𝐈𝐧 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐃𝐚𝐲𝐬

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

TWENTY ONE

WILLOW

The noise coming in from the hallway was all it took to have me sitting up in the bed, with a smile on my face. I knew exactly who were approaching, and I couldn't be any more glad at their presence.

To think I believed they never considered me their friend.

I let out a soft chuckle as the three boys attempted to burst into the room at once, playfully bickering as they found out the door space couldn't accommodate all three of them at once.

First, their annoyance was pointed towards Maina, as they accused him of being "fat", which was absurd. The boy was nothing close to fat, Sebastian and Evan were just thin in comparison to him.

Next, like a switch went off, they all simultaneously transferred the blame to the architects of the building, accusing them of not knowing their job, hence, causing the door space to be "too small". I could no longer hold back my laughter as Maia and Iris shoved them aggressively inside from behind, walked right around them without a single word, nor glance, and straight to me.

"Willow," Iris called as she made towards me with her arms aspread and her lips pulled in a soft smile. I pulled her into a hug as soon as she was within my reach, causing her to giggle a bit, after which I hugged the rest of the girls, and Sebastian, whose hair I fluffed and patted, making the boys yab him for not being manly, for being a shemale, and all the other nonsense they said with the most comical expressions on their faces. Surely, they all were in a good mood today.

"Now, Willow" Evan stepped up to speak, and Maina shoved his chest and got in front of the boy who now had a scowl on his face.

"I brought you lunch" Maina stated, holding up the bag in his hand for me to take. Immediately, there was an outburst from everyone else in the room, except Evan who just stood there with his lips drawn in a smirk, and his thumb on his lower lip.

"You brought food for who abeg? Weren't we the ones that suggested it?" Iris fired at Maina who groaned and muttered something to his own hearing.

"Abeg oh," Zaynab added. "Look at him trying to take the credit for our idea. As if you guys would've brought shi shi if you were coming to see her on your own"

Everyone around seemed to concur with what Zaynab had said, causing me to laugh at the defeated expression on Maina's face. Proceeding to open up the bag that Maina had handed to me, I frowned as I noticed that the rice which he had placed inside had turned over and poured.

"Uh, Maina" I pursed my lips as all the attention was transferred to me. "I can't eat this. It.. it poured"

Eh?

Maina had said nothing, but I swear that was what the look on his face read clearly. Confusion. As per how?!

Silently, he stepped forward, collected the bag from me, and then looked inside. His expression now morphed into a frown of displeasure, and at the same time, embarrassment, as everyone stepped towards him to look inside the bag as well.

"Willow, I'm.. I'm sorry.. I.. it must have been when we were tryi-"

The sound of Evan's laughter bouncing off the walls of the room cut off every other thing Maina, or anyone else could've had in mind to say. We all stared at the boy who had his head thrown back, and his mouth wide open, in confusion, as we were wondering what had suddenly possessed him to laugh like that. At this time.

Finally, he stopped laughing, cleared his throat, and then stepped forward, glancing at Maina in a somewhat triumphant manner, before handing me a paper bag in his hand. Taking a look inside, I saw two well packaged plates of what I instantly knew was food.

This boy.

"So," Evan spoke, looking around the room with a smirk. "You guys should've known Maina can't be trusted with something like that na. My boy is all brawns and no brains, which is why he messed up that food. However, as the life saver I am, I packed extra, because I knew this was going to happen. And Evan is never wrong". He punctuated his statement with a smug nod, and while others, including Maina, seemed relieved that at least I had something to eat, I couldn't help the shivers that ran down my spine at the way he spoke about himself in third person point of view, and the certainty with which he used to say that last sentence.

Also, as seemingly playful as he sounded, I couldn't help but notice the ever subtle jab in his tone, when he referred to Maina as all "brawns and no brains". Sighing, I muttered a thank you, to everyone's hearing, before getting out the food from the bag.

"You ehn," Sebastian teased. "You used to behave as if you don't have sense, but true true there's something in that head of yours oh"

I laughed. What kind of boys are these abeg?

"Omo eh, it was yesterday I knew this boy had sense oh" Maina added, making me curious as to what they were talking about.

"What happened yesterday?" I asked, taking a piece of the yam Evan had packed for me, with some of the sauce.

"Oh, oh, you weren't even there!" Zaynab chirped excitedly, piquing my curiosity. "So, there was a symposium nah, about Moral Decadence. And while everyone was sharing their opinions, Evan just took the mic and gave all of us gbas gbos, hit the nail on the head. He just killed it"

Ah.

I glanced over at Evan, who just looked at all of us impassively, as if there was nothing special about what they were saying, as if he was already used to getting this kind of praise whenever he spoke. I wondered how many times he'd gotten this kind of praise, that made him as immune as he was now.

"Also," Iris stepped up with a grin on her face. "I made something for you"

I smiled in anticipation as she dug in her pocket for something, and when she brought it out, my lips automatically spread in a wide grin. It was a gift so simple, yet, so major. It really touched my heart. Obviously, it was handmade, and that's what made it even more special. Stepping towards me, she slipped the ring around my finger, and adjusted it to my size.

"Aww," I cooed as my heart was successfully turned into a puddle of jelly. "I love it, Iris. Thank you so much". I laughed, while she grinned at me and got out her phone to take pictures of us wearing the matching rings.

"It's not for free oh" she folded her arms across her chest, and my brows furrowed. "You're going to make us all a promise. Promise us you'll take care of yourself, Willow"

I didn't need a soothsayer to tell me what she meant by that.

Nodding stiffly at the bitter memory, I whispered a promise I intended on trying my best to keep.

"Matching with a celebrity, God when oh?" Maina butted in melodramatically, causing everyone to laugh and easing the tension.

"But they're both celebrities nah" Larisa spoke.

"Thank you oh, tell him". That was Iris agreeing with Larisa, causing Maina to sigh in defeat even more dramatically than he did the last time. It pretty much seemed everyone was against the boy today.

I laughed a little. I was a celebrity, alright, but not for reasons pleasing to me.

I watched as they all flowed freely with each other, teasing, laughing, and never forgetting to engage me in each of their conversations. Unlike others, they didn't judge me, or base my worth on my looks. This, this was peace. This was all I needed. Smiling softly, I looked forward to getting out of this place and spending all my time I had left here with these people alone.

Truly, I had found friends, and a family. There was no way I was cutting as long as they were with me.