LOVE & FLAWS | A NIGERIAN ROMANCE |

Chapter 28: Pete's not happy.

Clint Studied The mannequin wearing rugged jeans and t- shirt, standing before a line of casual wear hanging from a rail, carefully. He walked to the next dummy wearing milk coloured polo with a chocolate splash atop a mud-brown stained coloured jean with badges. He studied it with interest before moving to the line behind it.
He checked on the jeans by his left and polo by his right. Two of the polo caught his fancy while the jeans were out of luck.
He opted for the next rail which had more plain jeans than the rest.

He took his time going through the racks, one after another adding items to his trolley. The last in line in his exploration of the brightly lit large space with high rising roof that served as a mall was foot wears. He made picks, adding three foot wears to his collections.
He stretched himself, first with his fingers twisted together and up, then his hands on his waist. He moved his trunk at angle ninety from each side, twisting his hip joint. This resulted in thump sounds from each move. He was satisfied, feeling his hip bones move into place. He looked around; thankfully, nobody stared awkwardly at him. The racks of shoes got him covered. He rolled his trolley, weaving through the rows to the cashier's desk.

The cashier scanned the product batches in a bid to sum up his bill when he noticed someone from a distance. He turned with the speed of light at the sight.
“Be fast, please,” he urged the cashier.
The cashier quickened her pace. “I'm almost done, sir,”
She completed the scan and computed it. She tore an oblong piece of paper with black prints from a device on the desk. “This is your bill, sir.” She presented it to Clint. Seeing Clint was with a debit card, she motioned him to the POS device on the desk, “here.”
He slid his debit card into the POS device, providing his unique pin as required for the transaction.
“Here, your receipt, sir.” She handed over the item list and payment receipt from the POS device to him, after handing over a few customized paper bags containing his purchases to him.
“Here. Your tip.” Clint dipped his hands in his pocket and pulled out some cash. He dropped two notes on the counter. “I’m sorry for the sudden rush. What's your name?”
Her lips parted, exposing a clean set of small dentitions. “Catherine,” she said, elated.
Clint scanned the area. “Bye, Catherine.” He left.
“Thank you, sir,” the cashier said after him.

“Not So Fast.” Pete was behind him.
Clint stopped a step away from his car. Not today of all days. He thought he escaped. He lacked the will and strength to do this today. He turned to the direction of the voice which was clearly behind him. The last person he wished to converse with today was Pete.
Pete stood before him, “Finally, we met today. It's obvious you don't like it,” Pete said, “I don't like it either.”
Two guys walked to a stop behind him.”You don't have to do this Pete,” said one.
He clenched his teeth. “Emma, don't you ever tell me that again!” He warned the fair, slim guy.
Clint dropped his shopping bags on the asphalt floor. “Now that we have met...” He straightened the end of his shirt and talked his hands into his pocket.
Pete smiled cheekily. “The nerves.”
“Pete! Don’t do that,” pleaded the second guy, a dark, athletic guy with him.
“I don't know why you are obsessively angry with me for dating your sister. She's an adult, a full grown adult. I can't remember forcing her into the relationship. I didn't ask her to keep the baby either. I made her understand that,” Clint voiced angrily.
“What?” Emma gasped.
“The nerve! You heard him,” Pete said to no one in particular, “I warned you about her, didn't I?”
Pissed by Pete's drama, “and?” Clint asked.
Chudi, the dark guy stepped in-between them. “Pete, you need to calm down,” he pleaded.
“Bro, you need to leave now,” Emma advised him.
“Why?” Clint gestured, “I'm supposed to hide for dating his sister.”

In a flash, Pete shoved Chudi, the only barrier between him and Clint aside, using all the strength he could muster. He rammed into Clint with his firm muscular body like a mad bull.

Emma's attempt to separate them failed, as he was no match to Pete's strength. However, his attempts presented an opportunity for Clint to flip Pete aside, quickly exchanging positions with him. He punched him in the eye and directly on the cheek on the second attempt. His reign was brought to an end as Pete flipped him back to his former position landing him blows on the face. He used his hands as shields against Pete’s blows.

Their show of strength was cut short by Chudi, after his not-so-quick recovery from Pete's shove, which sent him on a quick race to regain his balance.
By the time they were done, Clint was sprawled on the ground groaning in pain. He held on to his left shoulder. His sight was blurry.  Emma and Chudi held back Pete.
Emma came for him, after they managed to calm Pete. He helped him sit and by then, a mini crowd had gathered around them, including the mall's security. He regretted the evening. He saw this coming and tried avoiding it.

“Did you hear him?” Pete repeated angrily, short of breath.
Clint would have found him funny, had his skull not been shattered by the impact on the asphalt floor and his nose broken. His left hand felt numb from the glenohumeral joint and his jaw hurt.
He felt pain beside his right eye. He gasped for air and was totally out of strength. He could remember having a lot of it earlier in the day, anyways.

The mall security took them to the security post, where they administered first aid treatment to them, while Pete stared dagger at him.
Ken arrived just in time to take him to the hospital, after the security men were done with interrogating them and which they found hard to cooperate with.

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