The building reeked of death. Ironic how it was the one place made to restore life. The bright white walls, which had been repainted of recent, and the strong smell of antiseptics which drenched the place unsettled Mmachi.

She didn't understand why everything about the school had to be exaggerated, the school clinic not being an exception.

She trailed behind Amelia and Chikaima, taking in breaths as she swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. This was the last place she wanted to be in.

Amelia led the way and soon got to a wooden door. After a single knock, she pushed the door open and gestured for Mmachi and Kaima to come in.

Kaima followed Amelia the same moment but Mmachi remained at her spot. She glanced at the door for a minute or two before stepping in.

The room was compact, having very little space left even with the small number of people present there. Mmachi felt claustrophobic but still braced herself and went further into the room.

She muttered a greeting to the nurse on duty who sat in a corner playing games on her tablet. The nurse continued with her game, not acknowledging her presence.

Mmachi glanced around the room for another second before her eyes landed on the bed where Chidiogo lay. A white bandage was wrapped around her forehead, a part of it soaked with blood.

Mmachi's eyes drifted to Chidiogo's hands which were wrapped in someone else's. Her eyes flicked up for a moment and she recognized the person as Justin once she saw his rear view.

Her mood dampened, her lips turning downwards as she narrowed her eyes at their hands joined together. She stared for a long time before looking up to find the both of them staring at her.

Justin's face lit up with a smile the moment their eyes met. Mmachi held the urge to raise a brow at him. She really hoped he wasn't expecting her to smile back at him.

She looked away from him and kept her gaze on Chidiogo's face. Amelia and Kaima were talking to her but she had her eyes fixed on Mmachi.

Her lips were tilted downwards and her expression mirrored Mmachi's.

"How are you doing?"

A smile broke out on Mmachi's face the same moment the words came out of her mouth. She kept her eyes fixed on Chidiogo trying to study her expression, to read meaning into her silence. She couldn't help the question ringing in her head.

What are you thinking?

Chidiogo's face remained impassive and she made no move to speak.

"I see you're fine now?"

Mmachi's voice came out a pitch higher this time. She didn't plan on giving up.

"Good thing your eyes are still working."

The comment was offhand, unlike Chidiogo. Mmachi mulled over her words before replying.

"I thought you were the one with bad vision."

"And I'm starting to think your eyes really are the only things functioning in your body."

Mmachi raised a brow. "Excuse you?"

"You are excused."

Mmachi's brows were almost in a knot as she stared at Chidiogo, at loss for words.

"You're not making any sense!"

"I meant you should leave."

Mmachi waited for her to burst into laughter and take back her words but that didn't happen. Her face remained impassive as she redirected her gaze to the opposite wall.

"You're joking right?" The corner of Mmachi's lips tugged up with the question, in preparation to burst into laughter once Chidiogo affirmed her question.

Chidiogo remained staring at the opposite wall and no sooner, the nurse appeared by Mmachi's side to get her to leave the room.

"Get your filthy hands off me," she said, snatching her hand away from the nurse's grip.

The nurse's widened eyes and dropped jaw informed her that she was wrong, again. She cussed under her breath before rushing out an apology.

She faced Chidiogo afterwards, her nerves ticking. Her loud voice filled the room afterwards.

"Do you really think-"

"Can you let something go for once?"

Justin's voice forced her to peel her eyes from Chidiogo and stare at him. A frown was on his face but his eyes didn't seem like he bore any hard feelings.

She could hear the 'please' which he hadn't voiced out as she stared at his face but it didn't move her. Rather, she found her eyes moving back to his hand wrapped around Chidiogo's palm.

'Do they have to hold hands for so long?' she wondered.

Justin let go of Chidiogo's hand and went to where Mmachi stood. He then placed his hands on her shoulders.

"Breathe," he whispered and that did the trick.

Mmachi calmed down in an instant. She saw him smiling and wondered if she was doing the same. She pushed his hands away causing him to laugh as she went to take a seat in a corner of the small room.

Justin managed to appease the nurse and get her to let Mmachi stay but the way she kept blushing at his words made Mmachi feel like strangling her.

"Okay, you guys can stay longer but better make it quick," the nurse said brushing her arm against Justin's.

Justin gave her a small smile before Mmachi's voice echoed through the room.

"She said we should be quick!"

The nurse threw her a glare before going back to get her tablet. Judging by her look, Mmachi could tell she couldn't be more than twenty.

Mmachi rolled her eyes and remained seated while everyone else conversed with Chidiogo. Her irritation grew by the second as she watched them talking and convulsing with laughter at almost every single second.

Had Amelia always been this jovial with people and since when did Justin start laughing at grandpa jokes? She just couldn't understand what was wrong with everyone.

And didn't Chidiogo have a head injury? Was she even supposed to be laughing? Mmachi could bet that she was faking the whole thing. Drama queen.

Just when Mmachi's irritation was sure to consume her, the door creaked open and a girl walked in. With her arrival came silence; everyone's attention was fixed on her.

She glanced around the room for a moment before muttering something about leaving.

"No, you can stay," Chidiogo said, struggling to sit up.

Kaima helped her and soon she was in a seating position with a pillow behind her.

Mmachi stared at Chidiogo for a long time. She had an injury on her head, right? How exactly did it affect her back or her ability to sit up by herself?

"Maybe I should come back later?" The girl's voice snapped Mmachi's attention away from Chidiogo and back to her.

She still stood at the door peering inside the room.

"No, you have to stay. You can meet my friends too."

The girl nodded, giving Chidiogo a smile.

"Guys, this is Sky. Sky . . ."

"Elebechi," Sky completed for her.

"Yes, sorry I keep forgetting."

"It's no problem." Sky gave a smile which should have come off as soothing but it only made Mmachi uncomfortable. There was something unnerving about the familiarity.

Come to think of it, the girl did look familiar, to Mmachi at least but she couldn't place her face so she just sat in her corner and stared.

"So guys this is Sky. She was the one who brought me here after I got this injury-"

"Aww. That was so nice of you," Amelia piped up, "you must really be a darling!"

Amelia pouted as she stared at Sky and for a moment, it seemed as if she wanted to cry. Mmachi blinked. This had to be playing.

"Thank you so much. May God bless you," Kaima said, smiling at Sky.

"Yeah, thanks a lot," Justin said.

Sky beamed at all of them. "It's nothing. The clinic wasn't even far."

"How did you even get the injury to begin with?" Amelia asked, turning to look at Chidiogo.

Justin, Kaima and Mmachi also turned to her, waiting for a reply.

Chidiogo glanced down at her intertwined hands, her expression darkening. "I'll tell you later."

"Are you sure?" Justin asked.

She glanced up at him, holding his gaze for a moment before nodding. She put on a smile when he kept staring at her before placing her palm on his. Mmachi didn't know when or how she got on her feet.

"I think it's time to get going. It's already late."

"Hey, I didn't you see earlier. You're Chidiogo's twin sister?"

Mmachi closed her eyes for a split second, feeling something sparking in her head. Sky's voice was irritating enough and the fact that she couldn't place her accent only made it worse.

"No, I'm not her twin sister. We aren't even related," she said smiling at Sky.

"Mmachi!"

She almost rolled her eyes at Amelia's voice.

"What!?"

"Don't talk to her like that!"

"Why not? How would a reasonable person see me and Chidiogo and still be asking if we're twins?"

"You don't always have to be rude," Amelia said. She could sense the anger in her tone.

"Well I wasn't being rude."

"You just-"

"It's no problem. I actually liked her reply," Sky said out of nowhere, before Amelia could finish her sentence, "I once heard that sarcastic people can be pretty creative and intelligent too."

Mmachi frowned at her words. It rang a bell in her head but she couldn't place where she had heard it before.

For the first time, she decided to study the girl's appearance. She had very light skin, one which would rival an albino's.

Her almond eyes had to be the prettiest set Mmachi had seen in a while and her lips were shaded a dark red. She wore just a big vintage top and maybe had shorts underneath it but the top was big enough to cover them.

Mmachi couldn't place what it was which struck her as familiar but whenever she looked at her eyes, she was almost convinced that they'd never met.

"You finally remember me?"

Sky's words further perplexed Mmachi.

"No... Have we met before?"

"Yeah."

Mmachi's eyebrows closed in on each other as she stared at Sky. "When?"

"We just did."

A/N: GOOD DAY EVERYONE. HOPE YOUR DAY IS GOING WELL. LOOKS LIKE WE GOT TO MEET ANOTHER CHARACTER IN THIS CHAPTER (HOPEFULLY THIS WILL BE A NORMAL ONE). SO I HAVEN'T REALLY GONE TOO DEEP INTO THE CHARACTER BUT I'D STILL LIKE TO KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS ON HER.

ANYHOW, THINGS ARE ABOUT TO GO DOWNHILL FROM HERE (SEE ME SOUNDING AS IF EVERYTHING HAS BEEN GOING SMOOTHLY BEFORE 😂). SO ANTICIPATE:)

FINALLY I WANTED TO MENTION SOMETHING. IT SEEMS LIKE MOST (IF NOT ALL) OF THE PEOPLE READING THIS BOOK ARE GHOST READERS (YES I'M TALKING TO YOU🙃) AND IT KINDA JUST MADE ME THINK THAT NO ONE'S READING THE BOOK WHICH IS ONE OF THE MAIN REASONS FOR THE SLOW UPDATES.

LIKE WHEN YOU HAVE TO CHOOSE BETWEEN FOCUSING ON GETTING YOUR DEGREE AND WRITING A BOOK WHICH IT SEEMS LIKE NO ONE'S READING, YOU'LL DEFINITELY CHOOSE THE FORMER.

AND AS MUCH AS I'VE BEEN REALLY BUSY WITH SCHOOL, THE MAIN REASON I HAVEN'T BEEN UPDATING FREQUENTLY IS BECAUSE OF LOSS OF MOTIVATION. SO IF YOU'RE READING AND I REALLY GET THAT YOU DON'T WANT TO COMMENT, THE LEAST THING YOU CAN DO IS DROP A VOTE ON EVERY CHAPTER OR EVEN A SINGLE COMMENT WOULD DO.

THAT WAY, EVEN IF SCHOOL GETS REALLY HECTIC, I COULD SPARE A FEW MINUTES TO DRAFT A CHAPTER BECAUSE I KNOW THAT SOMEONE IS READING AND OF COURSE WAITING FOR AN UPDATE. I STILL LOVE YOU GUYS, NGL, BUT PLEASE TRY TO VOTE AND COMMENT. IT REALLY GOES A LONG WAY.

HOPE YOU HAVE A NICE DAY ❤️