CHAPTER 9

"Hi. My name is Joanna. I'm a friend of Shelly's. could I speak with you for a moment?"

"I'm sorry. Who is Shelly?"

"The girl that was caught in your best friend's bed weeks ago? Todd? The fight at JJ Hostel? Ring a bell?"

"Oh yeah. Why are you here?"

"can I have a word with you please?"

Emperor looked at the chic standing at his doorway. He had no idea why she was here but he didn't want his best friend's reputation to gather more dirt than it already had so he told her to wait for a minute as he changed. He was going to talk to her, but he wasn't going to let her into his room. He came out, locked his room and directed her to the seats on the balcony. They were usually for academic discussions, but they would do. After all, this too was a discussion, just definitely not academic.

Joanna looked at the guy in front of her swallowed. Is it a custom for the good-looking ones to band together and leave the mediocre to fend for themselves? That's not fair now, is it?

She was going to try a long shot, didn't know if it would work but she was hoping it would.

"First of all, I'm sorry for dropping by unannounced but I don't have your number and I also wanted to get this over with."

She paused, hoping for a reaction from him. But he just sat there, crossed his arms and stared at her, waiting for what she was going to say next. She took it as a sign to continue.

"Well, I'm sorry about what happened. But if you must know, it's up to us to end the beef."

"Us?"

Ah! He speaks.

"Yes, us. If we can find a way of getting Todd and Shelly back together, then Prince can get out of the limelight. I don't know him much, but I can tell he really hates attention. I am honestly tired of her mopping around because he won't talk to her. And I'm sure you guys are tired of all the attention and gossip this has brought your way. So help me."

"How?"

"find a way getting Todd to the place I'll tell you. Then the rest will be up to those two. If they get back together then good, if not then they'll have to sort their differences before they part."

"Who's they?"

"Todd and Shelly"

"and that's your plan?"

"You got something better in mind?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. But let's try yours first."

"Okay."

He stood up and looked at her. A silent `anything else?` She stood up too.

"Later then." And she left.

He watched her leave and waited till she was out of the hostel gate before he picked up his phone and called Angel. He needed to know where Prince was.

That Sunday...

"I am come into the garden, my sister, spouse. This is what King Solomon says in Songs of Solomon chapter five verse 1.

The heart of the believer is Christ's garden. He bought it with His precious blood, and thus he enters and claims it as His own. I need you to understand that a garden means separation. It is not the open common or the wilderness, it is fenced, hedged in or even walled around. You are separated from the world when you become one with Him. You are separated from your own bodily thinking, from your anger, your pain, your despair, all the things that had brought you down and become a problem for you, are reduced to nothingness in Christ's presence.

A garden is a place of beauty, a place of growth. And as Christians, we ought to strive to walk and grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, because Christ's garden ought to produce the best fruit.

A garden is a place of retirement so that He can reserve our souls as a place in which he can manifest himself.

My prayer for all of us today is that we make room for Christ in our hearts and souls and that He may grant the sweet showers of his grace to water his gardens in us this day...."

Rebecca stared at her Bible app on her phone and thought about what the preacher had just said. She hadn't been to church in a while but had gone today because her brother had made it a point to disorganise everything she organised. She couldn't wait for their parents to get back, she really needed her mom to smack some sense into him. She tried calling her mom, but there wasn't any answer. So she walked into the nearby church and sat in the back. She just didn't expect to be touched by the sermon, much less listen to it. But here she was, singing the closing hymn and giving in money as her offertory.

The past weeks had been stressful for her, first her breakup, then Ian mopping all over the place, then Ryan ignoring her by the roadside, her parents staying on their work trip longer than she would've liked, then her brother being a total thorn in her side. She needed a breather. as the service ended and people walked out, she stayed seated in her spot and decided to read the rest of the chapter, see what she would pick from it or if she would understand it the way the preacher had. She didn't notice the boy who was staring at her from the aisle before he hurried out like the rest of the congregation. She would stay here a while before going home.

He had enjoyed himself on the drums today. He rarely ever got to play them and he had made sure to play well today. They had called him at 6:30 am and asked him if he could play, how could he say no? The first service had started a little sloppy but they had picked up the pace in the second service. Everything was going well, the preacher was hitting a nail, and he was actually getting hyped for the closing hymn until she walked in. She hadn't been to church since they had broken up, and he had blamed himself for it. But he had seen her come in from the back and sit on the last pew. She was attentive during the preaching and even took notes. He couldn't concentrate very well after that. He knew she wasn't alright, her body language said so. Maybe I should talk to her, try and see if she'll want somebody to talk to. Hopefully, she'll want to even look at me.

But when the service had ended, he had stood a little way from her, and seeing how concentrated she was, he didn't have the courage to walk up to her, so he walked faster and left. He remembered the band meeting he was supposed to attend after the service when he was home.

Sucks to be me, I'm sure that's what she would say.