The Nigerian Scoop, 1st of September 1997, Written by Susan Stephens.

After a month long disappearance and suspected kidnapping, Toluwanimi Kingston and girlfriend Tamika Afolabi have announced their marriage. According to a statement released by the estate of both families, the two decided on an impromptu vacation that later led to an equally impromptu wedding, also it was stated that the lucky groom's best man was none other than rising politician, Remilekun Phillips who is said to have been a long time friend of the couple.

More details about the wedding including the exact date is yet to be announced, it is unclear if the family of the groom were aware of the wedding, as the parents of Tamika Afolabi were involved in a ghastly accident several years ago.

The news of a new marriage is definitely a cause for celebration, especially concerning the recent scandal that rocked the Kingston conglomerate a few months ago exposing Daniel Kingston's less than legal business dealings and former EFCC investigation, the media mogul has now pledged all his resources towards assisting Remilekun Phillips' political campaign.

The news also comes as a surprise to a few well wishers and friends of the family, especially since the famous couple were known to have broken up — as seen at the birthday party of Toluwanimi's father in the beginning of the year. A source reached out to us concerning this, stating; "It is indeed a surprise, Mika and Tolu have not been seen together since July, when they publicly had a row, in fact, the former had begun seeing other people. . ."

We have reached out to the couple for a statement on this but have yet to receive anything on it, we do hope for a blissful marriage.

In other related news, Remilekun Phillips declares mysterious organization, Rising Sun — famous for giving out seemingly implicating news on the former's campaign — nothing but a budding terrorist group.

***

Sanmi padded into the kitchen barefooted and bare chested, although he was quick to regret the latter when he caught the sweeping stare Tope gave him, the same stare she hide behind her mug of tea, the Lipton label hanging out. He cursed under his breath, wishing he had put on the dirty shirt nonetheless, because he might not show it, he was definitely still attracted to her, as she was to him.

It was better to remember that.

"Good morning," He mumbled, staying put where he stood near the refrigerator, he pulled open the door, relishing the cool blast of air. Sanmi turned to give Tope a teasing stare, the fridge was poorly stocked as usual and he knew she'd find an excuse to give for it.

"Again?" He gestured to the open fridge and back to her.

Tope gave a shrug, a half smile on her lips. "Plotting revenge for one's godfather doesn't exactly give one time to shop for provisions."

"Bullshit, you're just the laziest person in the world."

She lifted her mug in mocking salute. "And your morning isn't complete until you swear."

Sanmi gave a soft laugh, patting down his hair self consciously. It was strange and at the same time familiar how they still knew the little things about each other. It was almost as if he had never left, never chose drugs above her.

It seemed like she was thinking the same thing because she hurriedly gulped her team and set the mug down on the kitchen cabinet.

"Put on a shirt, Ilesanmi, now." Tope said firmly. Or not.

He grinned, she only called him by his full name when she was angry or flustered by something he did which was often. Their story was the typical cliche, boy meets girl, boy brings out the bold and worst side of girl, although Tope had always had her moments of biting sarcasm and boldness.

"You're dressed in killer shorts and a tank top, and I'm not allowed to be casual?"

Tope rolled her eyes. "I'm in my house."

"Just admit that me being shirtless does wicked things to you." Sanmi murmured as he looked into the fridge, crossing out the possibility of having a decent breakfast, she didn't even have eggs or bread, only rows upon rows of butter (she hated the stuff but her cousin stocked upon them when she visited) and sodas which she had an unhealthy addiction to. Sanmi almost missed her quiet words.

"It does." She admitted quietly, making him look up at her.

"Don't say anything else, Tope, not another word." He told her, inhaling sharply. "This is another rabbit hole I don't want to fucking tumble down to, we do this every time and it never ends well."

She was still staring at him, waiting for his words.

"We promised that the last time would be the last time, remember?" A part of him wished she wouldn't but the more reasonable part was relieved when she nodded.

She cocked her head to the side, an almost impressed smile on her face.

"At least you aren't a dick anymore,"

He laughed. "Trust me, I still am. Just not around you anymore."

This time when she said those words, they weren't bitter, just resigned. "And whose fault is that?"

Sanmi didn't answer that, someone else did.

"Whose fault is what?" They both turned to stare at a furious Grace standing at the door.

"The both of you have a lot to answer for."

"As do you." Sanmi told her back, shaking his head when she gave him a withering glare, sometimes Grace had this bottled up fury that spilled sometimes and made him wonder who she took after, before he had compared her to Raymond and Linda Ilori, now that he knew the truth he wondered if it was Tolu Kingston or her now dead mother that she took after. Although it was hard to imagine Tolu Kingston as anything but quiet.

It was probably the mother she was named after. It was in moments like this that Sanmi felt guilt and anger pooled in his stomach, he was keeping the secret that could destroy any sham of a sibling relationship he had with her.

Grace gave a shake of her head and walked away, Sanmi gave Tope a look that suggested they follow, she shrugged and did, finding Grace standing in the living room, looking around like she was lost.

He remembered that she had probably never visited Tope, and was surprised to find out the truth why she had never been invited.

"Truth number one." Grace began, flopping down on the sofa closest to the door. The anger was back in her eyes, in the stubborn tilt of her head. "How fucking rich are you?"

Tope hid her laugh. "Fucking rich, I guess." She gave a modest shrug.

Sanmi saw the hurt look on Grace's face and nudged Tope.

"See, Grace, I never told you because I knew you'd run if you did. Not because you embarrass me in any way." She said firmly, but it felt like her words were directed at both siblings. Sanmi looked away, settling down on the sofa opposite to the one Grace sat one.

Tope sat down hesitantly besides him and it struck Sanmi how they appeared like parents delivering the news of a divorce to their only child. Grace looked from Tope to Sanmi, playing the part of the child well.

Then she gave a groan. "Really, Sanmi? I told you my friends were off limits?"

"And weren't you still that girl from Law up to a few weeks ago?" She asked.

Sanmi shared a glance with Tope and winced. "We ended it that same day you saw us." He lied, to Grace, every girl she saw with him was automatically his fuck buddy or girlfriend, he hadn't even slept with the law girl, but he knew denying was only going to raise more questions.

"Are you sure you want to date this ode, Tope?" Grace turned to her best friend. "I live with him and trust me, there's nothing remotely good about him."

"Thanks for the love, sis." He rolled his eyes.

Tope looked like she wanted to deny dating Sanmi but Sanmi gave her a look, they had agreed yesterday that it was best that they pretended to be together because Grace would probably be seeing them together a lot. It had taken time to convince her, even now, she still wasn't on board.

Thankfully, she nodded.

"I'll manage."

This time, Sanmi shot her a real glare. "It does wonders to my self esteem that you show me such beautiful love."

Both girls flipped him off. Tope stood and gave him a pointed look; ask her about The ORION Project.

"I'm going to shower and prepare for church." When both siblings gave her strange looks, she nodded at the calendar hanging above the sofa. "It's Sunday."

Tope gave Grace a smile and headed back inside. It was only then Grace allowed her smile to slip and put her head in between her palms.

"Shit, the parents will kill us, if it were only you then it would probably be better but the both of us stayed out late and didn't even return home!"

"Calm down, we've done worse." Sanmi commented flippantly, leaning back on the sofa and bracing himself for the interrogation. He didn't want to talk about ORION business or Jamal Popola.

Grace's head shot up quick. "You've done worse, I'm the poster child for goodness."

Sanmi snorted. "Right, you deserve a medal for it."

"Why aren't you worried about this, Sanmi? Dad is home you know." She told him, a frown on her face.

"I want to know what the hell you were doing at Jamal's club yesterday with that Chinese boy."

"So now you want to talk ORION?" She snapped, rising to her feet to pace from her sofa and back. She shot him an accusing glare.

"Grace, it is better not to dig somewhere and find a snake lying in ambush."

"When did you become so wise? You sound like those babalawo on African Magic."

Sanmi slapped a hand over his face. "This isn't about being wise, this is about not getting into trouble, or worse."

"I'll remember that advice when I meet with Joshua Phillips' fucking father tomorrow afternoon," She sneered, running a hand through her braided hair.

Sanmi groaned, a chill ran down his spine. She was meeting the vice president and president of ORION itself, he had never even met the man but Grace was about to meet the man who had killed her real mother. The man that was mentioned more than a hundred times in Tamika Afolabi's journal, in articles, in newspaper clippings. Everything began and circled back to him.

"Joshua agreed to tell me the reason why I was recruited." Grace chewed on her bottom lip. She only did it when she was unsure about a decision, Sanmi wondered what other stupid deal she had made with Phillips.

Sanmi sat up. "The reason won't get you out!"

"Of course not, I need to know, Sanmi, I don't know how but there is something going on that I don't like."

"Curiosity killed the cat."

"Satisfaction brought it back." She countered with false confidence as if he couldn't see her twiddle her thumbs behind her back.

"You're in deep shit, Grace." He told her because it was all he could say, he couldn't tell her that she was the key to the most dangerous weapon in Nigerian history, that her biological parents had helped create, one was dead now and the other missing.

There was only one explanation for it, Remilekun Phillips had probably found out about his existence and had him abducted, it wasn't like he hadn't done it before — when he forced her parents to marry each other.

"You think I don't know."

Sanmi took in deep breath. "I'm coming with you tomorrow, I don't even want to think of what trickery they'll push you in without proper guidance."

"I can think of a few." She attempted to joke. Sanmi gave her a serious look that made her pause.

"No, you have no idea what The ORION Project is capable of."

***

It never failed to amaze Grace how the inside of the dome always looked like nighttime even though it was a sizzling hot afternoon outside. The twinkling star lights still held her gaze for longer than necessary and when she nudged Kendrick, he gave a huff.

"Eh, I've seen enough." He said, strolling forward to the receptionist in the wide lobby that was bigger than the apartment Grace's family lived in. It seemed that everywhere she went to, every person she saw, she couldn't help but compare them to her own life and every time she did, she felt worthless.

Grace shook the thought and glared at Kendrick instead.

Kendrick had been off-putting with his sudden annoyance, at school he had barely paid any attention to whatever she had been saying and when she had asked if he had at least slept well, he claimed he had seen better days. Even through the drive to the estate, his lips had been down turned in a petulant sneer that made her want to smack him hard.

She could understand that it was the events of Saturday that still bothered him, but she had the right to be even more furious, because it was thanks to him that she was now without a phone.

Grace trailed after him, ignoring Sanmi's snorts of laughter.

"Your boyfriend's a snob, Gracey." Sanmi told her. He had made it clear to her that he didn't like Kendrick and wouldn't make an attempt at liking him either. Grace wasn't surprised, Sanmi pretended not to like every boy she liked, she was just surprised that he had kept his word, that for once, he seemed more and more like the brother she once knew. The bitter part of her couldn't help but acknowledge that it had taken their life to go to absolute shit for him to finally care.

"And you're an idiot but you don't see me complaining." She snapped, earning stares from the workers that milled about the lobby, she still wasn't sure what they did, still didn't understand the way ORION functioned as an organization.

She reached the receptionist where Kendrick argued hotly with the baffled girl behind the desk, when he noticed her, he turned around and gestured.

"I've been trying to tell this girl that fucking Phillips is expecting us and she keeps asking for identification." He blew out an annoyed breath that was visible in the chilly room.

Sanmi brushed past Kendrick with a scowl that said; let me handle this before you throw everything to shit.

He leaned on the pristine white reception desk and shot the girl in white a dazzling smile. "Hey, Delilah, they're new recruits hence the lack of identification."

The girl perked up, Sanmi was obviously a familiar face and when he reached into his pocket and pulled out a flat white card that was bare of any inscription or design, the girl smiled back and inserted it into the strange equally flat machine besides her laptop, Grace watched with fascination as it beeped several seconds later, even Kendrick couldn't hide his awe.

"It's an E-Card," Delilah explained. "Not your typical one but these cards are like phone calls, I insert it and the big boss receives a beep informing him of who wants to see him, if it blinks green like it does now, then the appointment is confirmed."

"Why not just phone the office directly?" Kendrick asked.

Delilah's smile widened in a manner that told Grace she enjoyed discussing technology.

"Local networks don't work in here, the Dome is designed that way to keep people from hacking into our database." Something told Grace that it had happened before, hence the prevention.

Kendrick grumbled something under his breath.

Delilah removed the card and handed it back to Sanmi, brushing her fingers with his and giggling when he gave her a wink. She glanced back at her computer and nodded.

"Someone will be down soon to escort you up, you're in luck, the vice president just arrived a few minutes ago." She announced, looking back at her computer and missing the look of dread that took over their faces. "And according to what I'm reading here, he specifically wants to see Grace Ilori first, and alone."

She looked up, her permanent smile still in place, this time to Grace, it appeared more sinister, the world seemed to spin beneath her feet. Sanmi had to step back to keep her from falling, Kendrick had wiped the annoyed look of his face and now looked scared.

"Which one of you is that?"

Grace gulped, finding her throat dry and all the confidence from earlier gone with the chill that left her feeling suddenly sweaty.

"It's me, I'm Grace Ilori."

***
An update as promised, I wrote it all this morning at 4am, sorry if there are any errors, please point them out so I can correct them properly.

Up next, one of the most dragged out secrets will be revealed, along with Remilekun Phillips, stick around to find out :-)