He sighed and let his head hang loosely as he lowered it. "I had nightmares a year after I heard he died. I prayed severely for forgiveness and even though I knew God forgave me I never quite believed it" he paused, "after that horrible year, I decided to let everything go and earnestly pursue God but every time I close my eyes, I see those bloodshot eyes boring into mine and I can't seem to shake off the feeling that one day he'd come back to haunt me... And now, it seems like he is" Silence lingered the moment he was done speaking.

The story repeated itself over and over again in my head, and the more I thought of it, the more sense it made. Franklin would have undoubtedly thought it was planned, he had every reason to believe Gabriel purposely murdered him but then...

"Why didn't you tell me, Gabriel?" I finally asked and he snapped his head to me. "When you were having those nightmares, I was always there by your side. You could have told me, you had every chance to. All these could have been avoided, your father wouldn't have found out. So why did you keep the truth from me?"

"I'm sorry" he whispered. "It just... I was scared, and still am. And..."

"What about your sexuality?" He inhaled sharply at my question. "Are you still attracted to men?" I held my breath as I anticipated his answer. I don't know what it would be, but regardless...

"No" he finally voiced out and I let out the breath I was holding, but I didn't believe him. "I'm being honest" he exclaimed the moment he saw the look on my face and I relaxed my brows. "I never was attracted to men. I didn't say I was gay, Zadkiel. I was questioning my sexuality and it was influenced by a lot of things, the media, the worldview... It was a lot of things but I'm straight, Zadkiel. Always have been"

"That's good to know because I would have rejected your advances on me without looking back. You're not exactly my type." He let out a laugh at my joke and shook his head.

"Good to see my narcissism rubbed off on you a little" We both chuckled over that and silence once again loomed over us, but this time around it was a comfortable silence. We both basked in it and I could tell none of us wanted to ruin the moment by saying a word even though we had a lot to say.

We both sat in silence for a little while longer before I took the bull by the horn, and placed the papers I held onto on his lap, "thank you for answering these questions man and for telling me the truth." He gently picked up the papers from his lap and stared at them wordlessly.

"Whoever wrote these questions, knows all that Franklin knew and is undoubtedly after me thinking I planned his murder" My gaze flickered between him and the paper I held for weeks, yet I said no word to affirm his words even though they were true.

"How did you get these papers?" He turned his attention to me and I gulped. "We have to find whoever has been sending this to you and..."

"And...?"

"And correct him. He or she can't go around with this idea. It'll ruin me and my family. I didn't kill Franklin. It was an accident"

I breathed out a laugh at his words and quietly stood up from the floor. I clasped both of my hands behind me and stared down at him "That's funny, Gab. Very funny. I tell you who it is and what then? You find them, shut them up and keep the issue buried and the poor boy would remain 6ft under without truly getting the justice he deserved? You didn't kill him on purpose, good for you but that doesn't eradicate the fact that it was a kill and run by your father and he has to pay for that." I regretted my words the moment I said them.

His eyes widened at me my words and for a moment, hurt flashed through them but he was quick to cover it up. He bit down hard on his bottom lip and bobbed his head repeatedly. With a grunt, he stood to his feet. "You're right, it being an accident doesn't change anything. Just let me know if there's anything I can do to help, and I will" he patted my shoulders lightly and turned on his heels to walk out.

"Tell him" I turned around instantly and stared at his retreating figure, "tell him, son, and help him" the gentle voice urged and I immediately called out to Gabriel.
  
"I have a plan to fix everything Gab. Your dad might be dragged into this but that's the only way to fix everything." I expected him to get defensive and tell me to think of another plan, or even profer one but instead, the corners of his lips tugged up in a small smile.

"I owe this to God, Franklin and you, so I'm all in" I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding I made to walk over to my desk and get seated so we can go over everything, but the door creaked open the next minute and my heart dropped to my stomach. What if it was Franklin?

But all that fear and nausea disappeared when a familiar voice said, "I am in too" and I immediately whipped my head around to see Josephine by the door with a weird smile on her face, "forgive me for always creeping around" she mumbled and we all chuckled.

Everything felt normal in that split second and I let myself enjoy it. It'd been so long since we gathered together, without the tension and the anger. Today felt like us before the chaos and I loved it.
  
"Alright, let's get to work or we'll spend the whole day laughing" Josephine cut in, bringing us all to order, as always. Only if Jophiel was here, everything would be complete for me, at least for today.

I shook my head and immediately snapped out of the thoughts, there was no time. "Alright, come together. I have a plan and it involves Fredrick; he's the one that has been delivering the questions" They both glanced at each other with wide eyes before leaning into the circle we made with our bodies, and I carefully explained the plan to them. Leaving out the part where Fredrick is Franklin.

A big grin rested on their faces when I was done telling them everything. "Perfecto!" They both chorused at the same time and I wiggled my brows at them. "Alright, let's get started. Good luck" Josephine slapped our backs and dashed out of the room. Gabriel and I looked at each other and slowly shook our heads before he left as well and we got started on our individual assignments.

In exactly one hour, Josephine returned with what I had asked for and Gabriel had the appointments all set up. "The meeting with the doctor is scheduled in an hour, so you have to leave now if you want to make it on time" I nodded and scrambled to my feet.

"And the other appointment?"

"Scheduled in 2 hours, the school can't give you a permit three days in a row so I had to set everything up for today" he handed the numbers and requirements to me and I mumbled thank you as I dumped everything into my bag before I turned to Josephine.

She handed me three different bags and I furrowed my brows, I'd only asked for one. "we can never be too sure, Zadkiel, test the three" A corner of my lips tugged up in a smirk and I gave her a nod.

"Thank you, guys, for coming on board with this" I brought out the two envelopes I had tucked into my bag earlier and handed them to Gabriel; who took it from me, sceptically, "Fredrick would come looking for me soon, hand him the two envelopes and ask him to read the brown one first, okay?" He bobbed his head lightly and I smiled brightly at them. "I'll see you guys later"       

I quickly walked out of the office and once the door closed behind me, I exhaled slowly. "Lord, I commit all these into your hands. Please guide me"

"I'm always with you" the ever gentle voice whispered and my shoulders sagged in relief. He's with me therefore nothing else matters.

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NGL I'm really curious about what the plan is.. lol

I apologise for not updating this in the morning, I'm back to school, and sadly, there was no light yesterday and my phone died 🙂 I hope y'all enjoyed this Chapter.

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