𝔼𝕂𝕀𝕃𝔸

22

"The ten commandments sum up to two things: the love of God and the love of neighbor. The first three commandments talk about the love of God, while the remaining commandments talk about the love of neighbour.

"If you love God, then you would love your neighbour. You cannot claim to love God who you cannot see if you don't love your neighbour who you can see.

"If you love your neighbour, you wouldn't kill, you wouldn't steal from him/her, you wouldn't bear false witness against the person, you wouldn't be envious of the person's wealth and success..."

The homily dragged on with half the population of the church dozing. Chidiogo glanced around her seat, taking note of the others. Amelia kept herself busy with wiping off her nail polish.

She had been applying and wiping off nail polish for half of the time they'd been there. At least it was better than the other half she spent drooling over the priest.

Next to her was Mmachi who rested her head on the chair in front of her. She seemed to be sleeping but something about the way she stayed convinced Chidiogo otherwise.

Sky was also seated on the same bench, though far from the rest of them. She just stared at the pulpit, watching with such keenness, it felt a bit weird.

After her last exchange with Mmachi, Chidiogo had concluded that she was a bit weird. Although the conversation ended with her reply, Mmachi leaving right after giving her a bone chilling hiss, Chidiogo couldn't just shake off the feeling that something was wrong with the girl.

But she had saved her life and the least she could do was think nicely about her.

Chidiogo's eyes continued its idle roaming until she locked gazes with Kamsi. She looked away that same instant, shuddering a bit.

She'd learned to dread her from the moment she was comfortable with leaving her to bleed after Amarachi's assault. The fact that she had somehow ignited the whole situation just made the dread deeper.

Chidiogo became convinced that Kamsi was not alright when she was the first person who turned up when she woke up at the nurse's office. At first she was startled and just as she was about to call for the nurse's help, Justin appeared.

His arrival put an automatic end to whatever conversation or encounter she would have had with Kamsi but she was certain it wouldn't have ended well.

Chidiogo was grateful for Justin's arrival for one reason—it gave her a sense of safety. The one word she'd always known to be an illusion felt like it could be a reality for once with him by her side.

She longed for the warmth which had engulfed her just by having his hands wrapped around her and she didn't know when she started looking around for him.

Her mood dampened at once the moment she realized he wasn't there. There was a good explanation—he wasn't a Catholic—but that didn't help her mood in any way.

She let herself relive the brief time they shared at the school clinic. She hadn't expected to see him, not after he had said himself that very same day that it was better they stayed away from each other. Then a dangerous thought came creeping into her mind.

'Was he only moved by humanity or could he just not keep to his own words? Could he not get himself to stay away from me?'

Something else in Chidiogo's head reminded her to stop, reminded her of her tendency to overthink things. Justin was Mmachi's boyfriend, he was in love with Mmachi not her.

The kiss was a mistake, it didn't matter that she kept dwelling on it. It'd only be wrong if she thought of him any more than she already did.

With a sigh, she looked back to the altar to find the priest leaving the pulpit. The homily was done and the rest of the mass ended not more than thirty minutes later.