Rachael was woken up by the sound of musical instruments and that of singing voices.

She slowly opened her eyes and they met with her dad first, before they moved to the young man playing the popular birthday tune with a trumpet, another lady was holding a bunch of rose flowers while another held a petite birthday cake.

Rachael couldn't hold back her smiles as her dad came forward to hug her. He had never gone so far on her birthday, not because he couldn't afford it, but for security reasons so Rachael was really surprised, but at the same time very grateful.

"Thank you so much dad. I can't believe you went as far as hiring a surprise team for my day," Rachael said as she warmly hugged her dad, just as the music came to an end.

The lady dropped the cake and the rose flowers on Rachael's table when they got a signal from her dad to leave.

"Happy birthday my to lovely daughter," Davidson said, immediately the team left.

"Thank you dad," Rachael replied with a grin.

"I'm sorry that your mum is not available to celebrate your day with you," her dad said.

"I understand dad, she is busy, as always," Rachael said softly.

"You know she loves you right? I don't want you to think otherwise," her dad told her and all she could do in reply was to give a nod and just then, a knock came from downstairs.

"I should go and get it," her dad said.

"Okay," Rachael said and her dad left, while she walked into the bathroom to brush her teeth.

She came back to her room to find her dad seated on her bed, next to a dress all wrapped up in a transparent bag.

"One of your mum's employee brought in your dress for you. Also, the decoration team are already at the backyard, decorating it for your party later in the day," her dad said.

"That's really nice, thanks dad, for everything."

"You're welcome dear. I should leave you now so you can attend to your things," her dad said and left her room.

Rachael was admiring her cake when her phone started ringing. She picked it up to find out that it was her mother calling but decided to leave the call unanswered.

She decided to go and have a bath since she knew Vincent and Rachael would soon be at her house. They always came over to her house on her birthday, way earlier than any other invitee, ever since they became close friends.

Rachael got out of the bathroom after having her bath, checked the time on her phone and it was nine-thirty. She opened her class WhatsApp group chat to find out that the name of the group chat had been changed to HAPPY BIRTHDAY RACHAEL 🎉❤ by Vincent and she smiled at his action which meant a lot to her. She discovered that some of her classmates had sent her birthday messages but decided to reply Vincent's and Rita's message before going ahead to reply the others.

"Breakfast is ready Rachael," Mrs. Jones' voice rang from outside Rachael's room, distracting her from her phone. Mrs. Jones had been asked to stay around for the weekend so she could receive the event planner and the caterer for Rachael's birthday.

"I'm coming down soon!" Rachael dropped her phone. She went ahead to apply lotion on her skin, and after that, slipped into a white cotton singlet and jean shorts before leaving her room to go downstairs.

When she got to the dining table, her dad was already seated and had started eating his meal of Jollof rice and fried chicken.

"Your hair is beautiful," he said to Rachael as she sat down.

"Thank you dad."

"When are your friends supposed to arrive?"

"By two in the afternoon, but Rita and Vincent would be coming earlier."

"Alright," her dad said and they continued with eating.

When they finished eating, Rachael got back to her room to put on her dress. She pulled out the dress from what appeared like its prison and marvelled at the magnificence and beauty of the dress. She quickly wore the dress and stared at her mirror. Her mum had chosen a red dress that had the backside extended into a fishtail, which made it flow a little on the floor. She brought out her phone and took a picture of it.

The next moment, she heard a knock at the door and decided to go and answer it since
Mrs. Jones was busy at the backyard and her dad would probably be in his study. She opened the door to see Rita and Vincent standing right there.

"Wow! Your dress is so beautiful. I could spend the whole day admiring it but I need to go and use the bathroom now," Rita quickly said and with that, she rushed into the house, heading upstairs. She was carrying a bag which had a gift wrapped in the shape of a box in it, which she had handed over to Vincent who stood still, staring at Rachael.

"You don't like the dress?" Rachael nervously asked him as she felt her dress was not looking good before him.

"What! No I actually love it and you look amazing and that dress looks perfect on you," Vincent said as he gradually got himself back.

"Really? Your stares made me think otherwise," Rachael said, now relaxed.

"I was just surprised, I've never seen you looking so beautiful. Not like you've not always been beautiful but you just..." Vincent trailed off, not knowing what other word to use in describing Rachael's look which he found to be beyond amazing.

"Thank you," Rachael said with a smile, happy that he loved her dress and how she looked.

"You're welcome. I got you something," Vincent said and brought out a little box from his jean pocket. He opened the box and a silver necklace that had a heart-shaped pendant came into view.

"Wow! This is beautiful." Rachael picked up the necklace from the box which Vincent had held out.

"Could you help me with putting it around my neck?" she asked Vincent who quickly obliged.

He took the necklace from her and went ahead with fixing it on Rachael's neck while she held up her hair to give him room for access.
His hands lingered on Rachael's neck after he was done with fixing the necklace.
She turned around to face Vincent who was now watching her with so much adoration in his eyes, and for a moment, she felt she saw some unspoken feelings.

"The necklace looks beautiful on you," he said, still staring deeply into her brown eyes.

"Thank you for the gift, it's officially my first birthday gift," Rachael said with her eyes focused on Vincent. The distance between the both of them became even slimmer.

"I'm happy I got to be the first person to give you a birthday gift," Vincent said and gently removed a strand of stray braid from Rachael's face, the simple action making her heart rate skyrocket.

"Gosh!" Rita's voice came through and they both took a step backward from each other, before she finally appeared before them.

"I can't believe I found it so hard to locate the bathroom. I almost peed on myself all thanks to Vincent who kept hurrying me up so I couldn't have the time to do my business at home," Rita continued as she came into view in the living room.

"You were taking so much time, so I had to do something," Vincent said to Rita but not before laughing at her. He had gone over to Rita's place so they could head over to Rachael's house together.

"Girl! This your dress is so pretty," Rita said as her eyes glanced over Rachael's dress.

"Awn, thanks dear, Vincent said same," Rachael said with a cute smile.

"Vincent please hand over the bag to me," Rita requested and collected the bag from Vincent.

"My gift to you." Rita handed the bag over to Rachael who immediately started to unwrap the gift. She peered into the white box to find a pair of white Adidas sneakers.

"I love this! Thank you bestie," Rachael said and immediately pulled Rita into a hug.

"This is not fair," Vincent said and drew the girls' attention to him.

"First of all, I didn't get a hug and secondly, I thought I was your bestie," Vincent said, trying to feign anger.

"Okay, one hug for you too," Rachael said and went over to briefly hug him. "By the way, you are both my besties," she said after the hug.

A knock was heard from the door and Rachael went over to get the door. She saw a young lady standing outside and holding a bag.

"Hi, you must be Rachael. My name is Jacinta. I work for your mum and was sent here by her. I'm here for your hair and makeup, and I also came with your shoes," the lady said and went ahead to show Rachael her work ID card.

"Alright, you can come in then," Rachael said to her, leading her into the living room. Rita and Vincent both greeted Jacinta as she entered the living room.

Jacinta got into work, starting with Rachael's hair first. She packed it into a bun and decorated it with white hair pins. Next, she went over to powder her face and apply some lip gloss to her lips. Sylvia had instructed that she wanted something simple for her daughter and so Jacinta decided to stick with that. After she was done with Rachael's face, she brought out a small box that contained a pair of shiny black pearl earrings, and helped Rachael with putting them on. She finally revealed Rachael's shoes which were in another bag, a black, Gucci high heel that had glittering stones decorating its straps.

"This is beautiful!" Rachael gushed over the shoes on her feet.

"Totally and completely beautiful," Rita added and Vincent nodded his head in approval.

"And with that I'm done. Hope you like it all?" Jacinta asked.

"Of course, thank you," Rachael replied.

"You're welcome pretty, happy birthday," Jacinta said and with that, she picked up her belongings and left.

Just some minutes after Jacinta had left, the photographer Rachael's dad had arranged for came over. Rachael invited the guy in and took permission from her friends and the photographer to go and call her dad.

She knocked at the door to her dad's study but didn't get any reply so she got the clue that he would be in his room. She knocked at the door of his room and he asked her to enter.

"The photographer is here dad," Rachael said to her dad who was done with dressing up and was just adjusting his tie.

"I'm coming down. Just a minute," he said to Rachael and she went back downstairs.

Her dad soon arrived at the living room and joined them. "Welcome Tayo," he said to the photographer.

"Thank you sir," Tayo said with a bow.

"We would be taking the pictures at the backyard," Davidson said to all of them, just as Rita and Vincent greeted him and he replied them, not forgetting to ask about their parents and study.

The all moved to the backyard which was already decorated and was looking all bright and shiny, it even had a red carpet lying on the interlocked stones. Even the tables were now occupied with covered trays that contained food.

They finally found a perfect place just beside the pool to take the pictures. The photographer started with taking pictures with only Rachael in it, and then he moved on to take another set with Rachael and her dad only while the next set had Rachael, Vincent and Rita in it. They took some more pictures before they got satisfied, but the photographer was to stay until the end of the party.

"I'm going back inside," Rachael's dad told her.

"Alright dad, see you later," Rachael said, before her dad left her with her friends.

"Are you expecting more guests? Because this setting doesn't look like one for a small birthday party at all," Rita said to Rachael as her eyes scanned through the whole area. Even the food appeared too much to her.

"About that. I'm actually expecting more guests from school actually," Rachael confirmed.

"You never mentioned to us that you changed your mind on having a small party," Rita reminded her friend.

"I know and I'm sorry. Diane brought up the suggestion and I thought, why not?" Rachael told them.

"Oh, okay," Rita said with a low voice. She felt a little bit betrayed that Rachael had not informed her about her change of plans.
Vincent sensed the awkwardness that was now enveloping them and decided to break it.

"Why don't we play a game," he suggested and Rita's face glowed at his suggestion.

"Yes, let's play truth or dare," she suggested and they all agreed.

Rita started when they all settled down on their seats. "Let's start with the birthday girl. Truth or dare?"

"I can't say dare because I know how evil your mind could get so I choose truth," Rachael said and Rita chuckled lightly.

"When did you stop bed wetting?" Rita asked and Rachael palmed her face.

"When I was eleven," she truthfully replied and her friends laughed at her.

"I can't believe it Rachael, you were that old before you stopped peeing on the bed," Vincent said, trying to hold back his laughter.

"Oh please, it's not that bad. Let me be please," Rachael said.

"Rachael, it's your turn to ask any of us," Rita said.

"Okay. Vincent, truth or dare?" Rachael asked, facing Vincent.

"I dare not chose dare, you would definitely want to torment me for laughing at you just now so I choose truth," he replied.

"Guilty conscience," Rachael said and started thinking carefully on what to ask Vincent. She had wanted him to choose dare so she would ask him to dive into the pool, reason because he laughed at her truth. She was not sure of what to ask so she decided to ask the very popular question, without even giving it a second thought.

"Who is your crush?"

"Do you really want to know my answer to that?" he asked.

"Yes or else you owe us five thousand naira," Rita replied.

"Okay, let's make this a little bit fun. Why don't I make a description of her and then you guys guess?" Vincent suggested.

"Go ahead," Rita said in agreement since she was really eager to at least have a clue of who Vincent's crush was.

"Okay. She is dark-skinned, she has brown eyes, she is my classmate, she is drop-dead gorgeous," Vincent started and his words made Rachael's heart to beat faster. Could he be describing her? Or maybe another girl in their class? The second thought made her a little bit jealous.

"She is kind, also really shy, she recently clocked seventeen," Vincent went on and Rita was beginning to get a little bit confused, she wondered if Vincent was talking about Rachael. She was aware that the both of them were really close but never thought there could be special feelings attached.

"Wait! Is it who I'm thinking it is?" Rita asked, cutting Vincent short in his description, and then gave Rachael who now had a look of surprise mixed with shock, a quick glance.

"Hmm, interesting. Who do you think it is?" Vincent asked calmly and just then a set of cheery voices were heard from the front of the house.

"That must be Diane and her friends. I need to go and get them," Rachael quickly said to kill the tension that was now so thick in the air around them. She wasn't ready to hear Rita's guess at that moment.

"Of course, go and get them," Vincent agreed with Rachael and she immediately left him and Rita alone.

"Vincent is she the one?" Rita quickly asked.

"Yes, but please, don't let her know yet. Don't even bring up the topic again when she comes back," he said to Rita whose eyes were wide open in shock.

"Wow! I never saw that coming. I'm really surprised," Rita admitted.

"Please, just don't tell her okay. I would let her know when the right time comes," Vincent told Rita once again.

"Alright." Rita calmly said.

                              ~•~