JUST FOR YOU

《28》Close call.

But I wasn't going to let the bastard succeed with his evil plans. I grabbed a wooden flower vase on the side stool which–– up until then I did not understand why Ann bought it because we hadn't put any flower in it –– but now I was glad she did. I struck him on the part of his head that wasn't covered in dreads with it. But I made sure it wasn't too hard. I did not want to murder him.

"I said stop! Get off me now!" I bellowed as I pushed him one more time.

He moved and winced in pain. "What is the matter with you? Why are you being a tough nut to crack?" He rubbed his head where I hit him.

"So, I'm the one with the problem now. You are a very big fool. You just tried to rape me." I screamed, panting heavily as I jumped to my feet and wore my clothes properly.

"No, I didn't try to rape you. I'm pretty sure I heard you moan; you were enjoying it." He growled. "I wonder why you are acting so stuck up."

"You must be out of your damn mind. You fool! Get out of my house." I exclaimed angrily.

"Is it because of him?" He muttered.

"I said get out of my house!" I repeated.

"Is it because of Vincent?" He asked again.

"Who is Vincent? What the heck are you talking about?" I asked, feigning ignorance.

"I know you know fully well the Vincent I'm talking about. The same Vincent you used to date and the same Vincent that was once my friend." He said sternly.

Was his what now?

"What nonsense is this? 'Did Vincent ask you to take care of me too'?" I air quoted.

"Quite the contrary, you see. Vincent and I used to be friends but we stopped being friends because apparently I was not rich enough to be in his clique or even his league because he was the son of the senator, Senator Obi-Nwanze."

All the while I spent with Vincent, I never knew who his father was. Well this certainly explained a lot about Vincent and the money he had. "So how does that concern me?" I raised my eyebrows challengingly and was surprised that I still allowed him to sit here and yarn nonsense.

"Well after we stopped being friends, I started seeing you guys together. You know, I had a crush on you and I used to be friends with Vincent. So, everything was just heartbreaking." His demeanour changed to vexed instantly. I thought he was going to hit me and probably kill me because I saw him clench his fist.

All my mind was saying was he's going to rape me, brutalize me, then kill me and bury me in some evil forest where no one would ever find me. I didn't have any parents, no boyfriend or husband or anybody that would look for me after I was gone. So, it was like an easy job. You can't really blame me; I watch too many crime shows and investigatory channels.

"So why are you telling me this?" I hissed.

"Hold on. When you and Vincent started dating in year two. I became very upset and I started planning my revenge. I was mad. I was driven by revenge. I wanted to hurt you guys by all means. So, I joined this cult in school because I knew that was the only way I could get people to harm you guys without it coming back to me. But it seemed you guys had this sort of guardian angel protecting you. All the things we planned against you guys never went through. It just backfired." He looked at me to see if I would say anything. I said nothing and stared blankly at him.

My brain was trying to process the gibberish he was expelling. He continued. "While I was in the cult, we committed all sorts of crimes, from burglary to pickpocketing to fraud and murder. We even beat people up for some influential people, we were thugs. We terrorised the whole neighbourhood around and far from school. It was during one of those times when we went out to steal, I got arrested and as a result I had to drop out." He finished.