Chapter 18: Chapter 18

"What the hell!" Nikki screamed before leaving the party angrily, instantly, Lisha followed her.

"Nikki, Nikki," she called behind her but she didn't wait but rather kept on walking away hurriedly.

"Nikki!" Lisha yelled and that made Nikki stop in her tracks.

"What is it?" She bellowed.

Lisha heaved before replying, "Just take it easy, it's your birthday, don't allow someone to ruin the moment for you."

Nikki scoffed, "You're the someone that ruined the day," she spat out angrily.

Lisha's mouth hung open as she stared at her sister. How is it her fault?

"Yeah, well done, now, your aim has been achieved, right, to ridicule me on my birthday, I should have known when you insisted on throwing a party, hmm. ....you have won, 1-0, abi?" she clapped sarcastically before running her hands through her braided hair in frustration.

"Nikki, I don't understand what you're saying, you…"

She cut in, "You can't understand or can you? Why did you invite Daniel to my party? Tell me, why?" Nikki snarled as a vein popped out of her neck.

Realization dawned on Lisha's face.

"See, I didn't know, I gave the card to everyone around me, Hanmi is probably the one that gave Daniel one."

Nikki scoffed before jeering, "Your excuse is lame, I know you gave it to him intentionally."

"I didn't," Lisha deadpanned.

Nikki's face contorted, "Then why did you allow him to talk to me? Why did he touch my daughter? You wanted to prove that I'm the black sheep, right?"

Lisha shook her head in astonishment, she was speechless.

Nikki's expression hardened, "You see? You wanted everyone to know I got pregnant at age seventeen? You wanted me to experience the pain again, right, you…"

Lisha cut in, "Shut it! Nikki, just shut up!" She was already frustrated at that point, she was tired of Nikki trying to push the blame on her, even though Nikki hadn't been entirely nice to her and wasn't that much of a sister to her, she wouldn't do anything bad that wouldn't make her happy.

Nikki felt hurt in the neck as fury twisted inside her.

"No, you should shut it, I know all your plans, so, just shut up," Nikki growled.

Lisha rubbed her forehead in frustration, "God, Nikki, just stop all this nonsense, will you? It was a mistake, just accept it, I can never do such to you," She argued.

Just then, Nikki noticed the appearance of Jimi and his mother then she fired, "Don't give me that crap, I'm not as dumb as you, don't think I'll swallow your lies just the way you've been lying to everyone, no wonder you kept on pretending as Jimi's fiancee when you have nothing going on between you two! You liar!" She snarled.

"What!" Soil sputtered and Lisha's head instantly jerked towards her, then she noticed the presence of Jimi and his mother, as she opened her mouth to protest, Soil left hurriedly while Jimi still stayed. A smirk spread across Nikki's face at least she'd been able to repay her with the same evil.

"Nikki, you're very low, you belong in the forest," Jimi remarked.

Nikki's face flushed at this, she glared at her sister before storming off.

"Are you okay?" Jimi moved closer to Lisha whose expression contradicted his question.

She shook her head before wrapping her hands around him.

"I feel so terrible," she confessed and he wrapped his arms around her shoulder and pulled her close, gently rubbing her arm, he muttered, "It's okay."

Despite the heaviness in her stomach, it fluttered and churned at the feeling of her body pressed against his. Her head rested on his chest and she could hear the rapid beating of his heart. She sunk into his warmth while brooding over what had transpired between her and Nikki. It was all a misunderstanding, Nikki misunderstood her. They stayed in silence for some minutes listening to each other's heartbeats before Lisha broke the ice.

"What of Mama? Won't she get angry?" She looked up at him and he stared down at her, he was taller than her, he shook his head in response.

"I'll explain things to her," he told her with his eyes still glued to hers.

"But, what if she ends up hating me just like everyone?" She voiced out her worries.

"She can't and stop that mindset of everyone hating you, I don't hate you neither do my family members," he assured her and she nodded.

They both kept quiet while still staring into each other's eyes, Jimi got lost in her eyes and he didn't mind while Lisha's heartbeat increased, out of its own volition or the body chemistry, he moved closer to her and bent his neck while Lisha moved and tiptoed, Jimi held her gently, cupping her face with one hand, they were only an inch apart and, if any, should they move half a step more, their lips would touch, just as he leaned in, Gran's voice broke the kiss before it could even start.

"So, you're here abi, you're doing nonsense here and throwing yourself at a guy after wrecking your sister's birthday!" Gran shouted.

Jimi and Lisha got startled and they both jerked away. Lisha turned to Gran with a small smile while Gran glared at her.

"Go and do something to the party you destroyed instead of you trying to seduce a man here," she ordered and Lisha obeyed but not without Jimi trailing behind her.

Her heart rose as her mind went back to what would have happened earlier if only Gran didn't spoil the show. Surprisingly, she'd been looking forward to the kiss, what was wrong with her?

*****************

"I've spoken to her, everything is fine now," Jimi assured and Lisha nodded even though she was aware that he couldn't see her, she was on a call with him, the party had ended long ago.

"Are you sure she's not mad at me?" Lisha pestered on.

"Not at all, she even told me to invite you to our Christmas party tomorrow."

"Oh, now, I can rest." She heaved a sigh of relief before laying on her bed.

"So, are you coming?"

"I think I will," she replied.

"Good then, emm, about what happened earlier, it was…"

Lisha cut in, "It's okay," she assured, not like it was anything to apologise for, they both wanted it. Her mind trailed back to it and a smile crept up her face unconsciously.

"So, how is Nikki?"

Lisha sighed, "She's still angry, she hasn't spoken to me since and has locked herself up in her room even Gran has been reprimanding me since," she explained bitterly.

"That's bad but I trust you're coping."

She nodded before remembering he couldn't see her, "Yeah, I'm trying to but I just hope she listens to me, it's not like I invited Daniel intentionally, why would I do such? I know how much she hates him."

"It's fine but you're partly at fault too."

"How?"

"Giving everyone the Invitation card, you know I warned you about it."

"Yeah, but it's not like I saw Daniel and gave it to him, it must have been one of the cards I gave Hanmi."

"Yes, that's it."

"I think I'll just go to her room again maybe she might open up this time," Lisha said.

"That's a good idea," they talked for some minutes before Lisha finally ended the call.

She got up from her bed and slipped her legs into her flip flops, adjusting her green night gown, she headed towards Nikki's room. On getting to her room, she knocked three times while calling her name before Nikki finally talked.

"What do you want?" She yelled.

"Nikki, you just have to hear me out," Lisha pleaded behind the door.

"There's nothing to listen to, so, just leave!"

"But…"

"Get lost!" She hollered. Lisha let out a breath before leaving for her room.