I really don’t know what to say about Seyifunmi and her manners, it’s totally uncalled for.... now look at the damage she has caused with her irrational behavior
I believe Tinu and Chris will reunite in US
Thanks for the update ma’am

Seyi should open up and tell Dele what she did. If he continues with the relationship fine but if not they can move on with their separate lives jare.Seyi own too much sef na she dey use her hand scatter better things

Hi guys...

So there's a new link for voting, due to the site being on maintenance.

https://theagoratv.com/vote-olorodes-story/


Thanks for your support, guys.

There'll be update later on today.

Ann2012:
I really don’t know what to say about Seyifunmi and her manners, it’s totally uncalled for.... now look at the damage she has caused with her irrational behavior
I believe Tinu and Chris will reunite in US
Thanks for the update ma’am

Chris is the UK.

Update on board.

Episode 32 -Past demons.

Tinu chuckled as she left the twins jabbering with Dapo over the phone. Though they had been devastated to leave D.D. behind, the thought of seeing Dapo again had lifted their spirits. They'd been on the phone with him for thirty minutes, and it didn't seem like they were going to be done soon. Dapo had called his entire household to come see his friends. And Temi and Tomini had gone on chatting with everyone.

She didn't mind. At least, they were happy and that was what mattered. She walked to the kitchen and pulled out a bottle of water for herself.

'You know you're the beauty in the kitchen, the spice in every food that comes out of it.'

His thick voice had carressed her ears as she stood in front of this same fridge, four years ago.

She sighed and shook her head.

Stop it, Tinu.

Her heart melted as she tried to avoid remembering the many times he infiltrated her kitchen, claiming to want to help her out. Rather, he'd tire her out with questions.

'Why don't you use this spice instead?'

Why was it so hard to forget him?

She walked to the drawer and pulled out a glass.

"Mummy!" Tomini shouted as he ran into the kitchen with Temi hot on her heels.

"Mummy, can we call D.D.?" Tomini said and raising the phone up to her. "Please."

"Mummy, please." Temi begged.

Tinu sighed. She could take them away from their father, but she couldn't take their father away from their hearts. She wasn't vengeful. She was only trying to protect them from the pain she'd seen Ajiri go through.

Her father had divorced her mother, and remarried another woman. Ajiri had suffered the pain of watching her father put his wife and his step daughters ahead of her every single time.

Their fees were first. Her shop rent first. Their excursion payments first. The man never even spent time with Ajiri. The pain was Tinu's as well. She had held Ajiri every time she came back from her father's place empty-handed. She had been the one who begged her parents to foot Ajiri's WAEC fees when her mother lost her job.

She didn't disappointment and dashed expectations for them. Not for her children. It was inevitable if Dele married Seyifunmi. Her artifice with Ireti had put Dele off her scent. While the conference call Ireti led him to believe she was in the US, she could lead a quiet life with her children in Abuja.

There'd be no foul.

"Do you remember all the rules?" She asked and placed the bottle on the island.

They nodded.

"No matter what, we should never tell Daddy where we are." Temi said.

"If he insists, we hang up." Tomini said and frowned.

She sighed. Tomini had been against their leaving. The girl was so angry, threw tantrums and had plainly called her out.

She'd spoilt them. When she was that age, she couldn't say half of what the girl said.

She'd gotten angry and slapped her.

She collected the phone from her daughter.

"Let's go upstairs."

Tomini and Temi skipped out of the room and she followed. They walked to their room, and sat on their bed. She unlocked her phone and dialed Dele's line.

She handed them the phone, and sat on the chair by Temi's reading table.

*******
"So you're telling me there's no legal action I can take against her?" Dele shouted at his lawyer.

The man stared at him expressionless. His dull eyes remained passive and fuelled Dele's irritation.

"We can't sue a person we can't find. It's only when we find her, we can discuss how to bring her back to the court's jurisdiction." The man stated.

"F*uck!" He swore and rubbed his face.

He stood and walked the length of the living room and back.

"Can we get Interpol?" He asked after his third pair of to and fro movement.

"She has sole legal and physical custody. She didn't kidnap the children." The man stated.

"I can't let her just take my children like that and do nothing!" He stopped and shouted at the man.

He had begged the COSA to use his influence with the Minister for Aviation to get him flight manifests. But he'd been led to a dead end. Tinu had broken her trip, flying to Egypt first. He'd called the airline, but they refused to give him any information. He couldn't believe she outsmarted him. How long had she been planning this?

"Dele." Seyifunmi called as she jogged into the room. "Tinu's calling."

He snatched his phone out of her hand, and accepted the incoming WhatsApp video call.

Temi and Tomini beamed at him , and shouted, "Daddy."

His heart raced and he smiled.

"How are you? Are you okay?" He asked.

They nodded.

"I miss you." Dele confessed. "Where are you?"

"We miss you too, Daddy." Tomini said with tears in her eyes. "Daddy, I miss you so much."

He squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his fists, chanting in his mind.

Dele, be calm.

He opened his eyes and said, "Where are you?"

"In America." Temi answered and Tomini's tears fell.

"Where in America? Tell me." He asked, waiting desperately to hear their answer.

"We are not supposed to." Tomini said.

"Who said so?" He shouted.

"Mummy." Temi answered.

"I'm your father. Please, tell me." Dele said.

Their looked beyond the camera for a few seconds and then returned to him.

Obviously, she's supervising the call.

"Daddy, how are you?" Tomini asked.

"I'm sad, miserable and angry. In short, I am not fine."Dele answered.

Tomini pursed her lips. And there was silence for a few minutes.

"We should go."Temi said.

"Wait. Why are you two wearing singlets? Isn't it chilly this time of the year?" Dele asked.

"It doesn't get chilly everywhere in the America during fall." Temi responded.

"Where are you then? California? Florida? Texas?" He called, thankful for Temi's revelation.

"Daddy, bye bye." Temi said and his screen went black.

millieademi:



Chris is the UK.

Ok ma’am

Op thanks for the update, but I think its short oo, abeg no mind me oo

Chris is in Lagos not UK

Episode 33- Love me, Haunt me.

She turned and rolled to the other side of the bed. Was she just imagining things or could she still smell him? Her heart pounded and stomach went queasy. She tightened her eyes close.

Tinu, stop this.

'Good night, my love." His voice whispered.

She shook her head. She could still feel his lips on her cheeks. And her loins warmed up as her waist waited for him to wrap his hand around it. Her back itched to be positioned against his chest.

'Ya hayati.' His breathless voice panted in her ears.

Her eyes flew open and the tears she'd been holding back escaped.

It was already three years. Why couldn't she move on. Why was it that everyday she woke up it was like the evening her father-in-law broke the news to her.

Tinu, Chris is dead.

"Chris, if you're haunting me, please stop. Please, i can't take this pain anymore. Please. I'm trying my best to be strong for our children. Don't make it harder than it is." She said to the empty room.

"Please. I don't deserve this."

She scratched her scalp, and turned to the slarm clock by her bed. She'd only slept for two hours. She hissed and rolled out of bed. Maybe if she continued her work, she'd be able to get him out of her mind.

She walked out of her room to her office downstairs. She flipped the switch by the wall, and the light in the room came on. She shut the door behind her as she walked in. She walked to her chair and flopped onto the swivel chair.

She shivered at the memory that hit her with the same force she sat with.

"Come for me, Tinu."

Heat pooled in her loins. She fought the memory, but graphic memories were difficult to push back.

Heat curled over her skin and she fought the thought with memories of tiles, curtains, mantelpieces, beddings, fittings. And she lost the battle.

Her body was raging with hormones, and the woman in her revelled in the memory of Chris's hands holding her hips as she rode him, his kisses on her neck and breasts, his lusty voice in her ears. She sighed and clamped her thighs together.

"Tinu, focus." She berated herself.

How did widows survive this period? Her period was getting closer and several nights she woke up aroused, and all she do was take a cold shower.

She flipped open her laptop and opened her client's file.

She'd learn.

If she could make it through prison, she could survive anything.

*******

"Don't touch me." Her voice shouted at him. "Your son is here, my Hannah is not."

The livid face with turgid veins in her neck yelled at him with tears raining from puffy eyes.

"Chris, don't leave me. Chris, if you die, I'll die too." She cried.

Her weave billowed in the sea breeze, tickling his face as he wrapped his hands around her waist, and pressed a kiss to her neck.

"Chris," she moaned.

"Tinu." He had answered.

The waves of returning memories engulfed him. He saw pictures of his life speed past him. Her laughter, her tears, her fears, her joys came back to him taunting him, kissing him, embracing him.

She wasn't Cyan Lady.

She was Atinuke Coker-Oduah.

His wife.

He struggled with the thick vines that held him bound, that kept him subdued. Once he could open his eyes he'd be taking the first step to get back to her.

To get back to his wife.

His hands moved and his stretching fingers grazed a hand. He reached and grabbed it. He squeezed hard.

The slim wrist attached to the hand flexed and he tightened his grip.

"Sir?" A soft female voice called.

"Mr. James?" She called again.

Who was James?

Was he James?

No. She had called him Chris.

"Christopher Oduah, abeg, I'm tired. Who cares if my hair looks like sacrifice. Who dey look me?"

She'd called him Christopher Oduah.

"Mr. James, can you hear me?" Her voice bagged on more authority and concern.

"My name is Chris." He whispered.

******
Rosanna's hand reached into the bucket for more popcorn, with her eyes fixed on the huge three-d screen in front of her. It was a public holiday. She'd finished her work ahead of time. No more Seyifunmi and Ose to disturb her.

The sweet caramel popcorn turned bland at the thought of Ose. She wished she didn't have to hurt him. He deserved better. He deserved love. After losing the woman he loved to a car-crash, and being led on by Roselle, he deserved a woman to love and one who would love him back.

She wasn't that woman.

She was scarred. She'd never be able to prove how much she couldn't be in a relationship.

Trust was everything to her. To her, it was more important than love. Her mother's mistrust of her father caused their breakup, and she promised herself to only be with someone she trusted.

She trusted Dare, and she expected him to do the same.

Her fingers unclenched the popcorn in them as she remembered Dare.

He'd proved just how much he distrusted her.

She heaved a sigh and launched into the bucket snd grabbed a handful of brown sticky popcorn. She shoved it into her mouth trying to wipe off the sour taste Dare's act of betrayal had left in her mouth.

The male protagonist grabbed his love interest by the waist and kissed her, just as Donna Lewis's I Love You Always Forever blared beside her.

Her grip slackened as she heard the song she and Dare had picked out as their wedding song. Her heart crumpled as the song went on as the lady beside her rummaged her bag trying to find her mobile phone.

Patrons began to hiss and shout on the lady.

"Off that stupid phone." One man shouted.

"Sorry." The lady apologised as the song went on.

Rosanna felt tears bite her eyes. He was supposed to love her, to believe that everything she really would do for him.

When he said he'd wait, he didn't believe that she'd do her possible best to get a kidney for Alicia.

She shot out of her seat propelled by anger and grief, and stalked out of the hall with tears brimming in her eyes. She ignored the insults of the girls her popcorn had spilled on and just ran out.

She ran, swinging the door shut behind her, and blinded by her tears, she ran into a man's chest.

"Watch where you're going, na." The man shouted. She wiped her tears with the heels of her palms.

"I'm sorry." She said. "I'm really sorry."

She looked up and saw two men standing in front of her. The man she'd run into stood scowling at her, while dusting God knows what off his wifebeater.

Who wore a wifebeater to a mall?

Apparently, he wanted to show off his tattoos. His fair arm was engraved with black and blue ink. The image of a dragon with its mouth wide open ran the length of his huge, right upperarm. His huge biceps created a large dragon whose tail curled down his forearm into a scroll on which Chinese characters were inscribed.

She tore her gaze from the inked man to the man beside him, looking like his exact opposite. Dark, tall, wiry, clad in a white shirt and jean pants, and looking responsible.

"Sorry about Joshua's behaviour. I've warned him not to be rude to pretty girls." The responsible man joked and she gave a weak smile.

"I wasn't looking where i was going." She answered.

"I'm William, by the way. And you are?" The man asked smiling and stretching out his hand.

She was so not in the mood to be social. She just wanted to curl up somewhere and cry.

"I'm sorry I have caramel on my hands. You can call me Ro, but I have to go." She said and walked away.

Mukhtar20:
Chris is in Lagos not UK

Guy, Chris is in the UK

So with all of Dele's pains and worries Seyi cannot open up to him, it's not easy though buh she should make an attempt na. still not rooting for Dele&Seyi there will always be problem between his first family and her. Abeg make that ship no sail. Thanks op

Thanks for the update

u ar just d best....... deliver regularly not minding is free.... God bless you in bigger way

Chris is gaining is sanity back. kindly shed more light on Chris y is he in dat position

Thanks for the update

Pls more light on Chris pls

Hi guys...


Please, don't forget to vote for me.


Please o. Help my solution.

millieademi ... I don't have voter's card... how do I go about the voting?

Thanks for the update

Hellooooooooooo

Where's our op?

Hope she's good

Please update

Thank you

Hi guys

Please I need your help. I'm currently working on Ocean of Secrets The Ebb book.trailer.
I'd like you guys if it's no biggie to post your favorite quotes from the book
or favorite scenes. Please it will help me draw up a script if necessary or an outline. Please guys do this for me.
Pretty please.

The cyan lady

My favorite scene

...“Tinu please!” Dele shouted in tears. “Fight it!”
The medic cranked up the knob again. Tinu jerked and the erratic beeping stilled into a prolonged beep. The scribble still into blue straight line.
His doubts as to what the straight line meant was cleared by the crestfallen look on the medics' faces.
“No.” He whispered. His heart raced. She couldn’t be gone, not after they’ve come this far.
“Time of death.” The second man announced. “Sixteen fifty-seven.”
Tears spilled out of his eyes. They had lost her.

Sorry.

This is long overdue.


Please keep the comments coming.

Episode 34 - For my grandchildren

"Mummy, " Chris called.

She turned and saw her son standing in the kitchen's doorway.

"Yes, baby."

The boy took unsure steps forward. "Can I help you? Temi is watching something boring and Regina is playing with her dolls and Tomini doesn't want to play with me."

She beamed at him and stretched her hand out to him. She wondered when this cold Tomini phase would end. Ever since she'd slapped her and grounded her, the girl had been cold to everyone.

Except Dapo.

He'd been the only to draw smiles from her since they moved to Abuja.

"My baby," she heaved as she lifted him on to a barstool by the island.

"You are getting fat o." She commented and poked his round tummy. He smiled and tears pooled behind her eyes.

He had his father's smile. The same lip corner curling, the same dimples, the same face.

"Mummy, what are you cooking?" He asked.

She ran a hand over his head.

"Coconut rice, my love."

The boy nodded and asked, "Should I peel Maggi for you?"

"Don't worry. The food is almost ready."

Tinu walked to the cabinet to get flatware and her phone vibrated in her pocket. She pulled it out and saw an incoming WhatsApp voice call from Seyifunmi.

You have got to be kidding me.

She hissed and turning off her data connection. Seyifunmi had been spamming her with apology messages and voice notes. Really irritating.

The notification bar showed ninety-one new messages. She was about the mark them as read when she saw a few were from Dele. She clicked on the notification and her chat list popped up.

She tapped on Dele and read the thirteen new messages. She scoffed in disbelief.

How dare he?

She swiped down and turned her data connection on, poised to reply to the stinkers he'd sent, then Grace ran to the kitchen.

"Madam, Chief is here o.".

Tinu dropped her phone on the counter and turned.

"Which Chief?"

"Me." Her father-in-law's voice answered as he walked into the kitchen.

Her heart surged with anger, and she stiffened.

"What do you want?" She snarled at the man, flanked by two men in black suits.

Since she'd been released, he had never come to apologise for the wrong allegation or his antagonistic behaviour. Only Monique had kept contact with her. Only Monique had believed her innocence from the beginning. Only Monique, while everyone else in the family she'd taken to be hers had deserted her.


The man smiled and shook his head, "You can take a pig, clean it up, dress it up, spray it with the most expensive perfume, it would remain a pig, and return to the mud."

Tinu bit her tongue to hold back her reply. Her anger
fizzled out as Chris came to hug her thighs from behind.


"Anyway, I didn't come for you. I came for my grandchildren." He put in.

A gong crashed in Tinu's head, and it left a ringing sound in her ears.

"Which grandchildren?" She asked with her lip curled and her brow raised in doubt.

He couldn't be talking about Chris and Regina, could he? She had sole custody of all her children. No one could take her children away from her.

"Christopher and Regina. I don't know how you were able to smuggle her away from the hospital and fake her death, but I want my granddaughter." Chris's father.

"You must be joking." She retorted. "I have legal and physical custody over them. No one can take them away from me. Not even you."

"I came to ask you to take the easy way. If you refuse, I will drag you through the courts until you relinquish custody to me. I cannot have a mental patient raise my grandchildren." He answered.

She shook her head.

"Not my children. You have no right to take them away from me. You never inquired after their well being for the past two years, and you want custody? You can't." She shouted.

"Mummy!" Regina called and toddled in the kitchen.

The man paled as he took in the girl.

"Regina?" He said and she stopped in her tracks. Tge man took steps towards her, and the girl ran to her mother.

"I don't know you." She shouted abd her mother picked her up. The girl nestled her head in the crook of her mother's neck.

The man turned and glared at her.

"You've turned ny grandchildren against me."

Tinu shook her head. "I don't have the time for that. You don't nean anything to us."

The man's glare hardened.

"Mark my words. You'll rue this day." He said and left the kitchen with his bodyguards behind him.

God!

Her hearts palpitations rhymed with her jagged breaths. Rhythmless. Haywire.

"Mummy, who is that?" Regina asked as she pulled away from her mother.

"He's your, he's your grandfather. Your Daddy's daddy." Tinu explained.

The girl frowned. "Why'd he not come and play with us since?"

Tinu bent and placed her daughter on the floor. She held Chris's hand and pulled him to stand in front of her. She sank to her haunches.

"Don't ever go anywhere with him. He's a bad person. If you go with him, he'll take you away, and you'll never see me or Temi or Tomini again." Tinu panted.

They nodded.

"Do you understand?"

"Yes mummy." They chorused and she hugged them.

If he took them away, he'd be taking the only reminders she had of Chris.

She pulled away from them, and they left the kitchen hand in hand. She'd have to have a word with the gatekeeper.

Her shaking hand rose to her chest, and she clutched her blouse.

"Tinu, calm down."

The buzzing of her phone pulled her away from where she was squatted. She walked to the counter and saw an incoming WhatsApp voice call from Dele.

The lousy texts he'd sent came back to her, and she swiped the answer button.

"Dele Daramola, you have some nerve texting me that bullshit." She fired without waiting for him to speak. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

"Hold it right there. Don't take that tone with me. I am not your mate, so don't tell me rubbish. I stand by everything I texted." He shouted.

She scoffed and smiled.

She tapped her feet in response as waves of anger rolled over her. Her index finger dug into her thumb as she listened to him rant how testy, snappish and discourteous she was.

"Well, you're dating the most discourteous b*itch in existence. And by all means, quote me." Tinu said after he was done.

"O o l'eko o." Dele answered. (You're untrained.)

"Well, before you come to train me, why don't you start with your loudmouthed girlfriend, who came to MY home, called me slut, insulted the memory of my late husband, threatened to tell MY children that their mother is a slut? And that too in Temi's presence. Why don't you start with her, Mr. Trainer?" Tinu shouted back.

"W-what a-a-are you talking about?" Dele stuttered.

She hissed. "Why don't you go and ask my trained girlfriend? Wo, Dele. If I respect you, it's because of three things- what you did for me when I was in prison, the way you honour your mother and the fact you are the man I had my first children for. Respect is reciprocal."

"Tinu, are you telling me that Seyifunmi insulted you? When was this?"Dele whispered.

"She not only insulted me, she accused me of having an affair with you and using the kids as a ladder into your life. She asked me to stay away from you, and where I go, my children follow." Tinu answered.

"Tinu, wait. Let's talk about this. I had no idea she did that. I-"

"I know. But you're getting married to her, and I can't have such a woman as my children's stepmother. I'm sorry. I have to go." She said and hung up.

She turned her phone on airplane mode and sighed.

Chris's father is a baboon, he thinks he has the audacity to come and lay claim on the grandchildren he didn't know about their well-being for two years. And as for Seyifunmi, she should start praying to her Chi because am not very sure the wedding is going to hold anymore. Thanks for the update ma'am

Tinu had better get Dele involved in the fight for custody of the kids ASAP.
some how, Dele can match the baboon in term of power play and connections.
As for Seyifunmi...

Na wa oo wat is wrong with dis chief na? Thanks op

Been waiting for this day! Seyifunmi, are you ready for this??
Mr Jason Oduah, pls respect yourself ooo. Nothing must happen to Tinu ooo. plssss

I won’t be surprised if Chief is not the biological father of Chris maybe that’s why he’s behaving like a cold dog....
At last, Dele has heard about what Seyi did..... his next line of action is what I’m waiting for.

Thanks for the update ma’am

millieademi:
Hi guys

Please I need your help. I'm currently working on Ocean of Secrets The Ebb book.trailer.
I'd like you guys if it's no biggie to post your favorite quotes from the book
or favorite scenes. Please it will help me draw up a script if necessary or an outline. Please guys do this for me.
Pretty please.

Tinú washed off her love for Délé as she bathed and came out a new woman healed from all her heartbreaks.

If Délé felt free, it's time to be free too.

She put on a black bodycon dress and wore a blue blazer over it. She took out her highest black heels and put them on. It was time to be on top of the world. She took off her wedding ring and placed another ring in its stead. She wore a different perfume and styled her hair differently. She had burned the old Tinú and like a Phoenix, she rose out of the ashes. She lined her eyes and used red lipstick. It was time to get over Délé and she'd get over him in style.


I so much love this part, The new Tinu

Episode 35 - Awake

Two years ago

Rosanna stomped down the stairs as she rushed to leave the town house she and her mother were renting. After waking up late and snoozing her wake up alarm five times, it was seven o'clock.

What if Dare had woken up?

She shook her head. Wendy, her favorite, middle-aged nurse would have called her.

She walked to the front door and turned the handle. She pulled the door but it wouldn't open. She pulled again but it resisted.

Her eyes flitted to the lock and she sighed.

"Mum!" She shouted. "I need the keys to the front door."

She turned and shouted again.

"Mum!"

"What?" Her mother fired back, her voice thundering into the room before she appeared. "Rosanna, what?"

What is her problem?

"I need the keys to the door. It's locked." She said and pulled her coat on tighter.

The woman curled her lips and narrowed her eyes into slits.

Why is she frowning? Is it because I didn't greet her first?

"That door remains locked throughout today. If heaven will fall, let it fall. I really want to see it fall." Her mother said and hissed.

Rosanna squinted.

What did the door have to do with heaven falling?

"Mum, I need to get to the hospital. I don't get all this heaven falling talk." She said.

Her mother smiled and said, "If heaven falls after you stay home today, I really want to see it happen."

Rosanna's eyes narrowed even more, and an itching started in her ears and she couldn't resist the urge to pull them.

"I'm not sure I understand you, mum. I need to get to Dare." She said.

"Rosanna, let me simplify it. You are going nowhere today. If heaven falls, so be it. If you die, so be it. I am your mother. T'omode ba gbon'gbon kiku, iya e a gbon'gbon sisin. You cannot come and kill me. I did not kill my mother. You cannot kill me.(Proverb: If a child insists on dying, his mother will have to learn how to bury.)

"Mo ti pe e bi omo, o ko o o gbo. What is it, Rosanna? You are really gonna let yourself waste away by Dare's side. If he stays in a coma for years, you really are going to stay by his side everyday? I raised you better than that." Her mother said.(I spoke to you like a child, you didn't listen.)


"You didn't raise me." Rosanna said.

Her mother paled.

"How dare you?" Her mother shouted.

"Look, mum. If you don't want to hear bitter truths, don't try to come between Dare and me. Your ex tried it and I cut all ties with him. So, please, just hand me the keys." Rosanna said.

How dare she say that? If she decided to die by Dare's side, what was it to her? She raised her? When? During the three days she spent with her during holidays? Or when she had her whisked off to boarding houses? Or when she'd left for work before she woke up? Or when she only returned late at night?


Maybe if she'd raised her, she'd have turned her back on Dare, and left him at the moment he needed her.

"If I poured myself into my work, it was to give you a future, an education, to pay for the expensive schools I put you in ." Her mother said.

"Of course," Rosanna said, rolling her eyes. "Can I have the keys?"

"I'm not giving you the keys. I don't care what happens. Dare won't die if you aren't by his side." She said and walked away.

"Mum! Mum!" She shouted at her retreating back.


********

Three days went by, and the front door remained locked. That and the back door and any other exit that was big enough to allow her sneak out. Moreover, she'd changed the locks. So her hunting for her spare keys ended in futility.

She sat by her window, wondering how Dare was faring, waiting till six when Wendy could reply her texts, and hating on her mother.

Dragging her thumb over her nail bed, she scratched off the fake nail polish on them. She'd loved the tortilla colour and that was why she snatched the bottle from Seyifunmi.

Two knocks came from her door and she turned to see her mother.

"Someone's here to see you." Her mother announced.

She sat up and asked," Is it from the hospital?"

Was Dare okay?

She caught the black sneakers first before she looked up and saw Ose.

Oh.

She slouced in the window seat and continued staring out the window.

"I'll leave you two alone." Her mother said.

"Hey." Ose greeted.

"What do you want?" She answered.

There was no point beating about the bush. It was clear her mother had invited him over. To what end exactly? To get her to leave Dare? Or forget about him?

"That's rude. I came all the way to the US just to check up on you."

"I didn't ask you to. Did I?" She answered, watching a couple jog down the street.

That should have been me and Dare.

"Really abrasive, Ro. Very abrasive." He said.

A twinge pierced her heart.

"You can leave if you want to."

"Rosanna, stop this." He said.

"Ose, what do you want from me? Why are you so nice to me? Why do you care?" She shouted.

He flinched a little and her heart began to crumple.

"Ose, look. This is a terrible time for me. I'm not sure if I understand what I'm feeling right now. I'm mad and sad and frustrated and I just want to be alone. Please." She sighed.

"Ro, you can't keep this up. You can't put your life on hold till Dare wakes up." Ose groaned.

"My life makes no sense without him, Ose. It didn't make sense all those years ago and it doesn't now." She answered and wiped the trail a single tear left.

Why didn't anyone understand?

"Ose, if he doesn't wake up, I may as well put a bullet through my head and-"

He sat beside her and said, "You had a life before him. You were an editor for one of the world's most popular fashion magazine, Ro. Editor of the year."

She scoffed and smiled.

"And I came back home and cried myself to sleep every night, put my makeup on the following day, edit and repeat. Ose, Dare brought some semblance of hope back to my life, hope that I wouldn't be the lonely, heartbroken woman my mother is."

Silence engulfed the room. And she turned to stared at her unmade bed.

"I'm sorry. I was rude." She sighed and rested her head on his arm.

"It's no biggie. I'd just leave without making you the small chops I wanted to cook for you." Ose said.

"What?" She shouted and pulled away from him with a small smile on her face.

"I even got Seyifunmi's recipe for Jollof rice. I wanted to give you a taste of home, and cheer you up. But since you've been rude," he said and shrugged.

Tears glimmered in her eyes.

"Thank you," she mouthed and hugged him, "thanks so everything, Ose. Thank you for being my friend."

He shrugged.

*******
Rosanna reached for the last samosa on the plate and picked off the brown wrap at one edge of the triangle. Her stomach, stretched to its limits, protested the incoming jumbo sized samosa, but she'd have none of that.

Ose sat on the floor, resting his back against the sofa she was sitting on, with one knee propped up and his head nodding to the Lil Wayne song playing from his phone.

She cringed at the speed. What was the point if you couldn't hear the lyrics?

"Don't you have something better?" She said and broke off a piece of samosa and tossed it into her mouth.

"I've got Lauren Hill, Nas, Austin three thousand-"

"Anything that doesn't cram five words into one second."

Ose chuckled and scrolled down his playlist, and he clicked on the screen.

The instrumentals of the song filled the room and Rosanna's face split with a megawatt grin.

"I love this song." She shouted as Usher cooed his name. She jumped out of her seat and grabbed the television remote.

"So we back in the club with our bodies rocking from side to side," she sang along with him and started dancing.

The beats of the bass had her moving her hips and shaking her shoulders. She started lipsynching the song and sashayed up and shimmied down. She walked to Ose and pulled him up with one hand.

He chuckled again and started dancing along with her.

She threw her hand up as the artiste sang so. She squeezed her eyes shut as she pretended to scream the chorus.

She turned her back to Ose and put his hands on her waist. She dropped the remote as a featuring artiste started rapping.

"I thought you don't like rap." Ose giggled.

"Except it's in an Usher song." She said and continued dancing, throwing her head back and forth.

The song came to an end, and Dead but Alive's You Spin Me Right Round started.

"Whoo!" She shouted.

She waited till the chorus and started yelling the lyrics in her deepest baritone. Ose guffawed at the horrible sound as she she spinned him around.

"You're crazy."

She ignored him and continued yelling.

The song came to an end and she crashed unto a sofa.

She heaved smiling as a number by Don William started playing.

"Wow." She panted. "I can't remember the last time I did that."

"Me too." Ose said beaming at her.

"Thank you."

He nodded at her.

She rested her head against the sofa. She closed her eyes as the soft strums of the guitar lulled her. Soon, sleep took her.

******
Rosanna pushed herself to run faster. Her breathless pants came out with white puffs of air. Tears stung her eyes and her self-hatred increased. She'd gotten carried away and Dare had woken up.

She was supposed to be by his side. Rather, she was jumping around like a teenager, eating jollof rice and small chops like a greedy pig. Dare had been awake for twelve hours and she didn't know.

She ignored Ose's cries that she wait for him. This was all his fault. She'd jumped out of his car before he was parked. She ran through the automated doors of the hospital and to the elevator shaft. She pounded on the button.

She sobbed in relief as the door split in two. She ran in and tapped the button for the fourth floor. The door closed and she leaned against the railing that ran along three walls. She wiped her tears with the sleeves of the cardigan she wore over her pyjamas camisole.

How could she have gotten so carried away? She'd woken up to meet fifteen missed calls from Wendy, Gwyneth and John, and five texts telling her Dare was awake and asking for her.

The elevator dinged as it opened. She jogged out and towards his ward. She ran in and met Dare crying. Doctor Baker and another doctor turned to face.

"Ro, how are you?" Doctor Baker asked.

She nodded, with her gaze still transfixed on Dare. What was going on? She took small steps to towards him. Afraid. The tears still streamed down his face as he looked at her.

"Doc, what's going on?" Rosanna asked.

The white doctor said, "Hi. I'm Doctor Everett. Mr. Shaw won't be able to walk again."

"What?!"

Doctor Baker pursed her lips and said, "We're deeply sorry, Mr. Shaw."

She turned to Dare. He'd gotten a job as an assistant coach for the basketball team at his alma mater. He'd be so glad to get a chance to get back to basketball.

She turned back to the doctors, "Isn't there some sort of therapy or surgery or-"

Ose's dash into the room cut her short.

"Hey Dare," Ose greeted.

"You were with him?" Dare asked.

She turned to face him as the stench of the accusation in his tone tried to suffocate her.

She squinted and said, "Dare, what are you-"

"I wasn't even in coma for three months yet, and you were already fooling around with him. Well, go be with him," Dare shouted and pushed her away from him.

His words caused a ringing in her ears.

"Mr. Shaw." Doctor Baker said.

"Dare, Ro's not like that." Ose said.

"Will you shut the f*uck up?" Dare shouted back.

"I suggest you leave, sir." Doctor Everett told Ose and placed a hand on his shoulder to lead him out.

"Dare, nothing's going on between Ose and me. He's a friend. You know that." She said.

"Get out!" He said and her heart shattered.

Her breath came in laboured pants and she reached out to touch him.

"Dare, I can-"

"Get out." He shouted.

Doctor Baker's hands held her shoulders.

"Let's give him some space, Ro."

Tears spilled out of her eyes as the doctor led her out.

This is bad oh! Seyi

Tinu's father in law is not remorseful at all!! After all they've done to her. He still have the guts to threaten her. I wish I could strangle him. Mtchew.