It felt like a breath of fresh air when Inoma and myself finally returned to school. We had rented an apartment at Pako, close to school. After staying up to ballot, we still couldn't get a space in the school hostel. We tried to look for other ways, but it was almost impossible and one thing we were certain about was that, we weren't going to squat. It was our final year, and we had to live in comfort. When our parents saw we weren't relenting, they decided it was best we rented an apartment close to school, to get over the entire issue. Inoma and I were elated, it felt like things were working in our good. We moved in as soon as possible, and as at the first week of resumption we had begun to actively go to classes. We had the same courses, including our electives but we had different project supervisors.

"Omo, I do not know what to get for her," I voiced out my concern to Inoma as we sat in our one-bedroom flat, with kitchen and bathroom. We were in the bedroom, Inoma sat on our bed on the floor, while I sat on the plastic chair. "I've been thinking and thinking, but I don't even know what she loves the most, apart from painting."

"Then get her something art related," Inoma said casually and unbothered, not looking away from her phone.

"Oh well, no freaking shit Sherlock!"

She began laughing, looking up at me. "I didn't mean it that way," she said, chuckling. "I mean that you can get her maybe a paint brush, acrylic paint, canvas? Something you think she would appreciate"

"Hmm" I replied, thinking about her response because it made perfect sense. "Maybe I could get her a set of brushes, or water colors, since she uses that a lot."

Inoma nodded. "You know her best."

I smiled. "Can we all go now? Please?" I asked, making Inoma frown.

"Who is all? Isn't it just me and you?"

I shook my head. "We'd invite Topher. Or, didn't he get space in hostel?"

"He got oh. That his uncle assisted as per norm."

"Oya now, let's all go before it gets too late."

Inoma nodded in approval as she began to text someone on her phone, someone I assumed was Christopher.

"We can go to that new mall at Herbert Macaulay way, I've seen some reviews online and people are swearing by it," I told Inoma.

She looked at me confused, as she said, "New mall?"

I nodded. "Opened last month or so, and it's been gaining a lot of recognition."

She nodded, then shrugged as she said, "That's fine by me." She got up from the bed, moving to change from her house wear as she said, "Chris agreed, he said we should meet him at gate."

"Oya naw."

We both go dressed and went to meet Christopher at the school gate, from there we got a bus that would take us straight to where we were going, by the time we got there, the sky had begun to darken in preparation for the night. But, when we got in, the mall was so bright it didn't feel like it was darkening outside. "How are we going to find the art shop?" Inoma asked, clinging unto Christopher's arm, as we walked side by side.

"We'd keep window shopping and walking around, till we see what looks like an art shop," I said with a shrug. "I guess."

Christopher nodded, as we began window shopping.

The mall had really high ceilings, with about three floors, and had both escalators and lifts. "It is really big," I pointed out, earning a nod from both of them as we began to catch up on random moments of our lives.

Christopher was complaining bitterly about this project supervisor, and Inoma was the only one who could relate as I didn't have issues with my supervisor at all. She was literally the sweetest and helped me with every step I took. Whenever I didn't under a step, she would break it down bit by bit and guide me through it, all I could do was console them. "Nne, don't worry, it will be fine okay?" I gave Inoma a gentle pat on the back, telling Christopher that he 'got this'.

We soon got to an art shop, and it was the prettiest place to me, in the entire mall at that point in time. "Wow," I voiced out as we walked in.

"This is really nice," Christopher said, standing right next to me at the entrance.

I nodded as a dark-skinned, tall, slim woman talked up to us. It was hard to tell if it was her pearly white teeth, or the fluorescent right above us that was lightening the place. Her glowing skin, glowing lips, bright clothing were all in the equation alongside her septum piercing that accentuated her facial features. "Wow, you are so pretty," I told her with a smile, which made her smile even wider.

"Thank you very much," she replied, "And so are you." She chuckled.

I nodded, not wanting to go on and on, else it would come off as creepy.

"How can I be of help?"

"I'm trying to get a gift for a friend? Paint brushes - a set, or maybe a set of paint."

"Hmm." She nodded. "Do you have something in mind already?" She asked as she scanned the store, like she was memorizing the store or refreshing her memory about it.

I shook my head. "I'd really really appreciate a lot of help."

She nodded, as she replied, "That's why I'm here." She gestured towards the store with her hands, ushering us in.

The store was really big and wide. It looked like it was impossible to not find anything related to art there. As she began to explain art to me, the benefit of this tool and that tool, Inoma with Christopher walked away to sightsee the store.

In some minutes time, I was full on the knowledge of art and had made up my mind on what to get her. I got her a set of brushes like I had planned, and a set of gouache paints. "This was so lovely," I told the lady, smiling widely as I checked out. "I now know a lot about art, that I never thought I was going to know."

She chuckled. "It's nice to see people interested, I just can't keep calm when I do. I keep yapping on."

"Yapping? Absolutely not, that was so fun and enlightening."

She smiled. "Thank you, you are such a lovely person."

I smiled as I said, "Oh dear, not as lovely as you and your shop."

She smiled awkwardly, looking at her fingers a bit before she said, "I'm Armani by the way," she stretched out her hand, which I took. "I can give you my number so you could contact me whenever you want to know more or buy something else?"

That didn't seem like a bad idea, so I nodded gladly and gave her my phone so she could put in her number. I felt happy even, I had a constant place I could buy more and more art tools for Fareedah, my lips spread into a very wide smile. She returned the smile along with my phone. "Text me," she said.

I nodded. "I sure will."

"Your name?"

"Celia."

"It is pretty."

"Thank you." I waved to her as I felt.

Inoma and Christopher has stepped out, waiting for me to be done. I walked up to them with a smile, while both of them bursted into laughter. "What?" I asked, confused.

"I sure will," Inoma said in a mocking voice, causing me to look at her confused.

"Ehn?"

Christopher touched my shoulder as he said, "You are the most clueless person I know,"

I frowned a bit.

"She was flirting with you," Inoma added, "You moron."

"And you were leading her on."

Not only my mouth, but my eyes also widened. "She was?"

The both nodded.

"You are so silly," Christopher said, still laughing at me.

"I didn't know."

"Of course you didn't," Inoma pointed out.

"I shouldn't message her right?"

Christopher shrugged as he replied, "Neh, I don't see a reason for you to."

I nodded. "I won't then."

We began to walk out of the store, while the kept laughing at me. "It's probably the fresh cut you got, and re-dye," Inoma joke.

"Nope, it's the hoops earring and the low waist jeans," Christopher said, "along with the cropped top and tote bag."

The both laughed, while I smiled. "Or I'm just really gorgeous."

We all laughed as she got into a bus to head back home. Inoma and Christopher said back in the bus when we got to Abule Oja, Inoma asked me if Christopher could come over, and I agreed. It wasn't like I was going to be around for the night, I was going to be at Fareedah's place.

From Abule Oja, I took a long walk to Fareedah's place. I had the opportunity to have multiple discussions with the voices in my head, some just me being purely delusional about Fareedah, and others deep questions. I got to her place feeling really tired, but soon felt energized when I saw how excited she was to see me as she ran into my arms. "I missed you," she said into the crook of my neck, smiling.

I chuckled. "We saw about last or upper week."

She pulled away from the hug, holding my hands as she led me to her couch. "I don't care," she said with a shrug. "I want to see you everyday, spend time with you everyday. It makes me forget my problems."

I felt my body heat up from within, weird but familiar movements happening in both my stomach and chest area. "Stop saying things like that." I chuckled awkwardly.

"Never." She laughed, resting back on the chair so she could look me deep in my eyes. "You made me open up once, twice, and now I can't stop expressing how I feel when it comes to you."

I felt lightheaded from her words. But I couldn't deny that it made me so happy. We spoke on the phone a lot, chatted a lot, and I could tell the difference from when we started talking and where we were. She often confessed her feelings, asked for reassurance – which I was sometimes shy to give her. I went from being the upfront one, to being the shy one. She would voice out whenever she wanted to be around me, or how she enjoyed talking to me and didn't want to get off the call. We slept on voice calls from time to time, Inoma had complained when we started staying together. But, I couldn't help it, it was what made her very happy.

"You look sexy," she said out of nowhere, causing me to loose brain cells and my speech.

"Uhn?"

"You look sexy," she repeated again, pulling close to me like she was inspecting me. "I've mentioned it before that I really love ginger on you right? The colour really suits your skin, and your height really suits your outfit. It's like I'm staring at a perfect human."

I chuckled, as I replied, "That's too much."

She shook her head. "No it's not. I bet you had people approaching for days now," she said, squinting her eyes before she relax and then shrugged. "But you're mine, unfortunately for them. Fortunately for lucky me." She laughed, with an undertone of an evil laughter. "I won. Hahaha."

I couldn't help but laugh also, seeing her bubbly whenever she was around me or speaking to me, made me so happy. I was patient, I worked for that, and I deserved that. I felt my chest tighten as I looked at her, feeling really happy for where we had gotten too. I pulled her into a warm embrace. "I'm happy I have you," I told her.

"No, thank you for not giving up on me too quickly. Thank you for being patient and giving me a reason to live. I would keep putting in effort and being the best version of myself, just for you." She hugged me tighter and it just didn't feel enough. My eyes had watered and I had began to cry into her shoulder, feeling my emotions pour out from my eyes. "I like you so much," she said with an awkward chuckle, not pulling away.

I smiled as my heart felt at home. "I like you so much too."

We stayed in the hug for a while, before pulling away. "You look absolutely stunning by the way," I told her, "Stand, and twirl let me admire God's divine creations."

She stood up and took a slow twirl, posing and smiling every now and then. She was wearing a yellow mini sundress with a flowery design. She fluffed the flare dress that failed absolutely at hiding her curves. She had lengthy braids that stopped at her mid-thigh. It was my first time seeing her with braids, and she was absolutely rocking it. Braids was a beautiful style on its own, but on her it looked beyond beautiful, it looked divine. She had on a lip-gloss that had a redness to it, making her lips look plump and appealing. In all, she looked extremely good. "Thank you, your greatness, for allowing me breath the same air as your divine self." She gave a gentle bow, chuckling there after. I stretched out my hand, offering her the bag that contained her present. Armani had wrapped it in a gift wrap – which she claimed was on the house. "Happy birthday my dear, I'm forever grateful to Mother Earth for bringing you to me. For letting me see you painting that day, I'd forever be happy and thankful."

She smiled warming, pulling me up for another hug before she collected her present. "This is my second favorite birthday present ever, that's after you," she said with a wide smile, admiring the present without opening it.

"You haven't even seen it yet, you don't know if you'd like it."

"I already love it." She laughed. "It's form you, that's all that matters to me." She pulled me into another hug, pecking my cheek before she dropped the present on the table and pulled me into the kitchen. We prepared dinner and ate, while we spent the rest of the night talking and cuddling.

I am happy.

A/N

FIRST, THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR THE LOVE, IT HAS REALLY BEEN A CONSISTENT SUPPORT FOR ME. 

Now, I want to thank reader @6ixtsix for that awesome Thai Series recommendation, I enjoyed it a lot, and it was fun to chat about it in the comment section. This has led to me having question for the chapter... * drum rolls *

QOTC

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE GXG/WLW SERIES OR MOVIE AT THE MOMENT (Drop those recommendations, not just for me, but for other readers also).

@6ixtsix recommendation is 'Blank the series', I hope you enjoy it if you consider it. 

Okay then, have a lovely week guys.