Beyond Boundaries

Chapter One

  Before you guys start, I want to say this is a black people book... I mean a Nigerian romance book and don't you dare say eugh. Don't eugh my book. Like I said before, it won't be cringe..promise.

  But it's your imagination, so you're free to imagine whatever black or light skinned king you want to.

  This chapter is dedicated to my friend Dee, for continuously telling me how beautiful I looked on the days I genuinely believed I resembled a troll.

~CHRISTIAN~

"Are you guys all packed?" I wince as my mum yells from her room, the cluttering becoming more prominent.

"Yes we are, I call shotgun" My younger sister Ariah yells back in response, breezing past me to my mum's car.

It was the holidays and as per our usual family tradition, we were all going down to our vacation house.
Or houses rather since there's three of them. With the exception of my dad who had flown out of the country earlier to attend some conference after which he'd go visit his parents and then come join us.

The last time I had been there, to the vacation houses was four years ago. Having used school as an excuse not to come back multiple times. When in reality, I was just tired of breaking my own heart over and over again. Mum had had enough of me being too busy for family time like she called it, so I was done milking that excuse and here I am.

I throw in the last piece of luggage in my car's boot heading for the passenger's seat when my elder brother beats me to it. Releasing a frustrated sigh, I walk over to the driver's seat instead.

"What?" He asks, apparently noticing how hard I was glaring at him "You've got your license, haven't you? So put it to good use then" He shrugs nonchalantly, reclining his seat and adjusting his cap so it covers his face.

At a height of 6'4 which hovered above mine of 6'1, my brother Elvis was the tallest asshole I knew and I resisted the urge to kick his legs.

Ignoring him instead, I start the car and drive out of our home, the gatekeeper closing the gates behind me. My gaze falls on a bottle of water on the dashboard and reaching for it, I fling it over my head to the backseat.

A sharp squeal rings out and on reflex, I step on the brakes, prompting Elvis to be propelled forward, his head almost hitting the dashboard before he catches himself.

We both turn at the same time to see our last born and third brother Micah curled in a foetal position, eyes shut hard. "What the... What are you doing here?" He asks, letting out a exhale as he stops himself from cussing in front of him. "Aren't you supposed to be with Mum and Ariah?"

"I want to go with you guys instead" He whines sitting up to stare at us with pleading eyes " I'm a boy, so why should I go with the girls?" He pouts looking at me expectantly, knowing I was the nicer one and more likely to let him come along with us.

Micah was another late baby that my parents decided to have when it got too lonely with Elvis and I away at school. Same went for Ariah who was eight years younger than I was and Micah, fifteen.

Safe to say, my parents were really busy when we weren't home and obviously not with work. It was like anytime we stayed at school for a while without coming home, we'd come back one day to meet a new sibling. And after having it happen twice, Elvis and I decided to be home on regular basis when school wasn't on.

"Fine, you can ride with us" I accept smiling at him disregarding the grunt Elvis makes at that. We didn't have much of a choice either way, we had already come too far away from home and he made a fair point.

"As long as you don't make noise though" Elvis adds, to which Micah nods eagerly.

"You won't even know I'm here" For an eight-year-old, the guy had lots of tricks up his sleeves but I guess that came with the age.

"Christian, would you change that song already?" Elvis groans, covering his ears dramatically.

"No, I won't" I retort increasing the volume to irk him even further "My license, my car, my playlist" Micah giggles at the back in support and I smile.

While I'm more of a The Weeknd and Bruno Mars type of guy amidst all others, my brother was more of a R'n'B, 90's music kind of guy. That's what you get when you tag along with your father for the most of your childhood so we didn't see eye to eye on music matters and I couldn't care less.

The car soon goes silent, with Micah tapping away on his iPad and Elvis trying to fall asleep and I'm clouded with my thoughts once again, anxiety flooding through my being. I wasn't nervous about seeing my cousins again rather I was nervous about seeing her again. My cousin's cousin. The girl who could bring my teenage self to his knees if she so desired him to.

I hoped she wasn't gonna be there, though I knew she wasn't gonna be. It was ironic. Longing to see someone I claimed to despise the most. If she had stayed away for years, why would she be there now? When everyone had basically forgotten her? Well, everyone but me.

Who was I kidding? It's been nine years since I last saw her. Nine years since we last talked and I've been driving myself mad with unanswered questions.

Why did she break up with me? Did she find someone else and forget about everything we shared that holiday? Was I not enough? If I was, she wouldn't have broken up with me would she?

Definitely not through text and definitely not on the day of my uncle's funeral.

At that, the memory of how I felt that very day plays before my eyes and I see younger me on his way back from the grave, digging into his pocket to retrieve his phone to call her and almost dropping it on seeing the text. He had lost two things that day. His uncle and his girlfriend and he wasn't sure which hurt more. He had run away after to cool off, in his safe place where no one knew off, no one but her and he'd cried his heart out there.

I had gone back every holiday after that. Year after year, hoping she'd come back and explain what happened to me. Hoping that she'd magically appear and tell me how much of a big mistake it was. But after holding on to that hope for years and she never came around, I stopped deceiving myself and quit going there altogether. Until now that is.

I blink away the memory, my fist clenching hard around the steering. If she had decided to erase me from her life like I never was there, then I'd do the same with her.

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And we are done with chapter One (is it just me or does this actually rhyme?)

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See you in the next chapter... hopefully.