She stared at him meeting his eyes, those coffee brown eyes; once upon a time, she used to very much love those eyes, she loved the way they would stare at her, she loved it so much that half of the time, she was always staring at them but  that wasn't the case at the moment.

After that day, each time she met his eyes, the hurt that shot through her heart was more painful that the previous time. And even at the moment, she couldn't possibly describe the kind of agony she was passing through and how she was dealing with it.

"Athaliah we can handle it. We can work this out" he said as Athaliah stopped the tears brimming at the edges of her eyes.

"Handle? Work out? What exactly are we try to work out Chidi? You tell me exactly what are we trying to work out!" She yelled at him as she could feel her emotions and tears stuck in her throat choking her.

"As from this moment, you and I. We have nothing to do with each other" Athaliah said as the light skinned boy in front of her stared at her in shock.

"Athailah, what are you talking about?" He asked his voice shaky and unstable as he walked towards her and tried to grab her arm but she was faster than him and she quickly took a few steps backwards.

"Don't you dare" she growled in a low voice as she raised her had to face him avoiding those eyes. They could easily deceive her again. Make her unable to stand on her decision.

"You don't understand? I'm breaking up with you. What part of that don't you understand?" Athaliah asked as Chisom shook his head.

"You can't do that Atha, you can't do that to me" Chsiom replied as Athaliah blocked her eyes as she glared at him.

"I told you to stop calling me that!" She yelled again as she panted, her chest heaving upwards and downwards as she glared at him.

"Don't you ever, ever, call me Atha again" she breathed saying one word at a time to emphasize her point.

"Athaliah listen to me. I know you are angry with me and i'm sorry but you can't just break up with me like this. We can work this out" Chisom said as he tried to reason with the caramel skinned girl in front of him. Confusion and worry was boldly written all over his face as Athaliah chuckled.

"Do I look like I'm angry with you? Do you think I'm angry at you? Really Chisom?" Athaliah asked as Chrisom sighed.

"At least, think of what others will say when we break up. We've been dating for almost three years Athaliah! We are going to win the Prom Queen and King if we end up dating till the end of our final year. Hasn't that been your dream?" Chisom asked as Athaliah bit on her lower lip as she stared at the boy in front of him.

Before she could think, her hand had moved on its own and had swung itself across his face. Chisom looked taken aback at her action as he touched his face in a daze.

"Athaliah" he called out as Athaliah folded her lips trying harder to suppress the tears that were threatening to spill out any moment.

"Chisom. Did you just hear yourself? Did you just hear yourself? What or how I feel doesn't matter to you? It is what other people are going to say about us is the most important on your list. You are so intent on wining the Prom King than putting me into consideration. What kind of monster are you Chi?" Athaliah asked as a tear slid down her cheek.

"You.... You cheated on me Chisom. Did you ever take into consideration how I would feel if I found out? My boyfriend of almost three years cheated in me. Did you think a mere I'm sorry would suffice for what you did?" Athaliah asked as she shook her head.

"Just because I felt it would be nice if we went easy on the sexual thing. I wasn't ready and you knew it. You said you were fine with it and you would wait till I adjusted and will be ready.  I tried to learn anything and everything so I could satisfy you. So tell me why?" Athaliah asked as she shook her head.

"You should have just come clean then, you should have told me the truth and I would have tried my best to do something about it" Athaliah added as Chisom chuckled.

"Do something? Do what Athaliah? Do what exactly? Our relationship is two year old for goodness sake but you won't allow me to touch you, on touch is by far too relative, you wouldn't even let me kiss you. People who meet for the first time kiss, people with a month and even less relationships kiss but why can't I do that to my own girlfriend. I'm a man Athaliah and getting hugs and holding hands won't do anything to ease or help my needs, okay? Actually you can't blame me when you literally pushed me to do this Athaliah. I messed up I know and I'm sorry" Chisom said as Athaliah stared at him words unable to form in her mouth. She almost couldn't believe her ears. She shook her head forcing the tears that were rushing to her eyes to remain in their place. She wasn't going to cry in front of this damned human being.

"You are a cruel human being Chisom and guess what? I hate you. I hate you!" Athaliah yelled.

"And the Prom King; you can as well shove it up your fucking ass!" She added as she turned and started walking away as torrents of tears rushed down her cheeks.

"Athaliah"

She could hear him calling her name as she walked away and as much as she wanted to turn back and walk towards him, accept his apology, hug him and forgive him; she didn't. She continued walking away till she was sure she was out of his sight.

She darted behind a wall immediately as she slid to the floor and burst into sobs. The sobs raked through her body as her body jerked forward and backward as she cried.

The pain was all over her body, in her head, in her stomach, in her feet, in her hands and her heart, Athaliah was sure it had long been broken into pieces.

No matter how she tried, the scene that night wouldn't go away. It tormented her, it reminded her of why she was here in the first place. It reminded her that her two year boyfriend, best friend and lover was a fucking cheat and he just didn't find anyone else to cheat on except her.

Of all effing animals to sleep with.

The memories in her head wouldn't go away and neither did she think they would go away. She tried to imagine life going forward but it seemed way too blank for her. More tears streamed down her cheeks as she stared into space.

It hurts, way too much.

Her phone buzzed in her pockets as her ringtone; Peace of Mind by Avicii started playing. She quickly rushed to her feet as she grabbed her phone and wiped her tears as soon as her eyes came in contact with the caller ID. She picked the call and pressed the phone to her ears.

"Athaliah, where are you; its past 8pm?" A considerably old man's voice resounded in her ears.

"I'm on my way home" Athaliah replied and it was then she realized how parched her throat had become.

"What's wrong with you?" The latter asked.

"I'm fine sir. Nothing is wrong with me" Athaliah replied.

"Okay. Make sure you reach home on time" he said as Athaliah nodded.

"Yes sir" she replied and barely a second later, the call ended. She slipped her phone back into the back of her pocket as she stared at the dark sky.

There were barely stars in the sky and it looked bare and empty. Ugly too. And it seemed like a perfect description for her life at that moment except that hers was more uglier and was much more worse.

She sighed and swallowed her saliva as she started her trip back to her house. She quietly walked through the streets till she got to a huge black gate and she pressed the switch at the side.

The gate opened almost immediately as young boy wearing a funny shaped face cap peeped outside and upon seeing her wore a huge smile showing off the teeth he had lost some days before.

"I no know say you go come back early sha" he said as Athaliah side stepped him and walked into the compound.

The lights that already been imbedded into the fences gave her illumination as she walked towards the main house that stood like a mansion in the middle of the compound.

The lush carpet grass surrounding the fountain were as beautiful as ever and even the fountain itself was ever still beautiful. The neat and well kept shrubs at the sides of the fences seemed to make Athaliah calm down for a short while as she pushed the front door open.

The first thing that greeted her ears were laughter as soon as she opened the front door.

"Daddy, its not funny o. You promised to get me my own tablet before we resume for school and school is resuming tomorrow" a tiny voice that made Athaliah want to puke drifted into her ear.

"You have a laptop already, what do you want to use a tablet to do?" A familiar voice asked.

"Athaliah also has a laptop and tablet. Why can't I have it too?" She asked as Athaliah finally stepped into the seating room.

"Good evening ma, good evening sir" she quickly greeted.

"Where are you coming from?" Her father asked.

"I went to get something at the supermarket so I decided to walk home" Athaliah replied.

"Walk keh? Didn't you have enough transport fare with you?" He asked as Athaliah shook her head.

"I just wanted to take a short walk" Athaliah replied as her dad frowned.

"Your eyes is red, did something enter?" He asked as Athaliah froze for a nanosecond and she quickly nodded.

"Kind of, It already got out. I didn't realize that my eyes were already red" Athaliah replied as she chuckled internally at herself for the unbelievable lies she was coming up with at every second.

"Wash your face with water when you get back to your room" he said and Athaliah nodded.

"Yes sir"

"I hope you are getting ready for school tomorrow?" He asked as Athaliah swallowed her saliva and nodded.

"Yes sir" she replied again as he nodded.

"That's very good" he said and realizing that he had nothing to say anything to anymore, she quickly headed for the stairs as she climbed the stairs as she opened the door to her room and stepped into the Raccoon themed room.

She sighed slowly as she dropped her phone on the bed and walked towards her vanity table at the middle of the room. She sat down as she stared at her reflection in the mirror.

Athaliah was sure her Dad had just pretended to believe her when she had told him, sand for into her ears because her eyes were too red for to have just gotten sand inside. She stood up and walked into the bathroom as she walked towards the sink before opening the tap and repeatedly splashing warm water on her face.

After a while, she grabbed the hand towel beside the sink and dampened her face before walking out of the bathroom. She peeled the oversized T-shirt and the denim jeans on her body off her body as she changed into her night wear.

Seeing her school bag on the table and the few books that she hadn't packed beside it, she reminded yet again. School started the next day, the very next day. Her final year in her secondary school was starting the next day and if someone had told Athaliah earlier that she would be breaking up with her boyfriend just before her final year started; she would have frowned, laughed and then insulted such a person but here she was.

She wasn't just boyfriendless, she had been seriously hurt and she was in pain. Her phone notification buzzed beside her but she ignored it.

She couldn't imagine the look on everyone's face when they discovered that she and Chisom had broken up. The things they would say, the class groups chats and even the school forums. From the end of time; the students of DRC weren't nice about things like this.

Their words couldn't literally bring you from the sweetest heaven to the darkest hell. She grabbed her phone as she opened her Whatsapp. Messages upon messages were left unread by her as she clicked on she and her best friends group.

They as well were excited for resumption as they chatted merrily. She had been tagged a few times when she didn't say anything. She debated whether to tell her what had happened or not, they were her best friends and they deserved to know even if she wouldn't tell them the real story.

She sucked in a breadth as her fingers ran over her phone keyboard and she pressed the arrow button before dropping her phone beside her. The way her phone started buzzing nonstop made Athaliah nervous.

No matter how bad the phone buzzed beside her, she refused to pick it up and check the messages. Barely ten minutes later, her phone started ringing and she glanced at her phone to see that it was a video call, she allowed the phone to ring till the call ended by itself.

They tried calling her using a video call once more but it also proved abortive because Athaliah still didn't pick the call. Her phone started ringing again, this time around, it was a general call and Athaliah sighed as she grabbed her phone and put it on airplane mode.

She dropped the phone as swift as possible to avoid seeing the messages as she laid on her bed and stared at the ceiling blinking her eyes while trying to suppress the tears rushing to her eyes.

Her situation made her want to cry even now and then. Never in her life had she felt so pathetic, the pain and hurt she was being subject to; was strong and cruel. That picture, that scene; she would never forget it.

Maybe she should have accepted his apology and they should have worked it out. Maybe she could have given him the cold shoulder for a while as punishment but of everyone why couldn't he had messed with someone else.

For some reason; Athaliah felt like if Chiaom had messed with any other girl; she wouldn't be this pent on his cheating or him lying to her. She tried not to even imagine if there were other girls as well.

Girls she didn't see him with.

And for some reason, she was really scared that there was. She was scared of finding out that there was more. It made her wonder if he ever loved her in the first place, made her start questioning a lot of things, made her question their two year old relationship. Back then; should she had just given Chisom his way and start adjusting to him?

If she had done, maybe she wouldn't be here. Maybe he wouldn't have cheated in the first place. She closed her eyes as her phone rang again.

It was exactly what she needed at that moment.

Peace of mind.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

So once again, welcome to the first chapter for the second book in the TETs and I hope you enjoyed the first chapter.

I feel like I can see people disliking Chisom already, dude messed up mehn. So I'm just going to say this to everyone, CHEATING is never 'unintentional' you always have a choice. If you are tired of your partner or you feel like you've fallen out of love, please open up to your partner and be honest with them.

It will surely hurt them but not as much them catching you cheating on them. Cheating is the worst thing that could happen in one's relationship, you are making the other person question their worth, cheating does a lot of hurt than you'll ever imagine so please don't do it. No one wants to be cheated on so don't do it too abeg.

I feel for Athaliah mehn... I can't imagine her pain but I know its hurts a lot, I don't know how she's going to fare but let's see.

Do well to expect another update by Monday afternoon.

Do spam with comments and vote.

And oh ye ghost readers, you don't want me forcing you all out again abi.... Lemaooo...

Thank you for reading.