Even when the Black Prada was out of sight, Lolade still couldn't get herself. The scene where he winked at her seemed to be replaying in her mind and Lolade found out that she absolutely couldn't get over it.

"What happened?" Nifemi asked as she walked over with the rest of the girls walking over as well.

"Who was in the car?" Fisayo asked curiously. She had seen Lolade flying all over the place.

"He gave a thousand naira and didn't collect change?" Tolani asked in surprise as others looked at Lolade's hand. There was indeed a new crisp one thousand naira note in between in her fingers.

"We are so lucky today" Faith beamed as Nifemi chuckled.

"Its not the first time someone is giving one thousand naira for free. Why are you acting like you got your soul sucked out of you?" Nifemi asked as she nudged Lolade's elbow.

Lolade turned to Nifemi with one of her brightest smile ever.

"You guys should go back. We won't wait till 8 today. We made a lot already" Lolade replied as Aisha sneered playfully.

"Lolade is keeping secrets from us" Aisha said and Lolade laughed.

"When your drinks or water finish, don't bother to get more, just wait for the rest" Lolade said as the girls dispersed trying to sell what was left of their goods.

Lolade and Moni were the first to finish and they decided to help other sell their wares faster so they could go home quickly.

By the time it was some minutes past 7pm, the girls were done and were slowly walking back home. Talking loudly about how the day went and all.

Maybe Lolade was never an active participant in any of their talks, she didn't even say a word throughout the whole conversation.

"You aren't even talking. You are making me more suspicious. What happened with the owner of the Black car?" Nifemi asked as she started walking beside Lolade slightly startling her.

"What makes you so sure that something happened? Well, nothing happened" Lolade replied as Nifemi laughed and folded her arms.

"I know something happened. So spill already" Nifemi said as she was growing genuinely curious towards what happened.

"Well.... " Lolade started nervously. She really didn't know how to put it or what exactly she wanted to say.

"It was a guy" Lolade said summarizing the whole story with a few sentences.

"What guy?" Nifemi asked turning to Lolade who shrugged, suddenly trying to act indifferent.

"There was a guy in the car. He's a student of DRC" Lolade replied nodding as an amused smile crawled up Nifemi's face.

"He looked very nice" Lolade added as Nifemi laughed lightly.

Out of all the girls, Nifemi could godly say Lolade was the only one who didn't fan over handsome guys like the rest. A comment and that was all. Hearing Lolade say a guy looked nice was making her both amused and curious.

She was wondering how the guy must have looked like to make the ever composed Lolade disoriented. She nodded as she adjusted her bucket on her arm.

"How did he look like?" Nifemi asked as Lolade swallowed her saliva.

"I don't know. He just looked.... Really, really handsome" Lolade replied cursing her bad descriptive skills for the first time in her life.

"Wow, wow, wow" Nifemi said laughing.

The girls poured all the proceeds on the floor each emptying their pockets and the bags they carried along with them.

"The jam was very bad today. We made a lot" Aisha said as she watched Faith's mom separate the five hundred naira from the money.

The girls each made the same hand sign in greeting Lolade's mom who gave each of them a big smile while greeting them back.

Leaving the elderly ones in the room, the girls stepped outside to talk. Seating down on the slab of the house, they resumed talking.

"Lolade, did you agree to go for the competition?" Tolani asked as Lolade sighed.

"I don't know yet. I haven't gone to see Mr Ilesanmi" Lolade replied as Aisha sighed.

"Why?" Moni asked, "You are intelligent enough to take first or maybe first three in the competition, why are you so unsure?" Moni asked again.

"The cash prizes" Faith added quietly as Lolade sighed and rubbed her forehead.

"I have to stay for extra lessons in school" Lolade said as she pursed her lips.

"I can't do that. We'll be losing money" Lolade added.

"But the cash prize is from one fifty thousand to fifty thousand, isn't it worth it?" Fisayo asked.

"The competition is next week. We have two days left in this week. Just attend the extra lessons. Its not as if we can make fifty thousand in two days even if there's traffic like today everyday" Fisayo added as the other girls started echoing her.

Nifemi nudged Lolade slowly as she nodded her head "You know should know that, that money is going to go a very long way" Nifemi said as Lolade sighed deep in thoughts.

Till Jesse got home, nothing seemed to be able to wipe off the amused smile off his face. He kept chuckling intermediately.

Grabbing his bag as he got down from the bag he glanced at the bottle of Sprite in his hand and opened it, taking a small gulp as he started walking towards the house.

Pushing the door open, he burst into laughter. Bending over his long legs, he laughed heartily startling the maids in the house who froze watching him while blush crept up their cheeks.

Jesse slumped to the floor still laughing making everyone wonder what was making him laugh so happily. After a while he got up to his feet holding his head and shaking it as he climbed the stairs.

The girl's flustered look and her look of not knowing what to do had been deeply imprinted in his head. He just couldn't get it off and the more he thought of it, the more he wanted to laugh out loud.

He pushed open the door to his room revealing a large room with a king sized bed in the middle. Two shelves were placed next to each other filled with books and a table with PC on it.

The maid who had carried his bag from where he had dropped it downstairs, carefully placed the bag on the reading table as she turned to him.

"Watermelon" Jesse said as he sat down to remove his sneakers.

He removed his socks and uniform; folding them neatly and putting them in the laundry basket. He changed into joggers and a large hoodie.

The maid walked inside the room carrying a tray of already sliced watermelon and placed in front of him. Giving her a polite nod, Jesse turned back to his PC.

His phone rang in his pockets and he quickly stretched his hand and picked the phon. Seeing the caller ID, his eyes turned soft as he picked the call and placed the phone some meters from him.

"Juola what's up?" Jesse asked waving his hands with a smile.

"What's up?" The other guy asked back wearing a small smile.

"I'm fine. What about you?" Jesse asked as the watched the other guy nod his head.

"I'm fine" he replied and Jesse folded his arms.

"How's Australia treating you?" Jesse asked as the other guy shrugged his shoulders.

"Really nice" he replied and Jesse smiled as he nodded.

"I sent you a parcel. You should get in maybe next week" he added as Jesse sat up on his chair.

"A parcel? What did you get for me?" Jesse asked as he laughed.

"See you all getting excited, its a pair of sneakers and a few things" he replied as Jesse smiled showing off his well dented teeth.

"Thank youuuu" Jesse cooed as Juola laughed.

"Sure. Called to tell you that. Say hi to your Mom and Dad for me" Juola said and Jesse nodded as he swallowed his saliva.

"Juola" he called out slowly as the latter turned towards him.

"Huh?" Juola asked as Jesse wriggled his fingers together, slightly nervous.

"Are you okay?" Jesse asked slowly as Juola broke into a smile as he nodded.

"I'm fine Jesse" he replied as he waved at him.

"See you later" he said as he ended the video call. Jesse sighed as he rubbed his forehead.

It had been a year and half since Ike died. He didn't know personally but he had seen her on school grounds before.

A lot of people didn't know her personally but it did affect a lot of people when she died. Her death well not only shook the whole school but maybe the world but definitely the nation.

After the first term, Juola didn't wait for the SSS2 second term, he immediately went abroad without a word to anyone. Opening up to a few people, he said the memories were too unbearable for him, he needed a new environment.

Although to Jesse, it was more like Juola wanted to do what Ike had asked him to do in her last video. Although those particular words weren't addressed to him, he did feel the depth of those words.

Live, don't survive.

Three words yet very powerful. Jesse sighed as he turned back to his laptop. If anything he wanted Juola to find, it wasn't love or anything; it was Peace. He needed it the most.

A flustered image of a girl appeared in Jesse's mind and he burst into laughter again.

AUTHOR'S NOTE.

This part is making me laugh and well... yunno at the same time. Who's feeling Jesse and Lolade..... I had my own share of laughter while writing this chapter and yeah, who was happy to see Juola again?

He probably might not appear in this book again, just wanted to tell you guys that your boy is doing fine. Maybe he's not at his best but he's doing fine and working towards his best and who knows....

I hope you are enjoying the story though. Tag a friend to read if you are.

SEMILOORE™