When a friend is in trouble, don't annoy him by asking if there is anything you can do. Think up something appropriate and do it.                                          Edward W. Howe

______________________

Derin walked into the office, her hands had become sweaty and her heart beat frantic. It had been two weeks since her boss granted her leave. She pushed the door open and stepped in. Everyone turned. She closed her eyes, lifted her head and straightened her shoulder.

The clump of her heeled sandals clicked against the tiled floor.

"Oh. My. Welcome!"

"Welcome back!"

"I'm so glad to see you."

She waved at them all, happy with the warm welcome. She walked to her cubicle, walking past Ify who never took her eyes of Derin. She sat down on her sit and faced her system.

Of recent, she'd been having weird feelings. Her phone rang. She answered without glancing at the caller Id.

"Derin." Her mother's voice crooked out.

"Mommy."

"Derin how are you?"

"I'm fine." She turned on her system.

"Have you gone to court on the Michael case?"

A pregnant pause. Her breathing slowed. "No."

"Hmm.. You should come over to the house today or tomorrow,"

Derin's brow creased. "Why?"

"Just come."

"Ok,"

"Derin." Her mother called out sharply.

"Ma?" She replied, her hands hovering against the keyboard.

"I love you."

She typed in her password. "I love you more, Momma."

The call disconnected. She suddenly remembered her conversation with Nonso in the morning. He'd insisted that she came to his office so as to start filing the case. She'd dodged it, rushing out of his apartment once he got into the bathroom. She couldn't conjure any excuse as to why she didn't want to file the case. Michael committed an offense and no doubt Nonso's arms were itching to throw him in jail for life.

She turned on her data, in order to check her WhatsApp messages. She received three messages from two people.

Michelle: Hiii you should check out our instagram picture. Everyone is calling the black chic hot.

..... Seriously you did look hot. PS. I hope it was fun singing with me. :)

Daniel: Obey street, behind iyabosa foods. One pm sharp. Pls be late.

Bastard.

She excited Daniel's chat box and went on to reply Michelle.

We make a good team :-P

Michelle's reply came in not long after hers had been delivered.

Hang out sometime? :-!

Derin cringed. Maybe Michelle was taking their non existence friendship too far. Hanging out with her boyfriend's ex wasn't on her list. Despite the nagging negative response in her heart, she replied contrary.

Sure :-)

            ________

The unsettling feeling that buried deep in her chest when she stepped in only became worse once she saw Nonso sitting on the dining table, with his laptop in front of him and his phone pressed tightly against his ear.

"Good," he held the phone tighter. "We can meet up in my office tomorrow and by Wednesday, we'll be in court."

Derin gulped. Everything Daniel had threatened to tell Nonso rushed back in. If Nonso knew, if he knew what she had done, he'd no longer appreciate her, he'd no longer see her as the love of his life, he'd see her as the bitter bitch Lola had described. He'd see her as the monster Nene had created. She knew everything would come out sooner or later, but she couldn't bring herself to tell him the truth and sacrifice their relationship. When she was with him, she became a different person. She laughed more and saw things more. She was too selfish to let him go. She needed to talk to someone.

She turned around quietly and walked out of the apartment. She rushed outside, to the parking lot and bent down beside a prado jeep. She dialled Selena. Thankfully,  Selena picked. She'd collected her number after the bonfire event. They hadn't had time to talk, as Selena was very busy.

"Derin! How are you? Look I'll call you later ok? I'm out with my best friend."

No! It's not ok.

"Yeah. Sure."

She cut the call immediately. Of course,  Selena had her own friends. She couldn't have time for Derin. Derin resorted to the last person on her mind. It was awkward asking her mother about love life, but she would do it, since she had no one else to talk to.

Tears blurred her vision as she opened her whatsapp, eager to send a message to her mother. She tried scrolling to look for Momma. The tears came more. Relief cursed through her when she saw an M. Micheal and Momma where the only M she had. She had deleted micheal's number angrily,  so that left Momma.  Letting the tears trickle, with blurred vision, she clicked the M. And almost immediately,  she started recording a voice note.

"Momma, momma I'm tired. I'm tired of the secrets i have to keep, and the bad things that have been happening to me," she sobbed louder. "Momma i love Nonso, I love him so much yet i hurt him bad.  But i can't tell him, he'll hate me. Do you think i should tell him? Do you?  He'll leave me. He'll hate me. He'll know i was the one who planted the expo, he'll know i sold my virginity to... to save myself. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I know you'll be dissappointed. I'm sorry. I just don't have anyone else to talk to, I feel alone, so very alone. I love you."

She released the button. She heard the loud click. It had been sent. She had told her mother bits of who she truly was, she'd become tired of holding so much in. There was no Ify or Lola to listen anymore,  there was no one, so had to let it out, because she wanted someone to hug her and tell her she'll be alright.

She cried more.  Her mother always told her that bad things happened to good people,  so she'd become bad, to avoid bad things, yet they still followed her.

"Aderinsola, you must learn that in the end, the good people will be happy."

Her heart thumped in her chest. It thumped loud. She knew she'd break her mother's heart,  suddenly she regretted sending the voice note to her mother. She shook her head,  not being able to look at the phone, she threw it to the car across from her and screamed loudly.

                _________

She heard their footsteps and saw the flash light before she saw them. She scrambled to her feet as they got closer. She stood up instantly as they closed in on her.

"Any problem madam?" A pot bellied man with a security guard uniform on asked her as he rounded the corner.

She forced a smile. "I'm fine. I'm good. My phone just fell across so i kind of freaked out."

The man let out an unconvincing smile.  He shone his flashlight around until it landed on her phone. She smiled tightly and rushed to pick it up.

"Thank you."

He nodded once and stood, as if waiting for her to move. Just then,  her phone rang out. She creased her brows. She thought she'd smashed it. Looking at the screen,  it had actually cracked very badly. The caller Id said Mitchelle.

Huh.

She swiped the broken screen and picked the call.

"Hi," Derin breathed.

She wondered why Mitchelle would call her by six thirty pm.

"Hey, where are you? "

Derin looked around.  "Why?"

"Just where,"

"At the hill estate. " Derin let out uncertainly.

Mitchelle groaned. "Ok. I'm coming to pick you up. We are going somewhere. "

Derin snorted. "Look I'm really tired, I just got back from work and-"

"Well I'm exhausted too, we need to talk Derin. It's important."

Derin sighed.  "Let it wait, tomorrow. "

"I'm in front of the hill estate." Something shuffled. "I'm in the parking lot of Nonso's apartment building.  Where are you?"

Derin looked around. She grunted angrily,  what was it with this Mitchelle?

"Mitchelle, I'm not going anywhere with you." Derin stated, her voice coming out sternly.

"Derin, you made a mistake." Mitchelle said. At the same time, she heard her voice behind her.

The security man waved and left. She nodded then turned.

Mitchelle stood there, clad in blue jeans and a hoodie. "The voice note."

A long pause, phones still pressed against their ears, the eerie quietness, the thumping of her heart and finally,  relief. 

Momma didn't get the Vn.

"Derin," Michelle whispered. "Derin-"

Derin shook her head,  disconnecting the call, she turned away from Michelle. She was done for, Michelle would snitch on her that was for sure.

"Derin wait!"

She stopped,hoping that the instability in her voice was well hidden. "What?"

"Derin, it's okay to cry,  it doesn't mean you are weak. Sometimes we cry because we've been holding on for too long. Because we've been strong for so long a time."

Derin shook her head,  trying to fight the tears. "What is it you want? For me to be your next saving project? "

Michelle stepped forward. "Derin. I..."

"Just leave me the fuck alone, and please mind your business! "

Derin huffed angrily as the tears dropped.  She made to move around the car but Mitchelle's next words hit her hard. "I was on my own, until you asked for that damn itching powder."

Derin stopped.

Itching powder.

"What?"

Derin turned. Michelle stood almost close to her. "You! Laying in a gutter, dirt clinging all over you. Me, helping you out and turning to go. You, stopping me and asking to wash your leg in my house. Me, telling you to come in and do so. You, seeing a powdered stuff on the small table in the compound. You, asking what it was. Me, telling you what it was. You!  Telling me to give you wanted it. Me, giving it to you. And then never seeing you again."

It all came rushing back. The fair skinned girl with a long hair that had made Derin feel inferior since she was on a low cut. The fair girl who had helped her after her brother had thrown her into the gutter and went away. That good Samaritan had been Mitchelle.

"It's you, " Derin said, trying to view her as a young girl. "I came back the next summer, eager to see you. My sister told me the people who lived across had moved."

Michelle smiled.  "I tried to look for you to, I swear but the day after I helped you, I knocked on the gate of that house, I tried to see you but the gate man chased me away, telling me the person I was in search pf had ruined the family. I still tried to see you oh. and the third day, I moved. My family moved."

Derin's tears fell harder. "I.. I left to go back to my mother on the third day."

"Derin, I was really looking forward to seeing you again,"

"We didn't talk much." Derin stated,  wiping her tear.

"Yes, but I had a feeling we could have been good friends, I just felt it." Mitchelle insisted,  stepping closer. "And I still want to be your friend. "

Derin flared. "Why? You're a rich fine person who could be friends with any one, why are you disturbing me."

Mitchelle smiled. "Because when you took the powder,  you promised to return it and I asked if we could be friends, remember?"

Derin shook her head, she barely remembered anything from that day, but Mitchelle having a very sharp memory must have remembered every single thing.

"How did you even know it's me, How did you recognize me."

"The picture in Nonso's room, it's a perfect balance between you now and you then. It's like a transformation picture.  Nonso said you were eighteen then."

Derin creased her brows. "You've known for long?"

She shrugged. "When I started dating Nonso."

"Then you saw me in the coffee shop-"

"That was the day I asked if you were the one on his wall. He said yes."

Derin stepped forward. "So? What does it matter?" Her voice was merely a whisper.

"I want to be your friend." Michelle insisted.

"Why?" Derin inquired.

"I see so much light in you. You have something in you."

                  _________

They walked in silence towards the Cafe in shoprite. Mitchelle turned by the corner and sat on the first booth. Derin slumped in beside her. Mitchelle ordered two mugs of creamy coffee. Then she turned to Derin.

"I eh.. listened to the voice note."

Derin shrugged. "Figured you'd do that."

Mitchelle sat up. "I don't mean to pry, but i will anyways, tell me, what was that about."

Derin stared at her, hard and long. "Mitchelle, it's not something I'd like to talk about."

Mitchelle cocked her head to the side. "Like you said, you don't have anyone to talk to. So what's wrong in just talking to me. I'm here to listen."

Derin nodded and retorted dryly. "True, but you are Nonso's ex."

"I was your friend before I dated him, if we could even call it that." Mitchelle countered.

"Hmm.."

"We never had sex and we only kissed twice. Just to clear things up, your curiosity." Mitchelle smirked.

Derin glared at her. "I didn't ask."

"But you wanted to know." Mitchelle wriggled her brows.

And Derin smiled. "You are so persistent,"

The waiter came at that moment and placed the coffee on their table and walked away.

Derin scrunched her nose.  "You shouldn't have ordered for me."

Michelle gave her mocking look. "Who told you i ordered for you."

Derin's mouth dropped. "You'll take two?"

Michelle shrugged. "Ehn hen.."

Derin cracked a smile. "Weirdo."

Michelle pushed one to Derin's side. "Let me pity you."

Derin laughed lowly.

Mitchelle turned serious.  "Ok, so. Tell me what was the voice message about."

"You listened to it." Derin deadpanned.

"Tell me," Mitchelle insisted.

Derin sighed. "No."

Mitchelle sighed and sat up. "There is nothing wrong in letting people in."

Derin snorted. "All the people I've let in, happily find their way out."

Mitchelle frowned. "I wasn't joking around when I said I see something in you, I'm serious."

"Mitch-"

"Why did you follow me out here if you didn't want to discuss?" Michelle pressed on.

"I just needed-"

"You were running, running from Nonso," Michelle deadpanned.

"Look-"

"Just tell me, I'm willing to listen so what's wrong?"

Derin stared at her, Mitchelle's gaze matched hers. There was something about Mitchelle's multiple personality that Derin suddenly trusted. Mitchell had helped her out at the bonfire, Mitchelle had appreciated her at her event. Mitchell had been the teenage girl who helped her out of the gutter, Mitchelle was eager to listen.

"Ok," she whispered.

She'd given up because in truth, she needed to talk to someone and it didn't matter anymore who it was, it didn't matter anymore that she'd keep it locked up in her heart. Mitchelle wanted to listen, and despite her being skeptical, she needed to let someone in.

She looked into her coffee, the brown mixture suddenly reminding her of the brown colour her blood had dried up to when she woke up on Daniel's bed in his apartment. A feeling of nostalgia set in.

"It all started when, when Nonso and I got into a fight. He told me he loved me and I told him off. I later went to apologize to him, only to find him with someone else. I got angry, that was it. I never spoke to Nonso after that because, because I never gave him a chance to speak to me. But I was still really angry. So in October,  he was going to have his finals. I... I payed his roommate, who also happened to be his coursemate, to try framing him up with something that could incriminate him." She moved her eyes to the table. "The guy did it. The news got to me, that Nonso had been caught. I started feeling guilty.  I tried to call john, the Guy I payed. He told me there was nothing he could do, but i had luck on my side because the man who had caught him hadn't reported him. John adviced me, he told me the man had a son and that if it was possible, i could get through to him through his son."

Derin closed her eyes and went on. "I found out that the son was Lola's crush, Lola, one of my best friends. But he was into me instead of Lola, he was a medical student. I knew the guy liked me, so I made my move that same day, the same day Nonso had been caught, I begged Lola to invite Daniel out to the club. That night, he confessed he liked me and blah,"

She opened her eyes, no tears came.

"I told him I liked him too. Lola was a sit away. We kissed and we ended up in his apartment. In bed. The next day,  I had to tell him about Nonso's issue and If he could help get his father to drop it. He said he could try. He did try.  By the end of the day, John informed me that Nonso was free, that it was dropped. I continued dating Daniel. But my attention drifted from him, I was not giving him my all, I started giving him the cold shoulder. One day, he accused me of using him. He found out that I had dated Nonso and he figured that i had tried to help him. He broke up with me that day, calling me a 'slut'."

Derin gulped, the story was getting intense. "Two weeks after we broke up, there was a poster all over school, in people's blackberry messenger, almost everywhere,  it was a picture of me, in bed with Nonso's favorite professor, i had never spoken to the man. We were both Naked and in bed. It was pretty convincing and it ruined me. I thought of everyone who would have a grudge against me. And by then, Nonso had graduated. So it only left me with Daniel as the one with such motive. I called up my dad. I told him about the picture and my innocence, I told him about my suspicion. A week later, Daniel was expelled. He had been entering his fourth level asa medical student and just like that,  he was out. I knew it waa my dad."

She stopped, trying to get the strength to go on without feeling disgusted with herself.

"I.. I didn't know he had already been expelled from a private university because of drugs. I only found out later. I never heard from him again.never."

Derin stopped. She'd said enough already. She didn't want to go on and tell her what had been happening of recent.

Mitchelle sipped her coffee. "Your father is powerful,  who is he?"

Derin shrugged. "Governor Nzube."

Mitchelle creased her brows. "Oh. Jessica is your sister. Oh.. wow. If you are his daughter, then why did that gatekeeper say you ruined the family?"

"I'm an illegitimate child. " she looked away.

She knew what was coming next, probably a 'sorry ' or an 'oh'. Or perhaps a sympathetic look, she hated it.

Mitchelle sighed dramatically. "Your life issa Movie."

Derin smiled tightly,somehow, she'd wanted sympathy.

"So, is this why that Lola was insulting you at the bonfire?"

Derin scrunched her brows. "How did you know? "

"I was behind Nonso when he dragged you away. We both heard everything." Mitchelle shrugged. "So, is that why?"

"Yeah. Something like that."

"So what made you guys bring the past back. What? Is something like karma catching up with you or something?"

Derin stared sharply at Mitchelle. The woman was a weird specimen. "What are you saying?"

Mitchelle set her now empty mug down. "I'm saying that something must have happened of recent for it to be brought up."

"Mitch-"

"I'm a lawyer Derin. I graduated with a first class degree. How the fuck do you think I'll miss things."

Derin groaned. "I should have known it was a horrible Idea talking to you."

Mitchelle smirked. "You have to tell me the story-"

"You have to act at least remorseful,  or... or advice me or at least give me a fucking shoulder to lean on." Derin shouted, feeling stupid all at once.

She was furious and sad, and guilty all at once and she'd needed someone who would comfort her or give her a piece of advice,yet Mitchelle, whom she had chosen sat there,  making a joke out of everything.

Mitchelle's gaze marched hers. "Your friends have been giving you a shoulder to lean on? And advice right?"

Derin remained silent.

Mitchelle shook her head. "How has that worked out for you all this while?"

Derin remained silent, clenching her fist.

"I can't feel remorseful when all that happened was your fault, you had been angry and you'd been blinded by it. The only advice I can give you,  is to not be the antagonist in your own story. Tell Nonso, and let whatever that is bothering you right now be his problem too,"

Derin's anger had dissolved,  Mitchelle went on. "I'm not your favorite person right now, but if you want my advice or shoulder or whatever it is you were saying,  then you'll tell me the whole story cause obviously I'm itching to know. But if you don't want to, that's fine. According to the story you've told me so far, you were at fault for even attempting to ruin someone's life anf then sleeping with your best friends crush, babe, that's pure evil."

She stopped talking. Her words sank into Derin's head like stone sank into water. Taking a deep breath, she went on with the story, telling her how Micheal had raped her,  how she remembered nothing, how Nonso had found out, how ify had confessed that Lola had been the one to Photoshop and send the naked pictures and how Daniel threatened her.

Mitchelle's mouth hung open as Derin finished.

"Wow. So your best friend was the one who did that to you. Hmm."

Derin stared at her now cold coffee.

"Derin. You will go to Daniel tomorrow,  you'll see him, but you must find out something that can put him behind bars for good, something apart from the rape."

Derin creased her brows. "What do you mean?"

Mitchelle moved closer. "Derin, I believe you've paid for all your sins, losing your best friends, that photoshop ish, being raped and worse not even remembering a thing. Those are the consequences of your actions. That Daniel is dangerous and my take is that he found out long ago that you were the one behind his exit from school. This rape must be some sort of revenge stuff, and if he was part, then he had made some drug, some drug that Micheal had used on you, making you to forget. You'll go to Daniel tomorrow,  I'll be with you. And I'll have to contact a friend of the legal world."

Derin gaped at Mitchelle. Her intelligence was one thing she began to admire, her strategic thinking and the fact that Mitchelle's words meant action. She didn't seem like a bluff queen.

"I'll contact Agent Sodiq, he is the best undercover guy. We are in this together. They are going down."

And in that moment, Derin knew that Michelle meant every word.

                    __________

I think this chapter shud av been named revealed secrets. 😏

Hoo well.

Question: have you ever trusted someone you kind of dislike blindly, or someone u aren't really close.

Answer d question 😜😜

❤ Ziterem.