Chioma's POV.

Kunmi still hadn't returned from the 'bathroom' and although I seriously didn't care about that or her, I still felt a bit awkward cause I was all alone with Femi and his goofy friend, Damola.

"What are you thinking about?" Femi asked, while looking at me in an amused manner.

"Nothing" I lied and he smirked.

"Hmm, then why didn't you answer to your name when I called you?" He asked and I rolled my tired eyes at him.

"Can I go now? I'm sick of this mall and I'm also sick of you two" I replied bluntly and Damola dramatically gasped.

"Meaning what now? Why so harsh?" Damola asked while raising a brow at me and I shrugged nonchalantly.

"I'm just being honest. I am sick of you two" I replied and Femi chuckled.

"You're funny in your own way though" he meant to muttered but I still heard him and chose to ignore him. He looked behind him, probably checking to see if Kunmi was behind us or something but then he turned to look at me right after that and grabbed my hand, although gently, and he started walking towards the direction behind us.

"Where are you taking me to?" I asked but he ignored me instead.

"Femi, I'm talking to you!" I said, raising my voice a bit higher but he still ignored me and huffed in response.

What's up with him?

"You talk too much, you know that, right?" He said, still walking.

"Um, well I do not talk too much! I'm just expressing my displeasure about being forcefully dragged against my will" I ranted and he turned to look at me with an amused smile on his face.

"You fascinate me, jeez!" He chuckled. "I'm not kidnapping you jor" he replied and kept walking.

"Femi! Let go off me!" I yelled, this time trying to pry his hands off mine. "Just because I agreed to stay at your place doesn't mean we're friends, so you have no right to just drag me to wherever you want to" I replied and he stopped walking and sighed while running a hand through his thick hair.

"Really?" He grinned. "Then what are we?" He asked, raising an inquisitive brow at me. I took a second or two to think about it before replying.

"We're just two people who coincidentally have to keep seeing each other and are trying to stand each other" I replied. I know, I sound really silly but that's all I've got.

"Wow!" His grin lingered on his face for a while and finally disappeared. "Well, that's your own opinion. But just so you know, I do consider you a friend, whether you consider me one or not. I still do" he smiled and winked as he said this and grabbed my hand once more and kept walking. I unknowingly left my mouth agape as he lead the way to God-knows-where. As we got to the Mall's entrance, I saw Amanda and Agozie standing there and chatting together. I hadn't told them about me getting kicked out of my own house by my own father for something that didn't really warrant the excessive amount of drama which had taken place.

Amanda laughed at something Agozie said and Agozie chuckled as he turned towards our direction and smiled.

"Chioms!" He beamed and patted Amanda on her shoulder to get her attention as he walked towards us.

"So nice to see you two here. And you're not trying to kill each other, that's really nice" he smiled and Femi laughed while I managed a small smile.

What he said wasn't even funny.

"Nice to see you too. I just spotted you two here and thought we'd come say Hi" Femi said and I stiffened the urge to roll my eyes at him, my sarcastic side getting really itchy to say something sarcastic right now.

How thoughtful!

"Chioma!" Amanda smiled as she finally approached us and engulfed me in a warm hug.

"Good evening, sir" she said to Femi as pulling away from the hug.

"Please, call me Femi. You can refer to me as sir when we're working, that okay?" He smiled.

"Uh, sure" Amanda replied, managing a half smile.

"Femi, so you did not even tell me you two were coming here. See why I say you lack sense sometimes?" Damola said as he approached us, giving Femi a light smack on his head.

"Oh, sorry about that" Femi muttered, with a sheepish grin on his face. "Um, guys, this is Damola. My extraordinarily crazy friend" he added, introducing a now smiling Damola to Amanda and Agozie.

"Nice to meet you" Amanda grinned, extending a hand for a shake and so did Agozie. Of course the nincompoop didn't miss a chance to flirt with Amanda who, by the way, has a boyfriend! But he wouldn't know that.

"Nice to meet you too" Damola replied Amanda flirtatiously, putting on this really handsome smile. I'll admit his smile is charming.

"Okay, so I'm going shopping right now. Mind if I borrow Chioma just for a few minutes?" Amanda asked Femi who grinned in return.

"Borrow me? Um, I'm not an item that is to be borrowed. He has no say, let's go!" I demanded and grabbed Amanda's hand to leave.

"Please take her! But bring her back in an hour, she'll miss me too much if you don't!" Femi hollered as we walked away and Amanda giggled.

"Isn't he cute? Chioma, you're so lucky!" She gushed and I rolled my eyes at her and shook my head in disbelief.

"Amanda, you have a boyfriend. And plus, Femi and I have nothing going on. He's just being stupid as usual" I grunted as I struggled with my wedges.

"Keep saying until you believe it and as for my boyfriend, no worries! He'll understand" she chuckled and I shook my head at her amusedly.

"You're crazy" I muttered and she shrugged.

"As crazy as hell?" She laughed. " Yup, I know that. That's why you need me in your life, you need crazy to keep your sanity intact" she smiled as she said this and I rolled my eyes for the umpteenth time today.

* * *

After shopping, window shopping included, for at least an hour, Amanda and I headed to meet the guys at the ice cream parlor next to the Kilimanjaro eatery.

"He's the best kisser ever!" Amanda gushed as we grabbed our shopping bags from Victoria's Secret and headed to the ice cream parlor.

"Wow, lucky you" I replied, clearly uninterested.

"Don't worry, one day you'll find your own love story to gush about like I am. You're not interested now cause you haven't felt__" she stopped mid sentence, noticing my change of mood. "Did I say something wrong?" She asked, concern etched in her voice.

"No," I managed to say. " You didn't, I'm totally fine" I lied.

I wasn't fine at all, truth is that I was infact jealous. Like heck yeah! I definitely was. Jealous of the fact that I don't have that kind of experience in my life right now, well, I once had it but now it's history and all in the past, buried and forgotten. But it's not like I don't want to have that feeling anymore, I still do. It just pisses me off that the one for me hasn't even found me yet. I just wish he'd find me, or I'd find him.

"What's wrong? I know that face" she said, reaching for my hand and giving it a light squeeze.

"I'm fine" I lied, putting on my very convincing fake smile.

"That not true. This smile of yours is fake and that means you're definitely hiding something. Was it something I said?" She said, her voice really calm and gentle.

"It's nothing. Just let it be, 'kay?" I smiled again, trying to make my smile appear a bit more real. Amanda sighed and smiled at me, a small calm smile.

"If I said something wrong, then I'm sorry. But I know that one day, for sure, your love story will blossom. And you know what?" She smiled, looking me in the eye now.  "When that happens, I'll bet you that it's gonna be with him. I just know it" she said, pointing at Femi who was busy laughing at something Damola just said. He threw his head backwards and let out a very loud but captivating laughter, his eyes held a certain glimmer and he looked extremely handsome. Even I can't deny that. Then he caught me looking at him and he winked, a smirk finding it's way to his chocolate brown face.

"No way!" I looked at Amanda and laughed. "It definitely won't be him. I'm hoping it'd be Agozie" I blurted without even knowing what I just said.

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Hey beautiful people!!

How are you doing today?
So yeah, I decided to update after much delay (sorry about the delay though) and I hope this chapter makes up for it.

Please comment about what you thought about this chapter and the characters too. On a scale of 1-5, please rate this chapter.

Thanks so much for reading and please don't forget to support this tired writer by voting. Also, thanks so much for all the love this book has been getting. I can't express my gratitude enough but I just want you all to know that I truly, TRULY, appreciate all efforts, votes, reads (silent reads) and all the comments... including shares (for those who may have shared my book) I truly love you all for that ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Till my next update,
Bye...