I Did Not Want To Fall For You

Chapter 33: Never a day without him in it

“You were the one who decided to waste five minutes of your life joking around,” Kaito retorted.
“What is life without jokes?” Nonso sat opposite them. She lowered her head.
“Are you crying?” Nonso furrowed his brows, looking closely at her.
She patted her eyes and smiled but didn’t meet his eyes.
“I would have asked if it was Tochukwu that made you cry but I know you can beat him hands down,” Nonso said.
She smiled. He stared at her suspiciously then shrugged.
“See me!” Nonso hissed, “I left my bag and books in class.”
“So how are you going to read because I don’t need any disturbance this night,” Kaito warned.
“Just give me one of your textbooks,” Nonso said lazily.
“You’ll tell me how Physics relates to arts,” Kaito replied with a light laugh.
Nonso hissed again. “And JAMB is next month oo.”
She could feel Nonso’s eyes on her as she stared at her note rigidly.
“Tochukwu, what happened?” Nonso asked, “this is unlike Kamsi.”
She saw Kaito’s shrug through the corner of her eye. She looked up at Nonso who was still watching her and shot him a fake smile.
“I’m fine,” she spoke then looked at her wristwatch, “it’s 8:29.”
“So?” Nonso asked, confused.
“Your drugs,” she reminded him.
“My drugs,” Nonso repeated with a squeezed face then his eyes widened, “Shit! I think it’s in my bag.”
“it’s with me,” Kaito spoke up, “I knew you’d somehow forget it.’
He brought out a drug sachet from his bag and placed three tablets in Nonso’s hand and handed him a bottled water.
“Why did you ask Paracetamol?” Nonso frowned before swallowing the drugs and gulping down half the water.
She marveled at people that took their drugs that way. She couldn’t stand the taste of drugs.
“Who is the person of complaining of headaches?” Kaito eyed him.
Nonso yawned, his head dropping to his palms. “I’m tired,” he muttered.
She smiled at that. In that moment of weakness he showed, he looked small and vulnerable like the eighteen year old he was, not the adult he acted like most times.
“Sorry,” she consoled.
He raised his head to eye her playfully, “I hate sorrys. People have sang that word in my ear too much, I’m going deaf from it.”
“Ok,” she laughed, “Pele.”
He huffed, dropping his head back on his palms.
“Nonso, no phones or laptops this night and I mean it,” Kaito warned.
“What can you do?” Nonso sighed.
“Watch and see. I’m sleeping in your hostel this night.”
“Ok.”
“And every other night,” Kaito added.
“Ok.”
Kaito sighed. She didn’t look at him. She hadn’t looked at him since their small argument. She blew out a breath and forced herself to act normal.
“I’m your physiotherapist from now on,” she announced cheerily and Nonso’s head shot up.
“What did the both of you plan? My death!?” he cried.
“The opposite actually,” she replied with a laugh, “I need your bad leg up on my lap now. Night prep is almost over.”
“I’m too tired to argue, that’s the only reason I’m obeying,” he said and did as she asked. She slapped the leg off.
“With your dirty shoe,” she glared at him then sighed when she saw the pain and tiredness on his face. She gently lifted his leg back up and removed his trekkers.
“Sorry,” she murmured, inspecting the leg. A part of his ankle was swollen but other than that, his leg was fine.
“There’s a sore spot up his leg,” Kaito informed her, pushing the table closer to Nonso and farther from her so she could see the leg properly.
She folded his trousers and a little above his ankle, she saw the ugly bruise. It was red against his fair skin and very unattractive. Kaito placed a balm in front of her. She looked at it blankly.
“For the massage,” he explained. Taking a deep breathe, she smiled at him in appreciation then quickly looked away.
“Jiri nwayo, biko,” Nonso pleaded, his head back on the table. She nodded even though he could not see her.
She spent a little above an hour massaging his leg. Thirty minutes after night prep was over and the class area was scanty, they got ready to leave. She had to assist Nonso with Kaito’s help to the boys’ hostel entrance since he found it difficult to walk.
“I think I prefer your massage to Kaito’s own,” Nonso said when she let him go, “though, you’re too strict.”
“That’s the key,” she teased.
“Thank you,” he and Kaito said together.
She laughed awkwardly, avoiding Kaito’s eyes. “That’s what friends are for,” she waved them off and took a few steps backwards, “Nonso, please sleep early and don’t play around. Your body needs the rest. I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”
She turned and hurried away, not waiting for their response.
*
Kaito didn’t mention the previous day’s incident the next day when they saw and he didn’t let her avoid him in the days that followed like she planned to. He was always in her hair, like the persistent bug she saw him as. He would lounge in her class during breaks, sit beside her whenever they had a combined class, walk her to the refectory after school and to the gate of the female hostel after lunch and night preps. He didn’t  budge no mater how many times she tried to blow him off. She was glad for his company but she didn’t like that she was getting too attached, that she couldn’t imagine a day without him in it.