CHAPTER 17

NORA

It's a beautiful day and a start of a new week,

Nora's mom walks into her daughter's room, she

slides the curtain open and the hot sun shining brightly peeped in. Nora stretches as she rolled off her bed, she greets her mom who in return said some prayers for her as she hugs her.

I pray God provides a home for you my daughter so that I can come and visit you anytime I like rather than lie about my health just to drag you down" Nora shakes her head and smiled at her mom "But I have a house you can come to anytime, no one is objecting..." Her mom ignores her and walks straight to the door which she shut as she got out of Nora's room.

Nora checked the time on her phone and exclaimed "Oh my God! it's nine already!" She can't remember the last time she had slept this

good, even during weekends at her place, there is

always one or two things to keep her up late at

night and wake her up very early in the morning.

She smiles to herself "no matter how beautiful the city you journeyed to, home will always be

home"

She didn't sleep until 3.00 am, she and her mother had a lot of catching up to do and they chose midnight to do it, even her dad had to vacate the bedroom for both of them since their talks were never-ending and he needed to catch his beauty sleep. She misses the good old days, she and her mother had a near-perfect relationship just that she got too busy along the line with her job that she gave them up for her teachers in boarding school to train them. The only time she and her siblings get to see their parents is during holidays which is just for two weeks after a term, a whole three months in exile with no one to share their sensitive moments or their complaints and discomfort with. The only responsibilities their parents saw as paramount were the provision of their food & provisions, top-notch security, and pocket money for their wellbeing, while the rest was left to be handled by the school.

She thought University days would be better off

that she had looked forward to leaving secondary school earnestly, only to be forced into a private university that was more or less like an advanced secondary school. She has never been more pissed off than the moment her parents announced that she would be staying on-campus. She fought hard against it that she wasn't going to stay in another hostel after what she went through in secondary school. Her parents had no choice but to accept her objection when they saw her persistence against the hostel life and her siblings' support. They agreed but insisted that her second option aside from staying on campus was to go to school from home which she didn't see as a bad idea until she was assigned a driver, one of her father's escorts who takes her to school, follows her around and brings her back home. It was so disgusting, she would sit and watch girls her age go to birthday parties, hang out with friends, and go clubbing but she couldn't do all that! Not with the military tail attached to her everywhere she went. Her parents made socialization very hard for her in school, no guy could even walk up to her for talks or briefs. She had no social engagements and it affected her life to this present day. She wishes her parents know how much their time, availability, and presence meant to them all then, she wishes they gave them their freedom and help them in the aspect of exposure but that time has gone now, she left home already and she has all the freedom in the world like her mother would say "There is time for everything" just that this came at a later time and she hopes her siblings follow a better footstep so they don't regret it just as she is doing right now. Aside from that, her parents were great with their love and consistency! That's something she would love to emulate from them.

Norah kneels to say a quick prayer, she was never taken to be a religious person amongst her friends though she isn't a fanatic she only does the little she can to show her faith and keep up with her heavenly father. Her mind crosses to Spence whom she hopes to see that beautiful day, and she smiles, then the thought about her friends creeped in which gave her a shiver. The whole drama that they told her happened at Tade's house comes flashing back to her. Last night was a long one, immediately she left her mom's room around midnight, she had called the girls back to check up on Chichi only to be filled in on the latest update. She traveled at the wrong time, she is going to shorten her stay here since her mother isn't even sick and her girls need her.

"Everything Spence has to be finalized upon before I travel back to town" she says aloud as she opens her box to pick the outfit for the day "If I am not going to stay here for two weeks, then these gorgeous dresses that I carefully selected have to be put into good use within the time frame I have" she picks out a burgundy short pleated skirt, a white off-shoulder top, with her sleeveless bra carefully placed beside it, she removes her detachable ponytail wig from the well-detailed shopping bag that had PheecozHair inscribed beautifully on it, one long smell of the wig she smiles "the smell of luxury! PheecozHair got it!"

With her outfit carefully arranged, she seemed

ready to get set. Her phone beeped, and a text

message notification came in, the caller ID reads

Spence "Good morning gorgeous! Hope you slept

well? Can we do breakfast instead of lunch? Lunchtime seems so far away and I can't wait that long to see you" followed by Roses! Roses! and a lot of Roses! Nora blushes as she reads Spence's message aloud in a seductive voice. She typed and sent yes in affirmation of the reschedule and goes straight into the shower singing excitedly.