Chapter 97: Chapter 97

The morning of the next two days, a loud squeal in the living room jerked her up from sleep. She recognized that squeal, and she jumped down and ran out the door. Her girls were standing right there, Nana shouting her name. She screamed as they sighted each other, and ran into an embrace that was so hard it might have broken their bones.

“She's alive!!!!” Nana screamed and the three of them nearly squeezed the life out of her.

“Ouch, I can't breathe,” Avril groaned and they let go of her. They laughed and sat down together on the only couch.

“Verona told us everything. Goodness, babe,” Nana rasped and squeezed Avril's cheeks.

“She told you about...about...”

“Yes. We're so sorry and pissed about that. He better have explanations because I swear I don't mind putting a bullet in that head of his, and chop that killer hair of his off!”

“Nana!!!” the three other girls screamed her name and she frowned.

“What? You think I can't do it? I don't care who he is. He ignored my girl, treated my girl like trash, lied to my girl, and yet he never forgot her?”

“Nana, you've forgotten Avril was his favourite. There's a reason there was a protest against her you know. Maybe he was...I don't know... protecting her against all that? If she was publicly known as someone from the island, imagine the danger,” Chidi mused.

“Chidinma, I don't like you. You think too responsibly,” Nana nagged.

The guard walked in at that instant, he paused and surveyed the girls.

“Breakfast is ready,” he simply said and walked back into the kitchen. Avril wondered if he lived there invisibly.

“What's he? A robot?” Nana whispered and I laughed.

The girls' had come to stay with Avril now, after coming over by train from Milan where Camper had them hide in a house that belonged to him. Since the sentence was off Avril, the bounty was off them too.

The evening of the day they arrived, Avril took them to a park for a reunion and thank-God-we-are-alive picnic. They had just chosen a partially secluded area and set their comforter on the grass when a Ferrari zoomed in on the pavement at a great speed. Everyone's head turned to the pavement which was a vast concrete floor that stopped right before the lawn of the park.

“Who the heck drives like a drunk goat?” Nana whined. The Ferrari door swung open and Dakar stepped out...like a drunk goat. He stood, ran a hand frantically through his hair and stared into the air with his chin raised, as if he was smelling it. His eyes then darted towards the area they were, searching until he sighted them at the far back closest to the border trees.

“You still wanna put a bullet in him?” Xiao Wéi asked Nana, all of them still looking at Dakar who seemed to be flying through the air just to meet them. He couldn't use his speed, and wouldn't run either. But with the way he was walking fast, there would be no doubts if he overtook a running person.

“Still wanna chop his hair off?” Chidi asked Nana too as Dakar's glorious hair danced around in the wind.

“I'd be damned,” Nana rasped under her breath as Dakar got closer. Avril, they quickly noticed, was fidgeting. Her hands had grabbed onto the hem of her jacket and she was breathing too fast. She stood still and stared at the prince's approaching figure, but her girls knew she was scared. Before the prince could reach ten feet before them, they stood in front of Avril—blocking her from view. Dakar halted, his breathing faster than Avril's.

The ladies in front of him were not smiling, well so was he. His face was scary...like a sculpture under a shadowy night. His eyes were a mix of desperation, fear, uncertainty and rage. His hair was unruly, like he had raked fingers through them a thousand times before he arrived there. But Dakar himself did not look bad. He was dressed nicely. In his usual vintage spectacularly pressed dress shirt and trousers.

“Avril,” he called when the girls continued to pin him with their eyes. He got the message. They were not going to release their friend for him to hurt again. He had to act quickly and explain himself.

“Avril, please,” his voice was hoarse and desperate.

The girls didn't move, but they were just waiting for a signal from Avril showing that she wanted them to.

Dakar's hands curled into fists as he stared through the space between the girls' heads at Avril.

“I can explain everything. Just... please just give me a chance to. Please,” his voice cracked up and Xiao Wéi almost broke the formation just to please him. Thankfully, she didn't have to consider doing that because Avril touched their arms slightly.

They moved away immediately and Avril's eyes met Dakar's who softened at the sight of her.

“What do you—” she would have completed her question if a certain muscular man did not have her in a tight embrace.

Dakar held her so tight, sniffed her hair deeply and pinned her head against his chest.

“I'm sorry. I'm so sorry,” he whispered and placed a kiss on her hair.

“Why?” she asked in a voice that sounded like someone going to cry.

“I'm sorry,” he just repeated and pushed her slightly from him, keeping her at arm's length.

“I'm so sorry, Avril,” he apologized and squeezed her shoulders. Avril gulped and looked to her friends. They nodded and left, Nana giving the prince narrowed eyes.

Avril's eyes returned to Dakar and they constricted.

“Why do you have red streaks in your hair?” she asked immediately. Dakar exhaled, took one arm off her shoulder and raked it through his hair.

“Prince Dakar,” she called. He looked down at her, and she stiffened and moved back. Deep within his eyes were shades of red. A side of his iris was turning red from the inside.

“What in...what in the world is—”

“I couldn't tell you. I swear I wanted to tell you so bad, I wanted to hug you so bad, I wanted to scream your name so badly when you walked into that unction room months ago. But I couldn't, Avril. I couldn't call your name, couldn't speak of you, couldn't think about you. I couldn't even reminisce about our time on the island,” he rasped and raked both hands into his hair. Walking away from her, he grabbed a fistful and cussed with his eyes closed.

“Tell me something, Dakar,” she demanded. He halted in his tracks. Gently, he unbuttoned his shirt and yanked down the left side to showcase the smoothest skin ever. Not even the slightest scar.

“I don't understand what's going on, Avril. I don't know what's happening to me. The change in my hair, the powers, the extraordinary healing even from things my kind shouldn't escape from. I don't understand what they all are. But I swear, I wanted to protect you from it.”