JAGUNLABI✔

CHAPTER TEN

"Emi, omo Faleke. Emi o ni ta epo si aso ala mi. Owo mi re funfun ni. I, the son of Faleke. I will never soil the white cloth of my character with red palm oil. My hands are clean, I do not commit evil," Niyi said.

He looked into my eyes and added, "Have you forgotten that Jagunlabi acknowledged me as a man who does not do evil? Perhaps you have forgotten that he said if not for how we were together he would have taken your life?"

My breathing slowly normalized. For some strange reason I started to believe him. I tried to search for any signs of deception in his face or tone of voice, but found none. Then again, perhaps I had been enchanted already.

Niyi rolled his eyes, "No, I did not put a spell on you, Teniola."

"I did not say you did."

"You did not have to."

"Why? Because you can already read my mind?" I asked.

He groaned deeply, "Your face is an open book, Teniola. It does not take a seer to discern your thoughts."

When I was at Columbia, some people in my dorm told me the same thing, so I could not argue with that. My fingers twitched with shock, and my muscles ached. The burden of all that information weighed heavily on me.

What about my deep and passionate love for him? Was it constrained by magic? I wondered.

Niyi chuckled and smirked with his signature cockiness, "Ko so eni to ma ri mi ti ko ni so pe okunrin lo duro yii. Ajanaku koja pe no ri nkan firi, ta ba re erin ka so pe a ri erin. There is no one who will see me and not acknowledge that I am an attractive man. An elephant is not something you can claim you might have seen. If you have seen it, you will see it clearly."

I shook my head and pursed my lips. Unable to question how much I simultaneously hated him and found him so insanely attractive when we first met. Each argument kindled passion and fire between us so hot we should have called the fire department.

"We went from enemies to lovers and then had to become friends," Niyi said huskily. "I did not use a magical spell on you, it happened naturally."

"But—"

"Do not try to deny it," Niyi teased.

A smile threatened to burst forth on my lips but I suppressed it.

"By the way, if not for love, why on Earth would I pursue a stubborn girl like you?" he joked.

My hand was quick to whack him playfully on the chest.

"Ooh la la," he growled.

"You are not serious, Niyi."

"I have never been more serious, Teniola. You are very stubborn and you jump to conclusions easily." He drew me closer and hugged me. My body melted into his and was grateful for his warmth.

"You have trust issues, you are—"

"Enough, Niyi! Ah ahn. Ti yin naa n be lara yin. You also have your own shortcomings."

His chest rumbled with laughter as he held me in his arms and buried his face in the crook of my neck.

Since he could make lists so could I. "You are arrogant, domineering and unreasonably possessive and territorial when it comes to me."