Two years later

                            ~•~
Rachael felt nostalgic as the announcement came in by the air hostess that the plane was landing at the Lagos airport in thirty minutes time.

She had not been in Nigeria for over a year and she was very excited when her university in London went for a mid-semester break that would last for just two weeks, but Rachael wanted to make use of the opportunity instead of waiting till the end of the year when the Christmas holidays would come by. She had made that decision when she got the news that her mum had given birth to twins. The news had gotten her so excited that she had to make use of the short break to come back home.

After their final examinations at Pearl International High School, Vincent was given an automatic scholarship to study at any university of his choice, since he had the best results from his class. Fortunately for him, he had gotten admission to study Medicine at the Warwick University, London.

Rachael had decided to apply to the same university too, where she had always wanted to study at, and had gotten in to study Neuroscience. She chose to study at a university in London because she would be closer to her grandparents and Vincent.
Her parents were now fully aware of her relationship with Vincent. She had even gone on a date with him a week before.

As for Rita, she couldn't stand not being close to her family so she was currently studying Mass Communication at the University of Lagos.

Rita had promised to come along with Rachael's dad to pick Rachael up at the airport. Since Rachael's dad was now the Minister for Petroleum in the country, he had informed her that a security guard would be the first person to meet her at the airport when she arrives, making all the provisions necessary on how she would identify the guard.

The plane soon landed at the airport and Rachael came down from it, along with the other passengers.

She was putting on a black button-up dress and black hose, pairing it up with a pair of black boots, and her hair, beautifully styled and packed.  She had started growing her natural hair again after cutting her relaxed hair a year ago. She wanted to keep it natural and kinky, just the way she had always liked it.

She noticed a well-built man, wearing a black suit, walk towards her.

"You must be miss Rachael," the man said with a deep voice.

"Yes sir," Rachael replied. She felt a little bit intimidated by the way the man looked and spoke.

"Your dad had sent me here to get you to where he is. Let's go please," the man said before helping Rachael with her small travel box.

They both walked side-by-side towards a private car park where two black cars were already parked. Mr. Davidson  came out from one of the cars immediately he saw Rachael coming forward.

"Dad!" Rachael screamed in happiness, already running forward to meet her dad. She happily flung her hands around his neck and hugged him tightly when they finally had contact. She had missed him so much. Although, she had seen him six months ago when he had visited her grandparents with her mum.

"I've missed you so much baby," her dad said after their long hug.

"I've missed you more dad. Where is Rita?" Rachael said before asking.

"She is in the other car. You would ride with her," her dad told her.

"Alright dad," Rachael said before moving into the other car which had a bodyguard at the front seat, along with Ebuka at the driver's seat.

"I finally see what was distracting you," Rachael said when she got into the back seat and saw Rita on her phone.

"Oh my God! You are here!" Rita squealed in excitement before pulling Rachael into a hug, just as the car began to move, trailing behind the other car where Mr. Davidson was in.

"Welcome, small madam," Ebuka greeted from the front.

"Thank you," Rachael replied, still in Rita's firm grip.

"My God! You're looking so beautiful," Rita said, immediately she had broken the hug.

"Thank you dear. You also look good yourself," Rachael complimented her.

"For where? Me that Lagos sun wants to finish," Rita complained and Rachael laughed.

"Ah boy! I've missed this city," Rachael said as she took a look at the roadside from the tinted car window.

"My dear, Lagos has not changed a bit," Rita said.

"What has happened since I left? Have you been in touch with any of our classmates?" Rachael asked consecutively.

"Yes, just a few. That reminds me. Are you aware that Diane is also in UNILAG?" Rita asked.

"I'm not aware. How about her?"

"She is studying Theater Arts there but the main gist is that she is now calm, not the busy body she was back then in school any longer," Rita revealed.

"Are you serious? Is that even possible?"
Rachael asked in disbelief.

"Well, something happened that changed it all. You know that her model of a boyfriend?"

"Yes. The one she came with to the match back then," Rachael said as the memories came back to her.

"Well, he openly broke up with her at one of those their freshers party. It was so humiliating because the news was all over campus. I even felt pity for her. Poor girl." Rita concluded.

"That is so embarrassing. I hope she gets over it," Rachael said.

"Talking about boyfriends. How is Vincent doing? I had a video call with him about a month ago," Rita said.

"Vincent is doing very fine. We actually went on a date together, a week ago. He is charming as always," Rachael said with so much adoration.

"Awn, that's nice. Can you imagine that he called me fat when I talked with him on video call?" Rita lamented.

"I really don't think your arguments with Vincent would ever come to an end," replied Rachael.

"Whose side are you on?" Rita exclaimed.

"No one's side dear," Rachael said with a raise of her hands.

"I really doubt that," Rita said before asking,    "How has school been?"

"It's been okay. I've been trying to cope. How about you?" Rachael replied.

"The stress is draining me girl. Going to lectures, taking notes and making sure to submit assignments in time and all. I can't wait to graduate. Thank God it's remaining just two years and some few months," Rita whined on.

"You didn't add the extra year for ASUU strike," Rachael said and laughed.

"My God!  It's true, I just pray that they behave themselves now that I'm in school," Rita said and joined Rachel to laugh.

"I've been seeing your YouTube videos. You're gradually turning into a celebrity. The last time I checked, you had at least one thousand subscribers already," Rita said after her laughter.

Rachael laughed before replying, "You're actually right. All thanks to your advice. Playing the guitar and uploading videos of it really has a way of relieving me of my school stress and all. I actually made a recent video with Vincent just two days ago. I disturbed him to sing Ed Sheeran's Perfect with me while I played the guitar. I'm yet to upload it on my channel though."

"Are you serious? Please play it for me let me see." Rita was bursting with excitement.

Rachael brought out her phone from her handbag and went straight to her video player to play the video, and then handed over her earpiece and phone to Rita.

In the video, Rachael was putting on a white dress while Vincent was on a tuxedo.

"My God! The both of you look so perfect together. And your dress, I want to cry," Rita dramatically said, immediately the video started playing, making Rachael to smile at her reaction.

"Vincent has always had a beautiful voice but he wouldn't show it off. If it was me though, nobody would hear something on social media again because my videos would be everywhere," Rita humorously said.

"It's not his fault in a way. You know his course is very tedious so he spends most of his time studying, but then I'm still happy because no matter how stressful it gets, he never forgets to make out time for us," Rachael proudly said.

"Awn, look at you swooning over him," Rita teased.

"Alright, it's okay. The video is over," Rachael said, seizing her phone from Rita's hand, but then Rita quickly took it back from her.

"Wait, it's remaining some few more seconds," Rita said as she continued to watch the video.

"Trust me, there is nothing more to see again," Rachael said, bringing her hand forward once again to get her phone from Rita but Rita didn't let her have it. Instead, she continued with watching the video.

"Oh my God!" she screamed as if she had seen a ghost.

"So this is what you were hiding from me?" Rita said, bringing her voice down this time around. She had just watched the end of the video where Rachael and Vincent were passionately kissing.

"Don't worry, I'm definitely cutting that part out before uploading it on my channel. We just got caught up in the moment," Rachael replied, blushing profusely in the process.

"So I'm going to be a godmother very soon," Rita spoke dramatically.

"You're dreaming really big now," Rachael said before laughing at Rita's statement about being a godmother, and Rita soon joined her in her laughter. They continued with catching up until the car finally got to the house.

Rita had planned on having a sleepover at Rachael's place, so she went home with them without stopping at her place. They both stepped down from the car and entered the house, followed by Rachael's dad.

"Are you ready to meet your brother and sister?" Davidson asked his daughter as they stood outside his room.

"More than ready," Rachael said with a grin, just before her dad finally opened the room.

Her mum who was sleeping immediately opened her eyes as she heard them come in.
The babies were kept on two different fancy- looking cradles. Rachael lunched forward to hug her mum while her dad and Rita stood and watched the beautiful sight.

"My baby," Sylvia said as she hugged Rachael back.

Rachael pulled herself away from her mum after a while and moved closer to get a look at her baby brother and sister, who had their eyes closed in a peaceful sleep.

"My God! They look so cute," she cooed as she admired the babies.

"I never asked for their names. What's their names?" she asked.

"Victor and Victoria," her mum replied.

"That's beautiful mum. God I feel like crying right now. I finally have siblings. Vincent once told me this would happen, he was so right. I should take a picture and show it to him," Rachael said with so much joy in her heart, before going ahead to take two pictures of the twins while Rita and her parents got instantly infected with her joy and happiness.

Rachael took her time to just sit and admire her brother and her sister before it occurred to her that she had not called Vincent to inform him of her arrival.

"Mum, dad, I would be going to my room now. I need to make a call," she informed her parents and left their room, along with Rita to hers.

Rachael entered her room to find it clean and well arranged. She was immediately grateful that her parents were considerate enough to know that some cleaning had to be done prior to her arrival.

"What are you up to?" Rita asked when she saw Rachael scrolling through her phone.

"I'm about calling Vincent. I need to tell him that I've arrived safely," Rachael replied.

"Okay. "

Rachael finally dialled Vincent's number and waited for him to pick up as it started ringing.

"Hi babe. I've been trying to call you for some time now," his voice came through immediately he picked up.

"Might be some network issues. I've actually arrived home safely," Rachael said.

"Thank God for that. How is everyone at home doing?"

"They are all fine. I took a picture of my little brother and sister. I would send it to you after this call," Rachael said with excitement.

"That's good to hear. I told you before right. That you would soon get your own siblings too."

"Oh yeah, I didn't really see that happening then, but I'm very happy that it came to pass though," Rachael said.

"Me, too."

"Rita is here with me. We're having a sleepover tonight. I'm putting the call on loud speaker now," Rachael said and went ahead to put the call on loud speaker.

"Hey frenemy," Vincent's voice came through.

"I can't believe I'm saying this but I've missed you so much," Rita confessed.

"I should record this call. I can't believe that you are capable of saying that you missed me."

"Well, don't get so excited or I would take what I just said back," Rita replied, making Vincent and Rachael to laugh shortly.

"You know what? I'm ending this call now. I need time to be with my friend. After all I'm not going to be seeing her as much as you would, so bye," Rita said with all seriousness.

"Alright babe, you've heard her. bye. Would talk to you later. I love you," Rachael said, adoringly.

"I love you too. Bye," Vincent replied before the call ended.

"It's girls time!" Rita exclaimed and went to take a good position on Rachael's bed.

The two talked about random things and caught up with lost time before they finally slept off, with Rachael wearing the brightest of grin as she slept peacefully. For her, her life had never been so peaceful and beautiful.

~•~