Song: Forgive Them — Itz Tiffany

**Unedited** (I was tired lol)

"Really Michael?" I yelled, marching up to them.

Upon hearing my voice, they parted with smiles on their faces, neither of them looking at me.

Michael ran his fingers through her long dreadlocks and told her that she had beautiful hair, to which she giggled.

The girl finally decided to spare me a glance, smiling like everything was okay. "Hello, you're the fiancée right? Nice to meet you," she said extending a hand.

I looked at her hand disdainfully and turned to Michael for answers. "What is going on here?"

When he looked at me, his smile faded. "Don't be rude Ellie, take her hand."

I chuckled when the girl told him not to mind, retracting her hand. "Don't be rude? I find you here, locking lips with another girl who is not me, and you're telling me not to be rude?"

The girl looked at me, astonished. "Wherever did you get the idea that we were kissing?"

"I saw you," I said, deadpan. "Don't try to deny it."

Michael faced me squarely. "I'm not like you. I don't go round kissing people who I'm not engaged to. I gave her a harmless kiss on the cheek. Perhaps from the angle you observed us, it looked like we were kissing, or you're just trying to find an excuse to justify what you did yesterday."

Heat rushed to my cheeks when the girl looked at me with an ugly frown on her pretty face. "You cheated on him?" She turned to Michael. "Why're you still with her?"

He rubbed his forehead with his right hand. "It's a long story."

As if it wasn't mortifying enough that they were talking about me as if I wasn't there, the girl pulled Michael into a comforting hug, whispering sweet nothings into his ears and caressing his hair. Watching them made my blood boil to the extent that I felt a phantom pain all over my body.

"I know what I did yesterday was wrong," I initiated, making them both pull away to listen to me, "but if you want to get even with me, this isn't the way. Two wrongs don't make a right."

Michael stared at me bewilderedly. "I'm not trying to get back at you," he said, his eyes slowly widening as if he just remembered something. "I'm so sorry, this is Linda. She's been my best friend since... forever."

She laughed. "Fourth grade."

I offered her a tight smile and turned to Michael. He was looking at me, concern filling his gaze as if he wanted me to know that he'd never cheat.

Deep inside, I knew that he never would, but telling me that this Linda was his best friend did nothing to put my mind at ease. In fact, it made me feel more on guard because everyone knows that heterosexuals of the opposite gender could never be best friends. The continuous proximity is bound to cause them to develop romantic or sexual feelings towards each other.

"Ellie don't cry. I would never do something like this to you," he gently pushed the Linda girl away and pulled me into his arms, rubbing the small of my back.

"I'm not crying," I said, just as a tear slid down my face. "There's a lot of dust in the atmosphere. It's the harmattan."

Michael and the Linda girl laughed. "I promise, I wasn't kissing her. I don't know what you saw but it was an innocent kiss on the cheek, that's all."

I wiped my teary face against his button-down shirt. He was wearing one of those black three-quarter sleeve button down shirts that I loved, along with a pair of dark wash jeans. Three buttons of the shirt were undone to reveal his toned, dark-skinned chest. On his neck, he wore a catholic cross even though he wasn't Catholic.

It never ceased to amaze me how a boy like that was in love with me.

I pulled away from the hug, involuntarily sniffing from my near panic attack. "It's fine. I think I saw wrongly from where I was standing."

"I would never cheat on my boyfriend," Linda said, staring at me with condescension. She had one hand on her hip, all her weight balanced on one leg and the other one slanted, as if she was striking a pose. She had a heart shaped face, thick false lashes, green eyes, a rounded nose, plump pink lips, milk light skin and her most striking feature, dyed red dreadlocks. She was tall and slightly curvy.

"I know, I know, you and Jake are in love," Michael laughed. "And people make mistakes all the time, let it go."

"Not mistakes like that one," she flipped her locks over her shoulder. "You may be able to forgive a cheat, but I won't."

Who did the female dog think she was? I would've given her a piece of my mind, but what happened the previous day was an open wound that I wasn't willing to rub salt on.

Realising what was wrong with my train of thought, I rolled my eyes secretly so that they wouldn't see. I was being hypocritical. I was her a few hours ago and all she was doing was looking out for her friend. That was noble.

Sometimes, we must see things from another person's point of view before judging them.

"You're not even the one who... was wronged. If I decided to forgive her, it doesn't make sense if you keep holding a grudge," Michael reasoned, pulling me back to his chest.

I inhaled the scent of his cologne, feeling my brain fog over.

She sighed. "You're too kind Mike. Cheating becomes addictive. If it has happened once, it'll keep happening again and again and you're lucky if you find out the second time."

"Leave me alone," he said, his deep voice resonating all around his chest. I felt so comfortable in his arms that I didn't even mind what his friend was saying. "She's my fiancée, not yours."

She laughed. "There's no need to get defensive with me. I'm just looking out for you."

He ignored her and lifted my chin up with his thumb and index fingers. "I'm willing to put this past us if you are on two conditions."

I nodded. "Do you even have to ask? Name them."

"I need you to promise that this will never happen again," he said, to which I nodded earnestly in reply. "And you need to give me time to process this and get over it. Maybe I won't be myself sometimes and do something completely insane like rejecting your kisses or refusing to hold your hand."

"I understand, and I promise never to betray you again," I smiled. "I thought a lot last night."

"About what?" He queried, caressing my cheek with his thumb.

It felt like I was being tickled with a feather but instead of a ticklish feeling, it caused heat to flood my stomach.

"You'll see," I smiled seductively. After what happened, he deserved it.

He smiled and turned back to the Linda person. "Where are my manners today? Linda, this is my fiancée Elorm Nutsugah," he turned and pinched my cheeks. "Soon to be Mrs. Elorm Amegah."

I smiled but threw his hands away from my cheeks. When he pinched my cheeks, it made me feel like a dog.

"It's always the ones with the most innocent and prettiest faces," Linda sneered.

"You can be a real pig sometimes you know?" He didn't say pig.

She shoved him and smiled, pulling her phone out of her pocket.

"Oh forgive me Elorm, I didn't tell you why we are here. We came to take you out. It's a double date. Jake is coming."

I really didn't want to go out with strangers. I still felt disgusted at myself for what I did the day before. All I wanted was to cuddle up with Michael and squeeze him tight.

"I've met a lot of new people these past few days and it has never amounted to anything good."

"Jake is a nice guy, he's probably even nicer than I am," he said, in a futile attempt to warm me up to the story.

"I find that hard to believe."

He smiled, reaching for my hand but stopping at the last second. "We're going to have fun, I promise. And this will give us a chance to get to know each other more like you want."

"I don't know... two more people are going to cramp our space."

"I'm glad to know that you want some alone time with me. Maybe sometime during the week? We've already made plans and it will be rude of me to cancel."

"And it's not rude of you to inform me at the last minute? What if I wasn't free? I'm glad to know this is how our married life will be; you making the decisions and me being forced to follow them," I said, irately, crossing my arms.

The Linda girl called me the same name that Michael called her a few seconds ago.

"No, no, no. You don't get to call her that," Michael warned her. He sighed and turned to me, finally mustering the courage to hold my hands. When he looked down at me, he smiled. "You look so cute when you're angry."

I frowned.

"You're right," he said, serious now. "But it's very difficult to get messages across to you, especially since you don't have a phone."

"You don't have a phone?" The girl asked, mockingly. "Who knows? It might be for the best. Only God knows how many boys you would've cheated on him with if you had access to the internet."

"What is your problem?" Michael bellowed, making both of us look at him, dumbfounded. "If you keep on making jabs at my girl you're going to have to leave here. You're my friend, but I won't appreciate anyone being rude to her."

I was perfectly capable of defending myself, but the way he kept coming to my defence even after what I'd done made me aware of the sea of guilt sloshing around in my stomach again. The acid rose up my throat, burning its way through my oesophagus until I forced it back down.

"You've never been this mad at me ever since I met you," she said, glaring at me.

"You've never been this piggy since I met you," he retorted, of course, not really saying piggy but because this is a narration for all ages, I refuse to communicate his exact words.

She rolled her eyes, letting out a deep breath. "I'm sorry. Michael has been my closest friend for ages, he has rescued me from many unfortunate incidences and he has a really special place in my heart. Hearing that you broke his heart instantly spiked some form of hatred for you in me, but if he's willing to forgive you," she looked at the ground, kicking a random stone around, "then I am too."

Michael smiled, nodding. "That was beautiful, but she doesn't need your forgiveness."

She marched to him and shoved him against the boot of his car. They both burst into laughter, leaning on the car and staring at each other.

I felt a knot tighten in my stomach. I wasn't buying the whole friendship thing. There was nothing friendly about the way she looked at him.

"Jake just texted me, he says we should pick him up at that boutique, Angels'," Linda said after they had sobered up.

Michael looked at me, possibly just remembering that I was still there. "Are you coming?"

And give this girl a second alone with my man?

"Of course," I said, and skipped into his arms. He laughed and kissed my forehead.

I loved kisses on the forehead because I believed that they were more intimate than kisses on the lips, but with the Linda person watching, I wished he would just forget what happened and pull me into a passionate kiss. Selfish and spiteful, I knew. There were just somethings about ourselves that we couldn't change.

He helped me into the back seat of the fancy limousine along with his pig of a best friend. I placed a hand over my mouth to keep from gasping.

The interior was something ethereal. The tinted windows shielded the inside of the car, giving us the illusion that it was nightfall. There was a small connecting bar to the right, the seats were pearl white leather with a well-designed calligraphed 'A' at the top of each leather seat. It probably signified his surname 'Amegah'. Blue lights emanated from somewhere beneath the seats, giving the place a slight underwater theme.

"It's beautiful right?" The pig asked me, smiling as if she wanted to be friends. She had to be dreaming if she believed that I was going to forget all those jabs she threw at me. "You should've seen my face the first time I saw it."

"Your face? It was stiffer than the statue of liberty's," Michael laughed. "You had this look of awe frozen to your face. You didn't even blink."

"I'm sorry that I've never been accustomed to such luxury," she rolled her eyes. "My family isn't as wealthy as yours is."

The limousine began to move as I snuggled against Michael. He froze up at first and I began to pull away, embarrassed, when he pulled me back to his chest. He tilted my chin up so that I was looking at him and he smiled, caressing my cheek.

"Please, wait until Jake gets here before you start that. It's annoying."

Michael pulled me against his chest, almost suffocating me, but I didn't mind. I felt incredibly safe in his arms. Even if we were falling off a cliff and I was in his arms, I wouldn't be afraid.

"The first thing we're going to do is get you a phone," he murmured against my head. His hot breath fanned my face, awakening a stirring deep within me.

I took a deep breath so that my voice wouldn't come out as shaky as I believed that it would. "I can't accept a phone from you."

"I know you don't like favours or as you like to call it, charity, but you're going to be my wife. What's mine is yours too," he said. His arms crept down my spine, leaving a trail of fire in their wake, and wrapped themselves around my waist.

"I..." I swallowed, taking a deep breath to calm my hormones the heck down. "I won't be able to use it."

How was I the only one feeling the sexual tension in the car? For the first time since my marriage was arranged, I was eager for the thirtieth of January.

"I know you can figure it out," he rubbed the small of my back with his hands dangerously close to those two round, firm but soft sacs of fat. "Besides, there's a manual."

"What are you two love monsters whispering about?" The pig asked.

I couldn't see her facial expression because I was too busy inhaling Michael's cologne and allowing my imagination to run wild. I knew he was going to be worth the wait.

"None of your business," Michael laughed, kicking her leg away because it came too close to mine. "I'm glad you see how it feels when you and Jake do it to me."

She huffed and rolled her eyes, looking out the window and facepalming when she remembered that the windows were tinted. She pulled her phone back out, focusing all her attention on it.

"But where am I going to get Wi-Fi from?"

"I'm obviously going to get it for you."

"How do I pay the monthly bill?"

He groaned. "I'm waving a black credit card in front of your face right now. Take it and don't complain."

"Yes boss," I laughed. I was much more at ease as my mind strayed from the gutter to the fancy malls, food, clothing, cars, houses and et cetera. Not that I was a gold digger, but the fancy life looked beautiful from the television screens and I couldn't help but imagine how it would feel to actually live one.

"Excuse me? Did you just agree?"

"I did. Isn't that what you wanted?"

"Yes, but I thought I'd have to use my powers of persuasion," he said, making me laugh. "I'm glad you're beginning to get comfortable enough with me to spend my money."

"Don't get used to it," I cautioned gravely. I did have every intention of spending his money though, except only after we got married.

I wasn't one of those hypocrites who say they didn't care about the money. Money is a very important aspect in life and it was one of the reasons why I was marrying Michael. I didn't feel guilty about it because I knew that that didn't make me a bad person. Deny it or not, everyone needed money and I knew this because I grew up semi-poor.

"Yes ma'am," he sighed. "January thirty. It seems so far away, especially when I'm dying to do wicked things to you right now."

I knew I wasn't the only one with my mind in the gutter! He was probably doing what he was doing to seduce me!

"Hello? I'm still in the car," the pig reminded us.

Michael and I rolled our eyes.

When the limo stopped, Linda threw the door open and jumped out, hugging the boy standing there with all her might. He stumbled back, almost falling before he skillfully turned them around so that his back rested on the car, preventing him from falling as the pig harassed him.

"That's Jake," Michael said, just as he encaged Linda in his arms, pulling her in for a passionate kiss.

I couldn't see his face, but I noticed that he had chocolatey skin and dreadlocks like his girlfriend's. His locks grew only in the middle, the left and the right sides were cropped low. I could tell that he was muscular from the way his back muscles contracted and retracted as his hands roamed her body.

"I really hate you guys," Michael groaned, causing them to break apart.

Jake laughed, playing with the pig's hair a little bit and got into the car, closely followed by her.

"Who's the pretty girl?" He asked, causing heat to rise up to my cheeks. When someone who looked like that calls you pretty, your head must swell.

"This is Elorm, Michael's fiancée," the pig told him. "Elorm, this is Jakie, my soon to be fiancé."

Jake widened his eyes, blinking, astonished. I could see that he had no intention of marrying her. Poor girl. "H-hi Elorm," Jake stammered, clearly shaken from the words his girlfriend just uttered.

Michael frowned at him, but I couldn't help but giggle a little bit, to which Jake smiled at.

"Hi Jake."

"That's enough," the Linda person said, pulling her boyfriend — by placing both hands on his shoulders — to her chest. She pressed kisses down his neck. Clearly, her words had thrown him off the romance game so he gently pulled away from her. No matter how much I had grown to detest the Linda person, I felt sorry for her. I couldn't understand what force could drive a girl to force marriage on a boy.

"Why are you getting married so soon Mike?" He asked, looking at me. His eyes were nothing but friendly so I responded with a smile.

"I know what I want," Michael said. For some reason, he seemed angry with Jake. "Unlike you."

Jake laughed, but Linda didn't seem to understand what was going on. She wrapped her arms around his waist and even though he frowned, he placed his arms over hers. She smiled happily and rested her cheek against the back of his shoulder.

An awkward silence ensued.

"So," I began, in an attempt to lighten the mood. Marriage was too much of a topic for a group of teenagers. "Where are we going?"

Linda beamed. "We're having brunch at Papaye!" She cried, flinging her arms up in the air.

"Or KFC," Michael cut in, glaring at her.

"Or Eddy's Pizza," Jake added, glaring at both of them.

"So you people set up a double date... and you didn't even decide on the venue?" I quizzed, almost sceptical that these people didn't bow down to Michael's every command. I guess not everyone revered him like I did.

"We did. We decided on KFC," Michael said, deadpan.

"I changed my mind. I want Eddy's pizza," Jake said, his lips settling into a pout as he folded his arms like a cross child.

"Goodness!" Michael yelled, shooting out of his seat. His head would've collided with the ceiling had he not remembered not to stand all the way up. "Today is your birthday!" He yelled, looking at me.

"Really?" I asked like the idiot I was. "It completely slipped my mind. Although I remember cursing my birthday earlier today, I haven't thought of it since."

"Girl, you are cuckoo," the pig laughed, shaking her head.

"Happy birthday Elorm," Jake smiled, sincerely.

Michael was so right about the guy being nice. Besides the fact that he wasn't ready to walk his girlfriend down the altar, he had been faultless so far.

"And since you're eighteen now, name any drink and I'll make it for you," Michael told me, shifting towards the mini bar.

"How about a bottle of coke?" I asked.

Surprisingly, they looked at one another and burst into laughter. The pig threw her head back, laughing like her life depended on it, but Jake laughed guilty, shooting me an apologetic look the whole time.

Michael laughed until he fell back on his seat. If he didn't look so cute, I would've been angry with him. When he sobered up, he wiped the tears from beneath his eyes — yes, he was laughing that hard — and said, "That's not the kind of drink I'm talking about."

I looked at him perplexedly for a few seconds before I realised what they meant. "Oh, no, I don't drink."

After seeing that drunkard in my village, I daren't try the alcohol drug. It was more addictive than people thought.

"We're not trying to get you drunk, Ellie," Linda said, as I wondered who gave her the right to call me Ellie. "It's just a celebratory drink for becoming legal in this country."

"It's just one glass," Michael said with a small smile. "You know I have your best interests at heart, right?"

I nodded, smiling. If there was anyone I trusted, it was Michael.

"I recommend sex on the beach," Jake suggested.

Michael and the Linda person nodded in agreement while I widened my eyes. It took me a while to realise that he wasn't making a pass at me but it was rather the name of a drink. Then I wondered why anyone would name a drink that.

Michael did some bartender like things, poured the drink in a single glass and gave it to me.

I spun the glass a bit, making the liquid slosh along. It reminded me of the feeling in my stomach. I wanted nothing more than to throw the glass away.

I looked at Michael and he smiled in encouragement. It was all the motivation I needed. Closing my eyes, I tipped the glass back and swallowed its contents.

The people in the car clapped their hands in delight, oblivious to my plight.

"Welcome to adulthood Ellie," Michael said.

* * *

This chapter ended up being almost 9,000 words so I had to split it into two, then I realised by splitting it, this chapter became a filler chapter😐 Sorry for wasting your time.

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