I took in a deep breath before pushing open the door, balancing the tray of food on my hand with care. After the little break down I had in the kitchen, I had finally managed to prepare a meal for Ademide, although it's being almost two hours since then, but Ademide hasn't come back downstairs to check up on me or whatever I was cooking.

  It's either he was too tired, or my presence really annoyed him now.

   I wouldn't blame him, though. I did deserve everything.

  I walked into the room with the tray balanced on my two hands, and shut the door closed with my leg only for Ademide who had being at his desk, shirtless and dressed in a light blue joggers, typing furiously on his laptop, to spring up from his seat and hurriedly take off a white tee shirt from his bed.

  I walked into the room, tried my best not to glance at him as he put on his shirt, it didn't seem like he was too keen on people seeing his scars yet, and placed the food on the centre table, sitting firmly between two white couches.

  I sat myself down on one of the couches and turned over to him to see him take off his glasses and place it on his laptop that was now closed.

  Ademide walked over to where I was and sat down before me with a tiny nervous smile curving his lips. "So what did my short screamer cook?"

  I tried to calm my heart from jumping too much at the fact that he called me his short screamer and focused on the task at hand. What was the great task? Getting Ademide to eat. It was my fault he hadn't been eating well to begin with.

  "Why don't you find out yourself," I said, pushing the tray towards him, a smile forming on my lips.

  "Okay." He nodded and opened the first plate to reveal a plate of Amala (a Nigerian traditional dish), and the second contained efo riro (vegetable soup) assorted with beef, fish, and ponmo A grin spread across his face as he looked up at me. "Looks like you've had a lot of practice in the kitchen."

  I flushed. "That's true. Why don't you have a taste."

  He nodded and washed his hand in the bowl before putting a morsel of Amala in his mouth. He paused for a bit before he finally looked up at me with a blank look on his face.

  I immediately started to think of how the food had tasted in my mouth to remember if it was awful. "Is it bad?"

  Ademide maintained the blank look before he finally broke into a chuckle. "No, it's delicious. I can't believe you made this."

I smiled as I let out a breath of relief. "I was kinda scared there, was about to call everyone who had complimented my cooking and demand why they lied to me."

  He smiled, then continued with his food while I watched him with a smile on my face.

"You should join me. It's heavenly," he said, motioning to the food.

   "I'll eat later, and you should stop talking, table manners," I said in a dismissive tone, my eyes still glued on him with that smile.

   For the first few seconds, there was a wary smile on his face before he went back to eating, and after that, he didn't say anything until he was done and he thanked me for the food.

  "You're welcome," I said, getting up to clear up the table. He also stood up then, trying to assist, but I held his hand. "No, you don't. Get on your bed, and sleep."

  "I'm not really sleepy," he explained.

  "Then just lie in bed and count sheep," I said in another dismissive tone.

  Ademide stood scratching his head before he finally agreed. I watched him walk over to his bed and sit on it.

  I shook my head with a tiny smile on my lips, at his boyish antics, clearing off the plate. I could feel his eyes on me as I picked up the tray once again and headed out of the room, and I wouldn't lie. It made goosebumps crawl up my skin.

  Once I had gotten to the kitchen and washed the plates, I sat against the kitchen island for a few minutes, thinking deeply. I wondered if I should go back in or just leave since my cross bag was right here in the kitchen. I thought of all the reasons I needed to get out of his air, and all the reasons I needed to stay with him, and I couldn't deny that the former reasons weighed more than the latter on my mind.

   Several minutes later, I finally made up my mind and walked back up the stairs, and into Ademide's room, to see him still seated at the position I left him, now with a sullen look on his face that soon disappeared to be replaced with a blank look once I stepped into the room.

   "You didn't leave," he said, a ghost of a smile on his face.

  I walked over to join him by his side. "No, did you want me to?"

  "No." He hastened to answer. "I thought you were going to leave. You've been giving me some kind of vibes, like you don't wanna be here. And it's weird because even when you were really angry at me and didn't want to see me, I didn't get such a vibe from you."

  Well, I didn't know how selfish a person I was then, and I was still being the prat I was.

  I didn't say this to him, though. I just smiled. "Sorry, I didn't mean to give off such a vibe."

  Ademide studied my face with keen eyes for several seconds, a curious look on his face. He seemed to want to ask something but held himself back before finally cracking. "Erm... that guy from last night."

   My heart dropped from its position as I heard him say this, making me think back to how angry he had looked last night and what he had assumed.

  "His name is Henry. He is an alumni."

  "Oh, that Henry," Ademide said, a look of realization and something I could recognize as fear filled his eyes.

  "What do you mean that Henry?" The same confusion that filled up my face also laced my tone.

  A skittish smile curved Ademide's upper lip. "You kinda told me about him once." He shrugged. "The final year student you once had a crush on."

  My eyes went wide. "I wasn't going to kiss him last night."

  Ademide chuckled, pulling open the duvet as he got under it. "I know, your look said it all. You looked more like you were preparing to shove him to the ends of the Earth."

  Relief washed through me as I heard him say this, but it was soon replaced with a scorching feeling of guilt and inadequacy. Ademide trusted me this much, and I had so little trust in him. I remembered how horrible I had felt last night when he had made those assumptions about me cheating on him with Henry. Was that how he used to feel every time I did that to him?

  "That's how it feels when the person you love doesn't trust you and thinks the worst of you at every given moment."

And this brought back every single reason I didn't deserve to be with him, every reason I wasn't even worth sitting on his bed. My subconscious kicked in, and I soon found myself getting off the bed until a hand stopped me.

  I turned towards Ademide to find him seated up on his bed, giving me a wary look.

   "I'm sorry I said all that I said last night, I didn't mean it," he apologized, making me feel lesser of myself.

  "You have nothing to be sorry about, I should be..."

  "Lie with me." He cut me off instantly, pulling me closer to him and I willingly went into his arms, nestling my body into his, under the duvet, all thoughts of leaving suddenly escaping me as I felt myself relax in his warm embrace.
 
  "You know I've been really stupid." Ademide chuckled, his chest rumbling underneath my palms.

  It took everything in me not to outrightly agree with him on how stupid he was, because if he wasn't stupid, he wouldn't still be so warm towards me after everything I have done to him.

   He snuggled me closer to him, pressing my body closely into his and began to run his hand over my head soothingly, while he continued talking, and all I did right then was to keep mute and listen to him. "I assumed some things and believed them. You know, from the very first day I met you, I knew you had taken up a spot in my life, a spot that couldn't be replaced with anyone else. A face I could recognize, a girl that aroused my interest, and every living organs in my body."

  My breath hitched in my throat at his revelation, taking me back to the first day I met him, I remembered thinking about how handsome he was. I remembered the day like yesterday. It was the day I had finally gotten to realize that there were some untapped feelings in my body that only he could get to.

   One of his hands fell to my waist and slipped underneath my shirt. It didn't take long before it found its destination, my waist beads. I bit my lip, trying to stifle the shiver that ran through my body at the contact of his palm against my skin.

  "From that day, I've never really pictured my future without you in it. I knew I wanted to do everything in this world with you. I didn't know what to classify the feelings at first, but that day that you allowed me to make love to you, I realized that I loved you more than anything. You were the other half that completed me."

  "You make me feel complete, Mary."

  I could hear his voice hovering over me as he said this to me that day, staring right into my eyes, just before his phone rang and I had sent him out of my room all because of my silly habit of jumping into conclusions too. Tears stung my eyes as I realized what moment I had ruined for him.

  "I remembered feeling totally helpless when you suddenly turned cold on me that day." I heard him blow air out of his mouth, paused, then continued. "After all that issue was settled, stupid me still did not realize what I was supposed to do. I knew you had your misgivings, and I thought everything would be fine because I loved you. I also thought the best way I could express my love to you was by making love to you." He chuckled. "I guessed I believed that you understood my unspoken words. Stupid, right?"

  "No, not stupid." I managed to force out of my clogged up throat. "I should have..."

   "Shh." Ademide shushed me up, his hand running circles on my neck. "I should have told you I loved you countless times. Maybe you wouldn't doubt me so much then."

   I forced back every tears that wanted to drop from my eyes and tried to relieve my chest from the tightness that suddenly invaded it.

   "I love you, Mary. I love you so much that it hurts every time I'm not with you. The last five months were blank to me, even when I woke up from coma. All I could think about was the day I'd get to finally see you. I itched to speak to you so much, but unfortunately, my phone cracked in that accident, and my parents kept on letting me know that you were absolutely fine and wanted my fast recovery too."

  At that moment, I wanted to blame everything on his parents and my mum for not telling me about his accident, I wanted to blame everyone, but I knew that the fault of all the problems between I and Ademide wasn't with them.

  I felt him take him a deep breath. "My life feels void without you in it, and I never want to spend another day without you. So don't do it."

  I quickly forced one of my hands up and wiped the tears that were rolling down my eye. "Don't do what?"

   "Break up with me for whatever reasons you've made up in your head. We are both a partaker in everything that happened between us." Ademide answered.

  "But you weren't the one who was jumping into conclusions, painting the other a devil, and belittling the other's love." I wanted to say this, but I didn't. It really wouldn't do anything.

   Ademide loved me too much, and he was quite too stupid to realize that he deserved better than me. I might be who he wants, but I am clearly not who he needs in his life.

   "You claim to love me, yet you don't trust me a single bit. If that's the kind of love you have for me, then I'm afraid I don't want it."

His words replayed in my head, hitting a lot deeper than it did before because I couldn't even reassure myself that things would be different, that I could bring myself to trust him fully. Even if I did trust him now, it doesn't change the fact that I had hurt him countless times and only ever thought about my own pain. Was there any guarantee that this wouldn't happen again?

   "Mary, don't leave," he whispered. "At least not until I'm asleep."

  Once he had said this, he tightened his hands around me, nearly choking the life out of me, but I didn't complain, all I did was to wrap my arms around him and snuggle closer with a promise to leave once he was asleep, then I heard him mutter something, something that sounded like.

  "Whatever you do, I just want my short screamer with me."

Well, I don't know what to say.

What do you all think of this chapter?

We are closer to the end, guys.

Mary is beginning to realize some things.

Bye for now, see you all later.

MARY ADEN.