I Did Not Want To Fall For You

Chapter 47: That boy is sly

"Which one of you paid for her Jamb registration?"
Kamsi gasped. She did not expect him to jump to conclusion and assume it was one of them and even if she did, she didn't expect him to confront them openly. Nonso and Kaito's parents and brothers looked between them, surprised looks on their faces. Nonso was bewildered while Kaito's expression mirrored hers.
"She just called me all of a sudden to inform me that she is writing Jamb when I didn't give her any money to register," Her father explained to the confused parents, "And when I took her for her exam in Osun State, I got the hint that it was a male friend of hers but she didn't tell me who it was. Since she introduced me to these two, I have a feeling it's one of them."
She looked down at her feet, embarrassed.
Kaito's mother laughed awkwardly. "So which one of you is it?" She asked.
Nonso and Kaito looked at each other and Nonso's eyes widened.
Kaito sighed and spoke, "I."
Silence.
"So you are now a big man," Kaito's father chuckled. Obinne and Tobenna clapped his back proudly.
Her father stared at him in surprise as if he was not expecting to get the culprit so quickly. "Eheh? Thank you," He finally said.
"That was nice of you," Nonso's father praised Kaito.
"Daddy, since when did you start dishing out nice words," Tobenna scoffed.
"And you said you people are not keeping secrets," Kaito's mother clapped her hands the dramatic way.
Kaito itched his forehead. She wished the ground could open up and swallow her.
"Thank you, eh," Her father said again, "at least, you talked, unlike my daughter."
The conversation went on with Nonso glancing at her every two seconds.
"He is a smart and sensible boy," Her father told her later on, "I like both of them, responsible boys."
Armed with a bag of provisions, a small cooler of Jollof rice, and excess cash given to her by her father, Kaito's mother, and Nonso's dad, she walked to the hostel with the boys. She had to refuse Obinne and Tobenna's money; it was too much money and it made her feel high and confused.
Nonso kept on looking between both of them until she was tempted to pluck out his eyes.
"Nonso, keep your eyes to yourself," Kaito snapped finally.
Nonso scoffed. "That is not possible. I can't believe I did not notice all these while and Tochukwu, you did not tell me."
"Must I tell you everything?" Kaito snapped angrily.
Nonso fell quiet and did not say anything else until she bade them bye at the female hostel.
*
And Nonso did not say anything on the matter till they returned for extension after their one-week Easter break. The Extension was meant for the JSS3 and SS3 students alone, to prepare them for their Waec and Neco exams. The other students were on a three-week holiday.
She and Kaito still weren't talking though they pretended to when they were amongst their friends. She realized then that their opportunity for conversation was very few, in fact, it would be none at all if not for the bond they had formed with the group.
It was all him.
He had been the one to create opportunities for them to talk, for them to get to know each other, for them to bond. He wasn't in her class, he wasn't in her house, he was even a prefect.
It was all him.
And it made her feel bad. Perhaps, she should have made more efforts to spend time with him, perhaps she should have been more open about her care for him.
It was just him.
Then it made her feel angry. She didn't ask for his interference in her life, didn't even want it at the beginning. If not for his persistence, they would have kept on being strangers. He had no right. No right absolutely to force himself into her life, into her heart, and then force his way out, like she was a movie he could choose to stop watching at any time.
She broke her sim card during the holiday and then bought a new one, avoiding her parents' questions. He wanted distance, she would give him distance. She would have washed her hands completely off him and his best friend but that the best friend was too stubborn.
"Why won't you tell me what is going on between the both of you?" Nonso asked, exasperated.
They were sitting on the admin block staircase.
"Why are you asking? Like you don't know," She retorted.
"Kaitochukwu would not say anything... explanatory," He persisted.
She turned to him, curious. "What did he say?"
He eyed her. "If you tell me something about him, would you want me to tell him?"
She shrugged and looked away. "Depends."
"My answer," He replied.
They fell quiet. She tapped her foot on the marble tile, humming a hymn they sang in Church the previous Sunday.
"I was shocked oo," Nonso spoke, a smile on his face, "Tochukwu paid for your Jamb. More than a month and my bro did not tell me anything. It's true what they say. Something must surely kill a man."
She chuckled. "He had his reasons... which I don't know," She added when he looked at her, "I didn't even ask him to do it. It was that night you invited me to watch film with you guys and then you abandoned us for spaghetti. One thing led to another and he was forcing me to register for Jamb..."
"Of course," Nonso grinned.
"And I told him I didn't have the money and he said he would pay. I did not believe him oo. Monday came and V.P. Student Affairs is giving me money. That boy is sly."
Nonso laughed, "Yeah, he told me this part."