscapes from the view of the Acha Residence: the fancy street lights that looked like dotting stars, the busy Lagos traffic, the fine silhouettes of people all shapes and sizes, and the cool view of the infrastructure of houses too. It was all too pretty.

Like the one I was being made to watch against my will.

Watching Landscapes, to me, was a romantic ideal. Like watching the starry nights. Something done between a boy and a girl, who like each other and want to feel peace and love amongst themselves. It was something done voluntarily, for the fun of having a romantic experience.

Not being held my the neck and face and being forced to watch it.

To like it.

"I asked you a fucking question, Dabeluchi," Sean seethed, speaking through gritted teeth. "Can you see that?"

I tried to shake my head, no, having I knew not an idea of what he was talking about, but with the grip around my face, it was impossible for me to even move my head left or right.

He noticed that. Didn't make him loosen the grip he had on my face, no, but at least, it made him elaborate exactly what I was supposed to be 'seeing'.

"Straight," He deadpanned, navigating my head in his hands to a particular direction. "Can you see that building over there?" My eyes soared all around the hundreds of buildings that were surrounded in the estate, watching one after the other from up here and trying to find the one he was talking about in the midst of the dozens in this landscape. "The one that looks like a lighthouse, right next to the Chambers Filling Station. Are you fucking blind?!"

Spotted.

"Yes!— I mean, No! I mean, Yes, I can see it! No, I'm not blind! I—"

I was certain that Sean would have left me artificial dimples by the time he let go of my face, because the way his fingers dug into my cheeks as he positioned my face, I knew he would most definitely leave a damn mark.

But, thank God!

Thank the Lord I saw the building he was talking about. Thank God I was able to spot it. Because the second he was convinced that I had, he snapped his hands away from its hold on my face, releasing me so hard that I had to drop into the protector and hold it strongly in order to not fall right off it.

"Jesus!" I gasped, breathing in long shots of air into my system, trying to get myself back in composure.

Sean stood there, by my side, watching me struggle, and until I was stable enough, he didn't touch me again, neither did he say another word.

"Are you done?" He finally asked me, when my breathing seemed to come back again to a more natural state.

I nodded, yes, hoping this would be the part where I would be set free.

But, again, no such luck.

"The House," He ordered again.

I knew he wanted me to look back at it. That very one he forced me to single out in the whole landscape. That very one that stood tall and colourful, right next to the Chamber Estate Filling Station. He wanted me to set my eyes back on it.

And without hesitation, dreading yet another session of him 'manhandling' me again, I obeyed him.

I looked at the House next to the Filling Station.

"That's where I live, Dabeluchi," Sean informed me.

He gave off such random information and joined me on the protector, resting his arms on them, just the way I was doing.

Meanwhile, I nodded, failing to understand why it was neccesary for me to know where he lived. But, I let him continue, pretending to just, well, go with the flow.

"Can I tell you something fun?" He asked, and when I looked to look at him, he was actually grinning at me.

Grinning.

Somebody that literally dragged me some minutes ago.

He was now grinning with me.

"Yes," I answered.

I felt like I dared not refuse. Like I dared not cut him off. Like I dared not make him stop grinning. My life felt threatened as I stood here with him, but I couldn't run, because he would catch me.

He would catch me and get angry again.

I was afraid of making Sean angry.

So, with a thundering heart in my chest, I stood there with him, freezing from the cold air of the night, and pretending to engage him.

"You know," He proceeded to gist me, that sharp grin lighting up his dark, dark skin, "From my bedroom window," he pointed focus back to that house he said he lived in, "I can see the Acha Residence too."

"Oh," Was all I knew to respond.

"It's funny sha," he laughed a bit as he continued telling me. "Everyday, I'm hiding in that hell house to escape the twisted world around me and one glance outside my window, I get reminded of all over again of everything that's so fucked around me. Epic shit, ba?" He laughed about it a second time, shaking his head along with his rich laugh.

I wasn't sure how to react.

So, I forced in a little laugh too, hoping it was the correct reaction to what he just told me.

Luckily, he didn't get triggered by that. With eyes set ahead on that tall building, he seemed to get lost for a short moment.

"Let me ask you something, Dabeluchi."

His attention turned back to me and my ears and heart piqued instantly. He wasn't looking at me, but I knew all his other senses were focused on me.

"Okay," I responded skeptically. "Go ahead."

Finally turning his head my direction, he asked with a simple smile;

"Have you ever been stabbed in the back before?"

The question...

I didn't know where this was going, but the question made me uncomfortable for very many, many reasons.

"Well, um—"

"— Tell me the first time," He insisted, turning around to balance his back against the protector, looking at me and urging me to go ahead and speak. "Come on, I'm listening. Let's talk deep, Dabeluchi."

"I don't know if I am comfortable—"

"—I said I'm listening, Dabeluchi." He cut me off rather coldly, with a solidity to his voice that scared me.

Quickly, he loosened up again, smiled at me again, and made his voice come off a bit less intense.

"Don't be shy," He said to me. "You can tell me anything, right, Dabi?"

I stared at him, unsure of what to say exactly. My hands were shaking on the protector, my body trembling slightly, due to the cold and the discomfort Sean was causing me.

"I said, right, Dabeluchi?" He repeated himself, his voice thickening with the last two words. Enough to cause me to gulp down hard.

I nodded, agreeing even if I wasn't truly agreeing. "Right."

Sean quipped me an even brighter smile.

"Good," He sounded satisfied. "Now, talk to me. Let's understand each other in a deeper level, yeah? And don't dare let me repeat myself again."

"Okay," I whispered softly, dread laced in my voice and showing in my shaky tone. "I was barely six years old when I found out that my father was not as good a person as I thought he was."

"Whoosh!" Sean exclaimed, taking all that in dramatically. "That must have hurt like a bitch, right?"

I nodded, agreeing with him for the first time. "It did. It really did."

"So," He probed further, "What exactly drew you to this realization?"

"Well," I said with a bit of hesitation, my fingers drawing nervous circles at the back of my neck. "I just came to the understanding that it wasn't normal for a man to continuously hit his wife. I started to realise it was wrong: many times I saw my Mum crying, and bleeding, and fainting..."

Sean was quiet for a while.

I refused to look at him, but our silence made me understand that he was sinking in everything I was telling him.

"It actually sucks to start understanding the bitter reality at such a young age though," I said to him.

I heard him sigh.

It sounded like he was actually agreeing with me.

Was this really happening? Was I actually 'bonding' with Sean right here? Right now? Does that mean he would soon let me go? Grant me my freedom? If I established a connection with him?

"I get that," He said to me.

"Get what?" I asked him.

"Understanding the bitter reality at such a young age," He elaborated, a small chuckle left his lips. "It sucks, innit?"

"It does suck," I said, nodding.

"I don't know how you do it," He told me, and fuck me, but he actually legit sounded sincere. "If I ever found out my Pops was a bastard, I'd shoot myself in the head. Ain't no cap."

I giggled softly, appalled at such hard language coming from him. He looked at me, frowned a bit, and a small laugh escaped his lips.

"What are you laughing about?" He asked me.

"Nothing, it's just, you're a bit extreme, Sean," I told him. "You don't need to kill yourself over a parent who fails to do their duty for you as a child. It's never your fault at the end of the day. Maybe if you had a bad parent, you'd understand what I mean."

He scoffed at what I said.

"What are you now, some inspirational teacher?" He mocked me, I think he was actually joking with me? Could it be? It seemed surreal. "And besides, I do know what it's like to have a flawed parent too. So, don't go all Miss Experience on me!"

"Your Mum?" I asked him, tilting my head to the side. "Is it your Mum?"

He glanced at me, but looked away when he sensed the softness in the air between the both of us.

"She's not a bad person," He said, making that clear to me. "She's just not a good person, either."

Okay, I'd pretend like I understand that...

"But, Popsi always has my back and that's all that matters," Sean told me. "He's my favorite person in the world."

This was new to me.

Someone bonding with their Dad.

I could not even start to relate with Sean on this one.

"But, I did feel betrayed by him one time," He told me.

"Yeah?" I urged him to continue.

He laughed, like it was the silliest reason to feel betrayed by someone.

"My mum and I were at loggerheads, and well, he, um, took her side," He told me easily.

I laughed softly. "Well, she is his wife. That's the love of his life, I mean."

"Yeah," Sean said, eyes downcast. "Even if these days, they don't behave like they are in love anymore..."

Well, oof!

"I still remember that day like it was yesterday," Sean said to me, and yet again, he laughed.

A part of me started to understand something about him. I was starting to understand that he laughed when he felt any kind of emotion building up: be it sadness, guilt, anger. It was like he practically laughed it away.

"Can you imagine," He chuckled again as he nudged my arm. "Nine year old me was so heartbroken that day, and you won't even believe what happened to me next."

"What?" I asked.

Sean gisted me with a bright smile on his face.

"I fell off the balcony," He told me, laughed again, and this time, even more rich than previously. "Two floors, Dabeluchi. I fell from two floors. And, just like that, I went shhuuuuuu—bang! Head on the tiles, blood splattered on the ground, and my whole world, pitch fucking black."

Chills.

Chills ran through me.

How he managed to gist something so gory and brutal with the sweetest smile on his face and the most ringing laughter belting out of him was beyond me.

A-And, y-you're still alive?" I asked him, shocked.

Sean chortled, shook his head at my question.

"Nah, sweetheart, I died that day I fell off that balcony."

The fuck?

"I died many many years ago, Dabeluchi," Sean told me, a sick smile spreading across his dark face and a dark look in his eyes, aimed at the innocent air space in front of us. "You have no idea the kind of child I used to be, Dabeluchi. Even if I told you, you still wouldn't believe me."

"I..." My words hitched in my throat, as I tried to form the right words to say to him. "I... I don't know what to say, I'm—I'm so sorry about that."

"That word irks me, Dabeluchi," Sean said to me, his voice and demeanor getting darker. "What's the essence of being 'sorry' when it doesn't change a thing? It's pointless."

"Sor— Oh." I shut my mouth thereafter, afraid of further saying the wrong thing, again.

"You're good company, not even gonna lie—" Sean said to me.

Thank God.

"— But, I have to remind myself that you're my enemy."

And with that, he pushed his leaning self off the protector, standing upright and guarded, ready to attack.

To attack me?

Horrified, I jumped up too. And with fear and panic hovering over every part of me, I took deliberate steps backwards, away from Sean, in an attempt to run when I had the chance.

"I only came here to fix things," I said to him, hands clasped together as I tried to make him understand. "I feel awful about how much your friendship with him that has been there since childhood has been cut off just because I came in. And that's why I'm here. To try to mend it back. Because it's my fault!—"

Sean seemed amused by what I said, his eyes laughed along with his lips. A mocking laugh.

"So, because it's your fault, then it should be some catalyst to my forgiveness, right, Dabi? I grasp the logic entirely." He deadpanned.

"That's not what I meant!—"

"—Let me ask you something, Dabeluchi."

I took another step back when he got closer, the only space between us being less than two feet.

Gulp.

"How important do you think you are?" He asked me in plain words.

"I don't think I am important, I'm just trying to—"

"— He stabbed me in the back, Dabeluchi," Sean took a step closer, closing in the tiny space between us and glaring dangerously down at me. "He took a knife and pierced it into my damn spine, and you're here, begging on his behalf, telling me to let it all go and pretend like it didn't happen, just because it is your fault?"

My throat was in my mouth at this point, I could taste my own breath as I breathed, panted heavily, and pressed my back onto the wall, hoping it was possible for me to disappear into it.

Sean's eyes were hard on me, like a wild animal ready to tear it's prey apart and into shreds. His tall height hovered all over me, and I was as little as an ant, before him, trembling and shaking and sweating.

"It's your fault, and so what?" He snapped at me, his last words coming off as a powerful growl. "I'm obligated to let it go then? I must and by command forgive Marcus Acha because his little princess is taking the blame? Now, who the fuck do you think you are, Dabeluchi Orji?"

"No..." I tried to say, I tried to explain, my when I opened my mouth, no words came out. Panic was latched around my throat, squeezing it to the point that not even whimpers could escape.

I just stood there, back against the wall, Sean towering me, opening and closing my mouth like a fish brought out of water.

"See eh," Sean laughed bitterly, I saw blood in his eyes and my skin crawled. "If you were important enough for my best friend to ditch me when I needed him the most, for him to make his decisions based of you, you must be really sick in the head of you genuinely think you're entitled to have the same kind of importance over me, sho get?" He emphasized what he just said with his middle and Index finger pressed onto his temple. "You think I will let go of all the anger and trauma and hurt, just because of you?"

My God...

My God...

My God...

This is backfiring!

"Let me tell you something that will shock you," Sean said, crashing himself into me, pinning my body to the wall with his forehead against mine, eyes glaring dangerously.

I gulped again. Harder. He continued;

"Marcus Acha may have made you feel so, but I assure you, the real world does not start and stop with Dabeluchi Orji. And one day, I hope that he realizes that all you have been is a thorn in his eye and a distraction in his mind.

And hopefully, I will be the one to cause that impeccable character development in his life. And hopefully still, tonight. Because, guess what, it's my turn to be the backstabber."

And with that, he dashed himself and his forehead away from me, tearing off the close proximity between us, and without another word, storming out of this roof top in a fit of rage.

Leaving me here alone to hold my pounding heart in my hands.

He left and I came crashing onto the floor, pressing my hands onto my chest and breathing in and out so hard, in a bid to fight off the growing panic attack that was trying to set in.

Beads of sweat came dripping down my forehead and falling into my kids, stinging my eyes and burning it with it's acid, but nothing was capable of causing more of a disturbing sensation than the one Sean had already caused me before me stormed out of here.

I sat there on the ground, panting, my hands shaking thoroughly as I tried to get out my phone from my pockets, to dial Marc or any of the Sisters as fast as possible.

With trembling hands, I held my iPhone in my hands and hoped it wouldn't fall off considering how hard my hands vibrated, and having the sweat and tears that piled up in my eyes made it difficult for me to see my screen properly, I tried to push my phone as close to my face as possible, while hitting my messages to text Marc and tell him everything that just happened right now, with me and Sean Ayomide.

But before, I could have the chance to send Marc a message, as if on cue, as if he knew I was coming for his SMS, a message dropped into my phone, from him, that very second.

Clyde ❤️

Aurora, babe, where are you? You said you were going to meet the Igbo Sisters, but I just saw Chika, Soma, and one of the twins, and you weren't with them. Are you lost? I hope you're okay. Tell me where you are if you're lost, I will come find you.

<< Sent Now.

I stared at the message Marc sent me, and if I wasn't too much in panic mode, I would have awwed at his sweetness.  I started to thumb away at my phone screen, telling him everything: From how I secretly went to meet Sean behind his back, how he dragged me to the roof top, how we talked, how he ended up threatening me, and how he finally left me here in this freezing, to suffer a panic attack.

But, then, I stopped typing half way.

The realization hit me, all of a sudden. Saying anything that had the ability to spite either of them or make them angrier, be it Marc or Sean, would completely defeat the purpose of me trying to save their friendship.

I needed to be more careful. 

So, frantically, I texted Marc back.

Me.

Don't worry, babe. I'm fine. I just stepped out to go and pee. I'll meet up with the Sisters when I'm out. In case they change locations, if you spot any of them anywhere, just let me know, yeah?

<< Sent Now.

Marc texted as fast as the speed of light, so I wasn't surprised when his message came barely half a second after I had sent mine.

Clyde ❤️

I only know where Soma is, she seemed to have distanced herself from the rest of the Sisters. Check the Guest Room 14, she was in there some seconds ago.

<< Sent Now.

Noted.

I left the message on read and got up from the floor, hoping to somehow be able to navigate my way through here to the guest rooms.

***

Guest Room 14 was the easiest room to find amongst the others.

Although, I sincerely wondered why Somadina Best, of all people, would have preferred to be down here, when the rest of the party was downstairs, shaking the ground with loud music and louder screaming.

But, it was good anyway, because right now, the last place I wanted to be in the midst of all those classmates, downstairs. So, in a way, I was relieved that Soma was distancing, and in turn, I was about to join in.

"Soma...?"

I opened the door and started to get a bit skeptical when I looked around the place, surveyed it, only to see no trace of Soma whom Marc told me was here.

"Soma?" I called again, but the only voice I seemed to hear was mine calling out to a non-existent Somadina Best.

The room was empty.

And I mean, completely void of any life.

In fact, it looked like nobody had been here in ages, and the eerie feeling of being in a room that looked and smelt different from the rest of the house made me get increasingly uncomfortable.

I mean, The Acha Residence scented of many things, from Cedar to Lavender to Aloe Vera to even Vanilla, but here, it smelt like dust and the year 1800. It looked like ages too, with it's slightly worn out looking beds and dusty tables and chairs, and a mirror that was clouded in dust, impossible for any reflection to be seen on it.

It was still a pretty room, nonetheless. It was identical to the rest of the other guest rooms, with the brown walls and the wood of the beds, black oil painted, and the wardrobes, just about the same colour theme. It's only flaw was that it looked abandoned.

I started to fear I was in the wrong place.

Because why would Soma be in a place like this?

And why would Marc send me into a place like this?

It made no sense.

There must have been a mistake somewhere. I would text Marc and tell him just that, and maybe, just send a message to any of the Sisters or give them a call to ask of their whereabouts. Simple.

Meanwhile, I decided to leave.

And, Immediately.

Without a waste of time, I fell into step, heading back towards the door to exit, while dialing the most recent number that I interacted with on my 'recently called'...

...Only to be halted on my tracks by the blaring out of a familiar ringtone, from somewhere behind me.

Eh?

I stopped, paused on the spot, as I heard that grumpy rough voice screaming out the Intro of SpongeBob's Theme song, and my brows furrowed in confusion.

I turned around again, immediately looking to the direction that that SpongeBob theme song was playing.

Only one person I knew had that ringtone.

And, I think it was safe to assume that they were the only people in the entire CH Finals set that had that as their ringtone too.

I narrowed my eyes at the direction the song blared out from, and on its own, my legs started to make it's way towards that direction, only to walk up to that familiar looking broken screened Samsung phone that rested there, peacefully, on the dusty table where the dustier Vanity Mirror was set.

I stared at the ringing phone for a while longer, looking at the ID over and over again.

Lulu Bear💋

And, in my hands, my phone was still dialing the line.

"Weird this should be here," I had to comment to myself as I picked the Samsung phone up, and dusted the back.

Following suit, I cut my own call.

And watched the phone blink, the screen going back to sleep.

But, damn it, that was more than enough time to catch a glimpse of something that slapped my attention.

And, hard.

Shocked and confused, I swiped the phone back open again and opened it with my thumb print — as I had been long given access to do so— to see if what I just saw was actually what I just saw.

Wait—Eh?

The entire thing absolutely bamboozled me. Like, it was as though, I was in a rail road, and a train just appeared in light speed, and ran me hard onto the rails, crushing me into powder and paste.

That's how it felt staring at the words and numbers on the screen of this Samsung phone, and it was as though all my brain could boot at first was the dates and recurrent mentions of my name, before the rest of the bitter-to-swallow info started to decode in my brain, for me to painfully understand it.

"What is this?" I exclaimed to myself.

I read each like and felt the hairs of my skin stand, and the blood running in me, boil over, slowly, gradually, but definitely.

"Five years ago," I read the first one out loud to myself, "We had a combined Social Studies Class with Jss1 D today. I saw a girl today for the first time. She had dreads and her uniforms were a bit bogus. But, she had the prettiest eyes..."

Wait—What?

I hated to admit that I already mentally pictured the image of who this was about at a go, and instantly, was able to tell, it was me.

I read the rest of the paragraph, my throat lodging there in my mouth.

...Something was odd about her. But, for some reason, when I saw her, I got called to her. Something about her called out to me. She sat behind me in Class, right beside Hassana and Haliya, and I noticed she kept talking to herself. I don't know her name. But, I think she is a loner.

I...

Jesus.

I remembered this.

I remembered that day very clearly, that hot afternoon during the Social Studies Combined class. I wanted to go home, I was tired and exhausted from everything and was starving. I remember Hassana Alfa telling jokes with her two friends, cackling and squeaking behind me, and I remember being extremely irritated by all the noise.

I remember communicating my frustrations with the voices in my head, I remember telling them I wanted to get a gun and wipe out the entire class, just to get some fucking peace of mind.

I also remember her.

I remember her watching me.

And, I remember wondering why too.

Curious, I continued reading;

I found out her name today. I sat beside her today again in today's combined Social Studies Class and I saw her name on her book. Her name is Dabeluchi. But, we didn't speak. Or, at least, I said hi. But she did not respond to me.

Damn it, this memory was a bit foggy.

But, I do remember, I was a bit creeped out to see her again, and this time, she didn't sit in front with the other popular kids, she rather chose to come and sit there, right beside me.

I remember our conversation in shorts.

"Dabeluchi Orji," She pronounced my name, with a thick Igbo accent that surprised me after moping confidently into the front of my Social Studies Textbook. "Cool, another Igbo Sister in a Yoruba Land. I salute, my gee." And, I remember blatantly ignoring the shit out of her.

She had laughed it off, unbothered. Her confidence surprised me, yet scared me. I remembered shifting seats a bit, to create a measurable distance between the both of us.

I remembered thinking she was so beautiful, but then again, she was so popular. And popular people like her in my set were far from being nice people. I had no idea what she wanted from me, so even when she said Hi, I still ignored her.

With a piquing curiosity, I continued;

Dabeluchi really likes to be on her own. I don't know if she is happy being alone, but she looks really lonely. I feel bad for her. I want to be her friend.

And continued;

There is something off about that Dabeluchi girl. I can't place it. There is a vibe about her that makes me a bit uncomfortable. But curious. Is it wrong that I want to get to the bottom of this?

I couldn't stop reading;

Dabeluchi stabbed a girl today in Class today. It was brutal. Jelanie Jarah and her mean friends were making jokes off her, and when Jels called her mental, she lashed out on her with a Mathset compass. It was so gory. Jels is in the Clinic, and she hasn't stopped bleeding. Dabeluchi may get expelled. The entire set hates her. I heard Chebelu and her friends want to beat her up after School. 

This memory slapped me.

It was one of the very memories that could never leave me, even I wanted it to. I still remember that day like it was yesterday, how Jelanie and her mean friends had made fun of me thoroughly and how I had managed to continue ignoring her, until she ended up calling me a 'Mental Goat'.

Somehow, I don't know how till today, I saw myself pouncing on the girl, stabbing her everywhere with a Mathset compass.

I also remembered I got death threats for days, weeks even. I was trolled everywhere, bullied mercilessly, and threatened to be beat up everyday after school, even by Boys. I was a subject of humiliation and bullying in my set that period, and I remembered, coupled with what was going on at home, that was the first time I decided I wanted to actually end it all.

With shaky hands, I read up the rest of the paragraph from the phone screen;

Why do I feel bad for her? She injured someone else badly. But would it be crazy if I justified it saying that she was triggered? I saw it in her eyes. That word 'Mental' seemed like a trigger. I have a trigger too. Dabeluchi and I are similar.

We were similar.

In different ways.

Our lives seemed to mix in, in some way, and our fears seem to be connected. It finally made sense to me now, it all made sense, why she decided to stick with me, to protect me. It all made sense now.

Nonetheless, I continued reading;

I just hate doing this. Seeing her makes me so uncomfortable. It makes me so sad. We are so alike. The sadness turns to anger. I am not angry at Dabeluchi. I am just angry. I am bitter. I am so fucking bitter.

"Christ," I muttered in shock, my finger reflexively scrolling to the next.

I hate seeing her. I really, really hate seeing that girl...

Goosebumps.

That was what I felt. Goosebumps were growing everywhere in my body, from my hands, to my back, to my legs, to my neck, everywhere.

My eyes went further, roughly scanning through the rest of this, and with wide eyes and trembling hands, I shook my head, no, begging and pleading for God to not make this what I think it is.

"No," I shook my head, adamantly, forcing disbelief into my mind even when the proof was glaring right there in my face. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, it can't be. It cannot be!"

The words on the screen were clear as day, and could not be, in the slightest, mistaken;

July 20th, this Year

I found out something today. It has to do with Dabeluchi's family.

And, disturbingly, there was even more;

Three Weeks Ago.

I did it. I exposed the truth. I told everyone about her twisted father on an anonymous account, but hopefully, Dabz would never know it was me. After all, what she doesn't know won't hurt her.

There was a rock in my throat, wounding me. A fire in my chest, burning me. Knives in my back, stabbing me. And nails in my face, injuring me. It felt like my whole world had just collapsed before my very eyes, as I read those words over and over again, and understand what this entailed.

With that Samsung phone in my hands, I stayed frozen on that spot.

And just then, I felt someone walk into the room, quick stepped at first, then suddenly, like they saw me, their steps became more hesitant and careful.

"Lulu...?"

Soma.

I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe. I held the phone in my hands, and stared into it, in shock and trauma and disbelief.

She seemed to have company. My peripheral vision easily picked it up to be Chika and Ebere, and whoever it was who came with them, I didn't bother to see. I held Somadina's phone in my hands, and my hands vibrated with it, rage, disappointment and shock slapping me in all angles.

And immediately, I raised my head up, marked eye contact with each and everyone of the girls, as they stood before me from their distance. It told in their faces that they knew that I knew: The fear in Soma's face, the wary in Chika's face, and the anxiety in Ebere's face, and just right there, beside Soma, I easily spotted Casper Bassey, who stood head to head with her, surprisingly the only one who seemed a bit calm.

And in that moment, those words from the girls by the pool started to resound in my head, over and over and over again.

"I've been hearing some juicy news about some diary. A stalker's secret diary. And, apparently, she has been keeping tabs on Dabeluchi since Jss2! Can you imagine? Freaking Jss2!—"

Tell me!" I remembered screaming back to Neche and her friend this evening, at the top of my lungs. "This stalker, yeah? They're the ones who also leaked my family business too, right? They're the ones who have been following me tail to tail to ruin my life, ba? Tell me! Abi is that worthless spined born-again wannabe, Kelechi Uwa, ba?! Why aren't you talking?!—"

But, little did I even know...

"Lulu, I swear to God, that's not my diary!" Somadina started to squeal and cry. "I know it looks bad since you are seeing all that from my phone, but I swear, it's NOT me! Please, Lulu, listen, I—"

Involuntarily, I shut out Somadina's voice out from my head, as she rapped on and on and on and nearly cried on the spot.

I knew it wasn't her diary, I had long come to that realization of who the real culprit actually was.

"Look, Dabi, we can explain," I heard Casper speak, but my head was already busy with many mental calculations, trying to put two and two together, and understand how I failed to see this coming. "Dabi, please, calm down, and listen to us

Their voices spoke at the same time, resonating everywhere at the same time. And, I noticed, everyone else spoke, except her.

With a rage building up in me, and the talking, desperate voices seeking an ear from me for explanation, I set my eyes, hard and deadly, on the one person, whom I knew was the stalker all these while.

The one person who rightfully owned this fucked up, twisted Diary.

Chika Stephanie Chioma.

#Sips Bleach.

DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG I HAVE BEEN WAITING TO GIVE THIS REVEAL?!!! God, I feel so satisfied! I'm sure none of you saw this one coming, and truth be told, my hands are legit shaking!😂😭🤲🏿

I mean, come on, guys, I expected that some of you picked up on this one a bit faster sha. The details of the diary was giving a general summary to how Dabeluchi practically joined the Igbo Sister's clique, so you should have seen it coming that this diary actually belonged to Chika, and NOT Kelechi.

And also, if you go back to that Chapter 77 {Sisterhood Pledges and Shocking Confessions}, you will see that Kelechi never confessed she was the owner of the diary. She only wept, and Acha concluded, and y'all followed Acha to conclude.😂🤲🏿

Also, if you're an attentive reader, you will notice how Acha kept insisting in Intervals that Dabeluchi should 'talk to her friends'. (He adviced this in so many chapters, I can't pin them all down tbh, but I'll try looking for all of them and telling y'all on the group chat — I sha know one time was either in the 'Believe me, I'm lying' chapters I or II).

Also, notice how Acha kept feeling so guilty and saying he was robbing Dabeluchi off the truth that she deserved to know... You really thought that the truth she deserved to know was Kelechi? Hell, nah. It was her, gulp, back stabbing best friends.

If you reread Chapter 85{Don't Keep Your Enemies Closer II} , it will make sense why Acha seemed so frustrated with himself and very guilty. It was clear there was a deeper internal battle going on in his head, and that, was the fact that he had found out through Kelechi what Dabeluchi's friends were doing behind her back.

Now, your question would be: Why then was Kelechi so fucking involved in all this? To the point of putting the whole wahala on her head? Lol, that's more gist coming in the later chapters. You'd eventually understand how this connects with her exactly.

Also, if you're wondering why the reading of the diary was in Kelechi's voice in the trailer, that's only because that was the voice Acha read it in, before he found out who actually had the diary. 😂✨

Lmao, please feel free to pour out your mind here!😂🤲🏿

And for the meantime, see ya!✨