I Did Not Want To Fall For You

Chapter 46: Who paid for her Jamb registration?

"I have always admired you," He said, "Since I noticed you in SS1. The intelligent girl on low cut with a stern face and curious eyes, cute smile and classy behaviour. So when I had the opportunity to be your friend this SS3, I grabbed it before you could find a way to evade me again as you did during the maths competition. You always did that, unintentionally, always found a way to slip through my fingers. Then I noticed whatever that was growing in my chest and I embraced it. I thought I could handle it, I thought I could handle you. You stay and then you fly away and then you come back and do it all over again, and I'm there waiting, anticipating when I would be able to cage you so you wouldn't flee, so you wouldn't pretend that I mean nothing to you."
She stayed still, pondering his words. Try hard as she might, she didn't understand. She sniffed, cleaning off her tears. She needed to do what he needed to be done. She shut her eyes and tried to calm herself then she opened them resolutely.
She tried to pull away but he held her still.
"Kaito, let me go," She whispered, trying to keep all signs of hurt out of her voice. He reluctantly did so and she stared into his watery eyes, filled with vulnerability and hesitation. He caressed her cheek, softly, tenderly.
She had never understood what heartbreak meant or felt like but perhaps, that was what she was feeling now; hurt in immeasurable quantities.
"I am sorry," He whispered, "I... I just need a break... I just need a break from all this. It is too much for me."
She forced a smile. She wasn't going to break or show him how much she was hurting. This was why she didn't want to engage in this stuff, she already was regretting all the time she spent with him.
"We are still friends," He added hastily, "I am not throwing the foundation away."
Wasn't he?
He leaned closer slowly and she jerked away in response, eyes wide. He smiled though she could see that he was hurt. He rose and picked up his bag. The plate of rice with their spoons in it lay untouched. She would eat it alone then, she always knew she was better off alone.
"I'll see you later," He said and he walked away. Before he left, she saw the shadow that disappeared from the doorway.
Nonso had been watching.
*
They didn't talk for the rest of the day and the next but on Saturday, their visiting day, he invited her to meet his parents and she declined. Was he bipolar? Why was he reaching out? He clearly said he wanted to be free of her yet he invited her to meet his parents? Perhaps he was bipolar.
But then Nonso forcibly dragged her to join them and so she met his parents and his elder brother and Nonso's father and little sister.
Nonso's mother could not come with her one-month-old baby but she talked with Nonso on a video call.
Both families were very close, she noticed and she longed for something of such. She declined when Kaito's mother offered her provisions after Nonso informed them that no one was visiting her. She would have left immediately if the brothers didn't force her to stay. As much as they made her feel comfortable, she still felt like an outsider, added to the fact that she was hanging on a thin line with the boys.
Kaito only talked to her when necessary and even worse, the three other boys, Obinne, Tobenna, and Nonso, kept giving both of them looks. She was sure Nonso fed them information, even if he pretended not to know anything.
She ended up staying with them till they got ready to leave. Then surprisingly, she saw her father's car drive in. She could recognize the silver car anywhere, she forced him to pick the colour. She watched to be extra sure and when she saw him step out of the car, just meters away from them, she squealed in excitement. Her legs carried her across the space to him and she was jumping into his arms in the next second.
He laughed happily, patting her back.
Squealing wasn't a habit of hers, but perhaps it was just relief and happiness to see a representation of home when she was feeling so out of place.
"Kamsiyonna," He called fondly when they parted. She blushed in happiness and embarrassment. She forgot she had an audience.
"Daddy, good evening," She greeted, all smiles.
"Look at you," He laughed, tugging her cheek, "smiling like you won a trophy. I told you I'll make it if I can, didn't I?"
"Yup," She grinned, "How come?"
"God," He said, smiling, "they just happened to send me on an assignment to Ogun State, to a location close to where my daughter's school is. So I came, that's why I'm late. Sorry about that."
"No problem, it's better this way," She said and turned to look at the family that had hosted her throughout the visiting hours.
"Who are those people?" He asked.
"My friends and their family. Let's go and greet them. I've been with them since 12 and they fed your daughter well," She told him, holding his hand as they went over to them.
"Mr. Anunobi, am I right?" Kaito's mother shook her father's hand, all smiles.
"Yes, lovely to meet you all," He replied, shaking the hands of the elders and the boys.
"I heard you fed my daughter well," He said and the group laughed.
"With a little pressure," Obinne answered, looking at her fondly.
Kaito smiled and looked at her and she avoided his gaze. The elders chatted while she stood to the side where Obinne and Tobenna teased her about her quietness with Nonso, taking breaks from his drumstick to chip in now and then.
"So..." Her father cleared her throat, looking between Kaito and Nonso, "You are her friends?"
"Yes sir," They replied together.
"And they seem close," Kaito's mother commented.
"We are," Nonso said, glancing at Kaito, "Mummy, do you know she was my physiotherapist?"
"Eheh? Ezigbo ada."
"Kamsi, you did not tell me all these oo," Her father said and flicked her forehead.
"She is a quiet girl," Nonso's father jumped in and Nonso scoffed.
"I'm surprised," Her father said, "She does not have close male friends, at least to my knowledge, and even if she does, she has never introduced me to them. So I was surprised when she brought me here."
"Isn't that how our children behave? Always keeping secrets," Kaito's father said.
"Daddy, I don't keep secrets oo," Obinne defended, "we don't keep secrets."
And the conversation continued until her father abruptly turned to Kaito and Nonso and asked,
"Which one of you paid for her Jamb registration?"