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jupitre:
I'm loving this...
He's a pawn and he doesn't even know it

He manipulated himself into the plan, and all she had to do was shrug 😂😂

Present Day

What the hell just happened?

The question echoed through Ezinne’s mind long after Mofe had left the study.

For several moments, she’d remained exactly where he had left her, standing motionless in the middle of the room like someone struggling to return fully to herself. The silence around her felt strange now, thick with the aftermath of everything that had just unfolded.

Slowly, she lowered herself onto the sofa behind her before her legs embarrassed her completely. One trembling hand gripped the armrest while the other pressed lightly against her chest as if she could physically steady the wild beating of her heart.

‘I never stopped loving you, Ezinne.’

Her heart reacted violently every single time the words replayed themselves. Which was every few seconds, whether she invited them or not.
God. Those words had shattered through her the moment he had uttered them. Why had he confessed them to her? What was she supposed to do with the information? What exactly did he want from her? That was the part she could not understand, not even the kiss.

The kiss at least made sense in a catastrophic sort of way. Mofe had always kissed like he was trying to ruin her permanently. Like he approached kissing with the same terrifying intensity he approached everything else he cared about.

And then his ‘goodnight, Ezinne…’

The soft, calm certainty in his voice after their earth-bending kiss had shaken her more deeply than she wanted to admit. Because he had not sounded embarrassed or panicked. He’d not sounded like a man who had lost control emotionally and immediately regretted it.

No. He had sounded like a man who meant every word he said and was entirely unafraid of her knowing it.

Her breathing had steadied somewhat, but the rest of her had not. Her pulse still beat wildly in places that embarrassed her. Her mouth still tingled. Her body still felt too aware of him, even though he had been gone for several minutes.

“No,” she whispered weakly into the empty room.

Because no matter how many years passed, Mofe still somehow knew exactly where to touch her emotionally to leave devastation behind.
Slowly, before she could stop herself, her fingers rose toward her mouth, but froze halfway through the movement, and then groaned softly in frustration and dropped her hand back into her lap.

“This is ridiculous.”

But it was not ridiculous. That was the problem. It was real. Every horrible, beautiful second of it had been real.

The warmth of his hands around her waist. The roughness in his breathing. The way he had kissed her like restraint was physically painful. The way her own body had betrayed her almost immediately, softening against him before her mind even had the chance to protest.
God, her knees had actually weakened.

Ezinne covered her face briefly with both hands.

“You are a grown woman,” she muttered at herself in disbelief.

She was a mother. A professional. She managed an entire institution. And yet one kiss from Mofe had reduced her into something breathless, trembling and frighteningly close to helpless.

And what was truly humiliating was that some traitorous part of her had wanted it, still wanted it … wanted him.

The tension between them had been building for weeks now, and she had known it. She had felt it every time he stood too close and she caught a whiff of his heady masculine scent. Every time his voice softened unexpectedly around her. Every time she felt him staring at her longer than necessary.

In the car rides, every day to work and back. At dinner, when he chose to stay for it. On the horse. At the resort, when he’d held her against his chest, every nerve ending in her body had awakened so violently she thought she might lose her mind.
She had felt it gathering steadily between them, but she had ignored it like an idiot. Now she was sitting alone in the study, unable to stop replaying the exact feeling of his mouth on hers.

The memory hit her again suddenly. The deepness of the kiss. The way he made a rough sound against her lips when she melted against him. The possessiveness in the way his hand tightened around her waist.

She felt the sudden flush of heat course through her body and nearly cursed aloud. “For goodness sake, get over it already.”

But it wasn’t so easy. Especially as she had kissed him back just as desperately. Not politely, or cautiously. Not like a confused woman accidentally caught in an emotional moment.

She had even clung to him. God help her, she had clung to him.

Ezinne closed her eyes tightly behind her dark glasses.

What on God’s good green earth had been going through her mind? One moment, she had been angry with him. Hurt. Questioning him, demanding honesty and trying to protect herself from yet another disappointment. But somehow, impossibly, the conversation had spiralled so far away from where it started that she could barely trace the path anymore.

How had they moved from arguing about his dishonesty …to her blurting out fears about him eventually leaving her behind for another woman …to Mofe, accusing her of trying not to fall for him again …to that kiss?

One minute, she had been furious with him. Next, he had kissed every coherent thought out of her head and confessed he had never stopped loving her like some character from one of those ridiculous romance novels Rachel liked forcing her to listen to.

And worst of all? A part of her believed him.

That was the truly dangerous part. Not the kiss. Not the confession. The sincerity.

Mofe had sounded like a man laying himself bare. No manipulation. No charm. No careful strategy. Just raw truth spilling out before he could stop it.

And that terrified her.

Because she did not know what to do with the fact that hearing those words had not pushed her away from him. If anything, it had weakened her even further.

Ezinne sighed shakily and reached for her glasses properly again, adjusting them over her face. She needed to calm down. Needed to think rationally again. Needed to remember all the reasons she should be careful with Mofe.

He had secrets.

He had hidden things.

He had made decisions behind her back.

Even tonight, she had only discovered the truth because she overheard him and her father talking … her father.

The thought alone exhausted her all over again. She leaned her head back against the couch and closed her eyes behind the dark lenses.
The image of her dad standing in the reception area returned sharply. The sound of his voice. The cold shock that had moved through her body, hearing him after so many years. Then Mofe’s voice had cut through the air moments later, angry, protective and carrying an anger so deep it still unsettled her.

There was history between those two men. A lot of it. And she was more than certain that Mofe still was not telling her everything.
Her phone began ringing suddenly beside her, startling her enough that she jumped slightly. She groped for it across the couch cushions before finding it by touch. The familiar ringtone calmed her a little when she realised who it was. Rachel. Thank God.

Ezinne answered through the Bluetooth earbuds still resting in her ears. “Hi Rachel?”

Rachel’s cheerful voice burst through immediately. “Finally! I have called you like three times today. Seems you were busy all day.”

Despite herself, Ezinne smiled faintly. “I’ve had a long day, Rachel. I only just got home not too long ago.”

“Oh wow ... How did the event go?”

Ezinne let out a tired breath and rested deeper into the couch. “It actually went really well. Better than I expected. There were so many people. The turnout was huge.”

“Oh, that's incredible, Ezinne. I'm so glad. So Mofe came through with everything he promised?"

And there it was. The name that Ezinne had been circling since she picked up the call, spoken plainly and without warning.

”Yes … I guess so.” Ezinne muttered, but she should have known her friend knew her too well.

Rachel paused immediately, as she sensed something in the tone of Ezinne’s voice. It was one of the things she loved most about her friend.
Rachel always knew when something was wrong beneath the surface.

“What’s wrong?” She asked.

“Umm … Nothing.”

“Ezinne.”

The simple way Rachel said her name made Ezinne’s shoulders sag slightly.

Ezinne sighed heavily. “It’s just…” She stopped.

“What happened?”

For a few seconds, Ezinne debated brushing it off. Where exactly was she supposed to start? With the surgery? With her father? With Mofe confessing he loved her? With that kiss that still felt branded onto her mouth?

Then suddenly the words started spilling out before she could stop them. “Mofe is just so shady.”

Rachel snorted softly. “That’s the complaint? I thought somebody died.”

“I’m serious.”

“What did he do now?”

Ezinne rubbed her forehead tiredly. “He’s doing … things … and keeping them from me, Rachel. He is such a crafty, secretive, insufferably calculating man who keeps things from me and then somehow arranges them in a way that makes it difficult to be as angry as I have every right to be."

Rachel grew quieter. “What kinds of things?”

Ezinne shifted on the sofa, pulling her feet up beneath her. "He stole my medical records, Rachel. I don’t know how, but he took them without my knowledge and used them to source a specialist ophthalmologist, whom he flew into the country to do a check-up on me. He had been planning it all along without telling me anything, and the event was the moment he chose to make his grand reveal."

Silence.

Then carefully, "Ah," Rachel said.

The sound was not entirely surprised.

Ezinne froze. "Ah? That's what you're saying? Ah?"

"Ezinne—"

"Wait! Did you know?"

Rachel sighed dramatically. The pause that followed was half a second too long and told Ezinne everything before Rachel's voice confirmed it. "He told me about the records, yes."

Ezinne nearly fell off the couch. “He WHAT?”

“He told me about it sometime after he returned from his last trip to the United States,” Rachel admitted cautiously.

“You knew and said NOTHING to me all this time?”

“I told him immediately that he was insane for taking your records without permission! But it was obvious that he was trying to help!”

“He violated my privacy!”

“Yes, and I told him that.”

Ezinne was too stunned to speak for a second. “Rachel…”

“He was scared,” Rachel said more softly now. “He genuinely thought if he told you too early, you’d shut him out before he had the chance to fix things. You could barely stand his presence around you at the time, remember?”

Ezinne let out a bitter laugh. “So everybody is protecting my feelings now.”

“That’s not what this is. He promised he would tell you when the time was right."

"Rachel." Ezinne's voice was flat. "You kept this from me."

"I know … I know, and I am sorry. But Ezinne, listen to me." Rachel's tone was firm but genuinely warm. "I understood what he was saying. He's not trying to deceive you. He's a man who knows he's on thin ice and is trying very hard not to fall through it. I'm not saying it was the right way
to handle it. I'm saying I understood why. Cut him some slack. He is only human, and he is doing things the best way he knows how. He will make mistakes. But he is not trying to hurt you."

“I hate that he keeps doing things behind my back, and you’re excusing it!”

Rachel sighed. “No. I’m not excusing it. I’m just saying I understand why he’s behaving this way.”

Ezinne opened her mouth, closed it, and then exhaled through her nose in the way she did when she was choosing not to say the first things that came to mind.

"I have not finished," she said.

Rachel went quiet. "There is more."

"Significantly more." Ezinne shifted again, the memory of the evening reassembling itself in precise, uncomfortable detail. "My father came to the centre this evening."

The silence on Rachel's end was absolute.

"As we were wrapping up," Ezinne continued. "He came to see me, but Mofe chose to see him and didn’t plan to tell me about it. I only knew because I overheard their conversation, the conversation between him and my father." She paused to let that settle. "A conversation that made it very clear the two of them have been in contact for some time. He's definitely been speaking to my father without telling me."

"Oh," Rachel said softly. Not the same 'ah' as before. This one was different. It was quieter and more genuinely taken aback.

"I confronted him about it when I got home. The short version is that he acquired my father's shipping company some time ago as an act of revenge, filed criminal charges against him, and then withdrew them recently. None of which he had any intention of telling me." Ezinne's voice remained measured, but there was a tightness beneath it that Rachel knew how to read. "If I’d not been there, he would never have said anything … maybe until his so-called right time or maybe never at all, who knows?"

Rachel breathed out slowly. "That's… a lot."

"It is a lot!"

"This guy ... I don't ... I'm speechless right now, Ezinne," Rache sighed. It seemed she'd run out of excuses to make for his behaviour. "However, I still don't believe he's out to hurt you. He said he acted out of revenge but thought better of it later. I guess that should count for something?" Rachel asked.

"Well ... he seemed honest, at least after I'd practically pushed the confession out of him." Ezinne’s jaw tightened slightly at the memory. "And then, as though the evening hadn’t already been complicated enough, he kissed me and told me he was still in love with me before calmly saying goodnight and leaving as if he hadn’t just dropped a bomb."

There was a sharp intake of breath on the other end of the call. "Oh my God, wait!" Rachel’s voice suddenly brightened with startled excitement. "He kissed you? How was it!"

Ezinne pulled the phone slightly away from her face as though she needed a moment to look at it in disbelief, "Rachel. Is that truly the first question out of your mouth after everything I just told you?"

"He's been in contact with your father; I heard that. He withdrew the charges, I heard that, too." Rachel's voice was completely unrepentant. "I want to know about the kiss."

"He brought criminal charges against my father... My father!" Ezinne repeated as if that would help Rachel understand the gravity of the situation and what she should be more focused on.

"Which he withdrew." Rachel countered as if that made it okay to move on and forget about it. "That doesn't interest me right now. What's really important is this kiss. So ... was it a good kiss?"

Ezinne pressed her lips together. The honest answer was sitting directly behind her teeth, inconvenient and accurate. If only Rachel knew that Mofe had never in his life produced a kiss that missed its mark.

"You are not taking this seriously," Ezinne said instead.

"I'm taking the parts that need to be taken seriously, seriously," Rachel replied. "The rest I am choosing to find very interesting. Ezinne, I say this with love … you've been single for years. “If a man who is clearly still into you kissed you tonight and it was a good one, that is not information I will allow you to gloss over,” Rachel told her matter-of-factly.

Ezinne wanted to remind her that she’d been with someone for a while, but she knew Rachel had never warmed up to the farce of a relationship she’d had with Emeka, her former business manager.

"I am thinking of restricting our interactions," Ezinne said, ignoring her friend’s penchant for salacious gossip. "His and mine. He can see Azora, he is welcome to be with his daughter any time, but I don't think the two of us should be spending this much time in the same space. There is simply too much he has been keeping from me and I don't—"

"Well, have you thought that he could be keeping things from you because you haven't given him a reason to open up to you?" Rachel cut in quietly.

The interruption was gentle enough that Ezinne didn't immediately shut it down.

"He is afraid of you, Ezinne," Rachel continued. "Not of you as a person. He's afraid of losing access to you. He's afraid he'll say one wrong thing and watch you close a door on him. Dara and I already see that he is devoted to you and everything that concerns you. We were talking about it the other day. You should see the way he looks at you, Ezinne," Rachel stopped, then gave a small, soft laugh. "I'm sorry, I know you can't. But you'd understand what I mean if you could. That man isn't in your life to hurt you again. You have had him walking over hot coals every time he tries to reach you, and he keeps walking anyway. That should mean something."

The study felt very quiet again.

"He left me, Rachel," she said finally, and her voice was quieter now, stripped of some of its earlier composure. "He left, and he didn't look back. For almost eleven years. What if he does it again? What if things get complicated, or I'm too much, and he decides that the cleaner option is to simply go? I can't fully trust him. Regardless of what you or Dara say, I cannot simply turn that off."

Rachel was silent for a moment. When she spoke, her voice was gentle and without any trace of the earlier teasing. "I know. I know that fear is real, and I know it's earned. I'm not telling you to ignore it. What you and Mofe need more than anything else right now is time. Not decisions or declarations or boundaries or confrontations. Just time. Let it unfold at whatever pace feels safe for you. You don't have to do anything tonight except go to sleep."

Ezinne sighed softly, turning Rachel’s words over in her mind and hoping she was right about Mofe and his intentions. The problem was that she no longer trusted herself to judge him clearly. She couldn't, not after everything between them and all the years of hurt and disappointment she still carried with her where he was concerned.

“And don’t think I’ve forgotten that you still haven’t answered my question about the kiss,” Rachel reminded her suddenly.

Ezinne’s groan came straight from her soul. “Are you seriously still on this?”

“Of course I’m still on it,” Rachel replied without shame. “You are not escaping this conversation until you tell me how it was.”

“You are impossible,” Ezinne muttered, rolling her eyes as she leaned back further against the couch.

Honestly, she was beginning to regret mentioning it at all. And if Rachel ever found out this wasn’t even their first kiss since Mofe had returned to her life? Ezinne didn’t even want to imagine the level of noise she would make.

“Well?” Rachel pressed eagerly. “Was it good?”

Ezinne pressed her lips together tightly and stayed silent.

Rachel gasped loudly. “Oh my God.”

“I hate you.” Ezinne said, knowing her silence had given Rachel the answers she'd been looking for.

“It was good, wasn’t it?” Rachel sounded scandalized and delighted all at once. “Ezinne!”

“I’m hanging up.”

“No, no, no, don’t you dare!”

Ezinne groaned and dropped her head back dramatically against the couch. “Rachel, I am genuinely having an emotional crisis.”

“And yet somehow you still haven’t denied enjoying the kiss.”

Because she couldn’t. That was the problem. She couldn’t lie. Not when the memory alone still made her stomach tighten helplessly.

Rachel burst into laughter. “Oh my God, Ezinne. You are finished.”

“I’m not finished.”

“You’re absolutely finished.”

Ezinne covered her face again in humiliation.

Rachel chuckled gleefully, "Oh my … He kissed you, and you enjoyed the hell out of it."

"I didn't say that."

"You didn't deny it either." Rachel's voice pitched upward with delight. "The fact that you're avoiding the question means that man completely rearranged your bloodstream with one kiss."

"Rachel, stop nao!" Ezinne groaned.

"I'm just being observational."

"Please be serious."

Her friend laughed helplessly for a moment before pulling herself together. "Okay. Okay. Serious mode now, I promise," A brief pause. "But genuinely, good for you, because you've been-"

"Rachel."

"I've stopped. I've stopped completely." Another short pause, "One more thing-"

"Rachel."

"Done. Serious. Completely serious." She cleared her throat. "So, is there something else I should know?”

“There is one other thing,” Ezinne said, gently steering the conversation back to safer ground. She kept her voice calm and even, as though the words cost her nothing. “The specialist said surgery could potentially restore my eyesight.”

For a moment, there was complete silence on the other end of the line. Then Rachel gasped.

Not a small gasp. A full, sharp, breathless one that seemed to catch somewhere between shock and joy. She tried to say Ezinne’s name, but it broke apart in her excitement before she could finish it. “Oh my God—Ezinne…”

Ezinne closed her eyes. Even through the phone, she could feel the rush of emotion in Rachel’s voice. It was the same kind of shock she had felt herself when she heard the doctor say it. Her throat tightened all over again.

“Yes…” she whispered, blinking hard. She thought she had cried enough for one day, but the tears were still there, waiting.

Rachel said her name again, quieter this time, warmer. “That is the best thing I have heard in years. Oh my God, Ezinne. Mofe said there might be a chance, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up. So it’s true?”

“It’s a possibility.”

Rachel let out a shaky laugh. “I cannot even pretend to be angry with him right now. Do you know what this means? When are they doing it? What did the doctor say about the recovery?”

Ezinne listened to her friend’s excitement spill through the line and felt that strange, familiar mix of things in her chest. Love. Gratitude. Fear. The warmth of Rachel’s happiness sat right beside the heavier truth she had not said aloud. She was not ready to hope. She wasn't ready to reach for something that might still be taken away.

So she let Rachel have the joy for now.

“We’ll talk about it properly when you’re back,” Ezinne said softly.

“When I’m ... oh!” Rachel’s voice shifted suddenly, delight rushing in a new direction. “I got an offer.”

Ezinne sat up straight. “What offer?”

Rachel sensed her confusion, so she explained calmly, “I applied to the Hilton sometime back for a position in the restaurant's kitchen and received an offer of employment.”

Ezinne blinked. “The Hilton Hotel?”

“Yes!” Rachel was nearly breathless now, trying very hard not to scream through the phone. “I got a station chef position, full kitchen brigade. I’ll be working under an executive chef who trained in Lyon. Ezinne, this is everything I’ve been working toward.”

A burst of joy went through Ezinne so quickly it nearly brought another wave of tears.

“Rachel!” she cried, smiling wide now. “That is incredible. I am so proud of you.”

Rachel laughed. “I was going to tell you in person, but I couldn’t keep it to myself any longer. I only got the official offer letter this afternoon.”

“Why didn't you tell me you were even applying for such a position?” Ezinne said, half laughing, half offended. “How were you able to hold that in?”

“I didn’t want to get your hopes up in case something changed.”

“Well, it didn’t change, and I am officially screaming for you.”

Rachel laughed harder.

“We need to celebrate properly when you get back,” Ezinne said.

“We absolutely will.”

There was a soft pause, then Rachel’s voice gentled. “And Ezinne?”

“Yes?”

“Stop overthinking tonight. The secrets, the kiss, all of it. It will still be there tomorrow.”

Ezinne smiled faintly, though Rachel could not see it.

“Goodnight,” Rachel said, warmth unmistakable in her voice.

“Goodnight, Rachel.”

The call ended, and the room fell quiet again.

Ezinne sat still for a long time, her hands resting in her lap.

Rachel had not been wrong about everything. That part about Mofe, about him not running from her coldness, her distance, her suspicion, had settled somewhere in her and refused to leave. He had taken all of that and stayed. And then there was his confession.

'I never stopped loving you, Ezinne.'

She turned the words over slowly, still not sure how to receive them.

Mofe had ended an engagement a few months back. He was still finding his footing in her life, still adjusting to Azora, still trying to become the man he wanted to be. She did not know whether what he felt was real, or whether it was the confusion of a man whose life had changed too quickly.

Maybe he did not know either.

What she did know was that she was not going to encourage anything.

He was Azora’s father, and she was grateful for the way he was showing up for their daughter. Grateful enough to see that he was trying. But whatever had once existed between them, whatever had happened in the study tonight, she was not ready to name it.

Ezinne rose slowly from the sofa and moved toward the door.

The truth was, she had enjoyed the kiss. She had enjoyed it more than she should have but was not going to think too hard about that. Her fingers found the doorframe, and she turned into the hallway, walking toward her room with her heart still far too awake.


***********

Phew! This has been one hell of a week in the real world. Please expect the next chapter Monday/Tuesday. If I can post before then, I'll try. Thanks for hanging in there.

Thanks repo for bursting my head with this update

Chapter 25

Eleven Years Ago

It was just after six, and the street was alive with the usual evening noise. Commercial bikes weaved sharply through traffic, hawkers called out to slow-moving cars, and the smell of suya, akara, and puff puff drifted through the air, mixing with exhaust fumes and the thick warmth of the day slowly giving way to night.

Mofe kept his head down as he walked, earphones in, bag slung over one shoulder. He had just gotten off the bus and still had a good distance to cover before he got home. He had left work earlier after taking the day shift, which meant he could code and rest at night now if he wanted to.

The music played softly in his ears, but he was not really listening to it. His mind had long drifted away from the road in front of him, circling the same thoughts it had been circling for weeks now. Always the same place. Always the same question. Always no answer.
Ezinne had not called.

Not since that meeting at the chapel over three weeks ago.

That silence sat inside him in a way he could not explain. It was not loud, not dramatic, but it was constant. It stayed with him in the morning, followed him through work, and waited for him at night when the room grew quiet and there was nothing left to distract him from it. He had chatted with Dara a little over the past few days, and she kept telling him to be patient, kept assuring him that Ezinne would reach out when she was ready.

Mofe wanted to believe her. He really did. But waiting was beginning to wear thin on him.

He was tired in a way sleep could not fix. Tired in the deep, stubborn place where patience began to feel less like virtue and more like punishment. He wanted her to call. Wanted her name to light up his phone. Wanted some sign that she had not disappeared back behind that wall she always built whenever things became too heavy.

He adjusted the strap of his bag and kept walking, his steps slow and steady through the familiar road leading to his street. The laptop in his bag felt heavier than it should have. Not because of its weight, but because of what it meant. It was the same one Ezinne had replaced after Ekene had broken his. He had resisted using it at first. Pride had made him stubborn. He had told himself he did not need help, that he could manage without it for a while, that he could stand on his own even if his old one was gone.

But eventually, he had given in. Mostly, because Ezinne had called him out on his bullshit. And now he used it almost every day.

And even though it was just a laptop, it still carried her presence in a way he could not quite shake. Every time he opened it, he remembered the quiet way she had handed it to him. The care she had tried to hide. The anger underneath that care. The softness that had slipped through anyway. It was one of those small things that stayed with a person longer than it should have.

He turned slightly to avoid a puddle and kept moving.

Yesterday had not helped. He had gone to the HOD’s office for a simple clearance signature and walked out with news he still had not fully absorbed. The HOD had motioned for him to sit, the kind of gesture that always meant something serious was coming, and then told him plainly that he had bagged a first class. He was the best graduating student in the Science and Technology faculty. A new school record. A perfect GPA across the entire program.

Mofe had thanked him, shaken his hand, and left. That was all.

No celebration. No phone call. No one to rush to. There was no one he wanted to tell more than Ezinne, and she was the one person he could not share it with.

He had stood outside the faculty building afterward, the sun warm on his face, and felt something settle heavily in his chest. Not disappointment exactly. Not even joy. Something in between. He had worked for it. Every early morning. Every late night. Every job he had taken to survive. Every ache in his body. Every point had been earned.

He should have been proud. And he was, somewhere underneath everything else. But the happiness felt incomplete. His chest tightened again at the thought.

This was the kind of result that should have been celebrated. The kind of achievement people posted online, called family about, shouted about with joy. But all he could think about was the fact that he had no one he wanted to tell more than her. He just needed Ezinne to reach out before the part of him that had started to grow restless did something he could not take back.

He adjusted the strap of his bag again as he turned onto his street, his steps slower now from exhaustion more than anything else. He was already thinking about taking a quick bath and shutting the world out for a few hours when he thought he heard someone call his name.

“Mofe!”

He almost didn’t hear it over the music.

The second call was louder. “Mofe!”

He pulled one earbud out and turned.

Tiwa was jogging toward him from further down the street, her handbag bouncing lightly against her arm as she hurried to catch up. She slowed once she reached him, breathing slightly hard but smiling brightly.

“I’ve been calling you since that junction,” she complained between breaths.

“Sorry.” He tapped the earbud lightly. “Music.”

He started to put it back, but she immediately reached out and tugged it gently from his ear again.

“Ah-ah. Walk with me nau. We haven’t seen in a while.”

Mofe looked at her properly then.

She looked nice. Her hair was freshly braided into neat knotless braids that framed her face softly, and the fitted cream pantsuit she wore made her look older than she was. More polished. More confident. She looked like someone just returning from work, and the excitement still glowing around her made it obvious something good had happened.

He let the earbud hang around his neck instead. “How have you been, Tiwa?”

“Good oh,” she said brightly. “Actually, better than good.”

She straightened slightly like somebody preparing important news. “I got an internship, and started today.”

“That’s good,” he said. “Where?”

“A telecomms company in Wuse 2.”

Mofe nodded slowly. The outfit made sense now.

“Congratulations.”

“Thank you.” She smiled wider at the praise. “I can’t wait to be done with school and actually start working.”

He huffed a small laugh.

“So, you know that we’re both now university people,” she continued. “Well… I know you’re already finishing your own program, but you get what I mean, sha.”

Something in her tone made him smile faintly to himself as they walked. He had a feeling where this conversation might eventually lead, but it didn’t make him uncomfortable. If anything, something was endearing about Tiwa’s openness.

She had never really hidden her crush on him very well. It had shown in the way she always found reasons to join conversations whenever he was around or how excited she seemed anytime he returned home from school. Back then, she had been much younger, and he had been careful to keep a respectful distance without embarrassing her for it.

Now, though, she walked beside him with an easy confidence that made her seem different from the shy girl he remembered.

“I used to be scared to even greet you properly,” she admitted suddenly, laughing softly. “You always looked so serious.”

“I wasn’t serious.”

“You were!” she insisted immediately. “All the girls on this street used to talk about you.”

Mofe groaned quietly. “Please don’t start.”

“I’m serious.” She bumped his arm lightly with hers. “You were everybody’s spec. Tall, fine, always minding your business, carrying a laptop up and down like one mysterious tech genius.”

He shook his head slowly, embarrassed despite himself.

“And the annoying part,” Tiwa continued dramatically, “was that you used to hold yourself somehow. Like all of us were beneath you.”

Mofe frowned immediately. “I never acted like that.”

“You did small.” She laughed. “Not in a wicked way. You were just… aloof.”

He supposed there was some truth in that. Life had always kept him busy. School. Work. Survival. He had rarely had the energy for unnecessary socialising with the neighbours.

Tiwa glanced at him sideways. “I used to think you were too fine to even notice somebody like me.”

“I always noticed you. You've always been cute little Tiwa, always cheerful and carrying her heavy school bag when going to school in the morning,” he joked.

“I’m not just cute, Mofe.” She smiled. “And I’m not in secondary school anymore.”

There it was. Mofe slowed his steps slightly.

“Tiwa—”

“No, allow me to land first,” she interrupted quickly, though she was smiling nervously now. “I’m just saying I like you. I’ve liked you for years, actually.”

He stayed quiet.

“And now we’re both adults, abi? So I figured… why not?”

Mofe stopped walking. Tiwa stopped too. The smile remained on her face, but uncertainty flickered faintly beneath it now.

“Tiwa,” he said gently. “I’m flattered. Honestly. But I’m not available.”

Her expression shifted only slightly. “You’re seeing someone?”

“Yes.”

“That fine lady that used to come around sometimes?” She asked.

He blinked. “Sorry?” Did she just describe Ezinne?

Tiwa laughed immediately.

“Don’t act surprised. This is a neighbourhood. Everybody notices everybody. And they noticed there’s been a pretty girl that comes to see you.”
Mofe suddenly understood why older people hated living around too many observant neighbours.

“We just haven’t seen her in a while,” Tiwa continued carefully. “So I thought maybe you people ended things.”

His ears caught immediately on the ‘we’. Were his neighbors genuinely monitoring his relationship?

“No,” he replied evenly. “We didn’t.”

Tiwa absorbed that quietly before trying again with surprising boldness. “I don’t mind being your extra girlfriend, though.”

Mofe looked at her fully now, unsure he had heard correctly. “What?”


She shrugged lightly as if the suggestion was perfectly reasonable.

“I’m serious. It’s not like you’re married. People date multiple people all the time now until they decide who they really want.”

As she spoke, her fingers brushed lightly over the sleeve of his shirt in a playful, flirtatious touch.

Mofe raised a brow slowly. That was certainly one way to look at relationships. Little did she know that emotionally, spiritually, mentally, he had already made his choice a very long time ago.

“Tiwa,” he said patiently, “I’m genuinely flattered. But I’m not interested.”

“But Mofe…”

“And I’m not that kind of person.”

She frowned, looking confused. “You’re so loyal to somebody that’s not your wife yet? What if you miss out on the one you're truly meant to be with?”

He almost smiled at that, but before he could respond, his phone buzzed in his pocket. Normally he would have ignored it, but something made him check.

He pulled it out. And froze. The notification sat quietly on his screen.

Ezinne Onu sent you a message.

For a second, everything around him seemed to drift far away, as though the world had suddenly been pushed underwater. The steady hum of traffic along the road dulled into a faint blur. Conversations from passing pedestrians melted into indistinct noise. Even the music that had been playing through his earbuds moments ago disappeared completely from his awareness.

Beside him, Tiwa was still talking, but her voice no longer registered properly. Mofe’s attention had narrowed entirely to the glowing screen in his hand.

She had unblocked him!

His heart gave a sharp, almost painful thud against his chest as he stared at the notification, rereading it to make sure he wasn’t imagining things. For weeks, he had checked his phone more times than he cared to admit, hoping for something, or anything, from her. And now, finally, her name was back on his screen.

Without thinking too hard about it, his thumb moved quickly across the keyboard, opening the message.

Hey. Can we see tomorrow?

A rush of emotion hit him so suddenly that he had to steady himself. Relief flooded through him first, warm and overwhelming. Then disbelief followed close behind, because part of him had genuinely started to think he had lost her for good.

But stronger than both was the fragile, dangerous spark of hope rising inside him again.

***********

Present Day



The second day of the charity event had started even more smoothly than the first. The publicity from the day before had spread quickly online and across local radio stations overnight, bringing in even more visitors. People moved efficiently around the compound now. Nurses checked blood pressure at one station. Volunteers handed out forms at another. Some of the medical personnel were already attending to patients while cameras from a local TV station quietly captured footage near the gate.

Everything was working and should have made him feel accomplished. Instead, he could barely focus because Ezinne had been avoiding him like the plague.

He had noticed it almost immediately that morning when she’d arrived at the staff tent with Maureen and two volunteers. He had heard her voice before he saw her, calm and professional as she greeted people and began organising activities for the day.

But the moment he walked toward her, she moved elsewhere. It hadn’t been obvious enough for anyone else to notice, but he had noticed. It had happened every single time. Not once since morning had she willingly stayed alone with him for more than thirty seconds. Every conversation had been brief, polite, and painfully professional. “Can you sign this?” … “The volunteers need more bottled water.” … “The doctor in tent three asked for extra forms.”

That was it.

She’d not mentioned his kiss, his heart-rendering confession, nor the emotional explosion that had happened in the study less than twelve hours ago. And somehow that silence was worse than anger.

Now he was almost regretting confessing his feelings to her the night before, even though he’d only told her the truth. God knew it was true. Every single word of it.

He had not planned for it to come out that way, of course. It hadn’t been his intention to corner her emotionally after an already overwhelming day. Between the stress of hosting such an event, the specialist consultation, her father’s appearance, the secrets she had uncovered, and the argument that followed, she had already been carrying too much, but he’d forgotten all that and gone ahead to kiss her. And even told her that he was still in love with her.

Like some reckless teenager incapable of self-control.

Mofe dragged a tired hand over his face as he stood near the registration area of the outreach centre.

Now, if he approached the admin table, Ezinne suddenly needed to supervise the pharmacy section. If he crossed toward the pharmacy section, she would somehow already be halfway toward the eye screening tent, speaking with one of the coordinators.

It would almost have been amusing if it wasn’t quietly driving him insane. Mofe exhaled slowly and loosened the top button of his shirt.

He deserved this since he’d refused to read the room before spilling his guts to her. Still, it did not stop frustration from building inside him every time he caught the sound of her voice somewhere nearby and realised she was deliberately staying out of his reach.

His mind once again drifted helplessly back to the night before. To the study. To her standing in front of him with hurt in her voice and suspicion in her eyes while demanding honesty from him.

And then … That kiss. Jesus Christ.

He closed his eyes briefly. That was the one thing he absolutely did not regret. Not even slightly.

He would never claim to be the world’s greatest kisser. He wasn’t some smooth-talking playboy who spent his life collecting women and perfecting seduction techniques. But kissing Ezinne had always done something terrifying to him. Something he could never properly explain.

The moment his mouth touched hers, something inside him always snapped loose. Desire hit him too fast, too deeply, too completely. Not just physical want, though God knew there was plenty of that, too. It was worse than that. Kissing her always felt emotional in a way that left him dangerously unguarded afterwards.

Like she reached into places inside him no other woman ever had.

Now he could not stop thinking about her. Her lips, the softness of them. The way she had melted against him after those first startled seconds. The faint scent of her perfume. The feel of her waist beneath his hands. The sound she made against his mouth when he pulled her closer.

His jaw tightened. Gosh...

Even now, standing in the middle of a busy outreach event surrounded by hundreds of people, his body reacted instantly to the memory.

The last time he’d kissed was months ago that night in her bedroom, and afterwards, he had practically fled back to America. At the time, he told himself it was because of work, because of commitments. He’d reminded himself that he had a life overseas. But the truth was uglier than that.

He had run because he’d been scared. He’d been scared that if he stayed around Ezinne longer, he would want more than one kiss. Scared he would cross lines he had no right crossing while still engaged to another woman. Scared that one more night around Ezinne would expose what he had spent years trying to deny.

That he had never truly moved on from her.

Eve had seen it before he fully admitted it to himself, and it still filled him with guilt sometimes. Because Eve had loved him honestly, but eventually, painfully, she had realised she was sharing pieces of him with a woman who was not even physically present most of the time.

He should probably hate himself for that. Instead, what he mostly felt was gratitude toward Eve for letting him go before he destroyed both of them slowly.

And if he was honest with himself, he probably would have broken the engagement eventually anyway. Because he had been deluding himself into believing he could bury whatever this thing was between him and Ezinne and still build a life with another woman.

Some feelings did not stay buried properly. Some people stayed lodged too deeply inside the heart. And Ezinne… Ezinne had never truly left him.

A volunteer called his name nearby, dragging him out of his thoughts.

“Mr Johnson, sir?”

He turned quickly. “Yeah?”

“The catering people are asking where the extra water packs should go.”

He blinked once, trying to force his attention back into the present. “Storage tent behind the admin block,” he answered automatically.

“Okay, sir.” The volunteer hurried away again.

Mofe exhaled slowly and looked across the compound, and his gaze found Ezinne almost immediately. Of course it did.

She stood near the eye screening section speaking to an elderly woman while Maureen took notes beside her. Her dark glasses hid her eyes as always, but he could tell from her posture that she was focused entirely on the conversation in front of her.

She was so damn beautiful. Even when she seemed exhausted, emotionally overwhelmed, and actively avoiding him, she was still devastatingly beautiful.

As if sensing his attention somehow, Ezinne turned faintly in his direction. For one brief second, their faces aligned, and his chest tightened.

Then, smoothly, calmly, professionally … She turned away again, and walked in the opposite direction toward the pharmacy section again, and he almost laughed to himself.

The woman was avoiding him with military precision.

He knew her well enough to understand that she would never simply let last night disappear without addressing it eventually. That was not who she was. Sooner or later, she would corner him somewhere private. Most likely, after he dropped her off at home that evening. She would ask him to stay behind for “a quick conversation,” and he would follow her into the study or the sitting room, already knowing exactly what was coming.

Mofe, last night should not happen again.

Mofe, we need boundaries.

Mofe, don’t misunderstand what happened between us.

And because he knew her so well, he also knew she would say it calmly, trying not to hurt him while still creating distance between them. The thought alone irritated him. The annoying part was that she would deliver it while sounding perfectly reasonable.

Of course, he didn’t expect her to magically fall into his arms after one kiss and one confession. He wasn’t delusional. But he was tired of her running, and tired of her pretending the thing between them did not exist when they both clearly felt it.

He exhaled slowly and folded his arms across his chest, thinking.

Maybe waiting for Ezinne to bring it up later was a mistake ... Maybe he should stop allowing her to control every emotionally difficult conversation between them.

‘What if you switched things around instead? What if you forced her hand a little?’

He sighed under his breath and watched her move farther across the compound with Maureen trailing beside her. The afternoon sun caught lightly against the edges of her dark glasses as she walked. One hand rested briefly against Maureen’s arm while the receptionist guided her around a stack of folded chairs near the pathway.

Mofe shook his head slightly. No.

He was not going to wait all day for Ezinne to slowly prepare herself to reject him politely. If they were going to have the conversation, then maybe he should drag it out into the open first instead of waiting for her to ambush him with it later.

And maybe … A reckless part of him admitted … Maybe he wanted to see her flustered too. Because while Ezinne had been avoiding him all morning, she had not once looked angry. Uncomfortable? Yes … Distracted? Definitely … But not angry.

Without allowing himself too much time to think about whether this was a terrible idea, Mofe pushed away from the registration table and went after her. They were crossing toward the side corridor leading to the temporary consultation rooms when he caught up with them.

Maureen spotted him first. Her eyes moved quickly between both of them with the alertness of someone who had already sensed tension but did not know the details.

“Sir,” she greeted politely.

Mofe gave her an easy smile. “Maureen. Stealing my boss away again?”

Ezinne stiffened almost immediately beside her receptionist. It was so subtle that most people would not have noticed, but Mofe noticed everything about her.

“She was never your boss,” Ezinne replied calmly without stopping, referring to herself in third person.

Mofe smiled faintly to himself.

“I don’t know,” he said lightly as he fell into step beside them. “She orders me around enough.”

Maureen laughed politely. Ezinne did not.

“What do you need, Mofe?” she asked. Direct. Careful. Trying very hard not to sound affected by his presence.

Mofe almost admired the effort. “I came to check if you’ve finally decided to stop avoiding me.”

Maureen choked on absolutely nothing. Ezinne stopped walking. The silence that followed lasted barely two seconds, but it was enough for Maureen’s eyes to widen slightly, and for Mofe to see irritation flash across Ezinne’s face before she smoothed it away.

“I have not been avoiding you,” she replied evenly.

“Oh, you haven't?”

“No, of course not.”

Mofe nodded slowly as though considering it seriously. “Interesting.”

Ezinne’s jaw tightened faintly. Maureen looked trapped between curiosity and the desperate need to disappear.

Mofe continued calmly, “So all the times you suddenly remembered urgent work the moment I came near you today were coincidences?”

“Mofe, I do not have time for whatever this is. I have work to do.”

Mofe smiled slightly. “Whatever this is?”

Ezinne turned toward him fully now, behind her glasses. “Mofe.”

Her tone was warning enough to make Maureen take one careful step backwards, and then she cleared her throat awkwardly. “I… er… I suddenly remembered I need to check the registration desk,” she announced nervously.

“Stay,” Ezinne said immediately.

“Go,” Mofe said at the same time.

Maureen looked trapped.

Then Mofe sighed. “Maureen, please.”

The receptionist hesitated only briefly before escaping with visible relief. Mofe watched her go with amusement before turning back toward Ezinne, who looked deeply unimpressed.

“Well,” he said. “Now it’s just us.”

“That seems to be what you wanted.”

“It is.”

Ezinne folded her arms slowly across her chest. “Why? What is this about, Mofe?”

Mofe watched her carefully. She was trying to look composed, but he wasn’t fooled.

“You’re avoiding me,” he said quietly.

“I’m not. If you haven’t noticed, I’m working.” She told him, sounding quite irritated, as if she couldn’t believe he was stopping her in the middle of the day to talk about something so irrelevant.

“I don’t like being ignored,” he stated.

“You’re not being ignored.”

“You’ve barely looked at me all day,” he complained.

“Mofe, in case you’ve forgotten, I can’t exactly look or see,” she reminded him.

He couldn't help but roll his eyes, “You know what I mean, Ezinne. You run when you know I’m approaching or when I want to talk to you.”

Ezinne exhaled sharply through her nose. “Mofe, have you noticed that we are in the middle of an event?”

“And?”

“And I’m busy.”

“You were busy yesterday, too, yet you still managed to speak to me then. Today, however, you’ve been working in the opposite direction from me all day.”

Something flickered briefly across her face at the reminder of yesterday. The kiss hovered instantly between them. Unspoken. Heavy.
Mofe watched her throat move as she swallowed. Interesting … Very interesting.

He stepped a little closer, lowering his voice slightly. “You know we’re eventually going to have to talk about it.”

Ezinne inhaled slowly through her nose. “There are people around,” she said under her breath.

“So?”

“So I would rather not have whatever this conversation is in public.”

Mofe’s chest tightened faintly at the word ‘whatever.’ He lowered his voice slightly. “Fine. Then let’s have it privately.”

“I’m busy.”

“You’ve been busy for six hours.”

“Yes, because I'm at work. You're supposed to be busy at work, aren't you?”

Despite himself, Mofe almost laughed. There she was. Defensive Ezinne. He understood this version of her far better than the cold silence from earlier.

“You know,” he said casually, “I expected more shouting after last night.”

Her face turned sharply toward him. “Mofe.”

“What?”

“We are not discussing this here.”

“Why not?”

“This is not the place, we are at work.”

“Or because talking about me kissing you makes you nervous,” he noted.

Ezinne’s breath caught so faintly. “You are unbelievable.”

“That’s not a denial.”

“Mofe.”

“What?” His voice softened slightly. “I’m trying to understand why you’re acting like I committed a crime.”

“You kissed me in the middle of an argument!” She said in an exasperated whisper.

“And you kissed me back.” He whispered back, just as exasperated.

Ezinne looked horrified. “Mofe!”

A volunteer walking past nearby glanced briefly toward them before quickly looking away again.

Mofe lowered his voice immediately, though amusement tugged dangerously at the corner of his mouth now. “You did.”

“You cannot say things like that here.”

“Why? It happened.”

Ezinne pressed her lips together tightly, and even that tiny movement nearly distracted him again. Because now every time he looked at her mouth, all he could remember was how her lips felt against his … The way she softened against him … The way she held onto his shirt like she needed something to anchor herself.

Mofe dragged his attention back forcefully. “You were going to avoid me all day, weren’t you?” he asked more quietly now.

Ezinne turned away. “That depends on your definition of avoid.”

He smiled faintly despite himself. “You know, for somebody trying very hard not to encourage me, you’re handling this badly.”

Her face turned back toward him instantly. “What exactly is that supposed to mean?”

“It means,” he said calmly, “that if you truly wanted distance from me after last night, you’d be angry.”

“I am angry.”

“No. You’re unsettled.”

Her silence confirmed it more than words could have. He stepped closer carefully, lowering his voice further.

“And you know what’s making you unsettled?” he asked softly.

“What?”

“You liked it.”

Ezinne actually gasped. “Mofe! Stop this talk at once! This is not the place. My God, you can be so unnerving,” she whispered furiously in protest.

“And yet,” he said quietly, “you still kissed me like you missed me.”

That hit her, and he saw it immediately. The anger in her face faltered for one dangerous second before she gathered herself again.

“Mofe,” she said tightly, “I am warning you.”

“About what?”

“This, what you’re doing.”

He leaned slightly closer. “You’re going to have to be more specific.”

“This shameless behaviour!” She told him, stepping back.

That finally made him laugh softly, and Ezinne looked deeply offended by the sound. “You think this is funny?”

“No,” he admitted honestly. “I think you’re beautiful when you’re trying not to panic.”

“There is nothing... there’s no reason for me to... I’m not panicking!”

She was such a bad liar. Her mouth said something, but her features expressed something else, and it just made him smile even more.

“No reason?” he repeated softly.

“None.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes, are you done with this foolishness?”

Ignoring her question, Mofe tilted his head slightly as he studied her. Finally, he said very calmly: “So you’re saying if I kissed you again right now, you’d feel absolutely nothing?”

Ezinne went completely still, her lips parting slightly.

Mofe’s gaze dropped there instantly before he dragged it back upward with effort. God help him. He should not have said that. Not when the memory of her melting against him was still wrecking his concentration every few minutes.

Ezinne recovered first. “We are at work, Mofe. This is ridiculous,” she said tightly.

“That wasn’t my question.”

“Stop this right now.”

“That also wasn’t an answer.”

Her breathing changed slightly. Mofe noticed because he was watching her too closely.

“Arrgh! You are impossible,” she muttered.

“And you’re avoiding the question," he pressured.

“I am avoiding... nonsense.”

Mofe smiled slowly. There she was. Flustered. And somehow that pleased him far more than it should have. Deliberately, Mofe moved closer to her. Not enough to trap her. Not enough to touch.

But close enough that the soft scent of her perfume wrapped around him again and immediately made concentration difficult. Something floral and warm and unmistakably her. God, even that alone was enough to drag him right back to the study the night before.

Ezinne seemed to notice the closeness immediately, as her shoulders stiffened slightly and she took another small step back. He silently wished they were not in public so he could wrap his hands around her waist, bring her closer to himself and prove that she was lying to herself when he kissed her senseless.

Instead, he leaned closer to her, lowering his voice enough so that only she could hear. “You know what your problem is, Ezinned?”

“I’m sure you’re about to tell me.”

“You felt that kiss too much.”

Ezinne’s breath caught, and the truth was spelt so clearly on her features.

“I felt it too.” He confessed, almost groaning at how badly he wanted to kiss her again right there. Instead, he straightened slowly before he lost all sense entirely.

“But you can relax,” he said softly. “I’m not going to attack you in the middle of your charity event.”

Her face heated immediately. Had she thought he would?

“You thought I would, didn’t you?” He asked, unable to hold back a smug smile.

“I absolutely did not.” She retorted heatedly.

Mofe laughed quietly, and the sound sent fresh irritation across her face. Which only made him want to kiss her more. “And you don’t have to avoid me, Ezinne.”

“I told you, I'm not avoiding you,” She denied once again.

“We’re adults now,” he said gently. “We can talk honestly about what we feel.”

Ezinne slowly folded her arms across herself. “Is that so?”

“Yes.”

She tilted her face slightly toward him behind her dark glasses. “Well, I feel you are overstepping boundaries.”

Mofe shook his head faintly. “That’s not a feeling.”

Her lips tightened.

“Why not be honest with me?” he asked softly. “Tell me what you felt when we kissed last night.”

She swallowed once before finally speaking. “The kiss should never have happened.” Her words came out controlled and careful. “And going forward,” she continued evenly, “you should not kiss me or touch me anymore. We do not have that sort of relationship.”

Mofe stared at her quietly, knowing she was lying to herself. It wasn’t malicious or deliberate. Just desperate.

She had spent years surviving heartbreak by locking pieces of herself away, and now those pieces were waking up again against her will. But he was not going to push her. Not today. Not after everything else she had been through emotionally in the last twenty-four hours.

So instead of arguing, instead of pointing out the contradiction between her words and the way she reacted to him, Mofe slowly stepped back. The movement seemed to surprise her, and suddenly, he remembered her question from the night before.

What happens when you find someone you want to be with?

That question alone had explained everything he needed to know about her feelings for him. Women who felt nothing did not ask questions like that. A woman who truly wanted distance did not sound wounded at the thought of another woman beside him.

He told himself that she was scared. That was all this was. She was scared of trusting him again, scared of wanting him again, and scared of discovering that despite everything he had done wrong, some part of her heart still belonged to him.

And the truth was, he already knew it did.

It belonged to him enough for her to panic whenever he got too close emotionally, enough for jealousy to slip into her voice before she could stop it, and enough for her body to melt against his when he kissed her.

Mofe exhaled quietly and softened his tone. “Okay.”

Ezinne frowned faintly. “Okay?”

“I heard you.”

Some of the tension eased from her posture, though confusion replaced part of it now.

Mofe slipped his hands loosely into his pockets. “I’m not going to pressure you into saying things you’re not ready to say.”

Her throat moved slightly, but she kep silent.

“And I’m not going to spend all day arguing with you about whether last night meant something.” His mouth curved faintly. “Because I already know it did.”

Warmth rushed immediately into Ezinne’s face. “Mofe..."

"No," He shook his head gently. “You don’t have to admit anything right now.”

The softness in his voice unsettled her far more than teasing would have because there was no arrogance in it. Just steady, patient certainty.

Mofe held her gaze silently for another moment before speaking again. “You think I don’t know you by now?” he asked quietly. “Ezinne, you only build walls around things that matter to you.”

Something flickered across her expression too quickly for him to fully catch. Fear? Longing? Maybe both.

Before Ezinne could gather herself enough to respond properly, one of the nurses hurried toward them carrying files. “Ma, one of the doctors needs you in room four.”

Ezinne immediately turned toward the voice like someone rescued from a burning building.

“I’ll be right there.”

Then, without another word to him, she walked away quickly, assisted by the nurse and the E-zin cane she held tightly.

Mofe turned, watching her leave as a slow smile spread across his face. She could keep trying to avoid him, but he knew one thing for certain. Ezinne had not walked away from last night unaffected either.

So he would wait.

He loved her enough to wait and allow her to find her way back to him in her own time. He already had a part of her heart. Not completely. Not without scars and fear attached to it. But enough.

Now all that remained was time. Time for Ezinne to realise that she already had his too.

Entirely.


**********

Next post on Thursday/Friday. Thanks for reading.

jupitre:
Thanks repo for bursting my head with this update

You're welcome

I love you repogirl

I was about to complain that we didn't hear anything regarding E zin again..

jupitre:
I was about to complain that we didn't hear anything regarding E zin again..

lol! She uses it daily.

Uthman51:
I love you repogirl

Lol! Thanks

great work. Such a good work since 2014 till date thats 12 years and still counting, if consistence is a person

GoodyMG:
great work. Such a good work since 2014 till date thats 12 years and still counting, if consistence is a person

Thank you

Hello Readers

My apologies, but the next post will have to be next Tuesday/Wednesday as the next few days are going to be quite busy for me. If I’m able to post sooner though, I definitely will.

Thank you so much for your patience and understanding.

Repogirl