This chapter is dedicated to Innocentia_muna for being a sweet friend and a lovely reader. You can check out her book, Come Back Home. It's really good😉😉

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I woke up with a start, gasping and flailing my arms involuntarily.

"Hey, hey, Sabrina, relax."

A pair of hands wrapped around my shoulder.

"Relax. It's just me, James."

I looked up to see James sitting over me, worry evident on his face.

"James?"

My head felt foggy. I couldn't think straight.

"What happened? How are you here right now?"

I looked around.

"Where am I?" I sat up from the bed.

"Just, relax, Sabrina. We're in my lodge. I would've taken you to your lodge, but I don't know where it's located and you passed out right in front of my car, so, my only option was to bring you here. Whatever you're thinking, it's not," he replied quickly.

"You're the one with the red car," I murmured, the memories coming back to me in a flash.

"Yeah," he sighed. "What happened back there, Sabrina?"

The fogginess began to clear up.

"You helped me." I fixed my gaze on him. "Why?

"Why? You were right in front of my car, drenched from head to toe and crying, looking like you'd seen a ghost. Why wouldn't I help you?" He raised his eyebrows.

"After all I—"

Suddenly, my stomach lurched and bile rose to my throat. I clasped my hand to my mouth to prevent myself from throwing up right there in front of him.

Pushing the bedcovers off me, I stood up.

"Toilet." I managed to get out.

"Oh." He stood up from the bed immediately.

"Come." He took my free hand and pulled me to a small room outside his bedroom.

As soon as he shut the door, I stumbled up to the sink and threw up.

I retched, gagged and coughed until I felt at ease with my stomach, then I rinsed my mouth with the mouthwasher that had been placed on top of the cabinet above the sink, washing my hands as well.

After taking in several deep breaths to steady my weak, shaky legs, I trudged to the door, pulled it open and stepped out.

James was leaning beside the door.

"Are you okay?"

I looked at him.

Under normal circumstances, I would've replied with a sassy comment, but I just nodded and walked back to the bedroom.

James followed behind me.

When I sat down on the bed, he settled down next to me.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked.

I shook my head no.

"Okay. It's cool," he shrugged. "I have to go, have some stuff to do, if you're feeling okay."

"There were some guys," I spoke up finally, just as he stood up to go.

He sat down back.

"I was going back to my lodge and then there were some guys and they...they—"

My lips quivered, my voice breaking and tears filling my eyes quicker than you could say "tomorrow".

"Thank you, James."

The first tear dropped.

"Hey, it's okay." He placed a hand on my shoulder.

Another tear followed.

Suddenly, he wrapped his arm around my shoulders and buried my face in his chest. I didn't pull back from his embrace, despite all the protective instincts screaming at me to.

I let out all the pent up tears from almost getting raped to being saved by my number one self-acclaimed enemy. I just sat there, wrapped in his tight embrace, and cried.

After what seemed like ages, I finally got the tears to stop and pulled away from him.

"I'm sorry. About your shirt," I sniffed and ran my hands across my eyes.

"It's fine. You just rest easy now," he told me.

"What's—" I began when a sudden, loud sneeze cut me short.

"Whoa. Do you have a cold?"

He touched the back of his palm to my forehead.

"I'm okay." I pulled back from his touch as if just remembering it was James Adebayo we were talking about here.

"No. You're burning up, Sabrina. How are you feeling? Do you have a headache?" he asked.

"Slight." My reply was followed shortly by another loud sneeze.

"Alright, you just lie down while I get you a Panadol." He stood up from the bed.

I did as he said, lying down on my side. He took the covers and pulled it up to my shoulders.

"I can do it on my own," I protested, "but, thanks."

He nodded at me then left the room.

Why was he being so nice, I thought.

After all I had said to him?

Could it be...he really was serious about...liking me?

No.

That wasn't James. That was not the James Adebayo I knew. The James I  was familiar with was not susceptible to change.

"Here you go." He walked back into the room, a glass cup filled with water in one hand and two white tablets in the palm of his other hand.

He held them out to me.

I sat up and took them from him. Gulping down the tablets quickly, I handed him back the cup and wiped my mouth.

"Are you hungry? I can make you tea. You know, something light," he suggested.

"No, I'm okay," I murmured.

"Are you sure?"

"I don't know," I shut my eyes. "I'm hungry, but I don't have an appetite."

"That's why a simple cup of tea is just perfect," he said.

I nodded after a while. "Okay. But, I want to make it myself."

"You're my guest Sabrina, that won't be right."

He stood up to go. "You just sit tight. I'll be back in a jiffy."

It was only after he was gone that I realized I wasn't in the flannel top and jeans I had on earlier, instead I was in extra large, white PJs.

Had James undressed me?!

A phone buzzed on top of the small reading table next to me, causing me to startle.

I stared at it. My phone.

Picking it up, I glanced at the caller ID.

It was Chelsea. I answered the call immediately.

"Sabrina, where are you? It's eleven o'clock in the night and you aren't back. I've been trying your phone for almost three hours. I'd been worried sick about you, you know," she gushed as soon as I put the phone up to my ear.

"I'm sorry," I sighed. "Something came up. I'll be back at the lodge tomorrow."

"Are you sure? Is everything okay? Your voice sounds down," she noted.

"Yes, I'm fine."

"Sabrina. Are. You. Sure?"

I shut my eyes to hold back the fresh wave of tears that tended to break through.

"Tomorrow, Chelsea. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow," I opened my eyes. "I have to go."

"Alright. I hope you're okay, Sabrina, really," she muttered.

"I am."

"Right, I'll see you tomorrow," she told me and the line went dead.

James walked back in almost immediately, carrying a steaming cup of tea in a small, brown tray.

He set it down in front of me.

"Drink up. It'll make you feel better," he smiled.

I stared at the cup and then at him.

"Why are you being so nice?"

I couldn't hold in the question any more.

His gaze on me faltered. He looked down at the cup for a second and then at me.

"What should I be, Sabrina? In this case scenario, am I meant to throw you out? Or should I have left you back there in school? I'm simply being humane, Sabrina. You know, I'm not actually the devil you think me to be."

I held his gaze for a while then looked down at my hands.

"Thank you, James. And I mean it, really. Thank you."

I looked back up at him.

He shrugged. "Just drink up or it'll get cold."

I picked up the cup and took a sip. As soon as the liquid sloshed unto my tongue, I pulled the cup away from my lips.

"Hot," I breathed, my tongue smarting.

He chuckled.

"Even better."

I stared daggers at him. He raised his hands up in the air.

"Hey, I didn't do anything oo."

I tried my best to keep a mean face, but, the laughter that erupted from my mouth betrayed me.

And there I was, laughing with James Adebayo. Something I never thought I would do, even in my next three lives.

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No foreign words to translate here :))

As you must've already guessed, Panadol is a brand of aspirin.

So why is James being so nice?

Does he have an ulterior motive?

Alright,

See ya,

Thea™