Her lips lingered on his own for a few seconds before he pulled away. His widened eyes mirrored Chidiogo's own. Amelia blinked, blushing a little before heading back to where she was seated on the floor.

"Aww, how cute," Chikaima's voice came at that point, worsening the situation, "I didn't know you had a crush on Paschal. What do I call this ship?"

Amelia shot her a glare but she didn't budge. She tilted her chin up, stroking it with her pointer and thumb as if there was an actual beard on it.

"How does Palia sound? Or—"

"Drop it." Amelia's clenched teeth made her words sound more like a threat.

"Why? I wasn't the one who asked you to kiss him."

"You literally dared me to kiss him!"

Amelia's hands flew up at that moment, her voice going up with it.

"I didn't say it had to be Paschal besides you could have easily taken a shot and—"

"Can we get on with the game already?"

The voice caused Chikaima and Amelia to snap their heads towards Chidiogo who was surprised to hear her own voice. She wished at that moment to recoil into herself or at least disappear from the face of the earth.

"I agree with her, we came here to play a game not to watch your silly banter," a random girl added causing Amelia to roll her eyes.

"Chidiogo, truth or dare?" Amelia asked, pinning Chidiogo under her stare.

Chidiogo pressed her lips together. If she had just shut up, all this wouldn't have been happening.

"Truth."

She could feel the stares burning through her as she waited for Amelia's question.

"If you were to sleep with any guy here, who would it be?"

Chidiogo remained mute, gazing behind Amelia. In that moment, she noticed the intricate swirls on the wall which gave it a false mahogany look.

"I'm going to count down to ten. If you don't give an answer, you'll take a shot."

Chidiogo's eyes widened as Amelia started counting down, going from ten to two in a second.

"Justin!" she blurted out, not thinking twice.

All the wide eyes that stared back at her following her answer reaffirmed what a huge mistake she had made. Mmachi's eyes were the largest, bulging out of their sockets as she stared at her.

"Wow." Was all Amelia could say before she shook her head, as though to clear her thoughts. "Lying is against the rules of the game so you wouldn't mind proving it right?"

Chidiogo's jaw dropped as she stared at Amelia. She didn't have enough time to even come up with a reply before Mmachi spoke up.

"What do you think you are doing!?"

Her eyes seemed to be caging a storm as she glared at Amelia. Paying no regard to her, Amelia asked Chidiogo again, "Can you do it?"

Paschal spoke up this time, saving Chidiogo from responding. "Lia, this has gone too far."

"What?" Amelia asked, her voice taking up a defensive tone, "I just—"

"He's right, you've gone too far. This was never stated as a rule in the beginning of the game and Chidiogo is under no compulsion to do as you say. Remember that this is truth or dare, not truth and dare."

Chidiogo had never felt so relieved to hear Voile's voice. She let out a sigh, chancing a glance towards the direction where Mmachi and Justin sat. She could already feel Mmachi's eyes pinned to the side of her head before she turned but she was still taken aback by the intensity of the glare.

Justin, on the other hand, just watched her, his stare more subtle than Mmachi's. His face was a bit creased and he observed her as if she was some kind of puzzle he couldn't figure out.

Mmachi nudged him after a while. Chidiogo watched them banter for a moment before Amelia's voice reminded her that other people were still around.

"It's your turn to ask someone," Amelia said.

Chidiogo blinked slowly before her lips formed an 'O'. She looked around, avoiding Mmachi and Justin's gazes. Her eyes fell on a boy she hadn't seen before. He looked anything but familiar but she decided to just ask him.

"Truth or dare?"

"Dare," he said almost before she completed the question.

Chidiogo gave a curt nod, rummaging her brain for a dare. Her eyes landed on Amelia at that moment and she got an idea.

"I dare you to tell me"—Grumbles filled the air following her words but she ignored them—"who is the hottest girl in this game?"

She kept her eyes on Amelia, waiting for her reaction when the boy would eventually call her name.

"You and your twin."

Chidiogo turned to look at him. Nothing had prepared her for this reply.

"Mind if I get your number?" he asked, ignoring her loose jaw and widened eyes.

Chidiogo just stared at him, unable to come up with an answer. A cough interrupted the silence when it had stretched too long, snapping Chidiogo out of the trance she was in.

"It's your turn," Paschal said to the boy as Chidiogo recovered herself.

She muttered 'excuse me' before subtracting herself from them. She headed towards one of the bars from there.

"A glass of apple juice please," she said to bartender, taking a seat on one of the long stools surrounding the counter.

It came as a surprise to her when he actually slid a glass containing apple juice to her. She muttered a 'thank you' before raising the glass to her lips.

"Can I get the same thing she ordered?" Amelia's voice sounded next to her, announcing her unwanted company.

Chidiogo spared her a glance before turning to look at the game of truth of dare they had left behind. She had picked the bar closest to the game so she could still make out what was going on.

"Bored of the game too?" Amelia asked, leaning on the counter with her head resting on her crossed arms.

Chidiogo stared at her before looking away and draining the rest of her glass. Her stool screeched against the tiled floor as she stood up to leave. In a minute, Amelia blocked her way. She grumbled, massaging her forehead.

She took a step back to prevent herself from shoving Amelia out of the way.

"What do you want?"

"I know you're mad at me—"

"I am not mad at you," Chidiogo said, trying to sidestep Amelia.

Amelia got in her way again, causing her to let out a groan.

"Look, I'm not here to bug you, sorry if I'm being a nuisance right now but this is for your own good. You're mad at me because I've been trying to get close to Paschal, right?"

Chidiogo folded her arms, staring at Amelia with a blank face. "Wrong. Now quit wasting my time."

"Stop lying to yourself already. I know, that's the reason. I did all this just to help you realize that you have feelings for him but you're just too stubborn to admit it!"

Chidiogo sighed, leaning back on her stool. Of course, it was typical of Amelia to play the cupid role in her non-existent love story. She couldn't understand why Amelia always felt the need to 'fix' everyone around her.

"I never asked for your help."

"You don't need to ask for it, you signed up for a lifetime of unwanted advice when we became friends," Amelia said, a small smile playing on her face.

"That sounds so cheesy," Chidogo said, scrunching her face and shaking her head.

Amelia laughed before replying, "And you sound like Mmachi."

Chidiogo laughed a little before something behind Amelia caught her attention. Kamsi seemed to be yelling at a guy who was twice her size but the window plus the noise in the room didn't let her hear a word that was said.

"Give me a minute," she said to Amelia, brushing past her and moving closer to the window.

She placed her ears on the window but the sound of their voices was still muffled. Soundproof, her brain registered the moment Amelia came to stand beside her.

"What happened?" Amelia asked before looking out the window. "I didn't know she would come."

She was referring to Kamsi and Chidiogo just nodded absentmindedly.

"Why don't we go back to our game?" Amelia suggested.

Chidogo looked up at that moment to find that both Kamsi and the guy were gone. She followed Amelia without uttering a word. She stayed quiet throughout the rest of the game, zoning out at intervals.

"CHIDIOGO!"

Her eyes snapped to Sky, who stared at her as if expecting something.

"Yeah?"

"Amelia has been calling you for the past minute, she was asking if you've seen her bag?"

Chidiogo shook her head, having no memory of Amelia carrying any bag. She tried to remember but nothing came to her head.

"You wouldn't mind checking the bar we were at earlier, would you?"

She wanted to decline but then stopped herself, seeing a means to get away. She nodded, taking note of Pashal's absence. She dragged herself up from the floor before heading towards the bar. She looked around but didn't find any bag, not that she expected to anyway.

Just as she was about to head towards the exit, something shiny stole her attention. She turned to find a silver Versace emblem bouncing off the chandelier lights.

The emblem was on a navy blue handbag. She started heading towards it although she wasn't very sure if it had been the one Amelia was looking for.

For starters, Amelia was more likely to carry a clutch, something tiny but capable of drawing attention. This instead was bulky and what Amelia would describe as old-fashioned. But then it was the only thing on the counter so it had to be it.

She absentmindedly grabbed one of its hands on getting there, not knowing that the zipper was undone. The action caused a few things to tumble out of the bag.

Chidiogo cursed under her breath, bending down to retrieve the items. She picked the first few items: an inhaler, a handkerchief, a cell phone. She shoved them into the bag and was about to continue but paused on seeing a sachet of white powder. She turned it around in her hand trying to make out what it was. Deciding it pointless, she turned to put it back in the bag but froze when she saw a number of other sachets, all identical to the one in her hand.

The image of her finding the same thing in Kamsi's bag surfaced leaving her wondering what was going on. Just then, she sighted Kamsi and a few guys heading towards her direction.

She was currently squatting with the bar counter blocking her so she was hardly visible. They couldn't see her, she knew that for sure. But what she couldn't figure out was their motive.

"We have to find that bag at any cost."

She could pick up Kamsi's voice as they drew closer to her. She glanced between them and the bag in her hand before shoving it far from her. She tried to remain hidden after that, curling herself behind one of the long bar stools.

Her heart beat increased for reasons she couldn't comprehend. There were a lot of people there and they could do nothing to her even if they found her with the bag. She tried to convince herself that Kamsi had just been bluffing but the scene of her and Amarachi flashing in her head forced her to remain hidden.

When she was sure that they were gone, she got up, dusting off her body. She looked around for the bag but couldn't find it anywhere. Just then a baritone voice came from behind her, startling her.

She turned to find Paschal standing with a grin plastered on his face.

"What are you doing here?" she whispered, her breath shaky.

Her heartbeat was yet to return to normal.

"Amelia sent me to get more vodka."

He shook the bottle to emphasize the point, drawing her eyes to the bottle like moths to a flame. It was then that she understood what was really going on. Amelia wasn't looking for her bag; she hadn't even been carrying a bag earlier.

She turned to find Amelia staring at them from where she was; a large grin on her face. She shook her head at her lame attempt to play matchmaker.

"And why were you hiding under that chair?"

Chidiogo's eyes darted back to Paschal on hearing the question before it flitted to the stool as if it harboured the answer to the question.

"I—the chair. . ." She tried to think of something to say before it clicked. "Purse!" she said, almost snapping her fingers.

Paschal's furrowed brows caused her to further explain.

"I was looking for Amelia's purse. I thought I saw something under there so I decided to check it out."

She kept on a plastic smile throughout the duration of her narration. Paschal nodded causing her to release a breath. She would have had much more explaining to do if she told him the actual reason why she was hiding there.

"Are you also tired of the party?" Paschal asked all of a sudden, "We could ditch it and go somewhere else."

"Actually—"

Chidiogo tried to come up with an excuse and when she couldn't find one, she hoped for a sort of distraction. A thought struck her and she decided to go ahead with it. She could fake that she had to answer a call and that would be the perfect opportunity to leave.

But there was one problem; she hadn't seen her phone in a while. She searched her pockets but couldn't find it.

"My phone!"

The alarm in her voice was anything but fake as she checked her pockets again but came out empty. She rushed past Paschal to look for it where she had been seated earlier. She looked around but it was nowhere in sight.

"What happened?" Amelia asked, concern lacing her voice.

"I can't find my phone."

Chidiogo raised up some of the throw pillows on the cushion but still found nothing.

"Should I call your number?" Paschal offered; standing next to her.

"It's on silent. There's no use, we won't hear it."

She dropped the throw pillow in her hand back onto the chair, sighing. She placed her hand on her hips and tried to think back to the last time she saw it and just then it clicked. The last place she remembered seeing it was outside, near the fountain.

"I'll be right back!"

Chidiogo dashed towards the door, ignoring the questions coming after her. The cold air that hit her the moment she stepped outside was refreshing.

It caressed her cheeks as she looked around. She quickly descended the flight of stairs, her heart rate picking up a bit of pace by the time she got to the bottom.

She tried to decipher the maze the garden formed before venturing in. She headed in a particular direction and luckily arrived at the fountain in no time. She caught sight of her phone on top of the fountain and rushed to it.

Water forced its way through a leak in the fountain, wetting the surrounding soil. It made the place a bit muddy so she was careful of where she stepped.

She retrieved her phone and successfully got out without getting her shoes dirty. Just as she began making her way back, she picked up voices to her right.

She turned to find Kamsi and the guys who had been with her earlier. This time, they were carrying the navy blue bag she had found containing the white sachets.

She tried to get closer to hear what they were saying but stopped when she accidentally plunged her feet into a puddle of water, splashing mud on both her shoes and her trousers.

She cussed under her breath, pulling her legs out of the mess but the damage had already been done. Just when she was about to bend and see what she could do about it, something blunt and heavy collided with the side of her head.

She first heard the sound of her skull cracking before she registered the pain.