Chapter Nineteen

KELECHI'S POV

   Christmas was really near. Just three days more and we would be celebrating Christmas. I was not worried about anything. Mama was worrying enough for the entire family. She had already booked a spot for a picnic, planned an appointment with her hairstylist, scheduled our outfits testing, blah blah blah.

  The only thing I had to do was not get on her bad side again. With my recent adventure, I was already on my dad's bad side.

  "You people should do fast o!" I could hear Mama's voice echo in the passage.

  "Kelechi we are waiting for you!." Ify, the little devil yelled from the passage. That girl was just five years old and she was this annoying. I can't imagine the woman she would turn to when puberty hits her. Since this get-together, she had been on my case. Monitoring me like some CCTV camera and reporting everything to mama as if she was getting paid for it.

   I could not have been the one delaying them. I had finished dressing up and was just applying my casual make up.

  "Kelechi, mama said you should do fast." I heard her open the door to my room before saying.

  "Ify, mummy is calling you." Meso, Ify's elder sister said. She was behind Ify. So, she pulled her away from my room entrance.

  "Don't mind her. Even though you are done, you would still have to wait for my mum to finish bathing Gozie. " Meso was sort of a shy person. She had zero social skill but was a legend at video games. The only thing we shared in common was our love for anime and Kdramas. Usually most people were either interested in only anime or kdramas. The fact that she was not discriminating between the two made me like her.

   "You should apply lip gloss. To keep the harmattan from drying your lips." Yep, she had zero fashion sense too. The only way to get her to dress up a little was to back it up with a practical reason.

    "Ohh. You're right." Plus she respected my opinion. Why wouldn't I like her?

   "What class are you in now?" Being my friendly self, I asked her as I handed over my lip gloss.

   "JS 1."  Like I said, she had zero social skill.

   "Meso, your mum is calling you." Meso and I turned our head to where we heard his voice. At my room entrance, Ben stood, relaxed.

   "Okay." Meso awkwardly said as she handed over my lip gloss to me. "Thank you." She said before she left. All through her way out, she never for once looked up. She was especially shy around Ben. She never really got to know him. If she knew him like I do, knew how much of an idiot he can be sometimes, she would not be this shy with him.

  "Why are you here?" I was never the type to beat about the bush.

  "Are we still fighting? You are asking like I can't come talk you."

   "Talk before I throw my comb at you. "

    As if ignoring me, he turned around to shut the door before facing me. "Kelly." Whatever juju¹ he used in saying my name made my heart skip a beat.

   I did not like how my body reacted to his voice. So, I threw my comb be at him. "Stupid ascent."

   He caught the comb before it hit his face. He did it while still staring at me. "Kelly. You need to stop your childish tantrums. If you have..."

  Whatever he said next went over my ears. All I could hear echoing was " ... childish tantrums.... Childish tantrums... childish tantrums...". Those words annoyed me.

   " Kelly, listen to me." He dropped the comb in his hand. He held both my shoulders. I didn't know what he was aiming for. If he was trying to calm me down but it was working.

  "If you have a problem with me, just talk to me about it. Don't just give me the cold shoulders and expect me to know why you are angry." He never lost eye contact as he spoke.

  " I'm not angry." I mumbled? Seriously? All he did was sweet talk me and I was docile and mumbling.

  " Really? 'cause you sounded like you were, back there, when I came in."

  "You came to my room. What did you expect? Should I have hugged you or what?" Sarcasm dripped easily from my lips.

   Ben smiled. "A hug would have been nice. But you're right. It'd be odd. I mean I would be worried if you had already ran mad. "

  "What are you saying? I would only hug you if I was insane? Hugging you is not a big deal. Look." I went ahead to demonstrate it. I wrapped my arms around him, around his waist.

   He did what I did not expect him to do. He pulled me closer. Resting a hand at the middle of my back and the other on my hair.

  Warm. I felt warm inside. And very comfortable. Too comfortable if you ask me. Unlike the time at the hotel, he pulled me closer till our body was flushed against each other. With my face resting against his chest, I could hearing his heart racing, feel his warmth through all those layers of clothes.

   "I missed you." With his face resting at the top of my hair, he whispered, caressing my hair.

  The scary thing was that I missed him too. Ever since he relocated to UK, I had missed him. At one time he was the only constant thing in my life, he was always there with me. But when he relocated, I felt his absence more than I would care to admit.

   " Kelechi! Mama said you should do fast!" Ify's yelling in front of my room was enough to break whatever spell we were in.

   Reluctantly, we pulled away. It wasn't long before I heard ify running away.

  GLOSSARY

Juju: it is a sort of native charm.

   AUTHOR'S NOTE

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