Chapter seven

A lot has happened on the way. Perhaps we should focus on this chapter and continue the journey. It is late in the day; the sun is almost setting and Toriah is with one of her favorite cousins at Empress Mall in Blantyre.

"Anything yet?" Salma asks all stranded as she pushes some clothes on a stand while looking at Toriah and the clothes, at the same time.

"No." Toriah replies as she keeps on pushing through the clothes.

"Gosh, this is what I hate about last minute shopping." Samya continues to check through the clothes.

Samya's friend is having a party and she decided to do some last-minute shopping, very mindful of her. Toriah was helping her out until she also eventually got tired. She sat on one of the sofas in the shop until Salma found something.

"Toriah, how's this? Do you think she'll like them?" Salma excitedly lifts out a pair of air Jordans to Toriah.

"They're cute." Toriah compliments, smiling.

"But these are size 5. I have to look for another size. At least 6." Samya walks up to the shop attendant to help with the shoe selection.

Eventually, Toriah got tired and walked out of the shop to get some fresh air. While standing on the balcony, she got a glimpse of a figure that looked like Ian.

"Ian's here?" She thinks to herself.

Ian notices Toriah and gets up the stairs. Toriah, full of relief rushes to Ian.

"Hie. It's been a minute." All smiles on her face, Toriah admits.

"What are you doing here?" Ian asks while looking at Toriah's boots, her really short party dress and the makeup on her face plus the cute messy bun in her head.

"Am helping Salma with shopping. She's trying to get something for her friend's party. It's tonight. What are you doing here?"

"Am trying to get to the apple store. Derrick broke his charger." Ian speaks as he looks at the shop next to which Toriah's in which reads 'Apple Store.'

"Alright."

With no further comments, Toriah moves outs of Ian's way and he walks into the apple store. After sometime, Ian comes out of the shop with the said box of charger. Toriah's still standing at the balcony and Ian walks up to her.

"You still here." Surprised, Ian stops shot upon seeing Toriah.

"Well, she still hasn't found the right gift." Toriah mentions while dwelling her entire attention at Ian as though he's come to her rescue.

"Oh." Ian starts walking away.

Ian stops short.

"Wanna grab a drink?" As though he has remembered something, he turns back at Toriah.

"I'd love to." Toriah responds with a wide smile on her face.

Ian smiles back and Toriah gets down the stairs and gets to Ian. Ian gives out his masculine but yet perfect hand to Toriah who slides on her hand.

"Toriah, I've found the perfect pair." Salma blurts it out while walking down to Toriah with a smile on her face, ignoring Ian's presence.

"Salma." Toriah turns to her cousin, her face looking pale and plain.

There's a dead silence as Ian and Toriah stare at each other and Salma finally notice the two. As she can guess, she's ruined a special moment.

"Toriah, can I talk to you?" Salma pleads, her eyes laid on Ian.

She leaves Ian's hand and goes on the other side with Salma. Before Toriah can utter a word, Salma squirms in excitement.

"First things first, who is that hot guy?" Salma curiously asks throwing her eyes at Ian.

"That's Ian."

"The one from your class? Why didn't you tell me earlier that he's this cute?"

"Have you found what you were looking for?" Feeling kind of shy, Toriah changes the topic.

"Yes. I found these really awesome sneakers. Aren't they nice?" Salma takes out a box of sneakers from a paper bag she got from the store.

"They are nice." Toriah admits while checking out the box.

Salma looks at Ian who is waiting not so far away from where they are standing.

"You guys were going somewhere?" Salma full of curiosity blurts out.

"Not quite. He was taking me out to have a drink." Toriah responds while still staring at the shoes.

"He seems really nice. You should really go out with him." Salma comments.

"Wait, really?" Toriah, full of excitement and disbelief at what Salma is saying, she draws her entire attention to Salma completely forgetting about the box.

"You have a life to leave, Toriah. And I'll take these." Salma takes the box from Toriah's hands. "We'll meet after the party. On one condition; kindly introduce me to him. Am just saying."

They both give out a giggle as they get to where Ian's standing.

"All that's remaining is wine. So, I'll get to the store and get some. Am leaving my cuz in your hands." With that being said, Salma walks away and Toriah smiles at her.

Toriah turns to Ian "Let's go."

"You aren't going for the party?" Ian asks while looking at Toriah.

"Not anymore." She responds with a warm smile.

The two make themselves comfortable at a nearby café.

"I've just remembered. Derick has a tournament going on." Ian admits upon checking his phone and pressing it back on the table.

"What does he play?" Toriah comments while putting her milkshake on the table.

"He skates."

 Jaw-dropped, Toriah decides to give it a chance. They get to a ground floor where they are welcomed by the presence of a crowd of people with all sorts of vape. Some of which know Ian. While still standing closely with Ian, a young boy who seems to be a smaller version of Ian comes through with his nappy hair screaming louder.

"My skateboard's broken." The little boy whom Toriah might have figured out that is Derrick confesses while shoving the broken board down.

"Damn, bro." Ian takes out his ATM card and hands it over to Derrick. He receives without question as he blankly stares at Toriah who seems to be smiling at him.

"Did you find the charger?" Derrick questions as he looks at the ATM card Ian has given him.

"Yeah. It's in the car."

Derrick smiles in excitement as he flees away. Ian and Toriah get at the stands to wait for the tournament. In the meantime, they are both sipping on some milkshake. After a while, Derrick comes in. Not long after he arrives, the tournament starts. There's all sorts of cheering from the crowd. In the end, Derrick comes out victorious.

"There's Derrick. I'll go say hi." Toriah leaves Ian who is with a couple of friends.

On the other hand, Derrick's busy with his skateboard. Toriah still decides to intervene. "Hey there. Congratulations on your win" Derrick ignores Toriah and continues with what he's doing. "My bad. Am Toriah."

"Yeah, whatever." Derrick doesn't seem to care.

"Ian's friend."

"Yeah right. One of Ian's bitches." Derrick still doesn't seem to care and this time around he's hurt Toriah.

"What did you just say? Ian heard what Derrick said and was walking in. Derrick seemed pretty nervous. He then stretches out his hand and Derrick doesn't seem to get it. " My card."

Derrick takes the card out and hands it to Ian. As Ian's about to leave, Derrick stops him.

"Ian. I wanna purchase ps5 pro."

Ian shrugs while he scoffs. "Keep on dreaming. Am not spending a penny on no video games."

Derrick angrily walks past Ian and Toriah as he slightly pushes Ian.

"Ian, be kind to the kid." Full of remorse, Toriah gets to Ian as Derrick emotionally leaves.

"He'll be okay." Ian responds to Toriah.

Toriah looks at Derrick who is on a bench, his face red as a tomato as he keeps throwing his skateboard to a wall. She decides to approach him.

"Hey. Let's go see this game."

Derrick excitedly looks at Toriah and jumps off. The two leave for the store slightly ignoring Ian. After that, Toriah comes back to the spot finding Ian, still amazed.

"Ian..." Before Toriah could complete her sentence, Ian leaves for his car. Toriah follows him.

"Ian look..."

"Toriah, do you trust me?" Ian looked straight into Toriah's eyes in a really different way. A magical way perhaps.

"Yes."

Before Toriah could say any other word, Ian leaned over and kissed her. At first she was blank but then she thought she could no longer hide her feeling so she kissed him back. Feeling really good, the two took a deeper kiss. While kissing, Ian gently removes Toriah's top.

Beep! Beep!

The beautiful moment is ruined by Toriah phone. Toriah breaks away from the kiss to check her phone.

"It's Salma. I have to go, she's here." Toriah puts her jacket back on.

"Jesus. We'll talked."

Toriah smiles and walks away. Well, Salma pretty much ruined a special moment. Is this the beginning of their relationship, though?

"Hey." Toriah smiles upon seeing Salma.

"There you are. How did it go?"

"I'll tell you when we get home." Toriah is blushing, even Salma can see that. "How was the party?" The two get into the car which was being driven by their aunt's driver.

"It was great, you should've been there. Even Khaleel was there."