Last chapter for now.

Song for the chapter in the media. You don't have to play it until later.

Hope you like the chapter!

***

Chapter Sixty One

MICHAEL

How dare he still show up at the party after everything he has done to me?

Everything he is still so eagerly planning to do to me?

When I had seen him holding her hands, jealousy was the least of the emotions I was feeling. Fear and anger being the most paramount.

Fear that I could really lose her to him and anger that he's the one making me feel that way.

Whenever I think back to the fact that he had actually made a deal with my dad without my knowledge, knowing fully well the kind of relationship we have, my fury increases.

Because I still can't seem to understand why he had done it? Why he is doing all of this?

Cynthia didn't deny that they were having a discussion when I asked her what she and Peter were discussing so that must mean he had told her something.

What is it?? What could he have told her?

He wouldn't have told her about the agreement yet, would he??

I know he has given me a one month ultimatum but a day has hardly passed so he can't have told her yet.

So what did they talk about?

Maybe if I ask her again when she's back from the restroom, she might talk this time around.

But she's been gone for over ten minutes and she should be back already. Why is she taking so long??

I should go and see if everything is okay.

I make my way from the party in the yard and enter into the house, directing my legs towards the bathroom.

"Hi!" An unfamiliar girl smiles at me and waves. I notice she's next to her friend and when I turn to look at them, they both giggle.

I don't need anyone to tell me that they are drunk or probably tipsy. I give them what I hope is a smile and not a grimace and continue to make my way to the bathroom.

My heart leaps into my mouth as I see some group of people gathered in front of the bathroom and I immediately wonder if something had happened to Cynthia. But as I push through them to see what has gotten their attention, I freeze.

Peter and Cynthia are in what looks like an embrace and it even looks like they are about to kiss.

What the fuck is going on here??

I charge forward, ready to separate them but Cynthia takes a step back before I can get to them. She's still unaware of my presence and it gives me a bit of satisfaction to see that she's rejecting him solely because she doesn't like him.

This only shows to prove that Cynthia is not interested in Peter and that makes me happy. Far more than she can imagine.

I'm still about to make myself known when Cynthia speaks, keeping me in my tracks.

"I knew you were drunk. You obviously don't know what you are saying." She says. I glance at Peter, doubtingly checking to see if he's indeed drunk because this is the first time I am hearing Peter and drunk in the same sentence.

But instead, I catch something else on his face. Hurt, dejection. Like what Cynthia just said broke him.

"You think so? You think I don't know my own feelings?" He asks her.

Cynthia looks confused for a moment before she shakes her head quickly, as if she is shaking off some thoughts. She wants to talk but he interrupts.

"But I know you like him. You like Michael, don't you?" He continues.

I watch her with bated breaths, hoping that she doesn't deny it. Hoping that I am not the only one feeling this way. But he doesn't even give her an opportunity to talk because he continues.

"You don't know how much it hurts to watch someone you are in love with fall for someone else. Especially when that someone is someone who has done so many terrible things."

I'm sure my expression mirrors Cynthia's baffled own as we both try to process his words.

More than his admittance of being in love with Cynthia - which I don't find truthful one bit by the way - he actually just referred to me as someone who has done terrible things.

I know I am not a saint.

I was involved in an underground fighting competition.

I was so close to using drugs.

I beat a guy till he landed in the hospital..

Hell, my approaching Cynthia was not of good intentions. Actually, it was far from it.

But the way he just spoke about me right now, it sounded so much like I committed murder or something related.

Which I can't seem to understand.

"What did Michael do?" Cynthia asks him and I almost thank her for the question.

"You shouldn't be in love with him." He continues like she has not just asked him a question.

"Because they took away everything from me!" He suddenly shouts. "My family, my loved ones, everyone I've ever loved and now he is going to take you away too." He says, his voice breaking. "Why? Why do they always have to do that?"

I stare at him, baffled.

Now it's 'they"? Who are the 'they'? Am I included in the 'they'?

Is what he's saying the reason why he betrayed me? Why he's suddenly acting like this? Why he's so bent on hurting me?

I want to ask him. Confront him. Make him tell me why he thinks I did anything bad to him.

But I don't. Maybe I won't have to ask him. Maybe he's still going to say more. So I stay right where I am standing in the background, listening like a spectator.

I see a resigned look on Cynthia's face and I immediately know she has given up on trying to understand what he's saying.

What she says next confirms what I was thinking, "Peter, you know what? Just stay right here. Let me get you a glass of water so you might feel sober." She speaks to him like he's a child and starts to go. But he pulls her back, into his arms.

I should step in now but my legs are not moving. It's like I am not in control of them any longer. I still want to hear what he has to say. See what's going to happen.

I need to know why he is so convinced that I am not worthy of her love.

"Peter what are you doing?" I hear her ask and see her struggling out of his hold but he holds her tighter.

I take it as my cue to step in but the look of desperation on Peter's face is what stops me. He wants her to understand what he's trying to say.

But how can she understand when I have known him farther than she has and I can't even understand it.

"Why can't you love me instead?" His voice breaks and for a minute, I consider that he might actually be in love with Cynthia.

But if he is in love with her, he should be calling off the deal we had together. He knows how much it's going to break Cynthia if she finds out, he knows the better choice is to just end the agreement as if it had never existed in the first place.

So why is he still so bent on going ahead with the deal and even giving me an ultimatum to carry it out when he's supposedly in love with her?

That's why the way he's acting right now doesn't make sense. I'm only going to see it as what it actually is. An act.

But the other words he uttered, about how 'they' took away his loved ones, I am not sure if that's an act too.

A feeling of helplessness crosses Cynthia's face as she hears Peter's question. I wonder what she's thinking seeing Peter who she has always known to be in control losing it in the worst way possible right in front of her.

She starts to struggle out of his grasp again but he continues to hold her to him as he asks again, "Why? Why do you have to love him? You don't even know what he's up to."

I immediately glance at Cynthia to see her reaction to the words Peter has just said. She's no longer struggling but rather interested in what he has to say.

This is exactly what I have been avoiding. I don't want her hearing what I had planned to do to her when I had approached her from someone else.

"What do you mean?" She asks.

"Have you forgotten so quick how he acted towards you at the cafeteria when the both of you first met? And how he suddenly apologized to you then became your seat partner?" He asks, staring down into her eyes. "Weren't you suspicious at first?"

She breaks eyes contact and I see her trying to process the questions. She is probably thinking that it's true because she obviously suspected why I had become her seat partner all of a sudden.

He chuckles silently which makes her look at him again. Her voice is tight when she asks, "Do you know why he did all that?"

"Of course, I know." He laughs. "It's not something I'm proud of but I'm a part of it so I definitely know."

This bastard is going to tell her everything. He's going to ruin everything.

"The thing is he approached you-" Peter starts to say but I quickly jump forward pretending that I haven't been listening to their conversation.

I feign astonishment as I stare at their position, Cynthia still looking like she's in an embrace with him.

And with the anger I am feeling from the fact that he was really about to ruin everything that I had and about to have with Cynthia, I shout.

"What the hell is going on here?!"

I glare hard at Peter, letting him know that he keeps stooping lower than I wasn't sure he can whenever he does and says something. And then I look at Cynthia, not sure if the doubt he had planted in her mind is starting to grow.

She gives me an unreadable expression before returning to set herself free from Peter.

And still, Peter won't let her get away from him.

I decide to help her, releasing Peter's grips on her arms and pulling her towards me.

He stumbles backward and still has the audacity to glare at me like I am the one who is in the wrong here.

"What the hell is your problem?" He asks after regaining his balance. Maybe he is indeed drunk.

"I should be asking you that. Why are you trying to take advantage of her?" I return his question.

"You know it's nothing like that." He replies, eyes blazing with anger.

"Well now, we can't be so sure. Can we?" I reply with annoyance, narrowing my eyes at him. He is not the only one who can try to make me a bad person in front of Cynthia. I can make him even a worse person.

"You really don't want to start this." He announces, conviction in his words. I can see as we stare at each other that he is telling me that it takes him nothing to tell Cynthia everything right here, right now.

I break eye contact first, not ready to risk the chance of Cynthia finding out this way.

"Cynthia, let's go."

Thankfully, she says nothing as I pull her to the backyard but as soon as we are both outside, she removes her arm from my hand.

I try not to be too surprised by her action but she immediately turns around, refusing to look at me.

She stares into the distance. Something definitely on her mind. I let her do that until I can bear the silence no more.

"What's wrong?"

She turns sharply to look at me. A look of indignation on her face.

"What's wrong?!"

She looks at me like I just asked the most obvious question. Maybe that was the wrong question to ask.

"I'm going to ask you a question and I want you to say the truth." She stares at me intensely.

The question she's going to ask probably has to do with her conversation with Peter.

What do I tell her if she asks?

"Did you have a hidden agenda when you became my seatmate back then?"

I try not to sigh at the question since it was expected and yet, I still don't know what to say. How to answer her.

It was never meant to get to this. She never even had to ask before I should have told her the truth. That's why I had planned to tell her during our date. The total truth about everything but then Peter had called, ruining everything.

And he is still ruining it because I still can't tell her the truth. Not like this. Not with Peter's threat of telling my dad what I have been up to as soon as she finds out the truth from me.

But he knew all this and still went ahead to plant those doubts in her head.

Why exactly is he making it even more difficult for me??

What do I do??

I could direct everything back to Peter. Make her not believe what he had said. He doesn't get to be a saint while I am slowly becoming a villain.

"I don't know what Peter might have told you." I start to say, pretending that I didn't overhear half of their conversation. "But whatever he said, I assure you they are lies."

"No, they aren't." She immediately refutes my claims and my stomach drops. She is really choosing to believe Peter over me.

"He only reminded me of something that I had always thought of and had managed to shove to the back of my mind. Because I was indeed suspicious of everything that you had done after I slapped you. You told me yourself that you became my partner to prove a point, remember?"

I process her words, realising that she really has every right to be suspicious of me. She had slapped me and I had apologised. I had even gone through the trouble of transferring her classes and becoming her seat partner when she had done nothing but push me away.

She really deserves to know the truth, especially considering how far we have come in our relationship with that very relationship being built on lies.

The problem though is that telling her the truth is not only going to cause her to be annoyed at me -even if it might just be temporary - it's going to bring my dad back into my life.

And just thinking about that is enough to make me shudder.

I glance at her to see her watching me patiently, expectantly, waiting for my answer.

She would get her answer, it just won't be the truth.

But first, distracting her a little might work. I was going to confess my feelings for her at this party anyways and Peter never said I couldn't.

A feeling of guilt starts to creep into my mind but I shrug it off, not allowing myself to dwell on it.

"I'm going to tell you the truth." I announce.

She's still staring at me, not saying anything. I wonder what she's thinking.

"But first, let's leave this place and go to an entirely quiet place." I add and this gets a response from her.

"I doubt anywhere is entirely quiet in this house."

I try to smile, "Yeah, there is. If you come with me, I'll clear things up and try to explain things the way they are." I put my hand forward for her to take, ignoring the guilt that's starting to creep in again. Because I know I am lying. I'm not going to be saying things the way they are.

She looks at my outstretched hand, not taking it.

"I'll come with you."

Trying not to feel too hurt that she's trying to keep a distance from me, I put my hands in my pocket.

"Let's go." I turn towards the house again, hoping she follows me.

I lead her into the kitchen and glance back to see if she's behind me. She raises an eyebrow in question as she looks around.

"Is this where is supposed to be quiet? The kitchen?"

"Of course not." I reply, smiling at her question. I then move towards what looks like a store but actually leads to the basement.

I open the door to the store with a key and gesture for her to come closer seeing that she's a bit far from me. She moves closer and I see the look of surprise on her face as she notices the stairs leading down to the basement.

I walk down the stairs, listening to her footsteps as she follows me. The basement is an empty room that is used to store some of the things that aren't really important for use in the house. I glance back once again to see her looking around while I make my way to another door.

The one that leads to our secret room. I start to input the password to the door and it beeps, signalling that it's open.

I turn around, almost bumping into her as she's now standing so close.

"Come with me."

***

CYNTHIA

I don't reply to his words and just follow after him, the door closing again with a beep but I'm too enthralled by our new location to have noticed it.

The room we are in is definitely as big as my sitting room, dining and kitchen combined and that's to mean it is very big. Like, huge.

On one part are musical instruments - guitars, piano, drum set - arranged together like they are meant for people in a band.

On another part are games - a PS 5 with four pads which is connected to a very large TV screen, dancing games, racing games, just like an arcade. In another corner are two large bunk beds, definitely for the four of them.

I could see a big refrigerator standing next to what is probably a mini-kitchen and a make-shift dinning with four stools and a center table.

Michael suddenly coughs and that's when I look in front of me and find him standing there with a carton of juice and two cups. I didn't even realize he is standing in front of me until he coughed and I definitely don't know when he got the juice and cups.

"You look dazed." He teases and I can't help nodding in agreement.

I'm indeed dazed and in awe of this place. I shouldn't be impressed with anything he's doing knowing fully well that he is yet to answer my questions but I really can't help myself.

"What is this place?"

"Our secret room." He replies with a smile and I raise an eyebrow, trying to recall if he had ever mentioned a secret room.

"Secret room?" I repeat.

"Don't tell me you've forgotten so quick. I invited you and Grace to come with us to our secret room, remember?"

Oh, right. He did. I couldn't attend because my parents suddenly came back from one of their numerous trips that day.

"I would have found a way to come here no matter what if I had known how cool the secret room was."

He smiles proudly and leads us both to the stools in the dining room, he then opens the juice carton and begins to fill our cups.

I use that opportunity to study the kitchen, noticing that it has almost everything a modern kitchen should have.

Really impressive.

"I think you told me then that you couldn't make it because something came up at home. It took a while for me to believe that you were actually telling the truth and it wasn't just an excuse to not actually come." He confesses, sipping from his juice.

"It wasn't an excuse. I assure you. Even though I wasn't really as thrilled as coming to the secret room as Grace was."

"Why? Because you couldn't trust me yet?"

His question reminds me of why I am sitting here with him in the first place. Because I really didn't trust him back then. I was very suspicious of him and like Peter said, I had every right to have been suspicious.

"You can't blame me. Everything you did was suspicious. I slapped you in the cafeteria and you apologized to me even with your reputation as someone who never apologizes. Then as if that wasn't enough, you became my seat partner." I explain.

His expression is unreadable.

"Now, you tell me. Was I wrong to have been suspicious of you?"

He shakes his head. "No, you aren't. If I were you, I'd be suspicious about my sudden behaviours too but-

He pauses and sighs heavily then gives me a long look.

"But we are good now. We've come a long way and you've come to the realization that I'm not a bad person, right?"

"Yes. I know you are not a bad person. Even more than that, I have begun to trust you. But I can't just ignore what Peter had told me back there. He wouldn't have brought it up without any reason."

"And really, it just doesn't make sense that you decided to befriend the girl that attacked you so don't tell me there's nothing involved."

"Why?"

"Because you told me yourself that you did all that to prove a point." I repeat, like I told him in his backyard.

"So, Peter planted the doubt in your mind." He says monotonously, not quite meeting my eye.

"No, he didn't. I always had that doubt. He reminded me of it. And I am convinced there's a reason for reminding me."

His grip on his cup tightens.

"First of all, I want you to know that the only reason Peter had reminded you is only because he wants you to find a reason to hate me."

I don't see why Peter would want me to hate Michael.

Except Peter just confessed to being in love with you. My subconscious tells me.

He even told me that Michael is a terrible person.

Maybe Michael isn't lying and he really is trying to get me to hate Michael. But then, Peter really doing something like that??

It just doesn't seem like the Peter I have come to know.

"Secondly, I am going to tell you the truth. Actually, it was what I was going to tell you yesterday before I received that call." He continues and for some reasons, my heart starts to beat faster.

Remembering how everything had built up to that moment yesterday and how anxious I was to hear what he was going to say, I realise that I am actually scared of what he might say. If he admits that he had indeed approached me for a reason, it's probably not going to be one I would like to hear seeing how it's difficult for him to talk about it

"I'll tell you the truth but first, I'll like to apologize for lying about everything from the start."

Oh, no. This can't be good.

I don't even know what he is going to say but I feel like it's going to change everything.

"I'm sorry for lying about approaching you because I wanted to be your friend when in fact, it was very easy to dislike you and you were doing a good job of keeping it that way."

My heart dips a little at that confession, the fact that he had in one time disliked me hurts for reasons unknown to me even though it was actually very plausible.

"Well, the feeling was mutual." I mumble, trying to play it off.

Even though that dislike for you has turned to love. I guess it's true that there's only a thin line between love and hate.

"The truth is, I approached you because-
My stomach flips at his words, I realise he had said almost the same thing yesterday before the call. I wait for him to continue but he stops, looking uncertain of what he's supposed to say next.

"Because?" I prompt.

He still stays quiet, leaving me to stare expectantly at him.

Why the hell is he putting me on suspense?

"Because I was dared to." He finishes and I blink once then twice, processing what he just said.

A dare?

That's what all this was?

"You were dared to approach me?" I ask, not sure of how to react.

I mean I was expecting him to tell me an earth shattering truth and what he tells me is nowhere near it.

"Yes, I was." He responds, not meeting my eyes. He takes a sip from his juice. "It was Femi's idea."

"After you had hit me in the cafeteria, rejected my apology and shouted at me when I hit Frank, he teased me on and on about how I was going to start having nightmares about you because I'm scared of you." He adds then covers his face.

"I'm ashamed to say this but I did get nightmares of you." He murmurs into his hands and despite the situation, I smile. "It's just- you were so strong and so fierce, you look like you were going to wring my neck because you find me disgusting and that look haunted me at night."

"So, you're trying to say you became close to me because Femi dared you to do so?"

"Yeah, that was it." He replies quietly and I say nothing in response. I take a sip from my juice for the first time and think about the whole situation.

It wasn't something as dramatic as I would have thought but then, it feels like he isn't telling me everything.

After everything he had said yesterday and even today, that was his confession?

Would he really go through the length of changing classes and threatening my seat partner to become friends with someone who hated his guts just because of a dare? It sounds so stressful just thinking about it and yet he did all of that because he was dared to do so?

I feel there is something he is not telling me but still, his explanation still sounds quite reasonable.

Maybe I'm just over thinking it.

"But I guess being dared to be your friend wasn't so bad." He continues and I look at him.

"What do you mean?"

"I've come to realize how cool you actually are and-

"And?"

He shakes his head and smiles. "Never mind. Do you want to listen to a song?"

I stare at him confused, "Why do you suddenly want to listen to music?"

He chuckles, "I want to play for you." He says but I'm still confused so he points to the instruments. "I can play the guitar."

"Oh." I glance at the instruments. "Do you guys pretend to be a band when you are in here?"

He chuckles before replying, "It depends on what we are in the mood for."

"So, you play the guitar in the band?" I ask as he walks towards the instruments and pick up a guitar.

"Yeah, I play the guitar and I'm the main vocalist." He answers with a proud smile. I wince at his words, remembering how badly he had been singing in the car yesterday.

"Are you sure?" I ask him and he looks unsure for a moment.

"Why do you look like you don't believe what I just said?" He asks and I'm glad he asked because I should definitely remind him.

"Because you can't sing. Remember yesterday, in the car?"

He thinks about it and then I see the moment he remembers. He lets out a chuckle.

"You were nervous yesterday and I wanted to make you comfortable." He explains. "Don't worry, you are going to see why I am the main vocalist soon."

I try not to look too doubtful and nod at him. "Okay."

Glancing at the other musical instruments, I say, "So let me guess, Femi plays the drum."

"You already know him so well."

I laugh a little, "I'm sure he enjoys having to hit it with a stick. Who plays the piano?"

"That's Wole. Peter also plays the guitar."

He comes to take his seat beside me and positions the guitar on his legs, sighing loudly. "Sometimes, I feel Peter doesn't like me. He always likes to compete with me, he wants what I want and does what I do."

"So you are kind of like rivals?"

"Not according to me. He never liked me from the beginning but I didn't notice because he keeps to himself a lot. It only started to become obvious when we became older and I feel like he is holding a grudge against me."

I've indeed noticed the fact that they don't like each other from the very beginning but I had no idea it started with Peter.

"Did you hurt him mistakenly or did something that pained him that you probably didn't count as something serious?"

"None that I can think of. I really just don't understand that guy."

I think of the words Peter said to me outside the restroom.

"They took away everything from me, my family, my loved ones, everyone I've ever loved and now he is going to take you away too." He says, his voice breaking. "Why? Why do they always have to do that?"

I don't know why I suddenly remember those words but I have a feeling it has to do with why he hates Michael.

He strums a tune on the guitar, bringing my attention back to him.

"What song do you want me to sing?"

I shrug, "I don't know. I'll be fine with whatever you play, you have a nice voice after all." I say and he smiles.

"Okay." He says and pauses to think. "I think I've gotten it."

He smiles at me and I return his smile. My heart soaring at the fact that he is about to sing a song for me then he begins to play the tune for Perfect by Ed Sheeran.

I found a love, for me
Darling, just dive right in and follow my lead
Well, I found a girl, beautiful and sweet
Oh, I never knew you were the someone waiting for me.

'Cause we were just kids when we fell in love
Not knowing what it was
I will not give you up this time
But darling, just kiss me slow
Your heart is all I own
And in your eyes, you're holding mine

Baby, I'm dancing in the dark
With you between my arms
Barefoot on the grass
Listening to our favourite song
When you said you looked a mess
I whispered underneath my breath
But you heard it
Darling, you look perfect tonight

No one utters a word after he finishes the song.

I'm still reeling from the way he had sung it. He sang the lyrics with so much emotion that I couldn't help but to think he meant everything he sang.

It was almost as if he was confessing his feelings for me. I allow myself to hope that what he feels for me is beyond attraction and it's something deeper. Something like love.

Even though it might seem impossible.

"Michael-

"Cynthia-

We both say at the same time and pause.

"I'll go first." Michael tells me and I nod. "The thing is I-

The sound of someone entering the pin to the door stops him from talking and we both glance at it.

"It's probably one of the boys. They're the only ones who know the password." He assures me.

"Okay." I respond and watch as the door opens.

Wole and Peter both staggers inside, Wole supporting what looks like a drunk Peter.

"I found him like this and all the other rooms are occupied." Wole says in explanation without anyone asking.

Peter whose head was drooping suddenly faces forward, his eyes narrowing as he looks straight at Michael. "Why? Why... are you explaining... to that bastard?" He slurs.

I glance at Michael and see him roll his eyes, "This is still my house."

"Yeah, right." He shrugs himself off Wole then points at me.

"Cynthia, don't fall... for his schemes. I'm the one who... truly loves you." He announces then slumps.

Wole sighs and walks towards him then helps him to one of the beds.

"This is getting out of hand." Wole speaks, most definitely referring to Michael as he drops Peter on the bed.

"You know nothing!" Peter suddenly shouts from where he is lying on the bed and falls back into a slumber.

Wole stands from the bed, walks towards the door and opens it, but turns around to give Michael a pointed look.

"Whatever is going on between the both of you has to end now and don't drag Cynthia into it. I'm no longer in support of any of this."

He then closes the door.

***

That's it, guys. Another chapter for you all to enjoy.

What do you think about Michael's explanation on why he approached her?

What's your take on Peter's confession for Cynthia and his words?

There's definitely something connecting the both of them that we don't know about yet but will surely find out. Some of you might already be guessing it but well, let's wait and see.

Don't forget to vote, leave comments and share.

Until next time. I promise next time won't be so far.

Love you guys ❤❤