Welcome back dear...I've really missed this story.

I missed this great story

Welcome back shalomdee. Nice update.

Shalomdee:
I am missing some people badly: queenitee love, EvaJael, Kimkardashain, joiful, Ayarmboye, Godmother (I will hail others later biko)
hope you guys have not thrown me away ko? Please come and read my updates

I missed you more love

am here baby.bin off 4 smtime

crislyn:
Welcome back dear...I've really missed this story.

Missed you too babe, so glad you are still following

FreshestManny:
Welcome back shalomdee. Nice update.

Thanks FreshestManny, here to serve

aprilwise:
Finally u don come update. Will Jane be able to help him?

Hmmn, it depends on a lot of things but let us all follow the story and get to know, thanks for following bae

SPDAZZY:
Finally read this today. You are doing a great job Shalomdee.

I feel Lancelot is just intuitive when it comes to his loved ones. Pan might have evil plans for Jane and he could be the one to save her.

Interesting view, but please keep reading. Thanks a lot for following

CHAPTER TEN continued

“Me?” Jane asked petrified. “What have I got to do with this?”

“Once upon a time I had a sister, I loved her so much but I became obsessed with her and my parents said it was becoming unbearable so they took me to the mental hospital but while I was getting treated I lost my dear sister, I became depressed but soon lightened when I forgot the memories, then my parents adopted my female cousin who I became really fond of, we became best of friends but then again the symptom of the obsession came back, this time however, I refused to follow my parents to see the psychiatrist because I feared I will lose my cousin. But then some bad news started spreading about my cousin and I which really made her upset, she pestered me to go see the psychiatrist but when I agreed and followed my parents, I don’t know what happened, she killed herself.”

Jane sat up in horror. She felt goose pimples all over her and the bad air was almost making her faint, it felt so difficult to breathe.

“So how do I fall into the puzzle?”

He looked at her with pity in his eyes, she looked frightened like a kitten that had just been booed. He had to find a way to lighten the situation so she would not get apprehensive of the future.

“I got worse then, refusing treatment and therapy. I missed a whole school year, lost my friends and my family seemed to think of me as some sort of alien with abnormal characteristics. I wanted to waste my life as well. I felt guilty for my cousin’s death.”

“Why did you need to feel guilty? Were you guilty?”

“Uhm... not exactly, but it was complicated and I felt terrible. I made up my mind one day to kill myself but after I had written my suicide note and took the insecticide i was to drink, I heard a knock on the door, reluctantly I went to open the door and there stood our Pastor with a Bible in his hand, he was doing evangelism in the neighbourhood he said and thought to say hello. I welcomed him in, I was home alone. He started to tell me that God needed me on the earth for a special assignment and that in whatever condition I found myself in, I should never lose faith in God because He will eventually help me conquer. He gave me a book to read and the title was IT’S NOT OVER TILL IT’S OVER. I wept and told him what I had intended doing, he took me home with him and from that day mentored me and his leadership helped me see positive things ahead.”

“Wow,” she said looking down.

He continued, “Anyway, the short story is: you remind me a lot about those two girls in my life who I lost, each time I see you, it seems as if I see them.”

She gripped him on the arm so quick he was shocked. “You need to get a grip of yourself, the devil is trying to make you lose focus... you need to hold on, stop giving him licence to make you think negative stuff.” She said seriously not minding the look on his face.

“Alright, I will do just as you have said.”

She released his arm slowly with a determined look.

“Brother?” She asked after some thought.

“Yes.”

“Are you obsessed about me now?”

He bit his lower lip so tight it was almost injured. He could not allow her know this, he had to dissuade her from this thought.

“Sometimes, the things we fear most are not actually what we need to be afraid of...We have to be going.” He stood up before she considered the message.

She was confused but she trusted him, she felt if he was really paranoid over her he would tell her. She stood up from the bench and followed him as he led the way out of the park. When they had reached a mile before the house, he put his hand on her shoulder and asked.

“How do you feel about what I told you? Do you feel scared?”

“Scared? No, only entangled.”

“Don’t tell my wifey, okay. She must never know.”

“How long do you plan to keep all these a secret from her? It will affect you. I think it’s best if you tell her the truth.”

“I see your concern, but trust me, it’s best we keep it a secret. Hmmn?”

“Okay,” she said and gulped, this was going to be a heavy secret.

Lancelot should tell his wify everything already .

Weldon ma . More are expected.

Welcome back ma
Thanks for rhe updates,
We wont reject more

The begining of entagled. Weldone dearie.

I don't like this secret ooooo. Lancelot should open up to the wifey and let our Jane be.

Oliver Twist mode launched

Give us more ma

Lancelot, abeg let Rahila know o. Eh, this is a big secret o

I don't like to keep secret cos the day it will blow out like boom no explanation or excuse will solve the problem

Jane is a wise girl...i hope she can help br Lancelot overcome this his obsession.

Dessydemmy:
The begining of entagled. Weldone dearie.

Thanking you

Pearl05:
Lancelot should tell his wify everything already .

Weldon ma . More are expected.

I hope so O, thanks Pearl105

I almost got lost reading this part. It was as if someone was telling me a true story. Lol, I guess my emotions must have caused that.


"I made up my mind one day to kill myself but after I had written my suicide note and took the insecticide i was to drink, I heard a knock on the door, reluctantly I went to open the door and there stood our Pastor with a Bible in his hand, he was doing evangelism in the neighbourhood he said and thought to say hello. I welcomed him in, I was home alone. He started to tell me that God needed me on the earth for a special assignment and that in whatever condition I found myself in, I should never lose faith in God because He will eventually help me conquer. He gave me a book to read and the title was IT’S NOT OVER TILL IT’S OVER. I wept and told him what I had intended doing, he took me home with him and from that day mentored me and his leadership helped me see positive things ahead.”


More Grace!

CHAPTER ELEVEN
Sebastine and his group were in the class talking, Jane was among them; it was three weeks to the date for the JAMB exams. There were two girls in the group apart from Jane. She had tried unsuccessfully to befriend them but they were determined to ignore her totally. Sebastine had brought her into the group without anyone’s permission just like he did to everyone else, but they were not obliged to like anyone they did not connect with. They had been enjoying the status of the only girls in the group, Habiba had been Sebastine’s unofficial lady, unofficial because he had not announced her to anyone, now Jane had come to share the little attention they were deriving in the group. They felt her nomination into the group was not fair and they therefore chose to take no notice of her.

Jane did not mind however, she knew in every organization girls gave each other a hard time because they wanted to be noticed individually, they envied their counterparts especially if they thought the other possessed something they did not, she was also not bothered about their behaviour because ever since she had joined the group she had become the centre of attraction among all the guys. They all wanted to get to know her and considered her cool, which Jane knew was a lie of course. Pretty? Yes. But she was anything far from being a cool girl. She was two or three years older than some of them and years of being out of a school setting had ridden her of eccentricities that were peculiar to youths considered cool. She knew deep within her that she behaved awkwardly among them and was trying her best to act and talk the way they did.

With Chukwudi it had been easy because he was matured and his behaviour was not like those who had just gotten out of secondary school. He behaved appropriately like an adult and she had no reason to try to act cool around him.

It felt difficult trying to blend with Sebastine’s group, yet they did not notice she was having this difficulty; they cherished her simple and ladylike ways. She on the other hand fancied their mannerisms which she paid great attention to. For instance, she had learned their handshake which comprised different twists of the fingers and hand signs. She had also began using their slangs and talked with a deliberate impulsiveness. She did all she could to leave her wittiness behind and say more jokes to make them laugh.

Two of the boys were having an argument about 2Pac being the world’s famous rapper, the cute tall dark boy was talking nicely to Ifeoma, the other girl in the group while Jane was watching Habiba the Muslim girl as she was listening to a song by Flavour using her earpiece. Her eyes were closed and she was singing soulfully along as if it was all that mattered to her in the world. Habiba was wearing a pink Indian gown and trouser and her hair was covered with a white hijab. Jane thought she looked immaculate. She was beautiful and she reminded Jane of brown and white kittens, the look on their faces when they rubbed their bodies unto something.

It was no longer news to her that Habiba came to Sebastine’s house in the evenings for more tutorials. It just surprised her that they even bothered to read. She still doubted that Sebastine was an intelligent boy. She wondered if both of them were dating, the boys did not say, but they seemed to infer that Habiba had a crush on Sebastine, from their gossip, she learned Habiba was trying to tie Sebastine down to a relationship which he was not ready for. Maybe that was why Habiba seemed not to like her. She thought that she, Jane was now in a relationship with Sebastine. But Jane knew Sebastine did not have any intention of asking her out, or maybe he did but now lacked the guts because he was now aware that Jane was older than him. Still he called her his lady and gave her preferential treatment. Perhaps this was what infuriated Habiba.

Jane wondered why a beautiful girl like Habiba would be angry with another girl over a boy. If she knew who she was, she would not struggle for any boy’s recognition.

Jane now had one problem on her hands, she was having a hard time reading, ever since Sebastine’s group had accepted her, she no longer had time to read. At the centre, she had to be with them everywhere and even when she went back home, the little time she hoped to spend reading at night was always spent on conference calls with the members of the group. Her cousin had caught her in the midst of the conference call one night and had ordered her to switch her phone off right away, scolding her for using her reading time in the night to do stupid calls, did she know what lay ahead of her? Did she want to fail? Did she not know her passing JAMB was the most important thing now in her life?

She had to find a way to escape the group and read. The group was interesting no doubt and she had been thrilled to join them though the members had been the ones who had followed her up and coerced her to be part of them upon Sebastine’s nomination. They would follow her around during breaks or one of the boys would go looking for her whenever she escaped to go and read, then he would bring her to wherever the group was staying and they would buy her a drink and engage her in discussion.

She thought of telling her cousin to withdraw her from the centre so she could have more time to read at home, but she weighed the decision in her heart, would it be more beneficial if she stayed in the centre or not? She was not certain if leaving the centre would favour her, despite the distraction from her present friends, the lectures she got from the centre was really helping her since it had been quite a while since she left secondary school. She would discuss it with Lancelot to hear his own opinion on the matter. Her cousin would only be upset with her for allowing herself belong to a group that was a distraction if she told her, ever since she had caught her making that conference call she had started looking at Jane suspiciously.

“Do you know Jason and I were at Tantalisers yesterday night, I wanted to call you to find out if you would come but your number was switched off, we had a lot of fun, but it was not complete without you.” Sebastine said to her.

She smiled revealing her dimples. Jason was the cute tall dark boy,

“That was so sweet of you, but I doubt if I would have been able to come, my cousin would have said no.”

“Oh, that’s bad. But why was your number switched off last night and this morning?”

“My cousin has barred me from receiving night calls.” Jane said. It was a lie, but she had to come up with something fast to help herself.

“You are kidding right? Barred you? Is she the one who bought the phone for you?”

“Her husband did.”

“She must be wicked to you.”

“Oh, no. My cousin is the kindest lady on earth; she is just worried I might not pass my JAMB with my continuous night calls.”

“Just when the group was beginning to enjoy our conference calls. It won’t be the same without you.”

“I’m flattered.”

“I’m not flattering. Anyway I was planning to organise a hangout for the group before we write our exams. I haven’t told anyone else yet, what do you think?” He said almost whispering.

It did not really sound wonderful but she had to feign admiration for the idea, “Oh, it’s a wonderful idea. It will be very good for us to hangout together. What time would it be?”

“In the afternoon maybe after our classes, so you girls will have no excuse not to come- especially you.”

Jane smiled. She enjoyed Sebastine’s company. He was nice and had a good sense of humour, even when he made jest of people, he did that in a manner they were not offended and even laughed themselves. He had befriended many of his friends by making jest of them.

“Hey dude, why don’t I take a picture of you both?” Jason asked after observing them from behind for some time.

Ifeoma rolled her eyes and Habiba gave Jason a killer’s look and went back to listening to her music.

“That’s good, what do you think My Lady?” He did not wait for her answer but drew her hands to follow him till they were standing in front of the science class.

“Say cheese!” Jason ordered and the camera light flickered. He held the phone to Sebastine. “Do you mind, me and her.” He gestured to Jane and himself.

“You want to snap with My Lady, my own lady?”

“Come on, abeg joor, take and snap.”

Reluctantly Sebastine collected the phone and clicked on the camera.

“Why don’t we all take a group picture?” Someone in the class suggested.

They all rushed outside.

Nice update shalomdee.


But I think you are wasting much time on Jane lesson classes.

Welcome back Shalomdee. Nice update.

hehehe, Sebastine warn yourself o, biko

I Pray She End Up Well

CHAPTER ELEVEN continued
****************************************************************
Sundays were always fascinating for Jane, particularly when they had to worship at the Mountain of Fire church in Gwagwalada. The church had its own youth church separated from the adult and children’s church. The youth pastor was a young fellow who loved to display his energy and vibrancy. The resident pastor had once told him that God had a special reason for not allowing him to remain in the world- because he would have really done a lot of damage. Pastor Francis also encouraged a lot of fun in the youth church because he was of the opinion that it was what drew youths to love church. They would have series of games, drama, interactive sessions, memory verse recitals and motivational talks. It made everyone comfortable and at ease.

Auntie Peace was the youth Pastor’s sister, everyone called her Auntie because she was older than most of the youths but yet unmarried, which disqualified her from moving to the adult church. She was peaceful as her name implied and tried to make friends with all the girls in the youth church. She knew all the girls by name and had their numbers on her phone. They got her text messages every weekend and Mondays. It was hard not to like Auntie Peace; her smile could tame a lion in hot pursuit of its prey. Many of the girls made her their mentor; she had so much advice to give to them concerning academics, spirituality, friendship and relationship.

She had a word of advice for every lady and most girls came to her for relationship advice.

“No no, Sweetie. If he cannot cook for himself, he should hold on till you are married to him first, after all, you will have all the time in the world to cook for him the way he wants it. Of course he can hold on, he held on all these years before he found you didn’t he? Just some more months won’t kill him. The moment you accept the idea that it is your duty to cook for your fiancé, you will only be hurting the relationship, and when the relationship is hurting, it means you are hurting.” Auntie Peace will say to one of the ladies who would come to her.

“What if he threatens to pull out of the relationship because of that reason?” The advice seeker will ask.

“Bae, any man who threatens to pull out of the relationship simply because you won’t cook for him is unserious, does not love you and does not love God. Courtship is a moment the two of you are supposed to spend getting to know each other not the time you are supposed to start practising married life. At that moment, both of you are still independent of one another, the church and God has not joined you so he has no right to order you to cook for him.”

“But Auntie Peace, he may say he wants to sample my cooking to see if I am a good cook.”

“You can cook for him when he comes to see you in your father’s house, I am not against that, but it is bad for him to start ordering you to prepare meals for him in his house, that is a trap for both of you to commit fornication. And even then, he will think he owns you already and can make demands from you which may not be convenient with you. As ladies, we must place value on ourselves, when you are married, you can do all the things he wants, but as long as you are still single, you should focus on the things you need to do.”

“You are right you know.”

“Take it from me sister.”

The both of them would then smile. Auntie Peace apart from her friendly demeanour was known for her timeless advice on relationship, but it was a wonder to Jane that she still remained single. She had almost everything a man needed, and she was a wise one too. What was wrong with the men in church, were they blind? Jane always believed that the church management had purposely made the youth church separate to encourage their eligible singles to get married to one another. They had their own time to plan their activities without the intrusion of any adult. Meeting each other always and getting to know themselves would make them develop interest in themselves- holy interest of course. Still, Auntie Peace was unmarried and she was the most eligible bachelorette.

Tseju was Jane’s best friend in church; she had a voice of an angel and sang in choir.

“Do something for the Lord with your time; you won’t always be a youth.” Tseju will say to Jane occasionally.

By ‘doing something for the Lord’, Tseju meant Jane joining the ushering department. The choir was a ‘don’t dare’ for her because when she sang, the youths told her she sang with key W. Sanitation department was for losers, according to the youths, who in his or her right senses would want to spend his or her time as a youth cleaning a building? They marvelled at youths that opted to join the sanitation team. Ushering was for pretty faces, that was the unwritten law. And Jane was a face that if you saw you would want to look at again, and who would not want a pretty face like hers welcoming them to church and ushering them to a seat with a smile?

But Jane had a challenge in ‘doing something for the Lord’. She did not see herself as one the Lord would want to work in his vineyard. She was still a sinner, unrepentant, a participator in trendy and fashionable sins. She was not yet ‘broken’; she had not yet surrendered completely to God. She feared that being a worker will expose her to God’s wrath like it did to Ananaias and Saphira. It was true that many youths in the church were not also broken, many were unrepentant sinners, more were secret atheists who only came to church to please their parents and others were in between those wanting to be saved and those already saved, the indecisive. She enjoyed church because she knew church was where God’s glory was evident, but she preferred enjoying it from the outer court, entering the inner court was a risk she did not want to take.

Tseju must have thought she knew better than Jane for that Sunday after service she strode to a smiling and talking Mr and Mrs Okafor and told them boldly to encourage Jane to be a partaker in the Lord’s vineyard. They were all perplexed, Jane inclusive; she had to restrain her right hand from the battle it longed to fight because she was in the presence of her cousin and cousin-in-law. Tseju went on blabbing effusively about how precious the work of saints was to God and how it served as a reminder to God when saints were in danger. She ended with a brief smile as if she had just finished a speech about saving the whales.

Lancelot thanked her for that noteworthy observation and promised to look into it, as if it was a matter of politics that he would need looking into. Rahila held Jane’s hands and pushed her into the car because the look in her eyes was terrifying, it was the look Simba had given Uncle Scar right before he had pounced on him upon discovering his involvement in his father’s death. It was better to be safe than sorry, Rahila seemed to think.

“What do you say about what your friend said Jane?” Lancelot asked looking at Jane from the rear-view mirror.

Rahila coughed and signalled to him with her eyes. They looked at Jane again.

“Tseju, Tseju ehn, that girl.” Jane said with her eyes on her lap.

“I’ll just keep driving.” Lancelot mused aloud.

Pearl05:
Nice update shalomdee.


But I think you are wasting much time on Jane lesson classes.

Really? Since it is a novel I thought we might as well explore all the opprtunities Jane has, don't you worry, the real meat is coming. But remember, this is Jane's life and we are exploring it

Queensiju:
Welcome back Shalomdee. Nice update.

Thanks honey, you welcome as well

queenitee:
hehehe, Sebastine warn yourself o, biko

Abi

Toyin223:
I Pray She End Up Well

Me too, I've never written a tragic book before and don't hope to.

Lol, I just love them. Lancelot, Rahila and Jane