THEODORE

"Where is Irene?" Osaze asked as soon as Desmond walked back into TY's apartment. He shrugged and took a seat on the now empty couch he shared with Irene moments ago.

"She has gone home. Hasn't she?" Osaze sat back eyes on Desmond. "She's not feeling well. She had to." He replied and took a sip from the cup in front of him.

"That's a lie. Irene is perfectly fine." Osaze replied with a big scowl on her face. "How would you know that? You're no doctor."

"You're not a doctor either so how sure are you she's not feeling well?" Osaze asked and I sensed what was coming and I was pretty sure Ola sensed it as she spoke up "Guys forget this, we were playing a game."

"No, I'm not ignoring it this time. Everyone sides with Irene even when she's in the wrong. Why the hell does she feel too important?" Osaze asked and took off her glasses seething in rage.

"Osaze." Desmond called softly "Stop this." "Heck, I won't. Y'all just being fake, you don't tell the truth to Irene and when I try you shut me up?"

"Osaze." Desmond called this time his voice more stoic and it seemed more like a warning.

"All of you are just kissing her ass. You don't tell her the truth. All of you are fake. No real friends will do this. The only person apart from me that tells that girl the truth is Theodore."

"Osaze." Desmond called again and I could see the veins popping at the side of his head. "You know that Irene is going through a lot even though she likes to act like nothing is wrong. Ever since Ivory passed away, she hasn't been herself and we all know it. Sometimes we have to reason with her." Desmond said in reply.

"Goddammit! She's not the only one that has gone through shit. Everyone has one way or the other and that doesn't make her special. I think she's just a freaking attention seeker and all of you are bloody hypocrites." She said and I saw it. He snapped, Desmond snapped.

"Shut the fuck up." He thundered. "Will you just shut that trash hole you call a mouth up. I've had it up to here." He said I raised his left hand to his jaw. "I don't know what Irene has ever done to offend you but one thing is clear, I won't spare you if you do anything drastic so you better keep your sick assumptions to yourself and fuck off!"

I had never seen Desmond that angry. He appeared to be the most mature and sensible one in the group but seeing him this made made me realize how my h he cares about Irene.

"Why am I even wasting my time with you all." Osaze stated and gave everyone a one over excluding me. "I shouldn't bother myself with toxic people." She stated and look away.

I watched Desmond as he tried to control his anger. "Then leave." It came out in a low husky tone. My eyes snapped towards the owner of the voice. It was TY.

If I had thought Desmond was furious earlier then I didn't know how to name what TY was feeling because the glare he sent Osaze's way looked like it could produce lasers. The intensity of the glare had this don't fuck with me aura.

"I don't want to stay." She stated and got up, grabbed her laptop bag and her denim jacket which she slung across her shoulder. Getting to the door she opened it and turned back to face the guys.

"Fuck y'all!" And her middle finger flew up. The loud slamming of the door alerted me about her exit and I got up. There's nothing more to do anyway. I thought.

"I'll take my leave now." I stated and they just nodded still shaken from the incident with Osaze. "Alright then, see you guys on Monday I said and made for the door.

I heard Zion say something in the line of 'We have to leave, our parents will be expecting us'.

Walking towards the parking lot where my Range rover was parked, the cold air hit my skin and then I realized my hoodie was with Irene.

I sighted Osaze walking towards her car and I decided to call out to her. "Osaze." She halted as soon as she heard my voice and turned. I jogged over to her and stopped only when I was stand in in front of her.

"Theodore." She called as though she just acknowledged my presence. "Are you okay?" I asked because I knew what happened was more than her being a total bitch. Something prompted it but there's more to it.

"She always acts like she's on top of the world and she doesn't deserve any emotional stress. But not anyone of us bargained for it either, we just find ourselves in such situations, one that toys with our sanity and normality but we don't all go shoving it in people's faces." She said looking down at her feet clad in a pair of dark sandals.

Very correct my friend, we didn't bargain for it.

"You don't have to make her business yours Osaze." I stated and she looked up at me. I saw something in her eyes. Pain. Raw pain.

Somewhat similar to what I saw in Irene's eyes but eerily different. "Hey, is something the matter?" I asked and she shut her eyes shaking her head vigorously. "I'm fine." She kept repeating and it seemed to me that she wanted to assure herself.

When she opened her eyes, I saw tears flow down her cheeks. "Do you wanna talk about it?" I asked and she shook her head.

I watched her with a new developed interest. Who knows what she could be going through? As my mum would say, in every situation give thanks.

You try to help everyone but you can't help yourself.

The voice said and I did my best to wade it away and I succeeded.

Feeling hands wrap around my torso, I came out of my reverie, Osaze was hugging me tight like her survival depended on it. "It's okay. You'll be fine." I whispered into her ears as I hugged her back.

After what seemed like an hour which in reality was just about five minutes, she pulled away and gave a weak smile. "Thank you."

"You shouldn't thank me. What are friends for?" I shrugged. "No, I really should. I feel much more better now and it's all thanks to you." I smiled at her now lighter mood. "In that case, you're welcome."

"I have to go now." She spoke up and I nodded. "Can you drive yourself or should I drive you?" She let out a hearty laughter that one wouldn't know she had been in a sour mood. "I'll be fine on my own." She replied and walked to her red venza with a wave and zoomed off.

Settling into the car and putting on the ignition, my mind drifted back to my conversation with Lucy in the morning and the anger I felt for my mum resurfaced.

Driving home, I kept thinking.

Does it look like I need a nanny to you?

I'm not vulnerable, I'm an adult and I'm self reliant.

A thought came to my mind but then I shook my head dismissively at the idea surrounding it. Could she want to get me married to the girl? As crazy as that sounded, it was something my mum was capable of doing.

"Welcome small oga." Our gate man greeted as I drove into the compound. "Thank you." I simply replied as I got down from the car. If it had been our former gateman, he'd say 'Welcome smallest Oga'.

He calls my oldest brother Dayo, Small Oga and then calls my immediate older brother Tony, smaller Oga and I, smallest Oga.

Walking into the building with slow strides, I glanced at the wall clock. It was already some minutes after nine and the house was pretty empty and silent as the helpers would be at their quarters now.

I advanced up the stairs and made a turn for my parent's room as soon as I got upstairs. After two gentle knocks on the fine mahogany door, mum asked me to come in.

I walked into the room, my dad was absent but that didn't seem to be part of my worries at the moment. "Mum I didn't ask for a nanny you know." I growled at her and she looked at me through her dressing mirror as she wiped her face with beauty wipes.

"Wale kilosele?(Wale, what is the matter?)" She asked and she walked to me. "You got me a maid." I stated and I saw her features ease a bit as I said that.

What the-

"I'm not a kid you know, I'm capable of taking care of myself." I continued.
"My dear." She called cupping my cheeks. "Sit down." She urged me and I did. I knew the reason she asked me to seat was so I wouldn't be towering over her anymore and that thought alone made me want to laugh.

"I got the maid because I think you might need help with certain things as you're in your final year in secondary school. I only want you to be focused on your studies and that's it."

"Are you sure?" I asked eyeing her in suspicious. "Yes." She replied. "I only got someone your age because I wanted you to relate with your worker better. I'm sorry if that offended you."

"Oh no, I should be the sorry one. I'm sorry that I misunderstood your intentions. You're my mum and you want the best for me." She pulled me into a hug and ruffled my hair in the process. I pulled away from the hug laughing.

"Don't ruffle my hair like that now, I'm a big boy." I stated and her laughter filled the length and breadth of the room. "Big boy ko, big boy ni. You're still my baby jare. Abi those girls in your school have started deceiving you that you're fine." She said and I feigned hurt.

"Nobody needs to tell me how good I look." I said and she smiled at me. "Cocky much." She muttered and I snorted. "Where's dad?" I asked and she looked towards the large wall clock on the wall. "He should be back soon. He had an impromptu meeting." She said and I nodded before slumping on the soft bed.

IRENE

I had gone to bed immediately I got home as I didn't want to be irked out of my skin but thankfully, they were out when I got home so I just proceeded to my room for a bath and then changes into my nightwear after a small dinner.

The vibration came on again and I opened my eyes and trailed the sound. I grabbed my phone from my night stand and saw that it was Desmond calling. I checked the time and it was just some minutes to ten.

"Hello." I croaked in a very sleepy voice when I picked up the call. "Irene were you sleeping?" He asked and I nodded. When I realised he couldn't see me nod, I mouthed a yes.

"I'm sorry for disturbing you. I just wanted to check on you. Hope you're fine."

"Yes I am. Thank you." I simply replied .

"Goodnight then." She called and I smiled "Goodnight." Was my response and the line went dead.

The phone started vibrating again and I picked it up. "You miss me already?" I asked with a smile.

"Hello." Came the voice and I paused. This isn't Desmond. I took the phone away from my ear to see who it was. Toby 😋.

"Irene." I heard the voice call faintly and I returned the phone back to my ear. "Hey." I simply replied.

"You haven't been picking up my calls." He stated and I nodded "Yes I haven't."

"I'm sorry." He finally said. "I called back as soon as I saw your numerous missed calls and texts."

I snorted and got up from bed putting on my room light and walking to the vanity mirror. "Yeah, right."

"I'm serious, I was really busy." "So busy that you couldn't take a call from me? What if it was something serious? What if I was in danger?"

"It wasn't intentional Irene. You know I just got back from New York as I went to work. I'm indeed sorry. Please forgive me." He said and I nodded. I knew how busy he was with his shoot at NYC as I was a model too.

I couldn't stay mad at Tobias for long. After Desmond, he was another special friend. "It's fine. I forgive you." I replied and I imagined him smiling.

"Thank you." He replied and I hummed and walked to my window and opened it. "So how have you been?" He asked as the cool breeze hovered around me and I inhaled the pure scent of fresh air.

I'm freaking tired. I have to watch my mum get remarried, The swimming competition is coming up on Friday and I'm not sure I'm prepared, I'm getting disturbing texts from some sort of creep, oh and, my wall of resolve is crumbling.

"Been good." I replied instead. "How about you?" I've been doing fine." He replied "But Kiki has been giving me a hard time. She might look calm but she's just a demon in disguise." He said referring to his younger sister.

"I can say that about Kiki over here too." I said and we burst into laughter.
After our laughter subsided, I stared out the window as Theodore suggested and I felt some sort of peace.

My mind drifted to Theodore. What was he doing? Was he at his balcony staring at the starless sky? Those thoughts brought a ghost smile to my lips.

"Irene, you there?" Tobias called and I came out of my reverie. "Yeah." "What were you thinking about or should I ask who?" My cheeks heated up and I could imagine him smirking. "Spill Irene."

"There's no one." I replied. "I have to go to bed now. Talk to you some other time." I said and hung up and switched my phone thereafter.

I watched the starless sky and basked myself in the ethereal but temporary peace and comfort I felt and sighed.

What was Theodore doing?

*

Hello all! Another chapter for y'all.
Saturday has finally ended guys 😂, after three chapters.

Tell me what you think about Osaze's outburst and about Tobias😊 and the chapter as a whole.

Do well to Vote and share with friends, I'd really appreciate that and I'm open to corrections too.

See y'all soon.

Word count: 2429