Revival of us

Chapter 9

Friday,  instead of Enzo walking me home,  Max was. He offered to carry my bag but I refused. It was a thing between Enzo and I. Perhaps if I had waited a little longer he would arrive in time. I managed to convince a reluctant Max to walk ahead of me. Thirty minutes passed,  no sign of Enzo. Most students had gone home already. Only a single group of girls stood in  circle,  exchanging gossip and a few laughs.

When the next thirty minutes passed,  I walked home. The sight of Max,  in casual clothes on the edge of my bed,  startled me and prevented me from doing what I had planned to do. Weep.

"Hello again... oh no,  you look miserable." He slid the textbook he had been paging through off his lap, ACCOUNTING was written on big bold white letters.
Arms open wide,  he drew me in for a gentle,  friendly hug,  more like a squeeze with both hands. Our chests barely touched. It didn't bring me any comfort.

He excused himself so I could change out of my uniform into something else. Mom had requested these tutorials,  immediately she had said,  while there was still time to save my dying grades. A bad idea,  nothing he explained got into my head. Depreciation...assets ... liabilities...

"Do not mistake liabilities for expenses. In the general ledger you could somehow get away with it however when you get to the financial statements,  it's going to be... Are you even listening to me?"

I nodded rapidly,  but truly,  I had heard nothing. Perhaps if I hadn't been so preoccupied with my thoughts I would have heard Idris and my mom conversing. Maybe then I would have been able to meet him at the door.

By the time he had knocked on my door,  it had been late. Caught off guard by his presence,  I had stared baffled at him. When he barged in,  seeing Max on my bed,  I had known a storm was going to break loose...

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I wish the Bolt driver could step on the gas,  he was cruising instead of driving. As if this was some pleasant night drive with a lover. My feet tapped harder on the floor of the Toyota Corolla.

"Mam,  check if your door is locked,  this neighbourhood is quite dangerous." I checked,  it was locked. He urged me to close the window as well. I obeyed.
He told a story of how he was robbed here before,  I nodded quickly. Muttering a 'yeah' and a 'really' here and there.

I all but bolted out of the car when Enzo's tiny family house came into view. The garden was unkept,  Enzo's father ought to be taking care of that but I have reasons to believe he was no longer in the picture. One time I had mistaken one of his mother's lovers for his father. I wasn't one to be inquisitive,  even if I was,  I wouldn't dare ask Enzo ,  who always became so hostile ,  about his family.

After a few knocks the door was opened by Enzo's mother,  a beauty,  who looked as if she aged by years from when I last saw her. A blonde haired woman sat at the kitchen table of the small room. The kitchen and the living area were combined. A huge difference from the bigger rooms at her home.

I asked where Enzo was and to my relief she pointed towards his room. With clammy palms I twisted the door handle and entered. I never knocked.

He sat up from the sleeper,  we looked at each other for a while. Me with pleading eyes,  fire in his. Standing a little taller,  I walked closer towards him and he stood up. "I came to explain." Taking several steps towards him. He was so much taller than me,  my head ended somewhere between his shoulder and elbows. He took several steps back. On cue,  I took the same amount of steps forward.

"Explain what?!" The sharpness of his voice had me staggering back. I blurted everything out,  what Max had come to do. It was all a misunderstanding. There was no reason for him to be upset. He still didn't believe me,  I could have gone to the library he said.

"Would you stop coming closer to me!" No, I wasn't going to. I had to make him see reason. Had to make him believe me. Before Nami and her long legs lured him back. I stepped closer,  placing my short arms around his waist. He always calmed down when I did this.

But this time around was different. His resolve wasn't breaking.

We exchanged words. He had the most ridiculous questions. Why was I scared? Why not the library? Too many damn whys. Even then I had tried to patiently answer or explain. Begged. But did he have to say what he said next?

"Get out,  Nami will be here soon."

I snapped. He had no right whatsoever to be upset, I had never given him a reason to. I was good,  I cancelled plans with Landy for him. Defied and lied to my parents for him!

"You bastard. You have no right to be angry at me. When you are the one cheating. Is that what you were looking for? A way out?! Huh! Mom told me you're..." I couldn't complete the sentence. I was close to tears and there was no way he would see me break. "Told you I was what?" Taking menacing steps towards me. "She said I was what,  Malaika? What?!"

I had to keep quiet and gather myself.

With a bruisingly tight grip on my shoulders,  he shook me. I stiffened so my neck would bop back on forth. "A bastard. Unworthy idiot who would only play me. You are truly a bastard!" I could stop the tears now.

Before the tears took over,  Enzo transformed before me. Face flushed,  heaving heavily. Teeth gritted. Ears covered by the palm of his hands. He has turned into ice.

Panicking,  I sauntered toward him muttering words of forgiveness. Peppering kisses on his chest. His chest only heaved faster,  his breaths faster.

I should have known by the sight of his blackened eyes that reason was absent. He looked possessed. Controlled by some dark force,  like an angry addict after you denied him money to buy drugs.

Before I could help any further,  I was flung off him like a rag doll. The wall wasn't far from where I was. My shoulders connected with the wall before the side of my head. I grappled for consciousness. Blinking as everything became blurry,  my hand couldn't move to massage the searing pain coming from my head.

Two shadows danced before my eyes before everything blackened.