Bare your soul to me
  Here I stand for you.

                                ~KUNMI~

The uninvited creature did not only stay for breakfast, infact she made brunch for herself and Junior. She just made herself at home. I did not think I've ever felt at home like she was feeling. Mom and Dad were not at home so it was just the three of us and the maids at home and Sophia was quick to use that ample opportunity to just display her highest level of weirdness and craziness that my brother had to pull me aside and tell me this.

"Are you sure this is the original Sophia Williams or someone pretending to be her?"

I just smiled and shook my head because I was really starting to believe the latter.

"Shouldn't you go back home or at least call home and let them know where you are?"

She shrugged from where she sat down on the floor, her back resting against my bed while I sat down on my bed.

"There's no one at home, my parents are away on a business trip and my brother followed Steph to her chemo so..." She shrugged again. "I'm all yours today."

I barely heard every other thing she said with my brain just wrapping itself around the word Chemo and trying to understand its meaning.

"Chemo?" I echoed, sounding incredibly dumb to even my own ears but I went on anyway because it surely couldn't be the Chem I was thinking about. "What's that?"

Her fingers stilled on her phone screen and she turned back so she'd be able to see my face.

"Normal Chemotherapy of course. Is there another one?" She said this with a casual shrug, a nonchalant shrug even, as if chemo was something as normal as getting treatments for flu or malaria.

For a minute or two or even more, I couldn't think of anything to say. I just sat there, staring at her and trying to take it all in. Her sister was that sick? That explained it then, her dark moods, the deep sadness in her eyes whenever she thought no one was looking. It was all because her sister was sick? That sick?

The thought made me shiver.

Cancer wasn't something that happens to the people I know, cancer wasn't something that happens to my friends' sisters and definitely not Sophia's sister. That kind of pain of watching a loved one go through that much physical pain wasn't something that happens to Sophia Williams, who looked like life was supposed to always fall into pleasant places for her, who looked like she did not even deserve to know what the p in pain looks like.

I remembered Aminah's words too, when she said it was basically impossible for Sophia to be going through anything bad but she was actually going through this. This wasn't only bad, it was worst. It was all too much to take in. Her sister had cancer? I remembered how her sister was that other night of her party, even then, I had sensed that something was wrong but I just never thought... I could have never thought it was something this bad.

How she was even managing... How she was holding her shit together was baffling. I don't know what I'd have done if I was in her position.

If Mayowa was the one...

I visibly shuddered and I blocked that thought immediately.

Sophia was still looking at me, her expression blank and empty and her face... Her face looked like something that had been carved out of pain and sadness itself and it shattered me completely, to see her like that, completely beaten up and sad.

"I'm so..."

"Don't be sorry." She interrupted hastily. "And don't look at me with eyes of pity!" She continued with a shocking and almost terrifying anger that made me to shut up and to swallow my words immediately.

"That's why I don't like telling people about Steph, I already feel bad for myself. I don't think I need other people to feel bad for me."

She said after a while and she stood up from the floor to sit beside me on the bed.

"It's just hard, really really hard. I feel bad for her because she deserves better. One minute, she was planning on living her life to the fullest and the next minute, she was dealing with this diagnosis and if she's going yo survive this or not."

The pain, the raw pain in her voice made my heart to clench and to tighten into a very hard nut. And then, I remembered the whole issue with Aminah and Kunle again and my heart broke for her even more. No wonder it was basically impossible for her to see eye to eye with Aminah when in her own mind, Aminah took her best friend away from her especially when she needed him the most.

I just wished everything would work out fine and all these entanglements will untangle themselves and everyone would be fine.

"I'm sorry you have to deal with all that." I found myself saying, completely disregarding her warning about pitying her.

"I know, I know. It's not easy and I've been too focused on one thing for too long, pain, everything with Kunle and... and Aminah and it took me this long to realise that it's not worth it. It's not worth setting myself down a path of self destruction while draining myself both physically and mentally. In the end, I'm only making myself and others miserable."

Okayyy. So was Sophia about to say what I'm thinking?

She breathed out deeply before she looked away from me to my study desk.

"If feelings had an off and switch button, I'd have turned it off a long time ago." She mumbled to herself but I heard it anyway and the sadness and wistful longing was even louder than her words.

"But apparently, since I can't turn them off, I'm not going to allow them to define me or continue to allow myself to be slave to them, so..." She looked away from the desk, shrugged ever so casually as if this whole issue was something that had never affected her. "I'm doing what I should have a long ago." She concluded happily with a small smile tugging on her lips and her eyes getting cleared up as if something was getting rid of the layers and layers of sadness that had welled up in them.

"And what's that?"

"I'm putting myself first of course. You know, I don't think I've ever done that before. With Kunle and Aminah, I've always put my unrequited feelings for Kunle and my dislike or..." She trailed off, paused for a second and she looked like she was debating internally the most suitable words to use. "...or should I say envy or jealousy? Yes, I think envy. I've always put my envy towards Aminah first than to actually put myself first. That's not happening again."

Wow! I stared at her, my lips slightly parted. Was Sophia really concurring to being envious of Aminah? Really?

She shrugged and got up from the bed to sit in front of my vanity, her back to the mirror so she'd be able to see my face.

"I mean, it's never okay to prioritize pain, to make yourself miserable when you can actually try to let go of your misery..."

My thoughts lingered on her words, it's never okay to prioritise pain, to make yourself miserable when you can actually try to let go of your misery. I could do that too if I wanted. If it was this easy for Sophia who had gone through so much to say this, to actually consciously try to let go, then why shouldn't I?

"So, I can't afford to lose my sanity and the people that really matter to me. My sister advised me not to focus on the negativities but on the positivities, like my obsession with you of course." She beamed when she said the last part and I hissed underneath my breath.

Just when I was starting to think that she was finally having sense, she had to say something like that again.

"So, I'm going to apologise to Aminah. It was wrong and stupid of me to have talked to her in that manner."

Med oo!

I was beyond stupefied at the last sentence. In less than 30 minutes, Sophia agreed to being envious of Aminah, she agreed it was shallow of her to have been treating Aminah that way because of her unrequited feelings towards her boyfriend.

I did not say anything to that and she did not say anything after that either. She only turned around and she started applying my make up on her face without saying anything. For some strange reasons, something wasn't sitting down well with me, something within me was telling me that something wasn't adding up, that there was still a missing puzzle that I wasn't focusing on.

But I ignored it and I dare hoped that this single decision of Sophia was going to set everything straight, make everything to fall to place and things would just go back to a state of normalcy for everyone of them, Aminah, Sophia and Kunle.

And while thinking about letting go of pain  like Sophia had said, I switched on my phone and did that one thing I should have done a long time ago.

                                *********

Hours later, Sophia was still in our house even though it looked more like we were in her own house rather than the other way round by how she was walking around the house like she had done that a thousand time before.

We were both sitting in the dinning room talking over the burnt pancakes that she made when her phone vibrated and her face dissolved into a huge childish smile at whatever was on her screen.

"Finally, Adam is outside."

My heartbeats increased, tremendously.

"What? Why? What's he doing here?"

She shrugged in an I don't know manner before she dropped her phone on the table.

"To nail it into your head that you're the only girl he can see and that he's not interested in any other girl?" She asked-said, her eyes twinkling with excitement and amusement.

"I've been waiting since morning to bundle or drag you out in case you don't want to see him. He was almost crying when he called me last night and was going on and on about helping him out. Awwwn, poor boy, he's already lost and we can't find him again."

Her expression morphed into that of a pitiful one, an expression that I was sure she was making for Adam. But wait, so she had been waiting since morning because of Adam?

I wasn't angry at him or anything, far from it. I was just... It's just that I was thinking, I've being thinking. Me, Bola and the other girls. Why would he even...

Sophia's phone ringing cut my thoughts off and she held her phone out to me, to show me that it was Adam calling again.

"Don't go now, let him be miserable for like 20 minutes more."

I relaxed back on my seat, thinking about that idea before leaning closer to her.

"Do you think I should do that?"

Her eyes widened and the mischievous glint disappeared immediately.

"Nooo," She screamed, eyes looking at me with disbelief as if she did not believe I'd say something like that. "Please, go and meet my best friend outside oo, I'm not ready to lose him."

I shook my head at her before leaving the dinning room.

                                 ********
                                ~ADAM~

I tried to focus on the plate of rice and assortments in my front but I failed miserably. My thoughts were all over the place. It's been three days since I saw Kunmi or actually talk to her. Her phone had been turned off since and the person I could get through to was Sophia and that one was acting like a goddamned psycho.

She was legit sending dancing and laughing stickers to my messages and vn.

"Korede, why are you not eating your food?"

Mom's voice cut through my thoughts and I looked up to see two pairs of inquisitive eyes staring at me. Mom's and Dad's. Dad's spoon was frozen in the mid-air, right eyebrow raised quizzically while mom was looking with a slightly bemused expression as if she could tell what exactly was wrong with me.

I swallowed.

"I'm eating."

"Of course, you're eating by stirring your food every 2 minutes and staring into the air."

I swallowed again and I looked away from their inquisitive eyes to my food. Mom was right, my food was untouched.

"Are you starting to have girl's problems?" Dad asked out of nowhere and I blanched. Not only did he ask me that question, he also did it with a teasing undertone.

"Nooo," I was quick to reply and I even started eating, hoping that'd at least serve as some sort of distraction for him but for the first time, mom's food tasted like bile in my mouth. I wasn't even that hungry in the first place.

You're hungry but for something entirely different.

"That reminds me, Mom, I'd have to go to Charles' place later in the evening."

"Really? Why? You have to go to school tomorrow, don't you?"

"I have to see him about something."

"Charles is not even in the country."

Oh shit! Oh shit! How could I have forgotten that?

"It's actually... It's actually Tari that I have to see."

Mom chuckled and raised her left brow.

"You were the one that told me just two days ago that Tari travelled to Abuja for a science competition and she won't be back until next week."

Oh God! Why can't I even think of one reasonable lie?

"I.. have... I'm going to..."

"You want papa to tutor you on a maths assignment, shey?" Dad added in a low teasing voice that was unlike him before he chuckled, a chuckle that soon turned into a full blown laughter. Mom joined in too and soon, they were both laughing at their son who couldn't even come up with a proper lie to go and see a girl he likes.

"I remember when I was around your age, the kind of lies we told just to get out of the house to do the things our age mates were doing then and it was mostly to chase after girls. Even if we tell you not to chase after them, you obviously won't listen to us."

Well, that's an obvious fact.

"Dad, I'm not... That's not..."

"Eeh, come on, like I said, I was your age once so... You just have to be a good boy and remember, priorities first, ehn?"

I nodded and he smiled longingly at me, his eyes filling up with adoration and even though, I tried not to smile, I couldn't help it when my lips started to stretch into a thin line. And from the corner of my eyes, I could see mom looking at the both of us with adoration filled eyes.

This was what we should look like, a small close knitted family whose greatest scars should be misunderstandings that weren't resolved till dawn, not scars that are permanently etched unto our souls, not the kind of scars on mom's back that'd never heal.

That wiped the smile off my face.

We weren't the kind of family that smile like this and feel this much happiness and even though, the counselling session that mom said they were attending seemed to be working because these days, they were so into each other that I was starting to think that they've even forgotten that they have a son.

But even with that, I couldn't, I've not been able to stop that feeling of huge dread that made it seem like no matter how hard we try, we were heading towards one huge dead end.

And mom, no matter how hard I tried to make her see reason, it wasn't working because she was desperately holding on to hope.

A false hope.

                                   ******

It was almost dusk and the setting sun cast brilliant and beautiful splash of colors that should be able to brighten even the darkest mood but then, it wasn't working for me. I was standing in front of Kunmi's house. No, I wasn't actually standing, I was pacing the entire length of their fence, heartbeats accelerating in my chest. I was sure I was reeking of anxiousness, nervousness and worry and I was sure that even a stranger passing by would take one look at me and be able to tell that all wasn't alright with me. And then, Sophia sent a message.

Baby Kay isn't coming out, she's really angry, she doesn't even want to hear your name. That's why I told you not to allow other girls to even see your face. What are you going to do now?

Wow!

I read the message again and again, my heartbeats accelerating painfully in my chest. Palm becoming sweaty and clammy. She was that angry? She was that angry? I heard the sound of the gate opening and I looked up to see Kunmi step out of the gate, a small, almost nervous smile on her face.

Just remind me to murder Sophia lather.

"Hi." She said, almost nervously and she stayed close to the gate, right at the entrance so she was neither outside nor inside.

I came here to see her, to apologise but seeing her like this, the setting sun casting a distant glow on her face, highlighting her facial features, I was suddenly awestruck that I forgot why I even came here in the first place.

"Adam!" She called out sternly and that jerked me out of my reverie.

"Ohhh... Hiii... Sorry, I just... I was lost for a moment."

Oh Lord! Get a grip, Korede!!

"Come inside." She said again and without waiting for me to reply, she turned back and she started to walk back to the main house. I swallowed, gathered my thoughts, tried to keep my composure before following her.

We ended up in the arcade.

It was exactly the same settings with the one in Charles' house and immediately we stepped inside, I just remembered the last time we were in the one at Charles' house and my heart instantly picked up pace.

Not now! Please! Just hold on to your sanity.

She walked further into the room and I just kept following her till she stopped to lean against the cabinet by the wall. I stopped too, directly in front of her and I had to remind myself to take two steps backwards if I really wanted to have shit done.

"Hiii. I'm sorry about that girl. I should have..."

I trailed off because of her expression. She was looking at me with a dumbfounded expression, as if I was saying the wrong thing or I was saying the right thing the wrong way so I shut up because I wasn't ready to ruin things even more.

"I wasn't angry at you." She stated, completing shocking me, causing an instant relief to wash over me. She wasn't angry at me. God! I staggered with relief. But just as instantly and easily as the relief came was also how it left and it was replaced by worry. If she wasn't angry at me, then why did she leave like that and why had her phone been turned off?

"I just... I was just..." She started to say before trailing off. She wasn't even looking at me, instead, her eyes were fixed on my collar as if it was fascinating or something and she was wringing her fingers on either hand together.

She was nervous.

"I just thought... I just felt that a girl like Bola and someone like me. I thought you wouldn't... That you would..." She trailed off, swallowed, dared a glance at me before she looked away hurriedly. I said nothing, my eyes fixated on her face, I could tell where she was going with what she was saying and it made me feel bad, made me feel like I've been doing a very bad job.

If she actually thought I'd look at another girl in that way, then I've been doing a very bad job.

"I just thought you'd pick someone like her over me, especially after..."

I closed the distance between us in less than a nanosecond and I lifted her face up with one of my fingers so she'd be able to look at me. When her eyes mine, her usual vibrant eyes was filled with uncertainties and doubts and worries.

It was a painful punch to my guts.

She looked away from my eyes to stare at my collar again.

The fact that she wasn't even angry at me but instead, she was doubting herself, while thinking that it was actually possible for me to look at another girl, to like another girl other than her saddened me.

"I just don't understand." She started again, eyes still fixed on my collar, voice barely above a whisper and her heart thumping loudly in her chest that I could hear it.

"There are thousands of other girls, beautiful girls, slimmer girls, girls you'd be proud to show off, girls you'd be proud to call your own... But then, you choose me and you look at me like I'm the most fascinating piece of art in the world and I don't... I don't still understand... Why would you even...?"

"Because I love you." I interrupted her, shocking myself with that confession because until now, I never voiced it out, I never even whispered it to myself but I've always known, deep down that likeness was too trite, too ordinary for what I felt for her. "I love you." I continued, taking in her shocked expression, her eyes that had widened twice their original sizes and were now threatening to budge out of their sockets with thousands of emotions swirling in them.

"I love you so much that I won't even be able to articulate it." She started to shake her head, disbelief replacing her shocked expression.

"Why would you even...?"

"Because you're beautiful and amazing and fascinating?" I began, my hand reaching out to touch her face and shivered, her body involuntarily tensing up when my fingers grazed her cheeks and I brushed them, slightly and almost tentatively against her face. "No, I just love you because you're you and that you is the best thing that has ever happened to me."

I heard and felt her sharp intake of breath, the not so subtle sigh that escaped her lips and when her eyes met mine again, I could see that they were glassy and tears filled.

And she looked hella beautiful.

"I don't know..." She started to say again, her voice torn between a sob and a breathy whisper.  "I've just... I've never seen myself that and stepping into the shoes of that girl you see whenever you look at me, I just..."

I knew it then, that she was someone who needed to be constantly reminded of how wonderful and beautiful till she could see and believe it herself and I was ready to be that person for her.

"You're not stepping into any shoes. It's you, it's what you're. You just don't know this because you've not been looking hard enough, you're looking outward for miracles, for validations from others but you don't need any of that, you're already more than enough, you're already made up of so much magic and miracles that you don't need anyone or anything to complement you. You're already more than enough."

Her whole body trembled. I could feel that and her eyes clouded up even more. I could see and feel it even, how much those words had affected her and when I saw the first glimpse of tears rolling down her cheek, I moved even closer and I wiped them away.

"So, I've been meaning to ask..." I started to say before trailing off and my free hand found its way to my neck. Again, I was reeking of nervousness and worry and anxiousness.

"What's that?" She asked in a surprisingly low and coy voice and she even proceeded to wrap her hands around my midriff, pulling me closer to her in the process till all I could smell was her jasmine scent and I could see was her upturned face, her pink rosy slightly parted lips.

Oh shit!

Sixty to zero.

What was I saying again?

I looked away from her lips, tried to focus on her forehead but even that looked alluring.

"I don't... I'm not sure if I'm supposed to get on one knee to ask you tobemygirlfriend." I said the last part in a rush but she heard me anyway because the growing smile on her face deepened, her face twinkled with astonishment.

"Of course not, I've been waiting for you to ask so I'll say yes..."

Ohh. I exhaled. Looks like I was worried for nothing.

"... After you get down on two knees."

What?

She burst into laugher on seeing my expression and she pulled me even closer.

"Oh, you should have seen your expression just now. It's so much fun to tease you."

Oh wow. This girl!

She was still smiling, eyes aglow with amusement and I found my lips stretching into a smile too.

God! I love this girl so much, too much, it scares me but in a good sorta way.

"So, is that a yes."

"A very big one." She beamed, her facial features lighting up and God, she was so beautiful, too beautiful it hurts to just look at her.

One minute, we were staring at each other and the next, my lips were pressed against hers.

My insides flipped and my heart skipped a thousand beats when my lips met hers. My lips fitted perfectly against hers and I tried to keep calm, to not amp things up even thought everything in me was screaming otherwise.

I angled my head, kissing her slowly and tentatively, not wanting to scare her by going overboard. My hand found its way to her chin, lifting it up, lips moving against hers, tongue tracing the seam of her lips, parting her lips and sweet Lord, my senses exploded with her taste.

Good God!

Her hands left my back to fist around the shirt on my lower abdomen, pulling me impossibly closer to her, the other inching up slowly to press against chest, that single and simple touch doing things, insane things to me, to my body.

She moaned when my tongue slipped into her mouth and I stopped, stilled and my fingers froze on her chin. In that split second, she twirled her tongue against mine, eliciting a subconscious groan from me.

Oh God! This girl!!

Her hand pulled him even closer to her, her hand flattening on my chest even more as she stroked her tongue sensually and slowly against mine, leaving me utterly dazed at her boldness at times like this and completely stupefied at how intimate and perfect and addictive it all felt like. She brushed her lips slowly over mine, tugging and pulling ever so slightly that my groan met her soft, yet sensual moan.

Good God! I never knew Kunmi had it in her.

When I finally pulled away, wide onyx doe eyes dancing with indecipherable emotions stared back at me and for a minute, I was too dazed to actually think properly or say a coherent sentence. She looked satiated and happy and free and that made me smile. Her lips pink and swollen and I found myself gliding a finger over them, feeling their softness and wetness.

"I think... Uhm... we should slow down before I do permanent damages."

Her eyes met mine, long thick lashes twirling up and a small, almost teasing smile tugging at her lips. And her hands left my shirt to wrap around my neck, pulling me closer to her.

"And I'm not complaining."

Was what she whispered before she leaned in completely and she pressed her lips against mine.

Oh shit.

Baby Kay isn't complaining 😩😩🙌🙌😂😂💔💔💔 y'all should get to meet the original Baby Kay now 😂😂😂😎😎❤️

I'm not sure whose lips is going to be permanently damaged now 😂😂😂💔💔💔

I can't even 😂😂😂💔💔💔 I'm honestly speechless. Kunmi? Really? What happened to my quiet and innocent Baby 😩😩😩💔💔😂?

These two are finally official oo 🤞🤞🤞😩😩😩😂😂❤️❤️ It's to pick aso ebi like this and let's keep hoping that they remain like this till the end of the book, hmm😎😎😎😊😊

If you said Sophia's name in the riddie I posted on IG, then you were right ❤️😊 and if you ain't following me on IG yet 🙄🙄, go and follow me oo because you're honestly missing out. The username is _ririwrites.

Okay, that's all. See you guys when I see you ❤️❤️