If there was anything Jude hated, it was a break in rhythm or his "groove" as he loved to call it. Having worked hard to achieve his current groove he was unwilling to loose it to anything particularly unnecessary.
Now not everyone would understand this but to Jude was one of the few introverts who were far too introspective for their own good, finding faults with himself, his appearance, lifestyle, achievements, and everything around him. Even at eighteen when most of his mates had the attention span of a rubber spoon and could bounce back from any unusual event-some even going as far as doing ridiculous and completely unnecessary things for kicks, he was already trying to figure out if life as we know it was just a lucky accident or if it was really designed. If it was indeed designed, then are the flaws in the system deliberate? What purpose do they serve? A psychologist would probably say they are there to prevent life from getting too boring because without problems life would be too bland and dull.
Okay, we can all agree that life is a miracle however it started but there can be such a thing as too much life. Man gets sick when pathogens enter the body and try to survive, yes survive. Sometimes their feeding, excretion or reproduction is what causes the visible symptoms of the diseases. We say disease causing organisms are bad and spend time and money trying to come up with new drugs and measures to fight them but looking at the big picture maybe they are trying to maintain balance in the ecosystem of life. We all agree that balance must be maintained, if one part of the system gets too big the whole system collapses.
But is Man not a hypocrite for stating these laws but not living by them, population rises by the day, new drugs and surgical procedures drastically reduce mortality rates we kill wildlife and plants to satisfy our sometimes vain desires....as the boss, I need a mahogany table....and for that table three poor trees which took all of ten years to mature will be cut down without replacement. Green house emissions everywhere and the list goes on . So the question is, how different is man from those microscopic parasites we detest so much....
The obvious solution will be to drastically reduce the population, but life is sacred the idea of reducing the population is to ensure long term survival of the species. But killing off billions would be hypocritical if that's our aim. Scientists have probably realized this that's why they are hooked on finding habitable planets outside of our own. But are we going to find one?If yes do we have the technology to make it there.....the honest answer for now would be no.
These thoughts and more were constantly on Jude's mind and weighed him down. He often wondered if he was blessed or cursed with his inquisitive mind. They say ignorance is bliss. Most of his peers were blissfully ignorant of these things and were content to live life by the second....

Chapter 2
But his life wasn't always like that. Every now and then, he would experience periods of unusual happiness when he would be happy and carefree. He referred to this as getting his groove on and did his best to make sure nothing unusual happened to disrupt this state of mind because most times what followed was that deep introspective cesspool where he would wallow on and on thinking about life.
Presently, Jude was in one of his good moods and was on his way from school, he had cracked a few jokes in class, given a lecture at the science club meeting and impressed both teachers and students alike with his intelligence and advanced perspective on most matters as usual. With earphones plugged in and The Cranberries- Linger blasting in his ears, he felt good and appreciated the few dope things in life like the New age and opera singers, the artists and extremely talented authors and scriptwriters who offer an escape from the sheer blandness of life. Making the turn into his street, he say a big van in the plot right next to his house, the splendid duplex had been completed for some months now but no one had moved in. So he was surprised to see men moving furniture and other stuff. By the looks of it, they had been at it for some hours and were nearly through. Well well...what to do? None of my business he thought and decided to walk by, that was when he saw her. A perfect specimen of the female species. She was extremely beautiful. Petite but voluptuous, very fair skin, incredible shape, pink lips and long natural hair. He stood as if thunderstruck as he took in this information...now Jude was very handsome and a lot of girls made moves on him but he always found a way to turn them down because he had this strange sense of what the term beautiful meant. Most of the time, guys gush about girls they met and how beautiful they were only to disappoint him when he actually saw the girls in person, he supposed it was not just the appearance but the aura the girl exuded that really interested him and so far very few had managed to stir him in that manner. Some closet gay guys assumed he might not be straight and tried and failed to impress him either. At some point he started to wonder if he had a sex drive at all. But as he occasionally felt the need to watch porn and relieve some pressure he supposed he was just extremely picky.
"Good afternoon...I said good afternoon..." "what" Jude struggled to remember where he was and realized that he was still standing in the middle of the street and the girl that had him reminiscing was now waving her hand in front of him.."oh good afternoon" he quickly replied "did you just move in" realizing how stupid the question sounded even as the words left his lips, the girl was oblivious to this though "yeah we just moved in, and looks like we're neighbours" "yeah, I live here" replied Jude pointing to his house "uh huh, I saw your mom earlier, she came out to greet us, the resemblance is uncanny" "yeah yeah...I get that a lot.....nice to meet you I'm Jude by the way" "nice to meet you too, I'm Ivie but you can call me I.V" "alright then Ivie I'll see you around" she smiled and extended her hand for a handshake, Jude struggled to keep a straight face as he felt shockwaves traveling through his body.
Stepping into his compound he realized he had being on auto pilot when answering her questions and struggled to remember everything about the conversation.... Damn and there goes my groove...

Drop your comments and suggestions.......

Enthralling! pls continue.

Chapter 3
'Good afternoon ma' he said as he breezed past his mum still in a daze. Getting to his room he closed the door and proceeded to lie down on the bed facing the ceiling.
Jude had the misfortune of never being in close proximity with the few girls he had actually felt attracted to. It was either in a bus, the city library or someplace similar and being the kind of guy he was, he never made a move on them but was simply content to daydream about "what could have been". If he was honest with himself, which he was most of the time, he would admit that one other reason he hadn't started dating was his "fear of the unknown". By now we all know that Jude is philosophical and yearns to understand everything around him, he could spend countless hours trying to resolve a particular mystery or satisfy his curiosity on any particular topic no matter how insignificant others may consider it.....a quality some may consider admiring. One flaw of this habit however is that people like this have an aversion for things they can't figure out and predict, and one of course as the saying goes "No one knows tomorrow". Jude maintained a calm and composed exterior all the time with a perfect poker face, which took no less than ten years to master by the way, and always managed to hide how easily affected he was by things happening around him and how even a simple statement could destabilize him. He had discovered that, the closer he was to someone the more sway the person had over him and his natural empathy made him unable to turn a blind eye to his precious people in need even when he was sure they were faking it. He remembered taking the fall for his friend who stole a fellow classmate's money in primary school simply because the boy didn't want to loose his position as class prefect. As soon as the teacher demanded to know who had taken the money, he glanced at his friend and say him quivering and his hand immediately flew into the air just. "Are you sure you took the money", "yes Ma, I bought biscuits with it". "But your classmates said you haven't left the class since morning, even during break and the biscuits you brought from home haven't been eaten" "I don't like them ma, that's why I took the money to get the one I actually want". The teacher sighed and though she knew something was wrong, she had to do the needful. "Get me a good cane" "yes ma" said the prefect as he jumped to his feet choosing to ignore the ones on the shelf at the back of the class, preferring to go all the way to the next class to get a humongous cane from the sadistic teacher of the Primary 5A class. The teacher gave Jude six strokes of the cane, far less than normal for such an offense and refused to parade him arouned the school for stealing. The prefect led the charge for those that screamed favoritism and the teacher had to resort to flogging them in order to get them to keep quiet. All this while Jude looked on in shock at the friend he sacrificed so much for and right there he promised himself that he wouldn't let anyone come close again......

Chapter 4
Even now his mum took advantage of this quality, but Jude knew instinctively that she would never do anything to hurt him. He never really thought about his self inflicted solitude. In fact he enjoyed it a lot and prolonged interaction with people wore him out. One of the reasons he really liked his neighborhood was the relative absence of annoying teens and noisemakers. It was quiet most of the time with the silence occasionally broken by innocent playing kids. 'Ahhhh childhood' he sighed, the period of total innocence and justified obliviousness. He loved and admired kids and never distanced himself from them, the kids were unnaturally open with him and never shied away, even babies. He supposed that that was because kids are more observant than most people give them credit for. They can read body language and tend to shy away from those they don't trust....being popular with the kids meant being popular with their parents and he often dreaded walking around the neighborhood as greetings poured in left and right...
He occupied himself with music, the Internet, schoolwork and everything from ancient history and astrology to geography and further mathematics. His favourite music genre was New Age and he enjoyed music by Enya, Enigma, Yanni and a host of others....he also loved music from other genre but they all had the common element of stirring in him a mood of sobriety. From Phil Collins another day in paradise, Coldplay viva la vida, Linkin Park Numb to classics such as Anita Baker's Rapture of Love.... He also enjoyed playing the piano. Jude therefore had enough activities to occupy his time and never really felt lonely, at least that's what he told himself.
"Jude dinner is ready, come and eat". Jude got up and realized he'd been there for almost two and a half hours. He hurriedly changed out of his clothes and had a quick bath before heading downstairs. He wouldn't have bothered with the shower but his mum had the nose of an "Inuzuka" he chuckled at the thought. The Inuzuka were a clan from his favourite Anime Naruto with a very sharp sense of smell. "What are you laughing at young man" "sorry mum I just remembered something " "talking to yourself is not good. Maybe you need to go out more" "I'm alright thanks....I just remembered something from Naruto" "ohh that childish cartoon you watch""it's not childish mum, that's anime a superb Japanese art form, the stories are complex and awesome, more so than those Indian and Korean series you watch" "yeah yeah how different is it from the power puff whatever you used to watch as a child, as for my films at least they are actual people".
They both laughed and sat down to eat. His dad had travelled to Lagos to see his brother and took Jude's younger sister Nancy with him..for which Jude was eternally grateful. Jude and Nancy were five years apart in age and everything he hated she loved and vise versa. When they were younger she made his life hell by constantly invading his room in and taking, sometimes breaking his stuff at that phase in life when he was just starting to appreciate having his personal space all to himself. It was hell indeed worse still, she was extremely popular both at school and in the neighborhood and often brought hordes of her friends home. He would be forced to leave the sitting room for them and had sacrificed many precious hours of PS 4 gaming because the girls were around. He could just sit around and ignore them but that would be falling into their trap... He knew the girls had puppy crushes on him and stared at him without blinking for minutes at a time, he could feel their eyes on his skin and many times they brought him presents and being a nice guy, he always accepted and tried to show gratitude,this seemed to encourage the girls and it became a competition to see who could impress him. Eventually he had resort to barricading himself in his room to avoid the onslaught. Jude blamed his dad for getting the 60inch tv and ruining the gaming experience on smaller tvs for him.
But that's by the wayside for now he had the house to himself and planned to spend the entire weekend catching up on lost gaming time. Assassins creed, uncharted, metal gear...damn it's been a while..."a while" he was just two weeks but for an avid gamer like himself, that was an eternity..."Must you lie down to eat" "I enjoy it better like this, besides the ancient Romans lay on couches around the dinner table, they actually didn't like sitting down to eat and they still conquered the ancient world""that one is your own ooo.come on sit down young man". Jude begrudgingly sat down and soon finished his meal. He quickly jumped to the settee and turned on his gaming console...yeah now where were we, yeah I was supposed to assassinate that pirate he chuckled "I've told you to stop talking to yourself, get up and check if someone's at the door""oooooohhhhhhnh" grumbling Jude got up and opened the door, for the second time that day he was rendered speechless.......

don't ever leave people hanging like this....
you just made my day
this is actually a great masterpiece you should publish it..
where is chapter 5..??

Your story holds a lot of promise but it is a bit untidy.

Please, add double paragraphs to separate the dialogues from the rest of the story. Makes it easier to read that way.

I'll try to update often, it's my first story and I'll try to update regularly if I'm encouraged....

Aadetola1:
Enthralling! pls continue.

Nooxa:
don't ever leave people hanging like this....
you just made my day
this is actually a great masterpiece you should publish it..
where is chapter 5..??

Thanks guys ...... I'll do my best.

Chapter 5
"Do you hate it when people greet you? Jude heard a voice ask..or rather he could tell by the movement of soft looking pink lips, that he was being questioned....."What? No I don't" he quickly replied.....damn I need to stop spacing out so often."I was just lost in thought". Jude felt his reply was inconsequential and he was going to get a chewing out from the girl but she just shrugged and quipped "okay we came to see you" Jude's acute mind was already doing advanced statistics, trying to figure out what in particular he was needed for. For a wild split-second, he even considered that they might be aliens here to experiment on him even though he knew the odds were microscope at best.. Forcing himself back to the present he asked unintelligibly "we?"
Yes my mom and I came to see your mom so as to be brought up to speed with all the goings on in this neighborhood...there she is" she said pointing to her mum who seemed to have just got off the phone.. Grateful for the interruption he quickly greeted her and directed them to the sitting room where his mum was already waiting for them. Making a beeline for his room, he wondered if he should be sad to have his gaming time cut short. Strangely enough though he was more concerned about how he may have made a poor first impression on the girl. "She probably thinks I'm an idiot" he thought...and then he wondered.....perhaps she's shallow and vain, with such beauty she would be popular and proud, bad at academics and spoilt rotten" she seemed to be an only child and that supported his theory of her being a "spoilt princess". Gradually he began to calm down and didn't see what the big deal was about her. He was suddenly sure that he wouldn't be so affected the next time he saw her.
What he didn't admit to himself was that this thought process was to prevent himself from letting her in and probably getting hurt. His gift of foresight was a blessing and a curse. Even before he talked to a girl he might be attracted to, he already tried to guess the potential lifespan of the relationship and almost always found it unsatisfactory. Most people screamed 'I love you' today only to hurl insults at each other the next day. As an SS 3 student what are the odds that a relationship started now would lead to something long term and beautiful, without the attendant heartbreak and sorrow. Minute at best he concluded, and since he didn't believe in relationships solely based on sex, he resolved to guarding his heart jealously.

Chapter 6
Jude started when he heard a knock on the door. "Who's there? " he asked, he was sure it wasn't his mum because she never knocked and seemed to constantly try to catch him in compromising positions. No question as to where his sister got her sense of mischief from. "It's me Ivie" ... Wow...in the voice of falz the bahd guy.... I never esperrerrit...
Normally he preferred his room to be in a state of "organized chaos" as he termed it ... With everything not quite where they out to be but easy to find... His shirt might be on the bed and his socks on the tv, but he always knew where to find them and was quite happy with the state of things....
In the voice of wyclef......that was then...this is now.....
Now he wasn't so sure if it was alright. A more urgent knock made him open the door without further ado. "Hi" she said and breezed past him, without waiting to be invited in. Sitting herself on a chair in the corner she started going through his cd collection. Jude stood stock still and watched her, not sure how to react. Nearly a minute later she looked up and smiled. "Wow she said, I never thought I'd meet another avid New Age fan in Benin City. Picking up the Yanni album- In Ethnicity, she quickly slot the disc into the player and leaned back to enjoy the first track.
Jude watched her like a hawk, still not sure what to do. He finally moved from the doorway opting to leave it open and save himself the possibility of being teased by his mum about how he had a girl up in his room alone..with the door closed.
As the music started, he began to calm down, since she was sitting on his chair, he opted to sit on the bed, he glanced up again and she still had her eyes closed. Soon he followed suit and and the thought of having company while listening to his special music was alien and the feeling was intense. Before either of them knew it the entire album had played out and they both opened their eyes.
Smiling at each other, they both had the same thought in mind "what else do we have in common" and just like that the ice was broken.
Jude wanted to have an idea of the depth of her knowledge and saw his chance when she remarked that her favorite song by Enigma, another new age act was Sadeness.
"Do you know" he said that the word sadistic was derived from the name of a particularly twisted guy in France" "Marquise de Sade" she cut him off"...wow again he used the expression..... i never esperrerrit... In his mind again. An intellectual discussion started that continued until Ivie's mum called for her to come downstairs. Jude was incredibly sad and didn't want her to leave just yet....
"Mum, she can still stay, I'll personally walk her home when she's ready to go" "
"Yes oooo, we would really love to stay but we have some unpacking to do" Ivie's mum said "she can come over tomorrow"
"Don't worry young man you'll see her tomorrow
Jude was surprised at how uncharacteristic he was acting and how his mum seemed to have reverted to treating him like a wounded child...
"Damnnnn he whistled ......I've been had at last....... He didn't mind much though.

Thanks for the update

I love your story. Please update.

more updates coming up. Mention anyone you think might like the story. ....

Lovely story u have here, keep up the good work

Chapter 7
Chapter 7.
Ivie was a special child, a happy accident. Her parents had gotten married very early, just before her dad had to leave Benin for University in the U.K. The guy was unwilling to loose his beautiful girlfriend and managed to convince her family and his, that he was ready for marriage. He married her and consummated the marriage before leaving, making sure she was his. 8months into his program, his wife had a baby boy and it took him another six months to see his child for the first time. He left her to go back to school, this time pregnant with twins.

Two years later when he came back, it was to a flourishing family, with three boys and his beautiful wife. Taking his place in his father's firm, he successfully built it into one of the most prominent law firms in the country. This meant he was away from home often and only after he achieved the level of success he wanted did he slow down. By then his boys were grown up and away at university. One thing led to another and his wife surprised him with the news of her pregnancy.
After her birth, her dad took the opportunity to make up for all the time he spent away from home and showered her with love and affection. Her siblings doted on her and she grew up like a princess, never lacking anything.
Her eldest brother studied law and settled in Abuja, the elder of the twins followed suit while the younger studied Medicine in Canada and settled there. They didn't come home often anymore and she was rather lonely even though she was very outgoing.

She was intelligent and hardworking, though she seldom had to do anything herself. One glance at her could win anyone over, Teachers and classmates alike and friends were plentiful. Now moving into her new neighborhood, she looked forward to starting school and making new friends. She already made one friend, her new neighbor Jude.
He seemed to zone out often for reasons unknown to her, well most of the boys and even a few men did around her so she wasn't so surprised.

"Ivie, did you learn all you wanted to know about the school from Jude" her mum asked as they went home. "Oh, totally forgot to ask about that" she replied offhandedly....and bristled under her mums suspicious gaze "what's with that look mum?". "What were you two doing the entire time?" Her mum asked, with a sly look on her face. "Talking. He's such a great guy, we seem to have a lot in common and I enjoy his company". Her mum laughed "right...are you sure you don't have a crush on him?" "Jesus mummy, I don't have a crush on anyone, good night"
Her mum watched her go to her new room and sighed. Her daughter used to be so open to her and never hid anything. As soon as she hit puberty and started maturing into basically every guy's wet dream, guys hit on her left and right and girls flocked around her. She accepted everyone into her fold and seemed to thrive on the attention she got. She never even rebuffed a guy.

At the same time, she never brought a boy home, was never caught sending or receiving love messages, she went out a lot and it was hard to determine which ones were actually dates. The girl seemed to be a master of secrecy and there was no other explanation..........unless she was just painfully oblivious of the effects of her beauty on guys. The realization struck her mum like a thunderbolt. Maybe she was still emotionally immature and didn't recognize the obvious signs that guys liked her, that would also explain why she didn't like anyone yet.
The whole thing seemed a little too far fetched, but it would explain a lot.....She didn't know if she should be happy that her baby girl was still a baby or not. A stray thought occurred to her 'what if she's a lesbian,she definitely rolls with the best looking girls and her lack of respect for personal space means that she's always touchy-feely with her friends'.

"No, I'd rather she be immature than a lesbian, I want to plan my daughters wedding and have grandchildren after all". She quickly banished the train of thought and went back to sorting her kitchen utensils.

Love this story, Oga please more update

@silas24, please come and complete this story.

raptex:
@silas24, please come and complete this story.

. New updates coming up asap.

silas24:
. New updates coming up asap.

Great.

Wow, I love this

cool stuff

silas24:
. New updates coming up asap.

cool stuff

Mr Silas is it possible for me to get the PDF of this story?

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Ann2012:
Following

hey you?.

Moura7:

hey you?.

Hi you

Ann2012:

Hi you

funny.... I'd give you that.Thing is I'm new here and I'd really like you to check out my work 'undecided'....noticed your the Ateam here and trust me I wanna play for the Ateam

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Wow is like I am reading about me self. Not including the rich guy stuff but Jude's impression about life. Nice one bro. Keep it up