I couldn't spend more time with Scott and Becky and while they planned on attending a show tonight, I came home. It should be four of us but there is nothing to do than come home since Karen's mom showed up and I hope they are having a nice together right now.

I went straight to the kitchen to show some appreciation to Maria who is helping Ren out with preparing dinner tonight.

Seeing some ingredients which include coconut milk, a bowl of rice, and other stuff, I know she is about to prepare coconut rice having done this with Ren before.

"Hey," I greet with a smile as I move close to her.

"Hi Mike," She replies, turning to me with a smile in return.

"Thanks for helping out," I say.

"It's nothing, I hope you guys enjoyed your day,"

"Of course," I answer. "I should go freshen up," I add and she nods okay.

"Uhm, there is something I should discuss with you," She quickly indicates before I could take a step away.

"Okay," I react as I am eager to hear whatever she wants to let out. She moves close to me, peeping to see if anyone is coming.

"I think the chief wants to fire Karen based on what I eavesdropped on," She whispers to me and I gasp in shock.

"What!" I exclaim, frowning my face.

"And it's probably because of your relationship with her," She suggests and I chuckle a little, recalling the reason dad wanted to do this.

"Who was he discussing this with?" I inquire, folding my arms around my chest.

"With Jeff," She answers and I mouth wow.

"Anything else...you heard?"

"Well, Jeff asked him not to sack her so you not to be suspicious about it," She replies and I nod okay.

"Can you please hide this from Ren?" I say in a pleading way.

"Sure, that's the reason I discussed it with you,"

"Thank you, Maria," I say as I pat her shoulder.

I keep thinking about it as I am dashing upstairs. For dad to be restless and think of firing Karen means he is hiding something which he doesn't want me to know about.

Unfortunately for him, I'm ready and willing to learn everything he is hiding from me. A part of me wants to go to his study right away and confront him but I need more evidence to back it up and till then I would act normal. Now I have got to take a cool shower.

After a short nap, I joined dad and Olivia in the dining to enjoy the lovely coconut rice Maria prepared for us. They are surprised to see me while I was surprised to see the two getting along again.

Likely, Olivia has agreed to heed dad or she is pretending to because I'm sure dad would never change his mind to approve them.

However, I wish she was doing the right thing.

As we start eating in silence, Maria comes back to serve Olivia a bunch of grapes as requested by her.

"How come you are the one who served us tonight and not...Karen?" Dad breaks the silence as he begins to question her and I clear my throat. He glances at me before he continues.

"Probably you made this?"

"She...is not...around. I had to cover up for her," Maria stutters as she answers.

"I don't think she takes her job seriously then," He comments and I scoff a little. I glance at Maria, her eyes meet my gaze in fear, and I take my eyes off her.

"She has somewhere important to be," I interfere.

"Somewhere important than her job?" He argues. If not that he can't get off his mind about me knowing about him and Karen's dad, why would he even be bothered that Karen took a night off while Maria made us a delicious meal?

"She is an undergraduate student for goodness' sake," I retort.

"How does that has to do with her part-time job? Is she going to class by this time,"

"Well, you have forgotten there is  something called night class,"

"But I thought she said she is done with her bachelor's degree," Olivia interferes confusedly and my heart begins to sink, "Is that the reason she applied for a part-time?"

What the hell! I mutter to myself.

"Of course," Dad responds, staring at me. "I knew she lied that night. I was just trying to be nice like I always do to my employees,"

"But why would she lie?" Olivia frowns.

"She needed this job and she was terrified of dad disapproving of her being an undergraduate," I express.

"That doesn't justify anything," Olivia replies and I roll my eyes. "We just have to be careful with our workers, we can't trust them, especially in this time of the election,"

Your papa is the one you shouldn't trust, I thought.

"You get my point dear," Dad agrees with her. "It's my right to know their whereabouts, I pay them with my own money." He adds and sips some water.  "Maria, you can leave,"

"Thank you, sir!" Maria responds and starts to leave our presence.

"I don't just know why Mike took this seriously," He reacts as we continue eating.

"Do not mind him," Olivia responds, smiling cunningly at me. "He was trying to defend his prey?"

What does she mean by that?

"You don't even know anything about us," I retort and she rolls her eyes.

"Whatever, just be careful with her," She advises.

"That girl is not even your spec, Mike. Why would you have serious stuff with her?" Dad adds and I scoff loudly this time.

"What? Tell me I'm wrong then," He proceeds and I sneer at him.

My phone begins to buzz as I am about to open my mouth to tell him he is completely wrong. I glance at my phone to see it's Ren. I think this is a sign for me not to reply to dad, this makes me realize he wants to know what is going on between us.

I pick up instantly as I get up, heading upstairs.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Hey Mickey, I'm good," She answers. "Johnny Drille show at school, can you come around,"

"Of course. The Becks would be happy to see us," I reply. That is the ship name given to them by Ren and me at the beach.

"Exactly,"

"See you soon," I say and hang up, heading to my room.

******

While dressed in my plain T-shirt, leather jacket, and ripped den jeans with a pair of lace-up boots, I raced down to school some minutes later.

I hop out of my car after parking at the car park close to the hall they are gonna use. A lot of students in groups are roaming about and I'm sure most would have been inside the hall. No one would want to miss our great R&B artist, Johnny Drille show tonight.

After texting Ren, I look around for her at the cafeteria to see her standing in one corner, she is still in her short dress and sneakers she wore to see her mom. I texted Scott to come to meet us there.

Moving close to her from behind, I wrap my arms around her, she lets out a winsome smile and I do not hesitate to kiss her dimple.

"Hey," She says softly as she turns around to me, now facing each other.

"How was it?" I ask.

"We had a nice time together,"

"That is the nicest thing to hear from you," I respond the way I am pleased to hear that. "Tell me more about it," I add, and she suggests we settle down on the pavement.

We sit with no distance between us and she begins.

"She apologized for what she did and made me know it was family pressure while she regretted it. To settle it for once, I asked her to visit dad,"

"Wow!" I react in surprise and she chuckles a little.

"Since he is incarcerated here in Ikoyi,  it should be a great moment for us, and it turned out to be. With the way they talked, I could see my dad has let go and I should too,"

"Of course, you should," I agree and she nods yes. "Has she gone back to Abuja tonight?"

"She checked in at the hotel, I will see her off to the park tomorrow morning," She explains and I nod okay with a smile. She lets out a deep sigh, leaning her head on my shoulder.

"I wish my dad would move on after getting out of that fucking place,"

"Definitely," I assured her, wrapping my arm around her shoulder.

"Thank you for everything, Mickey," She says, looking into my eyes. I kissed her lips in response and she smiles.

"So tell me what's next after this?" With my questions, her mood changes to the vibes I want, meaning I hate to see her sad or hurt.

"Well, to focus on my exams which are starting on Monday. I have seen most of my test results and it's not good, so I need to catch up with exams," She expresses and this makes me recall the last meeting I had with my course counselor.

She let me know that with my GPA, I would have to take an extra year if I failed a course.

"Same here," I state sadly "If I want to graduate,"  She looks into my eyes and reaches for my hand to clasp it together with hers.

"You must graduate and you will," She says and my gaze meets hers to notice her encouraging smile while she hugs me and I hold her tight in return.

"Everything will be alright," She mutters to me and I nod okay.

"Hey, guys," Hearing that voice makes us release ourselves from our warm and protective hug to see Becks in front of us.

"I can't believe I would see you guys tonight," Scott adds, looking happy.

My guy has been lively ever since he was back from the hospital and agreed on dating Becky.

Our date today was all on him including the tickets to see Johnny Drille tonight.

"I'm a huge fan of Johnny Drille, I dare not miss his concert on our campus," Ren retorts as we get to our feet.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Becky says, smiling. "The show has officially started,"

We make our way to the hall, making jokes as we are walking side by side. We entered the hall to see the audience whooping at Johnny Drille on the stage alongside his band.

We find a good spot to stay and I hold Ren from behind while Johnny Drille starts to sing.

Love is a beautiful thing
This love na for you and me
Be my Juliet and I'll be your Romeo, my love

It's the hand of God na Him bring you to me
It's indescribable what you mean to me
Would you be my Juliet and I'll be your Romeo
My love, o yeah-yeah
Would you be my Juliet and I'll be your Romeo
My love, my love o

We all sing along with him and it's a great moment for every one of us in the hall, especially Ren and I together.

I focused on Ren's radiant smile that is having a stunning effect on me.

It's so beautiful.