~if wishes were horses...~

⊱𝙾𝚖𝚊𝚜𝚒𝚛𝚒𝚌𝚑𝚒⊰

Paragon.

Freaking paragon.

I've never freaked out like this in my entire life. Although I've been training so hard for the past month, I couldn't help but feel super nervous and worried about how my performance would be.

The way my mind constantly replayed last year's paragon event didn't help matters at all. I didn't want to lose. But that girl...

God help me.

The soft instrumentals of Swae Lee and Jhene Aiko's In the dark crooned softly from my phone's speaker, accompanied by vibrations. Looking down at the phone on my bed, beside my swim bag, I saw Umar's name on the screen.

My heart skipped a beat.

He was calling.

I picked it.

"Hello?"

"What's up, Oma?" Came Umar's deep voice, but I didn't have the chance to respond because of the loud car honk I heard over the phone and outside at the same time.

He had arrived.

I was dressed already; an hour ago to be precise and with frequent visits to the mirror to see if I wasn't overdressed. The weather has been unbearably hot these days, so it only makes sense to wear biker shorts and a long-sleeved crop top.

Why was I even bothered about my outfit?

Zipping my bag shut, I hung the strap over my shoulder and dashed out of my room to the living room. No one was there, but the TV was switched on, and a health reality show on TLC was ongoing.

Mum didn't go to work again today.

Though I wondered why, time wasn't on my side to inquire about that. So I hurried to the fridge to grab a cold bottle of water and a pack of dog treats.

"Mummy, I'm leaving now oh! Umar is here!"

"Okay baby, take care!" Came her response from the kitchen.

Stopping by Mama's kennel to greet her and the pups was a daily routine for me each time I was about to leave the house. But hearing the car honk, and louder this time had me tossing the pack of dog treats with me to them.

They're smart dogs. They'll get the pack open for sure.

Stepping out of the compound, I sighted Umar seated comfortably in his silver car parked directly in front of the house. I approached the car, opened the door, and got in.

"Hey." I breathed, struggling to get my bag to the back seat of the car.

"Nice choice of clothing." I heard him say, but I was too occupied with getting the stupid bag to sit well.

"It's a million degrees. I can't be wearing sweatshirts and joggers, Dude." I finally won the battle with my bag, sat properly, and exhaled loudly.

"So your house straight abi?"

He snorted, then turned the key in the ignition.

"Where are we going to before?" His sarcastic reply got an instant eye roll from me.

"I asked that because you have a thing for stopping to buy stuff."

Umar could make 50 stops in just one ride. It's either groceries for himself or his mum, stuff for his house or his younger sister, then picking up something from the gym.

"Well, you're right." He moved the gear from park and began driving. "But we're not stopping to buy anything. We'll just grab a few pastries from Pedro's."

Pedro's wasn't that far from my estate. Just a four-minute drive there.

"What's the difference?"

"The difference is that you'll benefit from it. Or maybe you don't want a freshly baked vanilla cupcake."

I picked up his phone and began entering his password.

"I hate vanilla."

"Chocolate then."

I nodded and smiled, surprised that the password worked. What I thought he would have changed after the day he gave me the password so I could collect some movies from his phone.

"Sure," I said as I connected the phone's Bluetooth to the car and selected Fireboy's Peru.

There and then, my subconscious decided to give me a random reminder that I was seated in a car with Umar Bello, which I could not ignore because somehow, his scent was everywhere.

Duh, it's his car.

My eyes on their own accord, fixed themselves on his hands as they turned the car steering, then trailed up to his arms and flexing muscles bulging out from his white shirt.

Well, damn.

I didn't stop there. I could see his lips moving as he focused on the road, but I was lost in Umar Bello's perfectly sculpted profile to even care about whatever he was saying.

Then he faced me, and my breath was knocked out of me.

Good Lord.

I turned away immediately before I wouldn't be able to, and focused my gaze out the window to calm and distract myself, as my heart had gone batshit crazy in my chest.

He only looked at you for Christ's sake.

"I thought you're dieting." I heard him say.

"I have scheduled free days to eat whatever I want."

"But why do you diet though? You're perfect the way you are."

Well, if those words didn't do something to me, I don't know what did. Still, I tried not to read much meaning to it and get my hopes up, because I know he meant it as nothing but an ordinary compliment.

"Dieting is healthy Umar. You don't need to be some sort of way to do it."

This kind of talk was the main reason why I didn't tell anyone about my diet. I was so fed up with people, people who are my entire family asking me my purpose for dieting and telling me how not good dieting is. The day Umar came over, I barely escaped a long-ass lecture from my mum after he left.

Wonder by Shawn Mendes had began playing and I turned up the volume a bit as he entered the chorus.

Right before I close my eyes
The only thing that's on my mind
Been dreamin' that you feel it too
I wonder what it's like to be loved by you
Yeah
I wonder what it's like
I wonder what it's like to be loved by you.

Whatever Shawn was feeling when he wrote this part of the song, I was feeling it too. I've always wondered what it would be like if this feeling was mutual and not a damn one-sided thing.

Snap out of your misery, Oma.

I changed the song then brought up my main source of anxiety for the past few weeks.

"Do you think that Crestview babe is going to be competing?" I asked, and he let out a soft chuckle. What in the world did he find amusing?

"You've still not gotten over this."

"She's too good Umar."

"Dami isn't pulling her hair out because of that girl."

"Dami didn't follow us to the paragon last year. So she wouldn't know who we're up against. She freaking beat Marion!" I let out a harsh sigh.

"So?" He said, ever so casually. Just like that. Like all was well with the damn universe.

With a raised eyebrow, I faced him. "So?" I scoffed and looked away from him. "I can't believe you right now."

"Look, Oma. Instead of you working yourself up over her, put all this energy into doing better."

What does he think I've been doing all these while? Playing catch with my dogs? I've been training my ass off every day and almost to the point of exhausting myself. Still, I feel like I'm no match for that girl.

"Marion isn't the only best swimmer out there you know? There are others out there who are much better than her and even the girl you're stressing yourself over." He continued, and I let his words slowly sink in.

"Be positive."

Be positive.

Maybe all I needed was to be in a better headspace. Get rid of my negative thoughts and all.

"We're here," Umar announced, then set the gear on park and turned off the ignition. I got down from the car and opened the back seat door to get my phone and AirPods out of my bag.

A small bell jingled as he pushed the door open, and I walked in. The aroma of freshly baked pastries made its way into my nostrils and I inhaled deeply. My stomach rumbled at the same time too.

The place was quite packed and we were lucky to find an empty table close to the window where we could get a good view of the walkway.

"So what are you ordering?" He asked after signaling the cafe waitress who just finished attending to a customer.

"You're paying?"

"Do you want to?" The left corner of his lips tugged up.

"Oh hell no." I disapproved immediately and he laughed.

My phone chimed and I checked to see notifications from the family group chat on WhatsApp.

Well, this better be good.

My mum sent a video with a caption that read, the American accent phase and I knew instantly that it had to be me. I was two when we moved to the US to stay with my mum's younger sister because Dad had to travel back to Portugal for whatever reason.

So I found it interesting to mimic my aunt and her children's accent, and I kept on doing it until it became one of my childhood phases.

My AirPods were connected to my phone, so I could watch the video without any interruptions. My eldest cousin was saying a particular word which I kept on repeating with the accent. It was quite hilarious because I could hear my Mum and her sister's laughter in the background.

(The DaCosta's family group chat.)

And my mum better be kidding about playing that embarrassing video on my wedding day.

From the corner of my vision, I could see the waitress approach our table to get our orders.

"How long have you two been together?" Was the first thing she asked once she got to our table, and I would have choked if I had food or liquid in my mouth.

"What?" We exclaimed together.

"Oh, I asked how long you guys ha-"

"We heard you," I cut her off, then stole a glance at the alleged boyfriend. "And we are not together."

"Nope." He added in confirmation.

"Awwn." She pouted. "That's a shame. You two really fit each other."

Good thing I mastered the art of hiding and masking my emotions. If not, my face would have been a bright shade of red.

Wahala for who be light-skinned oh.

I had no doubts about what the girl said. If only Umar could reciprocate these feelings I should have done away with a long time ago but chose not to in hopes that a miracle would happen.

I feel sorry for myself sometimes.

"So I'm guessing you're single right?" She asked Umar with her thirty-two on a bright display, clearly flirting, or on the path to. And seeing that Umar was about to roll with it irked me so much that I almost snapped at her.

"You are here to take our orders, not to insinuate nonsense."

Wow, Oma. Jealousy does not look good on you.

"Sorry, my bad." She gave a nervous chuckle.

Stealing a quick and subtle glance at Umar, a blank expression was all I saw, or I thought I saw.
I seriously needed to chill. It's not like he's aware of my feelings and is trying to get me jealous. He's just being Umar.

Even though he had surprisingly changed a lot since last year, one thing didn't; his ability to break hearts. And clearly, his ability to flirt too.

Then me being aware of all these and still choosing to keep hoping is on another level of pathetic. More pathetic that I try to get over the heartbreak I feel each time I hear about his many conquests.

"Your orders please." She requested and with my eyes glued to my phone screen, I gave my order.

"A caramel latte and two chocolate cupcakes."

"And you?"

"I'll have the same."

"Mhmm. Ordering the same thing. You two are so perfect together." She cooed, and I brushed off that fuzzy feeling. I didn't know whether to feel annoyed at the obnoxious waitress or happy that someone was shipping me with him.

Don't put too much thought into it. It's just an ordinary order.

"Can you get them their orders Osho?" Came a very gentle and familiar voice which had me looking up from my phone to behold Leo standing beside the waitress.

"Sorry." She quickly scribbled on the small notepad in her hand and left.

"Hey, Leo." Umar greeted and extended his hand to Leo for those boys' handshake things.

"Leo." I acknowledged his presence.

"Oma." He gave a curt nod.

Remembering how I spoke to him the other day, I began to feel a bit bad about that. He didn't deserve the rude things I indirectly said about him.

"I'm sorry for how rude I acted to you at school the other day."

I didn't even want to see the look on Umar's face because of this, so I kept my eyes on the dark boy standing.

"It's cool." He smiled, revealing his dimples on both cheeks. Leonard Pedro is cute, and that, I'll have to admit. "So you guys are training together?"

Umar gave a nod. "What about you? How's it going?"

He shrugged with his hands in both pockets of the black hoodie he had on. "Pretty good. Nervous though."

"We're all going to ace it."

"Sure." Leo gave Umar a small smile, showing off his dimples again which made me wonder why he does nothing to utilize his good looks. I've come across a few girls in school who gush about how handsome and low-key hot Leo is. Yet, all he does is sit at the back of the class and turn invisible.

The waitress finally returned with our orders, dropped them on our table, and left.

"So, I'll see you guys later."

"You too," Umar said and Leo left.

I went back to searching for a particular makeup post on my sister's Instagram page. My eyeliner game needs to be perfect.

"You're really pretty though. I wish I could be as pretty as you are." I raised my head at the voice to see the girl I thought had just left, beaming at me.

Oh, Lord.

To escape another one of Umar's how-to-be-nice-to-people lectures, I managed to muster a smile.

"Thanks, you're not so bad yourself," I replied and watched as the girl giggled and left our table, before rolling my eyes and going back to what I was doing.

Well, I hope he didn't notice that.

"Why do you have to be so rude?" Umar asked with a heavy sigh.

Welp. He did.

"How am I rude? She complimented me and I returned the favor." I replied.

"Oh please, that wasn't even a real smile you gave her." Umar huffed.

He noticed that too.

"You need to be nicer to people." He continued.

Dropping my phone on the table, I looked up at him. "How do you expect me to be nice to someone I don't like?"

"You just fucking met her, how do you know you don't like her?" Umar queried, looking defeated.

I could only shrug and picked up the plastic cup filled with latte. "Well, you know what they say. First impressions."

A loud groan of frustration escaped his lips as he ran his hands over his face. "First impressions what, Oma?"

"Are you going to eat that or not? Cause I'll gladly do that for you." I pointed to his cupcake which he quickly reached out to take from the table before I could get it. Then his phone rang out.

Taking it out of his pocket, he looked at it and his frustrated demeanor changed immediately to a quite surprised one.

"Oh wow." He chuckled. "It's Abi."

Great.

Abiola Akinyemi. One of Umar's close friends. Abi, Umar, and Kanye were a trio, and Umar was more of the closed-off one amongst them.

Sometimes she hung out with me and the girls which I didn't like, but tolerated because she was in the track team with Idera. Other than that, I had zero connections with Abi.

And I've never liked her for obvious reasons.

"Street girl, how far." Umar's deep chuckle filled my ears, causing goosebumps to sprout all over my skin.

"You must be mad, who are you calling street girl." Came Abi's voice.

One would think I seemed uninterested in the conversation he was having with Abiola, and if possible even less interested when he passed me his phone to say hi to Abi. He gave me a slight kick under the table to gain my attention before that.

I scowled at him, before taking the phone from him and looking at Abiola on his screen who to my surprise, didn't look like Abi anymore.

Wow.

She looked different. The good different. This mad glow up in such a short time.

"Hey, Abi." I waved unenthusiastically.

"Hi, Oma." She smiled. "What's up?"

"I'm fine. You?"

"Doing great." I simply nodded as a reply and returned the phone to the owner.

"How's LIC nau, is Jidenna still giving you trouble?"

"Please, don't spoil my day by talking about that obnoxious asshole," Umar responded, rolling his eyes.

"Anyway, how's preparation for the Paragon going? I know you guys are going to kill it this year..." And I zoned out totally.

Listening in on people's conversation isn't my thing, except there's something I need to find out or I woke up with an unusually high level of curiosity that day or both individuals have been acting suspiciously.

Besides, listening to Abi and Umar's conversation would do anything but good to me. So I went back to my post hunt, hoping for no interruptions this time.

I finally found the post and saved it so I could easily go back to it, then I decided to scroll through my explore page to look for fresh content ideas for my Instagram page. I stumbled upon one of Jennifer Jones's posts, one of Nigeria's top influencers along with Jude Osasogie.

It was a picture of her and Jude Osasogie modeling for a tracksuit brand. This post was certainly going to stir up social media, and let me not even get started on the comments, especially the ones about them dating, which I totally believe by the way.

I mean, if Jen Jones isn't the girlfriend, then who else would it be?

"I guess that's my cue, I'll talk to you later babe!" My attention got drawn back by what I just heard her call him.

Babe?

And Umar just laughed it off as if it was an ordinary word or a joke.

"Goodbye Abiola, go and find someone else to disturb."

Finally, the video call ended and I noticed the smile on his face. Not just any normal smile, the kind of smile that screamed, you made my day. That was on his face because of that stupid girl. Even if I could stop the jealousy that gripped me, I wouldn't. I would even go as far as acting on it, but that would make me seem crazy.

I looked back at my phone, trying to hard act so unaffected and praying Umar wouldn't notice how furiously I was tapping on my screen.

Breathe Oma.

And that I did until my head was clear of the haze of jealousy and anger. I looked up at him again.

"How's she?" I inquired, just about as uninterested as a mechanic would be in a literature class. The thing is that I don't fucking give a fuck about how Abiola is or what's going on in her pathetic life.

"You could've asked that on the call, instead of ignoring her throughout," Umar said as if he knew he was fighting a losing battle which he certainly was.

"But I sha asked. Could have done worse." I replied and took a bite out of my cupcake. I moaned as I savored the sweet chocolate flavor in my mouth.

He just watched and shook his head. "You are a handful, you this girl."

~•~•~

"So you're telling me your father gave you this house, just like that?"

"In what other language should I tell you this?"

Standing in front of what I would call an exquisite and modern duplex building, Umar's own house, would never stop blowing my mind.

The curtains were tied up, giving passers-by a glimpse of the house's interior through the glass doors and windows.

The house was painted black and I wasn't surprised. It's Umar freaking Bello, and he has weird taste sometimes. I don't know what kind of human would paint their house black.

(I and Umar's home😌✨)

"My Dad has refused to give Adaora just a car, and your Dad is giving you an entire house?!"

I was starting to think this is a thing with senators and their children. Dami's father had already put one of his properties in her name, Dija legit has an entire estate in her inheritance. Well, she and her older sister, but that's still a lot.

He laughed. "Just go in Oma."

That I did, and I could not still get over how simple yet intricate and sophisticated the interior was. I always wondered what Umar needed such big space for when he's the only occupant of the house.

(Our living room🥺)

He led me upstairs and down the corridor, into one of the empty rooms where I could change into my swimming suit. Asides from the bed, wardrobe, and a standing fan, the room was practically empty and I guess this should be one of the rooms he told me he's working on.

Once I was done, I came out of the room and made my way to the back of the house where the large pool was situated.

Umar was already outside in his trunk. Only his goddamn swimming trunk that left nothing to my imagination. Heat slowly crawled all over me as watched his muscles flex as he stretched.

Then it dawned on me that I was going to be with him alone in a pool. Exemptions to the times we see each other in our swimming suits and our training sessions together. We were alone in the entire house. No maids, no neighbors, not a single soul. Except us.

"Oh, God." I breathed.

"What?"

I blinked. He heard me.

"Oh, it's nothing. I just remembered something."

He nodded and I sighed in relief as he walked to the edge of the pool. I dropped my towel on the chair and stood by the pool.

"So you're going to time me," He pointed at the stopwatch on the small table beside the chair. "Then you'll compare my best time with this."

"Okay." I walked back to the table to take the watch and set the timer.

"You ready?"

He nodded and put on his swimming goggles.

"Go!"

And he dived in, swimming faster and even better than he did during our last training session together. I bet he's faster than Leo now. Four laps were the task, and he completed it flawlessly.

I stopped the timer just as his hand came out of the water and slapped the tiles. "You beat your previous time just by 2 seconds."

"Works for me."

He took off his goggles, came out of the pool, and took the stopwatch from me.

"Your turn."

Putting on the swimming goggles and taking my position at the edge of the pool, I took a deep breath and waited for Umar to give me the go. And once he did, I dived in.

Freestyle it was, but my body decided to go with the butterfly stroke once I hit the water. Much to my surprise, it wasn't much of a challenge to me than it was a few weeks back.

"What's up with that?" He asked as I came out of the pool catching my breath. I just shrugged and took off the swimming goggles.

"Honestly, I have no idea. It just happened."

I sat to take a quick rest before we would go against each other like we usually did during each training.

"Who's timing?" I asked as we were the only ones in the house. Usually, either my siblings or my mum timed us each time we trained in my house.

"Whoever finishes and gets to the stopwatch first wins." He explained as he set the watch and placed it down on the edge of the pool. I got up and joined him

At the sound of the beep, we were off. I pushed harder, so I was faster, and counted the seconds in my head so I could beat my previous time.

Seeing the end of the pool, I pushed even harder till I reached the end. I brought my head out of the water, reached for the stopwatch to stop the timer, and pushed myself out of the pool. I took off my swimming goggles and a grin spread across my face as I checked my time on the watch. I beat my previous time by five seconds.

Omo, Crestview gat nothing on me!

Umar came out like two seconds after and I showed him my time.

"Not bad." He handed the watch back to me and smirked. "For your mind."

I laughed and dropped the watch on the table then joined him at the edge of the pool.

"I'm curious. When did you start swimming?"

"Since I was a baby, I think." That seemed to be a surprise to Umar and that's just the reaction I get each time I tell anyone this.

Swimming babies and toddlers aren't much of a thing in this part of the world. I don't know about other African countries, but definitely not Nigeria. So their surprised reactions are well expected.

"My mum always told me anytime she put me in the water for my bath, I would always move my arms and legs around and play with the water. We were based in Portugal then, so she told my Dad and they found me a swimming class for babies and toddlers. Every morning having my bath was like a personal training session, and that's how I started-

I can't even imagine not swimming, it's like my second nature. I was so scared that I might forget how to swim when I was diagnosed with retrograde amnesia as a result of an accident I and Adaora were involved in when I was in Jss2."

"I never knew you were involved in an accident."

I shrugged. "It wasn't that serious."

I was told it was a side collision with the front seat of the car, which incidentally happened to be where I sat, and all I sustained were a few cuts on my body and a head injury that caused the amnesia. Adaora got a bad gash on her thigh that had her in the hospital for weeks. It healed eventually but left a long scar behind.

"So for how long were you going to keep hiding it?"

"I wasn't hiding anything. It's just not necessary for the whole world to know I have amnesia."

When the accident happened, only my classmates then and the school authorities were aware, but only the school management knew about my amnesia.

"I'm not talking about that Oma."

I moved my legs in the water. "Then what are you talking about?"

"The fact that you like me."

My legs stopped and so did my heart as I tried to process what I just heard.

"And you have for quite a while." I turned to him with wide eyes in complete and utter shock. How did he...how did he know?

Jesus Christ!

Then he moved close and leaned towards me, bringing his face close, so close, until our foreheads were touching. Was he...was he going to kiss me?

Oh, God...

I could hear my heart thud loudly in my chest, in anticipation of his lips on mine.

My eyes fluttered close, I didn't want to see, I just wanted to feel. I felt his hand caressing my cheek and his hot breath danced all over my face, which made me hold his hand and lean more towards him.

Then I felt it. His lips, warm and soft, pressed firmly on mine and sent currents throughout my body.

All I could do was savor every bit of it, every single thing coursing through me. And just as it started, he pulled away and rested his forehead on mine.

"Oma..." His voice came out in a low whisper, and I opened my eyes.

Could this be happening?

My heart swelled on hearing my name from his lips. It sounded so beautiful, and this entire moment seemed so surreal.

"Oma." He called again, but I was thrown into a complete haze of confusion because he was now holding me with a worried look.

What?

"Omasirichi."

Then I blinked. Once, then twice in utter confusion. It took a few seconds for everything to become clear to me.

"Are you okay? You zoned out."

Umar didn't find out anything, and he certainly didn't kiss me either.

It happened again, the kissing daydreams which felt so real and has become a frequent occurrence ever since we began training together. I was worried that somehow, I might slip into that trance again and do or say something stupid.

I need to stay away from him.

Yeah. Tell that to yourself for the 100th time.

"I'm fine." I pulled my hands away from his hold and wrapped them around myself, soothing the goosebumps on my skin.

"Should we leave the pool? You're shivering."

It was then I felt the cold air hit my skin, and I could only nod as I stood up and climbed out of the pool. Just a few steps out, and dread consumed me as I slipped. I quickly grasped the handle of the ladder to stop myself from falling, but my hand slipped off, and I prepared myself for the painful contact with the ground.

But it didn't come.

All I felt was a strong arm wrapped firmly around my waist and the electricity that coursed through me at the physical contact, making me unable to hold back the gasp that left me.

How highly embarrassing.

"Are you okay? Are you coming down with a fever or something?"

Yes. The you fever.

I shook my head in reply as he helped me stand upright. I slowly removed his hand from around my waist and pulled the towel tighter around my body as I walked back into the house.

As I dried off in the room I changed in earlier, I kept on scolding myself for being so carried away. He could have figured it out for crying out loud. Only God knows if he wasn't suspicious already.

You will just disgrace your entire generation one day, this girl.

I changed back into my clothes, packed up my damp hair into a messy bun, and hung my wet swimming suit in the bathroom to dry, then went to sit in the living room. Umar joined me later on with two mugs that had steam coming out of them. He placed them on the small stool which he pulled out from under the center table then switched the TV on.

"Here," He said, and I looked up to see him holding out his sweatshirt to me. "For the cold."

"Thank you."

I took it from him and put it on. It was so big that I felt like I was lost in it. So warm and comfortable. It smelt like him and I loved it.

Maybe I could "accidentally" go home with this one.

A loud and continuous vibrating sound drew my attention to my phone on the center table. I reached for it but sat back once I saw the name on the caller ID. Why on earth did I still have that number?

I picked up the phone as it still rang, cut the call, deleted the number, and placed the phone beside me. I could feel Umar's eyes on me, expecting him to say something, but he didn't.

"You still talk with him?" He finally spoke. He must have seen the name on my phone.

"No."

Never in a million years would I ever speak with Gerald Amobi Ofor ever again.

"He still sends texts and tries to call, and I ignore them."

"Are you okay talking about him?"

Did I feel okay about it? Yes, I guess. It took me a lot of time to get over what he did to me, but I'm over it. And him.

"It's cool. He's an ex now, a shitty one." I reached for my mug and gently took a sip of the hot chocolate.

"I'm quite curious to know how it all started."

My brows furrowed as I dropped my mug back on the stool. Asides from Abi and Kanye, Gerald was another person Umar was very close to so it's quite a surprise to hear him ask that.

"Well, he did tell me he had a crush on you, and then later on he told me he likes you a lot. That's it."

I simply nodded and silence followed.

"I swear, if I had known Gerald was aware of what his sister was planning to do, I would have done something to stop it."

"Don't do that Umar."

I didn't want him to begin blaming himself for my unfortunate fate that night. Leaving my drink unsupervised to dance was a very stupid thing to do.

"I knew something was up with how he acted that night, but I shrugged it off as nothing. Maybe if I had taken it more seriously, it wouldn't have happened, Oma."

The sincerity in his tone made me wonder if maybe he felt something for me, or he just cared like any other true friend would do.

But who am I kidding? Umar didn't do relationships or any sort of commitments, so it's the latter.

"But it happened, and it's not your fault." I adjusted, making myself more comfortable on the sofa. "I should have known Geraldine's dislike for me was actually hatred."

I thought she didn't just like me because I was dating her brother, but I didn't know it was more than that.

The memories were beautiful and sweet, but not the person I made them with.

Gerald Amobi Ofor was the senior and I was the junior who had no clue that the future head boy of LIC was head over heels for me.

It was just a class difference, so it wasn't that weird when rumors began circulating that we had something going on because of me being continuously exempted from punishments.

The majority of senior girls didn't like me, and their association was headed by no other person than Geraldine. And the more I ignored their jabs and stupid comments about me, the more infuriated they got.

I received a lot of attention, the good, the bad, and the ugly, a lot of ugly. But I didn't give a fuck about it. I basked in the good like I let it enter my head very well.

I even went as far as doing things that confirmed and even raised more rumors, even though I wasn't really feeling Gerald back then.

The first day of resumption from the easter holiday back in Ss1 was crazy. Gerald must have done some sort of voodoo shit during the holidays because when he climbed up on that assembly podium to address everyone as the newly appointed head boy of the school, I was a goner.

Idera had to smack me back to my senses, and it wasn't funny afterward when she pointed it out to the girls. I didn't escape the teasings that came after.

Fast forward to later that same day when he approached me, and I suddenly lost my ability to speak. I just stared at him like a complete dummy.

Surprise and shock almost killed me when he asked me out two days later.

"We kind of talked yesterday. And he said he beats himself up every day for what he did and that he's sorry."

Really?

Not the first time, and I'm very certain this wouldn't be the last time I would hear this from Gerald. He could have done something back then to stop his devil of a sister from drugging me during her bloody party.

"Are you trying to beg for him?"

Umar shook his head and raised his hands halfway in surrender. "No. I'm just delivering his message. His words, not mine."

"Well Umar," I unfolded my legs and leaned towards him, making direct eye contact. "He can fuck himself."

And I leaned back into the sofa while he watched with a small smirk.

"But is there still something? Do you still feel anything?"

"Nope. I killed it fast."

"Really?" He was skeptical. If I wanted to get rid of my feelings for Umar, I would have done that a long time ago without giving it a second thought. Ever since I heard the rumor about him and Abiola having something going on between them.

"For real. It's gone." He seemed to go with my reply because he sighed and picked up his mug.

"Then I think you could help Habibah with this boy in her class."

A boy? What a new development.

"Your sister has a boyfriend?"

"Had. They broke up after the accident." A look I couldn't decipher flashed on his face. "And she should have gotten over him. It's been three years now."

"So she still likes him?"

He took a sip from his cup. "A lot."

How could she not be over someone who she broke up with three years ago? How is that even possible? Had she gone that deep?

"Well, I hope she's not going back to that school because if she is, then she's a lost cause and that's a waste of time."

"Yeah."

The little time I've spent with Habibah was enough for me to like her immediately. Angel would be the perfect and only word to describe her; totally nothing like her grumpy older brother.

"You two are contrasting opposites."

"Same as you and Kanye. Sometimes I wonder if you two are really twins." I laughed at that.

I've always wondered why society expects twins to be the same. If not, then what's the point of them being twins? Being a twin doesn't mean being the same. People forget that there are two different individuals and two different personalities.

I'm so glad my parents are well aware of this and don't make it seem that way for me and Kanye. It makes life much easier.

"Fast and furious 9?" He asked, and I looked at the TV to see the movie just starting. My lips spread into a wide grin.

"Absolutely."

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Not Oma freaking out over how good Hillary is🌚

My sincere apologizes to my fans.😭😭 It's been tough, I won't lie, but it's all good now😌

I reached my goal of updating three or more chapters during the holiday. Now I'm back in school and there's strike💀

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Stay blessed✨