CAGED ✔

《 Chapter 33 》

I sat with my legs crossed on Iyanu's bed as I watched her paint my nails. It was the next day after prom and we were both in her room blending nail polishes. Peter had dropped us home that morning and had stayed for a while before leaving for his house.

All through his stay, I had just moped around like a depressed housewife, dropping little or no comments in the conversation. Peter had asked countless times what was wrong but I had defiantly stated nothing was wrong when I was indeed dying from hurt and curiosity.

It was eating me up and I just couldn't stop thinking why he hadn't kissed me that night. Didn't he want to - like I badly wanted?

"Iyanu." I couldn't take it anymore. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure!" She replied curtly without sparing me a glance.

"Well. . ."I didn't know how to ask my question. "I. . .what I want to ask is. . ."

"Madam!" She finally looked at me. "What is it?"

I let out a sigh and then narrated all that happened the previous night to her. All through my narration, she had looked excited, her smile growing bigger with each sentence.

"I still don't understand why he didn't kiss me. Could it be he doesn't like me as much as I thought he did?" I felt embarrassed talking about such things but I really wanted to find an answer to my hanging questions. I really hoped it wasn't what I was thinking.

"Hmm." Iyanu held her jaw in deep thought. "Well, I think you're getting it all wrong."

"How do you mean?" I sat up.

"Well, I feel Peter wanted to kiss you but just couldn't." She nodded like she had made a point when in reality she had only succeeded in confusing me further.

"How do you mean?" I frowned.

"Perhaps, he doesn't want to scare you away." She added and my brow furrowed.

"Iyanu, can you please speak in a language I understand? I really don't get you." I stressed and she sighed.

"Okay. What I mean is. . ." She seemed to be having difficulty in saying whatever she wished to say and that only probed more curiosity.

"Considering how you were trained, grandma had told you several false things about boys and has so instilled some wrong ideology in your head."

She paused when she saw the look on my face. "What I'm saying is, Peter doesn't want you to see him like those boys that want to destroy you. He doesn't want you seeing him as one of those boys that want to use you. I'm very sure that's the reason he didn't kiss you. He didn't want to destroy whatsoever relationship you two have and lose you. Do you understand?" She asked and I nodded slowly, things now dawning on me bit by bits.

"So if you want to kiss him, you have to make a move. Show him that you want it too." She concluded, grinning from ear to ear in pride. I rolled my eyes at her, hating the fact that she was right. I didn't want to give her that satisfaction.

But she was. She really made sense and now I knew why Peter had looked so tensed, trying to stabilize his breathing. He had simply tried to control himself because he didn't want to scare me away.

My heart swelled with so much love for that full haired boy with dark brown eyes and slightly pink lips. I loved him. I was suddenly not unsure anymore. I loved Peter Ndubisi!

The noise from downstairs jolted me from my thought as Iyanu jumped up from the bed in a speed I never knew she possessed.

"That must be Uncle Afolabi and his family. Remember they are coming today." She squealed as she held me by the wrist and pulled me out of the room with her.