Naira and Rurik sat in a room filled with the sweet, earthy aroma of incent-laden air and the flickering light of numerous candles arranged at the altar by Addy. The fading sun cast a blue hue over the room, making it hard for Naira to read her paper. Still, she was rooted to her seat, not daring to move an inch for fear that Rurik would use the opportunity to interrogate her further about her mysterious lover. As footsteps echoed along the floorboards and the murmur of voices approached, they both knew that what had transpired between them minutes earlier must remain a secret.
"We brought water! Who wants some hydration?" Fleur says as she walks into the room. She flicks the light switch with her elbow and has two ice-cold cups of water in her pale hands.
"That food smells good. Imma need like two plates...woah," Adébọ̀wálé stood at the entrance of the room, her feet glued to the ground as if an invisible force held her back from crossing the threshold. Her gaze flickered between Rurik, who sat in front of the laptop, his fingers flying across the keyboard in a flurry of motion, and Naira, who stared at her paper absentmindedly, her pencil drawing playful shapes and swirls instead of tending to her assignments.
"Hey, I got you water. Take your eyes away from the work for once and hydrate," Fleur says in a sweet tone as she offers him the cup.
"I'm fine," Rurik says coldly, keeping his eyes planted on his device.
"You will stop studying for once and drink this water. You can't be a surgeon if you die of dehydration. Here, drink." Fleur demands. Rurik lazily grabs the cup and takes a quick sip before placing it on Adébọ̀wálé's window sill.
"Nana, I been meanin' to show you these new crystals my mama got. Come on," Addy says as she gestures for Naira to follow her.
"She did? Where'd she get 'em?" Naira perks up as she follows her.
"Girl, I don't know. Some Yoruban store," she replies as her voice fades down the hall.
The two enter her mother's room, a space filled with African decor and a calming scent of myrrh. Naira felt her muscles relax at the peaceful atmosphere and the soft Afro-beat music playing from the speakers overhead. The lights were a dim hue of orange. Her parent's bed takes up a large portion of the room, and an orange cat sleeps in the center of the bed, curled up and purring as it sleeps.
"Where are the crystals?" Naira asks, looking around the room.
"Girl, ain't no damn crystals. What happened in there? That energy was thick, nasty, real... sad," Adébọ̀wálé says as she shivers slightly.
"He just... wanted answers," Naira responds, somewhat unwilling to talk about her discussion with Rurik, as the lump in her throat begins to form.
"So... did he get 'em?" she asks, sitting on the foot of her parent's bed.
"Yeah, just not the ones he wanted," Naira replies. Addy's mother walks into the room with her father following closely behind her.
"What's this? Y'all having girl time?" she asks, stopping in the doorway. Addy nods her head with a raised eyebrow.
"Bye, go watch TV. We talking," Addy's mom says as she shuts the door on her husband and sits on her bed beside them.
"Man of the house my ass," they all heard him grumbling as he walked down the hall and let out chuckles.
"What's goin' on, baby?" her mother asks with her hands folded in front of her.
"It's just Rurik, Ms. Kim. Ever since we broke up, it's just been this weird energy between us. It's not like super toxic or anything, just awkward. I had a great time with him, but I just wish that we could be normal friends again," Naira says, now toying with the wooden figurines on Ms. Kim's dresser.
YOU ARE READING
Pondbell: Coldblooded (Ongoing)
Fantasy"If I'd just killed him when I first met him, if I had warned her just in time, how many lives would I have saved? How much heartache could have been prevented?" What would you do if you were living in a world where werewolves, vampires, elves, merf...
