It was believed that staring at a screen for a long period of time is unhealthy to the mind and the body, well, it's my pleasure to introduce my humble self I am the crowned princess of venturing late into ungodly hours with a novel recommendation I got off Instagram on my tablet, cuddled up in my warm quilt accompanied by my led lamp which always comes in handy.

My tummy has being rumbling for the past thirty minutes but there's something about getting on my feet that appeared to be a chore.

Chores and I do not mix.

Besides, I didn't want to leave my comfort zone and interrupt all this my body has warmed up to, in as much as it's the holidays, I'll use to the fullest and binge read all that I can, once school reopens and lectures kick off there would be less time to trap myself in a world I so long to belong in.

My teeth sank into the inner flesh of my lower lip, a habit I picked up from reading at a the ripe age of ten which was sure to hurt but not too deep to draw blood.

I always do this when the main characters have me in a chokehold, my mind going off in sparks as a smile spreads on my lips, a loose strand of hair escapes from my bonnet.

The soft texture caressed the ends of my index as I twirled it around holding myself from giggling and kicking my feet in mid air.

It was becoming too hard to contain my amusement, I was a blushing mess.

The feint sound of footsteps advancing my bedside, doesn't stop me from flipping to the next page as my curiousity topples and my breath gets trapped at the back of throat.

Was I sensing a giggle or a high pitched scream out of pure happiness, ofcourse and the next line was going to prove that, too engrossed by the words playing as a movie in head, the exact words my eyes are etching for gets obstructed when my book goes shut.

I blink in realisation.

I blink again in confusion.

Then the last time, in frustration.

I didn't even leave a bookmark to note the current page not even a chance to see if they got to kiss or better, help me shoot who ever did this traitorous act, this pure show of evil that makes me want to strangle the perpetrator with only my bare hands and cause them to beg for cutting my joy short.

There could only be one person in the world who could come inbetween my reading time, one person who could muster the courage to approach me when I have my nose buried in a book.

And I present to you, Uruo Natalia Greene, my friend by choice and sister by heart, we may not be blood still our friendship has held on for years now and counting.

There's no way I wouldn't go out of my way for her, I adore her to bits and she shows me that she does too, but in this present situation strangling her breathless sounds so tempting.

She doesn't care about if I'm busy or stuck in my fictious world, "I really need to talk to you" her voice comes out breathy a gloomy expression written onto her expresso skin, shining under the glow of the lights.

Uruo is only in an old tank top and sleeping pants her hair unlike mine is done in waist lengths braids and poured at her back, she tucks few strands behind her ear as I make space for her on my bed.

The look on her face drives away murderous intentions clouding my mind, my concern lingering more on what was the reason the glint usually in her honey dripping orbs with a tinge of a dark shade of brown is lost.

Her brows pulled together revealing a form of worry that made my heart race and thoughts conjure the worst possible scenarios that may have caused her saddened expression.

I return my book and tablet to the drawer by my bed side, turning of the led light, I scoot closer bring my legs out of the cocoon it was trapped in and immediately regret my decision as the sharp cold air caress my bare skin.

The shorts stopping middthigh did nothing to neither cover no stop the looming cold air both of us breathed in, she refused to keep her eyes on mine and proceeds to bow her head down murmuring words my brain tries to piece together in a sentence I could understand.

Knowing she was waiting for my confirmation to be audible my hand wraps itself around her shoulder, in a form of comfort to urge her to speak on and tell me what ever was on her mind, "what's wrong?"

I couldn't hide the concern laced in my words, I was beginning to worry which wasn't a good thing for the both of us.

When I begin to worry it turns me into a nervous wreck just like my mother, my mind could make up scenarios that could give my grandmother in her grave a heart attack.

I watch as she drew in a breathe before unleashing the heavy things burdening her for us both to bare, for a problem shared was a problem solved.

I didn't promise to always find a solution or I was one pro problem solver, but I knew I was going to be with her all the way through it, cry with her, console her through it and pray for the best possible solution to take action on it's own till we get to the end of it together.

Never will I leave her all on her own.

Outstretching my arms she makes herself welcome into my warm embrace the few strands of hair tickle the skin of my jaw, her hand wraps around my torso, "Nene's in the hospital, her health has worsened again, Ana " my name's comes out more shaky from her mouth as my heart drops knowing the cause of her pained expression.

"Everything's going to be okay sissie, Nene's going to be fine" I hide the tremor threatening to escape from my throat, worry had already began to sip in through my fingers and worse the anxiety had surrounded my heart in a cage, one I'm afraid I was not going to escape from.

My whole body was doing a bad job of putting away the concerned emotions, Nene was Uruo's grandma a woman who had also grown on me this past years.

I never had a chance to hold my grandma's hand or laugh at my parent's baby pictures with, death already got her before I had a chance to meet her myself.

From the stories my mother always told, she was a troublesome yet kind woman who adored her children and fought teeth and claw with anyone that thought of messing with her kids.

She was in for no jokes.

A thing only her and her family shared when it was family time or a dinner held with the extended family who wore pretense instead of their actual faces when she was alive.

She loved her husband ever so dear, it was too bad my grandad lost his life while battling on field, he was really a man of honor.

My mum hung old photos of him all around her family home, I witnessed a moment she stood admiring the man that birthed her, tears sliding off her hazelnut plum cheeks, with a grin on which confused me.

Was she crying out of sadness or happiness?

Also, both my dad's parents passed away when I was five so my mum said, something about my dad's mum loosing to cancer and my dad's father too heartbroken to think straight, the thought of his wife not being around anymore burdened him in ways only him understood.

Unfortunately he gave in to the cold hands of death from a heart attack brought about by the alarming rate of his blood pressure that even shocked the doctors assigned to him.

He was truly a man in love.

Meanwhile Nene was a wonderful being that gave me a different view of life that altered my perspective of seeing things, she was that flower in the midst of a garden that garnered your attention once plucked it would be hard to resist the smile on yours lips.

She never treated me like an outsider rather she also saw me as her granddaughter one she had to look after, one she told tales about love to because of our shared love for reading.

Most of her books were on my bookshelf, since the years came along, Nene's health took a wrong turn, her first trip to the hospital had me bawling my eyes out for days, I couldn't get a wink of sleep thinking she was never going to make it out of there again.

Which is one of the reasons I went for a medical course that rarely involved deaths, I had a handful of elderly friends at NEU clinic who loved when I blabbed about my current read.

Kate, one of the elderly ladies says she prefers me narrating because using her glasses to read was becoming too boring for her eyes.

She admitted her opinion of me venturing into storytelling or using my voice for one of those audiobooks she manages to listen to.

Uruo sniffles bringing her hand to her face, she uses her fingers to dry the tears pooling out of her eyes, I held her closer, keeping my arms tighter around her, "I'll be going back to Florida to see her"

"I'll follow"

She pulls away slowly, looking into my eyes a weak smile formed on her lips, "you don't need to, I'll be staying for a while and I need your help for something instead"

Although I was hurt she refused my offer of following her on this journey, I think through what she has in store, my mind contemplating ways of helping her the quickest way I can, "okay, what's that?" the itch on my head begs me to attend to it and I do just that.

My fingers don't seem to be hitting the spot, my mind still fixates around this sudden itch which was a reminder that I had planned to wash my hair before going to bed today, the weather was just too perfect to not give into that book that has me intrigued eversince I came across an edit of it.

I reach for my silk bonnet and toss it few metres away from me, my plentiful locs fall onto my shoulders, stopping at my lower back, attending to the itch, Uruo's words cuts through the distraction I've trapped myself in, "I need you to help me cover one of my tutoring jobs, I got it three days back from Clint" my fingers pause their assault on my scalp.

The words fly out from my mouth before I could constrain them, "that rich bastard!"

She nods at my outburst, her tears now dry morphing into stain marks that will go away with a simple splash of water.

"He says he blabbed about how good my teaching was for his nephew to a friend of his who was then interested" she explained, using that free time to grab the novel I had abandoned.

Understanding the whole situation it makes it easier to accept her offer, this wasn't something new for me since Uruo took this up as a side job during summer time, her tutoring skills had excellent reviews.

She was a private tutor, skilled in aspects of the mind that I, myself wasn't familiar with she knew the exact method to go about with her tutee that worked and at the end gained brilliant results.

Her last student always sorted her out for a quick briefing sometimes and mentioned that little section helped alot.

Exempting the fact that Clint only hired Uruo as a result of his silly crush, he was also a gentleman, so anyone he referred to us was also to be trusted.

Coming down from the utter shock,I return back to her side, her head rests itself on my shoulders, the thick barrier of sweater I had on prevents her earring hook from stabbing into my bare skin, "so what do you say, would you do it for me?"

I raise my brows forgetting the fact that she can't see them, my hands pinch the skin of her cheek as I admit my intentions, "of course I would babe, it's freaking Clint we're talking about I bet his friend is also as loaded as he is" she laughs at my comment which eases the ache in my chest that she isn't in that sour mood that had my mind in a cluster.