Ghost Readers, Repent, For The Kingdom Of God Is At Hand. 😎😎

                               ~SOPHIA~

I couldn't stop the huge grin on my face as Adam and Kunmi walked away, hands in hands. I couldn't hear what Adam was saying to her but whatever it was made her to burst into laughter before she nudged him away from her with her elbow. The leech moved even closer to her.

Those two ehn.

I turned to go back to the house, that smile still on my face. Prior to the moment Gab brought the cake, I was ready to ignore all of them till whenever they'd decide to leave but the moment Gab removed the lid from the cake and I saw that it was a sponge Bob cake, all my worries dissipated and I did not when I started laughing. Steph had always joked about getting me a sponge Bob cake for my birthday because I'd forever remain a child to her but I did not actually expect her to even remember, not with what she was going through, not when she was spending her days in pains.

I wasn't ready to go back to the house because I wasn't even sure of what to be expecting. I did not know if Steph had gone back or if she was still inside. I wasn't sure if I wanted to see her again, it just hurt, a lot, to see her that way, to look at Steph and see only a shadow of the girl she used to be.

I walked closer to the gate and it was when I was almost there that I saw a figure standing by the gate. I did not even need to look closer to know who it was.

Kunle.

His hands were jammed into his trousers and considering the fact that the hoodie he wore was covering more than half of his face, I couldn't make out his expression till he walked closer and he removed the hoodie.

He said nothing, he just stood in front of me, eyes boring into mine while I tried as much as possible not to squirm under his intense scrutiny and to ignore the now unsteady beats my heart was making.

"Happy birthday," He finally broke the silence and before I could even process the fact that he was here and was wishing me a happy birthday in person, he stepped even closer and he hugged me, pressing my small and limp body against his solid one. I froze against him and for a moment, I did not know what to do, whether to return the hug or to push him off. The last time I saw him, he was practically yelling at me in front of the whole student body and logically, I was supposed to be angry at him just as he was supposed to be angry at me but he was here hugging me like all was perfectly fine with us and how was I supposed to even remember to be angry at him when I just wanted to remain like this.

I threw my arms around his midriff, pulling him closer, drinking in his cologne. It all felt perfectly okay like this, every other thing that was causing me distress fading to the recess of my mind.

But Stephanie...

Everything came rushing back in an instant and it all happened so fast that I choked on a sob. That made him to pull me even closer, his right hand patting my back slowly. He kept mouthing 'Its going to be alright' to my ears and I just willed to believe in those words even though I knew that some things can't just be alright.

All too soon, he moved away, more like removed his hands from my back, he still stood directly in front of me, eyes probing into mine as if to read me. Suddenly feeling bare, I looked away and I stepped away from him, breaking our close proximity and that suddenly made me feel bereft. He continued to look at me, still saying nothing. He was looking at me with that calm and serene expression but knowing him, knowing Kunle all too well made me sense despite his calm expression, he was deeply worried about something. I sincerely hoped it wasn't what crossed my mind just now. Desperate to say something, anything to break this unusual silence, I opened my mouth to say I wasn't sure of but he beat me to it.

"Let's go for a walk." He said suddenly, interrupting my thoughts and I only stared at him, stupefied.

"Go for a walk?" I echoed dumbly and he nodded in reply, a grin finding it's way to his lips and lighting up his face. I looked around, taking in the dark surroundings, it was late, almost 10pm and with Stephen at home, I work with a curfew.

"Don't mind Stephen's curfew, you'll sneak in." He said as if he could hear my thoughts and before I could even think to say anything, he was already behind and pushing me by my shoulders.

Well, I wouldn't be the one to be at the receiving end if I should get home late.

We ended up walking to the estate park and subconsciously without either of us saying a word, we both walked to the basketball court. That was normal because the basketball court was like our favorite place in the whole estate. To escape Stephen's close scrutiny, we'd sneak out of the house to come here. We grew up practicing basketball till he became that effortlessly good and talented. Basketball wasn't just a passing hobby for him, or for us, it was like something that brought and kept us together.

Then, Aminah came into the picture and she started training with him.

I stepped back naturally, for them, because of him but even then...

"We're here." His voice interrupted my thoughts and it was only then that I realized that we were now by the bleachers and he was motioning for me to sit down. I plastered a smile on my face as I took my seat and he did the same.

We fell into another pit of overwhelming silence that was starting to feel uncomfortable and that was like a big thing because I've always felt we've gotten to that point where it wasn't possible for me to feel uncomfortable with him and even vice versa but here we were, with the silence between us as thick as cloud. Feeling suffocated, I dared a glance at him to see that he was staring straight right at the court, watching a group of boys play. His eyes were fixed on particular boy on the field who was at the moment I turned to look at him, jumped straight up and he shot the ball into the net. His friends burst into loud excited screams and the shouts of his name filled the air. I smiled, knowing exactly how that feels like but it was Kunle's smile that was more triumphant, as if he was the boy on the field.

My lips stretched into a smile, my insides melting and my heartbeat accelerating in my chest and I looked away from him. The boys were now chasing themselves around the field and their excited shouts filled the whole part. I wondered how they feels like, to be that pummelled by teenage adrenaline and to have that much fun without any care in the world.

Wonder if it's all facades.

"Are you fine?" His question jolted me out of my reverie and I turned to look at him, my lips parting slightly. To say I was surprised would be an understatement. Everything that had happened with him tonight was just surprising, from him showing up, to him hugging me, wishing me a happy birthday and now, he was actually asking me if I was fine? Really? I stared at him, searching his eyes, waiting for his eyes to give away whatever was going on in his head but his brown eyes just remained blank as they assessed me. Was he sweeping everything that happened between us under the carpet? Was I supposed to pretend that nothing happened?

"Just because you're having a tough time does not mean you have to give others a tough time!"

Remembering those words and the tone that conveyed them was like getting hit with a bucket of cold water during harmattan, it snapped me out of my train of thoughts and it dissolved the crazy bubble of fantasy my mind was already weaving.

I looked away from his face, straightened on my seat and I leaned completely away from him and my hands automatically folded on my chest.

"Really? Is that an actual question or a rhetorical one?"

I tried to sound calm but my words sounded more like a retort to even my own ears. He heaved a sigh and leaned back against the backrest.

"Sophia..." He paused for a split second before he continued talking. "I'm sorry for what happened that last time at the cafeteria."

My composure melted and my hands dropped limply to my sides. He was really apologising? He was apologising?

"I shouldn't have brought that up, no matter how angry I was, that was really out of line and trust me, I'd take it back if I can but I can't and I'm really sorry."

I was static for a while, his voice , his low, yet somewhat heart wrenching voice tugged at my heartstrings and all of a sudden, I did not know if I was supposed to angry with him or not and if he was supposed to be angry with me or not. Was he overwriting the whole thing with Aminah?

"You're not wrong with me intentionally hurting others just because I'm going through a hard time though." I said, surprising myself before prior to the minute I opened my mouth to that, I wasn't even thinking about what I just said at all.

"If it's about what I said, I already apologised, I said that in a fit of anger, you're not like that..."

"But I am," I interrupted before he could even finish what he saying and he repositioned on the bleacher in a way that his whole body was facing me and he could see my entire body and facial feature.

"Sophia..."

"I indirectly mocked Alex for losing his voice today." My voice sounded sombre to my ears and even though I tried to ignore it, I couldn't miss the look of displeasure that crossed his face for the briefest second.

"I mean, he was just trying to lighten up my mood but in a state of rage and blind bitterness, I just wanted him to feel as I felt at that moment so I said really mean words to him even though I knew those kinds of wounds shouldn't be poked."

"Sophia, you're..."

"Not exactly a good person, I know. That's what everybody thinks so it must..."

"For goodness sake, Sophia, just shut up for a minute and calm down, what the fuck is wrong with you!? He yelled, shocking me, shocking himself and definitely shocking the boys on the court because they stopped running for a minute to look at us.

"Just calm down, I was angry when I said what I said." His two hands were now on either of my shoulders and that posture sort of pulled me closer to him and we were eye to eye with his own eyes poring into the deepest part of my soul. With him, I felt weak and vulnerable and I just wanted to shrug him off and slip on that facade of perfection but he is Kunle and he had seen me at my lowest moments.

"Because I said those words does not mean that they're true, I was angry, I did not mean them. Just stop berating yourself and doing this to yourself, hmm?"

I finally forced myself to look away from his scrutinising gaze and I had to take deep calming breaths to calm myself, to control my rapid heartbeats and to suppress the tears that were now threatening to fall in torrents.

God! When did I become such a crybaby?

"Sophia, are you about to cry?" His voice was laced with undisguised amusement and that made me smile even though my eyes were now brimming with tears.

"Oh, shut it." My voice sounded hoarse because of the repressed tears and he turned to me, a huge grin evident on his face.

"You really are a baby."

"Oh, come on," I replied, nudging him away from me with my elbow. "You people should stop calling me a baby, I'm a young adult."

"I'm a young adult," He mimicked in a stupidly girlish voice and before I knew it, I smacked his back and we both burst into laughter, that kind of deep laughter that we had to clench our stomach because our ribs were hurting, the kind of laughter that made the boys on the court to stop and stare at us again, probably wondering what the hell was wrong with us that made us to go from shouting at each other to laughing like maniacs within minutes.

"Are you fine?" He asked again, cutting my laughter short and from the seriousness in his tone and how his face was suddenly devoid of any form of amusement, I knew the question did not only mean 'Are you fine? It meant 'how are you holding on with Steph and the impact of her sickness on my family?"

"Honestly, I don't know, am I supposed to be fine with everything going on? And then, Steph even had the nerve to sneak out of the hospital because of what? I can't even bear to look at her or talk to her because..." I trailed off, my voice breaking. "It just hurts, thinking about her, thinking about everything that happened and how the whole family is falling into this pit of abyss with each passing day." My words splintered my heart as I remembered how the whole family had taken the news of her diagnosis, how everything had fallen apart right from that moment. Watching dad, mom, Stephen and even myself afterwards made me realise why Steph must have decided to keep it away from us, she was afraid of what it'd do the whole family.

I did not think of that before I told them everything.

"I'm sorry about..." He started to say but trailed off when I raised my eyebrow at him. I smiled, leaned closer and I crossed my hands over my chest.

"This is the most you've said sorry to me since we became friends, what exactly are you sorry for? You're not the reason why my sister is dying or my life is falling apart."

I said the last part with a non committal shrug and tried to make it sound like a joke even though my heart was hurting all over from just saying those words. He said nothing for a while, he just kept staring at me before he leaned closer and gathered me in his arms. I allowed myself to be held by him and I suddenly felt a wave of emotions so strong that it was terrifying and it had nothing to do with Steph and the thousand things going wrong at home, had nothing to do with my feelings for him. He was hugging me and it felt nostalgic as if this was a memory I was remembering.

What could possibly be...

And as if he could read my thoughts, he pulled away and he started to talk about everything but Steph, what happened in the cafeteria the last time. I joined in too, momentarily forgetting about everything. This right here was what I needed the most, a distraction. We talked about the boys that were now back to playing, about the couples sitting few seats away from us and the annoying sound they were making while making out.

It was way after my curfew that we decided to return home. I left my phone at home and I knew Steph would be right behind the gate waiting for me. I had nothing to worry about though, if someone had to worry about getting punched in the face, that'd would be Kunle.

"Oh shit! I almost forgot." Kunle said suddenly when we were in front of the bleachers and he turned to me, his signature Kunle smile now evident on his face. I found myself moving back because of our close proximity.

"Your birthday gift!"

Wow, at least someone remembered and trust the person to be Kunle. As for Adam, I already gave up on him since Baby Kay happened.

"Well, I hope it's not anything Sponge Bob or Hannah Montana or Frozen."

The smile disappeared from his face and his face morphed into that of a shocked one as if he couldn't believe how easy it was for me to guess it that easily. The smile disappeared from my face immediately.

"How did you know that's what I got you?"

"Just keep it to yourself then!" I retorted before I started to walk away, still trying to wrap my head around the reason why I was being treated like a kid. I stopped when his hand grabbed mine and I looked up to see his eyes twinkling with amusement.

"Come on, Sophia, try to calm down, why is your blood always hot?"

"Because I'm hot?" I replied in less than a  nanosecond and he actually scoffed, his eyes sweeping the entire length of my body, giving me a once over that made me feel all queasy.

"Hot girl, just close your eyes, hmm."

I did just that and he stepped closer, his arms pressing against the sides of my neck. I held my breath, swallowed an imaginary lump and had to force myself to remain still.

I felt his hand working on something behind my neck and I smiled, knowing what it was.

"You can open them now," His voice was a breathy whisper and when my eyelids flustered open, he was still standing so close to me that I could feel his breaths fanning my cheeks. I could hardly make out his expression because it was dark where we stood with the only source of light being ones from the distant pole.

I couldn't exactly make out his expression but still, I could tell that he was grinning, a goofy one and that he looked slightly on edge? I forced myself to look away from his face and to the necklace. I touched the pendant, I raised it up and my breath really did caught in my throat when the distant light cast a faint glow on it and it shimmered. The pendant was that of an emerald shoe while the chain itself was silver and looking at it like this under this distant light, it was simply breathtaking.

"This is..." My voice cut, all the raw emotions I was feeling choking me that I had to pause for a second. "This is really beautiful, I just can't..."

I trailed off and without thinking much of it, I looked up, only to freeze, lips parting and eyes widening, he had somewhat gotten closer and his hand that was initially on my neck was now cupping my left cheek.
I swallowed, willing myself to move back but I just remained immobile.

What's he doing?

"Are you touched? Do you feel like crying? Are you getting emotional right now?" His voice was surprisingly light, filled with humour and betraying nothing of what I thought was happening.

Of course, nothing is happening, it's all in my head.

"Oh, shut up, Kunle, can't you just be normal for once?" I replied cheekily and I attempted to push him off playfully, anything to get rid of the building tension within me but he remained where he was, unfazed by my disguised attempts to push him off.

"And we both know that you're taking credit for what you did not exactly do?" I continued playfully, feeling the need to keep talking. "We both know that you have a poor eyes for jewelries, so tell me, who helped..." I trailed off because his hands stilled on cheeks and a frown suddenly marred his face. I could guess what was going on in his head because of those two signs.

It was Aminah.

My heart splintered into a thousand pieces."

"It wasn't Aminah," He replied curtly as if he could read my thoughts and I visibly relaxed. The thought of him picking my birthday gift with her was simply ludicrous and I couldn't even bare to picture it.

"I know you dislike her," He continued, stepping away from me and jamming his hands into his trousers' pocket. His earlier calm and cheerful eyes were cold, dark and even unreadable. "So, the least I can do is not to make her pick up your birthday even though she'd have been more than ecstatic to do that but I couldn't do that knowing you feel about her, I'm sure your feelings towards that necklace would have changed if it was really Aminah that picked it."

His voice was raw, broken, edged and I couldn't miss the pain wrapped with the words.

"Kunle, I don't dislike h..."

"Of course, you do!" He interrupted in a calmly controlled angry voice that shocked me to the core. "You do dislike her for no reasons and you keep treating her like trash even though she wanted nothing more than for you to just acknowledge. You have no idea... Not even the closest idea of how bad you hurt her every time you treat her like that..."

Kunle wasn't the type to hide his emotions and right now, listening to him speak this way, with the way his voice was breaking and the level of hurt that his eyes held, I could tell just how much this was hurting him.

"Kunle, I shouldn't have talked to her that way, I'm so..."

"No, you're not," he interrupted again and he backed away from me as if he suddenly couldn't stand the idea of being that close to me. "No, you're not sorry and this is not about the last time or the last time or the times before then, it's about everything from the very beginning, how I stupidly stayed put and hoped things would work out fine even when it was so obvious that they weren't."

A warning bell suddenly went off in my head and it felt so physical that I nearly winced.

Where's he heading to with all these?

"Kunle..."

"And you... Even after everything, even though you knew the things you were doing was causing everyone distress, me especially, you continued. You continued, even though you knew how important Aminah is to me, how I feel about her, the kind of happiness I get from being with her..." He trailed off again, his eyes darkening, hurt evident in them while my own heart was just tightening and squeezing painfully in my chest. "Makes me wonder if you ever care about my happiness."

Those last words were muttered but I heard them anyway and that drove a sledge hammer straight right into my heart.

"Of course, I do, Kunle, what are you talking about?"

He shook his head before he took two steps back. It was very dark where we stood and save for his eyes and looking into them, staring at the evident hurt in them made me lose my footing.

"No and now, I don't know, I'm starting to think Aminah is the only that truly cares and to think I nearly broke up with her because of you, you knew..." He trailed off again and he ran his hand through his hair and face.

Yes, I know and I know how that turned out.

Feeling overwhelmed with sudden anger, I jammed my hands into the pockets of my gown and I moved back too, putting a ample distance between us.

"Let's talk..."

"I'm in love with Aminah," He interrupted me again and moved closer to grab my shoulders on either sides. "Sophia, I really love Aminah. Fine, there were times when..." He trailed off again and his hands squeezed my shoulders, his eyes darkening with hurt even more. "But that doesn't change the fact that I love her, a lot and I can't subject her to more ridicules from you."

He stepped away from me again, his hands going into his pockets and instant panic tugged at my guts.

"What are you talking about?" My voice was unbelievably low and controlled and calm but my insides were churning, tethering and threatening to break apart.

"I wish I know what I'm talking about but whatever it is, it's that I'm putting Aminah first."

I staggered mentally, my foot tripping on each other but physically, I was still standing, my expression still calm and collected, even though I was feeling everything but calm and collected.

"You once said it's basically impossible for a guy to have a girlfriend and a female best friend so I guess it is what it is."

I winced.

"What..." I trailed off, my mouth unable to articulate the words forming in my brain. He couldn't possibly... What's he even talking about?

"What..." I trailed off again, my heart splintering into a thousand pieces.

"Should this even be happening? Me making the kind of choices. Do you even have an idea of how much it hurts to see you warm up to others except her and I've asked several times, if there's more to this thing and you've always replied in the negative. I'm starting to think you're just doing this for the sake of doing this."

"So?" I said, injecting coldness into my voice. "What are you talking about? You're calling off our friendship or what?"

He frowned, I noticed that even though all I could see was a distant glimpse of his face and his jaws clenched.

"You see, when you talk like this, I don't even know what to think. Call off our friendship? How is it that easy for you to even say? How..."

"Well, I wasn't the one who came here and started sputtering rubbish about putting some gi..." I trailed off, realising what I was about to say but the damage had been done, He already heard the unspoken words because he stepped completely away from me.

"She's not some girl." His voice was unusually firm and calm and bare of any emotion and knowing Kunle all too well, I knew that I had finally pushed him over the edge. "She's the girl I like, the one I'm in love with and if you can't accept that, I don't know..." He faltered for a minute, his eyes pooling with emotions I couldn't decipher. "I don't know how we're supposed..." He trailed off again before he exhaled deeply. He looked away from me to the boys that were now playing whatever game on the court.

He did not even have to complete the sentence, I already knew what he was about to say: how we were supposed to continue being friends or we were supposed to continue whatever relationship we had because of what? Who?

Aminah.

A bitter chuckle escaped my lips before I could help myself and I moved away from him.

"Leave." I said, my voice unusually low and mirthless. That jerked his attention back to me and he frowned. He almost reached out to me. I saw that but he hesitated and he allowed his hands to fall limply to his sides.

"It's late, let me walk you home before Stephen..."

"I'm not crippled." I interrupted and he did reach out to grab my hands this time around but I moved back and I crossed my hands over my chest as if that'd protect me from the gnawing pain that was threatening to splitter my whole body.

"Oh come on, I can't leave you here, it's late and there are..."

"Just leave!" I said through gritted teeth but that only made him to move closer to me.

"Soph..."

"LEAVE!" I finally screamed, shrugging his hands off and shocking him because he finally moved back and his face set into a thin line.

"Okay, okay then, I'll leave."

He looked at me for a minute longer than usual before he finally turned back as he walked off.

The world swirled round as he walked away and my legs turned into jelly, weightless, non existent but surprisingly, I was still standing and not tripping or falling.

Kunle was really walking away? Was it really that easy for him to walk away?

"Guys, isn't that Sophia Williams over there?"

"Looks like her."

I heard the sound of footsteps getting closer to where I was but instead of walking away, I just remained there, unmoving. Not like I'd have been able to walk away if I chose to, my legs were simply numb  paralysed at that moment.

"It's really her." Another voice closer to me said and that jolted me out of my reverie. I looked around to see five teenage boys closing in on me, smiling heartily at me while I just stared at them blankly.

"Wow, it's really her." One of the guys said again, his voice bewildered at the fact that he was face to face to a celebrity. "Can I get an autograph, my sister..."

I walked away, strangely composed, my feet moving steadily even though the weight in my chest made me feel like I was going yo fall down anytime and it was only when I got outside that I saw Kunle leaning against a pole, arms crossed over his chest.

I ignored him and for the first time, I felt the kind of frustration people feel that make them scream like maniacs at nothing.

Well, I don't even think I know what to say at this point again but then, I'll probably have to check Sophia into a mental asylum before we get to the end of this book because ehn 💔💔💔

And you guys shouldn't hate on Kunle oo. A lot of readers ain't trying to see this thing from his point of view because honestly, in this whole issue, he's the one hurting the most and again, I'm just liking him these days 😩😩♥️

And tbh, I did not miss the clash that nearly happened in the comment section of the last chapter 😂😂💔💔 While it was fun to read your varying opinions and the reasons you think that way, I think we should all just try to chill and calm down because apart from one certain ship in this book, all other ships are nowhere near certain, you'll all be surprised at who might even end up with who and blah blah blah 🚶‍♀️🚶‍♀️🚶‍♀️🚶‍♀️

See you when I see you ♥️♥️