"I'm sorry our movie got cancelled" I glanced at our joined hands as we strolled in an unknown direction and I shrugged. Zadkiel had brought us here after the wonderful meal we had but unfortunately or rather fortunately, the movie he chose got cancelled.

"This is better than a movie anyway. I would rather go on a walk after the beautiful meal we had than sit in a cinema, stuffing myself again"

His free hand went to his chest and he bent over dramatically, "Ouch! To think I had it all planned perfectly, the walk was meant to come last"

I let out a laugh, "at least you included the walk" he shook his head and failed pathetically at his attempt to hide the smile on his face. I winked at him and we both chuckled.

He intertwined our fingers afterwards and we both fell into a comfortable silence as we strolled in an unknown direction, but my mind was anything but silent. It was filled with images and flashbacks of the lunch we just had, and a smile tugged at the corners of my lips. I'd never been on a date with a guy before, so I didn't know what to expect. If there was a standard for it, I'm very sure he exceeded it.

The food had been exceptional and he didn't miss the opportunity to tease me because I had doubted his choice. Conversation flowed easily, I didn't notice time passing by so fast.

When we were done eating, I reached out to pay for my food and he glared so hard at my purse so hard I didn't know when I immediately put it back. "You don't pay for things when we are on a date, Jophiel. I handle everything"

A shy smile played on my lips at the memory and I lowered my gaze. My brows knitted together when I saw the ground, we had moved from the tarred road we were walking on earlier to somewhere leafier, and for the first time, I noticed how much cooler the place had gotten. "Umm..." I dragged out when I raised my head and looked around the place, only to see us surrounded by trees. "Did we get lost?" I turned to Zadkiel, who had a perplexed look on his face, and I immediately gulped.

"I... I think we are" he said and my heart dropped to my stomach. "We were walking on the road one minute and now we are here, I don't even know how we got here" he looked around frantically and my heartbeat spiked. How could we have possibly gotten lost? If only I was paying attention instead of being lost in my thoughts.

I felt a tug in my hand and I looked up to see Zadkiel walking further into what I assumed was a bush, "what are you doing?"

"Walking in, maybe we will find something familiar," he said without looking at me.

I looked around in fear, the place was so unfamiliar and the fact that we are lost made it more scary. I tried to call out to Zadkiel and make him turn back, but instead, I whimpered as I tried to call out for him.

His head immediately snapped up to me when he heard my whimper, I guess he saw the look on my face or maybe it was the tears welling up in my eyes, because his eyes widened and in a minute he pulled me closer to himself. "It was a prank, Please don't cry. I..." He grabbed my cheek lightly and flicked the tears in my eyes away, "I am so sorry, I didn't... I didn't mean to..." He was still struggling to find the right words to say when I burst into laughter. I had tried to keep it in and drag it a little more but the look on his face made me feel a little guilty.

He slowly stepped away from me the moment I began laughing and stared at me quizzically.

"Gotcha! You nearly fooled me" I said and he arched a brow. "I was scared at first but then I realized, if we were truly lost you would have been the first to stop, plus you said you planned a walk" A big grin broke out on his face.

"Nice one, Jophiel. Remind me never to play with your intelligence" he said and I wiggled my brows proudly, "well, if you are done gloating, should we get going?"

"Of course" he breathed out a laugh while I stared at him gleefully. "You are something else" he grinned and linked our arms together as we continued on our walk in silence. This time around, I paid attention to our surroundings as we walked.

I thought the place would be a forest but the more we walked the place got cooler but the trees were getting lesser with each step. "Funny how it's getting cooler, but the trees are getting smaller" I pointed out as we kept travelling the lonely path.

"You'd soon see why"

Not long after that, we broke out into an open space. "Wow," I breathed out as my eyes darted around the place. It wasn't an aesthetic beauty like the garden but it was definitely a fascination. Hills and steeps surrounded a very very large ditch and I did not doubt that whoever falls in there won't survive it.

"The ditch isn't deep, it's just extremely wide," Zadkiel said as if he read my thoughts, "want to check it out?"

"Only if you promise to hold onto me, tightly" his grip on my hand immediately tightened and I smiled.

"I promise"

We both then walked closer to the ditch till we were at a safe distance and true to his words, it was quite shallow and it had a small water body, compared to how wide the ditch was. "The water was once so much bigger than this and people swam here a lot, but after a while, it randomly reduced and swimming in it was banned"

"Oh! What a shame. I would have loved to swim in it"

"I can fill it up again, just for you. All you have to do is say the word, ma'am" I snickered at his words and he nudged my shoulder with his before we both walked away from snd made ourselves comfortable on the hill.

"There was a reason I kept the walk for last," he said as we got comfortable, "the sunset is really clear from here and did I forget to say, really beautiful as well. And when it gets dark, fireflies sometimes come out"

"You really did your research" My lips tugged up in a huge smile and he bobbed his head proudly.

"But we came a little too early because of the movie stuff, and we can't leave without seeing it. We still have about an hour left, so how about we kill time with...." He paused and looked at me, "any suggestions?"

"Well..." I shrugged and pretended to think, "You can tell me about yourself, or we can pray"

He laughed and laid down on the rocks, looking up at the sky "I knew you were going to ask me that, and I already planned on telling you. And for prayers, we can pray before we leave" I nodded and he grabbed my hand softly in his, then tugged. I got the clue and carefully laid it down as well. "Alright! My story... Where do I start? I already told you bits of it in the restaurant."

"Tell me everything now. You can start with your mum"

Silence travailed for a few seconds after I spoke but then he released a deep breath and began talking. "I was 14 when my mother fell sick, she was diagnosed with cancer. But luckily for us, it was detected at an early stage and could be treated. But we couldn't afford the amount required for the treatment. I remember seeing my dad on his knees in the doctor's office, begging but nothing could be done so my mother decided to carry on with it and see how long she can bare it" he paused for a minute, and I placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, "unfortunately, it wasn't for long. It spread as fast as a wide fire and within six months she was stuck in the hospital bed, yet there was no money for her treatment"

"Mr Abner... The man who birthed me was present at first. He would visit occasionally with money for painkillers to at least keep the pain minimal. We were going through it together, as a family and the burden felt lighter. But all of a sudden he disappeared, and I was left all alone to cater for her. I heard he paid regularly for the pain killers but I never saw him at the hospital to confirm that." He took a deep breath and for a few seconds said nothing, "well, it eventually got hard for me to juggle going to school and taking care of her, so I withdrew and opted for online classes to help me graduate by I couldn't even concentrate on that" he breathed out a laugh and my chest tightened. The laugh was so humourless.

"The day she died had to be the worst of my life" he continued and I tried my best to blink away my tears. "I had prayed for so long, hoping she would survive but she didn't. The most heartbreaking part was that the man she loved was never there, not at her deathbed or her burial"

"I'm so sorry, Zadkiel" I muttered, my heart breaking for him.

He grabbed my hand and placed a kiss on it, "thank you." He whispered. "Well," he heaved a breath, "after that, I never really saw my Dad again. I was back at our old house, searching for scholarships to take me out of this country. That was when I encountered Abba, in a dream. He had given me the comfort I lacked in my father. He answered the questions I threw at him. He took my anger." He laughed and shook his head, "I was angry Jophiel, I was so angry but he took it all and comforted me. He gave me directions on what to do and led me to Baselia. When I woke up, I did as he instructed and since then, I've lived in servitude to Him"

"That's really beautiful" I mumbled in awe, and without giving it a second thought I kissed his forehead. He chuckled and I felt blood rush to my cheeks. Thank God for my black skin. "So, you met Gabriel and Josephine in the school?"

"Yes and no. I met them a year back in the hospital, but there was someone we met in the school, Franklin, and he's the person I want to talk to you about the most" My face contorted into a frown and I gave him my undivided attention.

"I'm listening" I mumbled and without missing a heartbeat, he told me how he met him as a cleaner in the school. They got to become friends and he felt a burden to win his soul over for Christ, but the more he tried, the less result it yielded till he died
"That's sad"

He shrugged, "I guess... The shocking thing, however, is that he's back, as a student here and as my stepbrother" My mouth dropped open at his words, and I thought they'd rip open as he narrated everything to me, including his plan to bring the truth to light. "Yeah, that's it" he finished and I slapped my cheeks lightly to make sure I was not dreaming, and I wasn't.

"The plan... Are you 100% sure about it?" He sighed and sat up from his laying position, he turned around and faced me.

"There's never a 100% guarantee but I have Abba and that's enough for me" I bit my lips and my brows knitted together as I went over his plan in my head. I was still lost in my thoughts when he pressed his fingers on my forehead and massaged the wrinkles, "I didn't bring you here neither did I tell you all these for you to worry about me or the plan, Jophiel. I told you all these so I could explain why I've been such a jerk these days. It's not an excuse for my actions, and I'm really sorry for how I've treated you in anger. I'm really very sorry"

My lips tugged up in a smile and I stroked his cheek softly with my thumb."I forgive you, Zadkiel" I smiled at him and sat up as well.

"Thank you" he grinned and moved his sitting position, "say no if this makes you uncomfortable" he mumbled and sat behind me, he spread out his leg and pulled me closer to him. A sudden hotness spread throughout my body and butterflies erupted in my tummy at the contact.

"Do you know what I would have done if you didn't forgive me?" I shook my head, "I would have thrown you into the lake if you didn't" I gasped while he chortled behind me. "Look, the sun is about to set" he pointed to the sky and I followed his fingers with my gaze.

True to his words, the sunset from here was truly beautiful.  It was so orange and was very amazing how it instantly changed the colour of the sky. I let out a breath and relaxed my back softly against him. I wanted to tell him about the possibility of me leaving the school, but everything was so perfect I didn't want to ruin it.

"Have I ever told you the sunset reminds me of you?" I hummed in response. "No?" I bobbed my head "It does. The sunset is so beautiful and attracts attention just by being itself. It doesn't have to try so hard, and most importantly everyone likes it, especially me" My eyes immediately widened at the unexpected confession. "I like you a lot Jophiel. I'm sure I've made it quite obvious but in case you haven't figured it out, I like you. And I wouldn't mind spending the rest of my days beholding your beauty."

"Beauty fades" I retorted with a sheepish smile.

"Not when it comes to you" he placed a simple kiss on the side of my head, and a hundred more butterflies were released in my stomach "I like you so so much, Jophiel and that's why..." He paused and embraced me a little tighter, "we will have to stay away from each other" 

The butterflies in my stomach immediately went back into their cage and my heart stilled. "I'm so sorry but I don't want you getting dragged into this mess. Franklin already saw you and I have no idea how far he's willing to go to get his revenge. And I would rather die a million death than put you in danger, so please, just for a few days let's lay low. I don't mean ignore each other or stay away from each other but..."

"I get it" I replied before he could finish his statement. I had expected to get angry at having to go through the same thing with him again, there was always a reason to avoid each other and it annoyed the crap out of me but this time around I was at peace. I was leaving without telling him and this would make it so much easier. "I understand, Zadkiel. But let's not talk about it. Let's just enjoy the moment and watch the sunset, it will soon fade away" I mumbled and he released a shaky breath.

I felt another warm kiss at the top of my head. He wrapped his arms tighter around me and pulled me even closer "Thank you, Jophiel" he whispered and we both fell into a comfortable silence, staring at the sunset that was slowly fading away and enjoying the warmth of each other's embrace for what I assume would be the last time.

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