Christine Onyinye Nwafor

I watched from the stool where I sat as Remi and the tattoo artist, Lanre, I think, spoke about the font of the text he wants to get.

It was going to be a bible verse, although I didn't know which one yet. For some reason, Remi wouldn't tell me after practically dragging me out of my hostel to come here with him on this beautiful Saturday afternoon.

"I think, I like that one." I spoke up for the first time, pointing at a particular cursive font on the paper that Lanre was holding up in the air with his two hands.

The pair turned to me then and Remi scratched his beards as he contemplated what I said. "Yeah?"

I nod. "It looks really nice and I don't know much about tattoos, but I think this would look good on your skin." I said, instantly regretting the way I worded the statement.

Remi sent me a smile before turning to Lanre and nodding his head. I was surprised as I watched him go to lay down on the plush black recliner chair, surprised that he actually took my spontaneous advise on a decision he had been trying to make for the past ten minutes. Not a long time, but still.

A small smile came to my face at that but it quickly disappeared as I watched Remi take off his shirt. My tongue immediately shot out to lick my lips as my hungry eyes found itself unable to do anything but stare at his chiseled chest. I knew he had a firm body, but seeing how firm and chiseled it was up close was just surreal.

Not wanting to become a pervert, definitely not in this office, I forced my gaze away. Some how, my eyes wandered to Remi's face only to find him already staring at me.

His eyes were unreadable before Lanre grabbed both our attention by revving the tattoo machine loudly.

I cringed as I watched him bring the device to Remi's left pectoral muscle and start writing on it slowly, a white napkin in his other hand.

"I was thinking of getting a tattoo someday but that looks awfully scary." I blurted out causing both men to laugh.

"You get used to it after some time. But your first time will be painful, no cap." Remi tells me. He had more experience than I did anyway with a few tattoos littered around his body.

Lanre asked, "What will you like to get?" My gaze flitted to his neck which was decorated with tattoos on his skin. He had on a long sleeved grey shirt but I knew without a doubt that underneath the piece of clothing lay masterpieces of art.

Remi had told me that Lanre was one of the best in the city and could do any design perfectly. He obviously was popular and patronized a lot if luxurious tattoo parlor was anything to go by. I never even knew that tattoo artists made so much money.

"I'm not sure yet. When I reach that bridge, I'll cross it." I told him and he chuckled before keeping quiet and focusing on his work.

Remi laid back, closed his eyes and sighed. For the first time, I noticed how tired he looked, light eye bags decorating underneath his eyes and I didn't know when my hand instinctively shot out to cup his cheek.

His eyes flew open, brown orbs staring straight at me. "Are you okay? You look tired?" I ask in concern.

"I am."

"Then why didn't you just stay in today? I'm getting the vibe that you don't like to sit your ass at home." I joked and he chuckled lightly under his breath.

"Staying in would mean I have to study for the mid terms and I don't even have the strength for that right now." 

"You're graduating soon, don't worry it'll soon be over." I tried to reassure him but the expression he wore told me that he highly doubted that.

I was surprised when he took my hand and pressed his lips into my palm. "I hope so. Thanks for coming here with me. I'm sure there are a million and one things you could be doing right now."

I laughed. "It's not like I had much of a choice anyway. You showed up to my hostel and made me come with you." I was exaggerating and we both knew it because if I really didn't want to be here, I wouldn't be.

"Thanks anyway." Remi said and I nodded.

The space fell quiet and he closed his eyes again, this time with my hand still in his as I watched the machine on his skin move with flawless precision under the guidance of Lanre. Remi's breathing slowed and I assume he fell asleep after some time.

Eventually, I pulled out my phone and texted with a few people, all with my left hand seeing as Remi still had my hand in his and I had no intention of pulling away despite the fact that I was slowing starting to lose feel in my arm.

After over an hour, Lanre finally declared that he was done and I couldn't have been more relieved. As he moved out of the room to get antiseptic and whatever else they put on new tattoos, I took a proper look at the tattoo.

"Do not let yourself be conquered by the evil. But keep conquering the evil with the good."
~Romans 12:21

I was about to ask him what the verse meant but when I pulled away, I realized how close our faces were. His eyes, which were once closed, were wide open now and focused on me and I felt his slow, steady breath fan my face slightly. Something I usually dislike was suddenly not so uncomfortable for me.

"What does it mean?" I breathe out.

"I think it's pretty self explanatory, Chris." Remi replies, mirth swimming in his eyes.

I slapped his chest playfully. "I meant, what does it mean to you?"

Taking a deep breath, Remi said, "I guess it's a reminder to myself that no matter where I am, no matter what people do to me, I should never repay their evil with evil."

Something told me that behind those words were something deep, something that no doubt hurt and I was curious to find out. The more I got to know Remi, the more I wanted to know.

Layers, that's what he's made up of. Layers upon layers. I want to peel them all to find out where it ends and what lies in every layer of his being.

I had never been so curious about a person before, never been so keen to know more about someone. But he was an exception. A first of many things for me, something told me.

"I really want to kiss you right now." I heard his voice whisper.

"What's stopping you?"

"Okay! We've done this before so there's really no need to tell you what you have to do but I'm going to go over it again, just in case." Lanre announced as he walked into the room, his eyes on the bottle in his hand.

I pulled away from Remi then, clearing my throat as I watched him come around the chair. Remi sent me a knowing smile before turning to the man.

Lanre recited the instructions that he had obviously had to say way too many times, and after covering up the wound with gauze and paying, we were on our way.

"Where to now?" I asked Remi as I pulled on my seatbelt.

"Wherever the wind takes us." Remi said with a grin and I turned to him sharply.

"Abeg, I don't want wind to take me anywhere." I hold up my hand at him.

He laughs as he turns on the engine of the car and begins pulling out of the parking lot. "Nigerians and their superstitions. I'm not sure though. We can go back to school if you like, I do want to see my cousin but I can drop you off if you want."

My mind took that as an invitation to meet his cousin and for some reason I wasn't sure how to react which didn't make much sense seeing as I've already met his sister. Yet, the thought that he was cool with me meeting his family member made something bloom in my chest and in a normal voice, I say, "We can go see your cousin."

Remi sends me a smile before picking up his phone which he had dropped on the console. A couple of seconds later, the sound of a line trilling was loud over the car speakers.

"Aye, what's good?" I heard a slightly accented voice say after the third ring.

"I'm boutta pull up on you, where you at?" Remi asked.

"At this studio in Lekki Phase...Big, what phase is this?" He asked someone in the background and the person replied although I couldn't hear what was said. "Phase two. I'll send you the address."

"Okay, I'm coming with someone, that cool?"

"Your girl?" The guy asks and Remi and I turn to each other at the same time.

He smirks. "Something like that."

"That's what I'm talking about, I'll see y'all soon." The guy said before hanging up.

I raised a brow at Remi in question. "Your girl, huh?"

"Hey, I said something like that, we are getting there."

The smile that was on my face couldn't be wiped for the duration of the drive to Lekki Phase two.

The compound we pulled into looked more like someone's house than a recording studio but I remained quiet as we stepped out of the car, and into the house.

The first thing that hit me was the strong stench of weed. A couple of guys stood around with red plastic cups in their hands and some joints as well.

Inside, I raised my brows at the scene. Remi greeted the guys and then they led us to this cousin of his.

The recording studio itself was pretty huge. The space consisted of dark furniture, all around a glass enclosed space where two guys ware currently singing into the mick in it. One, I immediately identified as Santi, an upcoming Alternative musician, because he had his face turned to my direction as he faced his partner.

The other guy had slightly long dreads and silver rings on his fingers something I noticed as he held on to his mick and they glinted in the light. He had on a ripped t-shirt and ear rings in his ears. Yet his voice was soulful, deep, and all too familiar.

My eyes widened and I quickly turned to Remi. "Holy shit, you didn't think to tell me that your cousin is Mikey the freaking Soundgod?"

I hit his chest lightly and he held on to the spot, laughing. "I wanted to surprise you. But yeah, that piece of shit is my cousin alright."

I was still in shock as we went to sit down, thankfully the room wasn't filled up as crowds gave me a bit of anxiety sometimes, especially new ones.

We both sat down on a long couch not bothering to greet anyone as two of the guys here had their attention on the singers and the other one was at the producer's table. Remi sat at the edge with me in next to him and on my left sat a girl in long faux locs.

She turned to me and smiled a gorgeous smile as her nose ring shone against her smooth dark skin.

"Hey! Remi!" She said excitedly, Remi whose attention was on the booth turned to her and he grinned at the girl. The pair quickly hugged before sitting back down.

"It's been so long. Chris, this is Mikey's girlfriend Tems. Tems, this is my friend Christine." He introduced us and I shook hands with her.

"I'm surprised to see you here. I thought you're in uni right now." She expressed.

"I am." Remi said. "I just wanted to step out for a bit and I dragged her along with me."

Tems smiled as she turned to me. "You go to Atlantic Cove too?"

I nodded. Recently, I wanted to added but I didn't cause that could possibly lead to the usual questions that I'd much rather not answer.

"Oh that's amazing. I went there too." She informed me and I was mildly surprised.

"Really?"

Tems nodded. "Yup. Graduated a year ago and since then I've been touring around the world with my man." She said and the smile that she wore at the mention of Mikey showed that she clearly had no regrets. I admired that and a part of me hoped to be on that level with someone someday; where merely mention him brought a smile to my face.

"How's Kemi and Regina?" Tems asked and my eyebrows flew at that question as I turned to Remi, waiting for his reply.

"Kemi is good, and as for Regina, I have no idea." Remi ended with a soft, sarcastic laugh.

"Y'all broke up?" Tems asked, her face confused.

"We never dated." Remi replied simply.

Her mouth took an 'o' shape and after that, it got quiet but the silence was more on the awkward side. The sound of Mikey and Santi singing soon stopped and both stepped out of the booth.

I became nervous as Mikey approached us. This was someone who I listened to his music quite a lot after my sister, Chichi, rubbed her obsession with him off on me.

"Cuz!" He exclaimed as he sighted Remi who stood up. The two men dapped each other and Remi bent his head, laughing as they started doing a special hand shake.

I smiled at the obvious bond they shared and I was thankful that he was letting me see this side of him. The grin he wore in that moment took my breath away and suddenly the butterflies in my belly weren't a result of my nerves at seeing Mikey. No, they were there for a whole other reason; a whole other person.

"What's good, man? Cause it's definitely not this wild ass hair." Remi joked and his cousin's hand instinctively went to his hair.

I'll admit, it was a little much. It kind of reminded me of The Weeknd's hair before he cut it low, only a slightly shorter and more spaced out version.

"Aye, leave my hair alone. It's part of my brand, the girls dig that shit." Mickey said and I saw his girlfriend tilt her head at him in my peripheral vision.

"Of course it's only one girl that I actually care what she thinks anyway." He quickly corrected himself before coming to kiss her lips.

When they were done with their PDA, he turned to me. "You must be Remi's special friend."

Remi rolled his eyes at his cousin's choice of words and I laughed lightly. "I guess I am. Christine." I introduced myself as we shook hands. "I'm a huge fan."

He smirked as he took my hand in his. "Thanks. Something tells you I'm about to be a fan of you too." I didn't understand what he meant until his eyes moved to Remi before returning to me and my cheeks heat up slightly.

We stayed there for over an hour before heading back to school. I was craving the campus Sharwama so we made a quick stop to get some before Remi drove me to my hostel.

"Thanks for today, I had a good time." I told him.

"I should be thanking you for coming out with me. But, you're welcome though." He said and it got quiet a bit, I didn't know what I was waiting for.

Ugh, I groaned internally and went for the door to leave before it got awkward. But Remi's hand shot out to stop me so I turned to him, my eyes low.

"I'm going to kiss you now." It was a statement, not a question, and lord knows I didn't have it in me to object against something I craved badly. So, when his lips descended on mine, I closed my eyes shut and took all he had to give, and some more.

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Remi's girl?👀
Okay!

Things are getting more serious and I'd love to know what you guys are thinking about these two so far?

Do you think Remi introducing Chris to his family member is a step in a direction?

Any ship names for them so far?

Please keep reading, keep voting, keep commenting and keep being patient with me. I know it's a lot, but I promise it'll be worth it in the end.

Until next time, stay safe y'all💕