Beneath chp 13i
Kainene
The cool wisp of the early morning kissed my temple, as my feet collided with the cold tiles, while I painfully shoved my feet into the sneakers. I had on a long sleeve butter yellow sportswear with an iron zip in the middle, the outline of my bra top showing from my upper body, the butter yellow leggings were tight against my body. Although I didn't want to try Kes now, I almost screamed when I spotted a gun hanging loosely on his hand. My feet stopped moving on their own, my eyes fixed on it a second too long before I made myself look away, made myself keep walking like I hadn't seen it at all.
I threw a butter yellow headband on my way, with a claw clip at the back, a fresh wind of hair passed through me, causing me to shiver. I heard distant voices laughing, I followed the trace of voices, shaking my head at the forbidden floor. I stood there a moment, one hand against the wall, telling myself it was nothing, that I didn't want to know, even as some part of me was already counting the doors between me and where the voices were coming from.I shook my head and kept moving.
Making my way to the gardens that looked something straight out of a fairytale novel, it was a deep maze of grass that ran endlessly, I walked my way down to the car. On getting into the car, Oby startled me when she asked, "going somewhere?" I nodded, swallowing a lump forming in my throat, noticing I was having a panic attack, my chest tightening, my breath coming shallow and fast, my hands finding the edge of the seat and gripping it,she said, "deep breaths, Kainene, you're home and you're safe, okay." I counted the breaths the way she taught me, in for four, out for four, until the tightness in my chest finally let go.
Then I made my way to the Corehaus studio for Pilates, killing the engine, spotting Utonwa and Nana, followed by Duke and Lola, talk about the unexpected happenings of life. A sense of longing clutched onto me like a wet cloth, leaving chills in its wake, knowing that could never be me and Kes, I shoved it to the back of my mind. Pilates class was so good, stretched out my muscles, my muscles turned sore due to the stretching, the evidence of burn on my lap.
I hugged Nana and Lola like my life depended on it, they were the only sense of normalcy I had in a few hours.
We stopped by at Milk & Honey, Lola kept lamenting how this and a few others were the only bakery that got her when it came to baked goods, in the heart of VI it was nice. Lola started narrating how Duke never left her side through all this, me and Nana asked at the same time, "are you guys dating now?" Lola averted her eyes, saying no. Nana took her hands, "do you ever plan to?" Lola said, "not yet, but maybe eventually, my dad always made things complicated, I am so sure he would come after Duke." Nana snorted, "Duke is a big boy, he could handle himself, FYI, that man would go to war for you and make it look like it was nothing, he loves you, Lola. It's not easy, given he used to date Morenike, but Morenike is with Jidekene now, I can't tell if they're faking it or it's real, you deserve to move on. To give you guys a chance, I'll tell you what, give him three months, see where it goes. Lola, try to have fun in the three months, you're too hard on yourself, give yourself some break." Lola nodded, with unshed tears in her eyes. Nana said, "don't be a stranger in your own life, allow your life to venture into any direction the audience suits, you have the driver's seat, get into it and fucking drive." Lola closed her eyes, her body trembling, speaking words she was too guarded to say.
Nana kept going, how Utonwa had continually declined the outing with her sister and stood up for her, she asked, "how was Kes?" I shrugged, saying there was nothing to talk about, their eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
We stopped by at Nana's atelier, the smell of fresh fabric and steam hitting me the moment we walked in,while I looked through the new collection, then settled for a jean corset long sleeved styled t-shirt with a short skirt and a mini white boot. After showering at Nana's atelier, I dressed up to go, we were all to head to Jazzhole to do stuff with the twins to honor Sophie. The soft music greeting my eyes, the smell of books reminded me of home, the coffee smell wafting across the air, the steam seemed to stimulate my system, then Somkele changed the vinyl player cassette, we took others for the day, the owner smiled, saying, "this is exactly what Sophie would have done if she was still here." My hands knew where to place the cassette, my legs moved on their own, a sense of déjà vu filled me.
Somkele took us to the property she bought in order to honour Sophie, the social space, stepping inside felt like stepping into a memory that wasn't mine to keep,it was filled with memories of Sophie, new stores had come into the building.
We danced. We laughed. For the first time all day, I almost forgot the gun.
Almost.
Then the music changed.
My fingers froze against the edge of the table.
I knew that song.
I didn't know how I knew it.
I just knew.
"Kai?"
Nana's voice pulled me back.
I looked around the room.
Everyone was still laughing.
I forced a smile.
"I think I want to go home."
Barbie as narrator
It was so, so sad that Kai had a sense of longing, looking at her friends with their men, Lola better get that man, or I would!
Whose voices did Kai hear though? Why were they coming from the other room? Was an orgy happening there? What was the creepy air that passed her?
Keside Umeh, you have exactly 24hrs to answer that.
I love how they told Lola, get in the fucking driver's seat and drive it.
Authors Note
Hi 👋 my name is Ijeoma emmanuella Ogbonna if you’re new here .
I’m currently selling my debut novel I started here on substack - the name is “Again”
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