Song: Woman — Rema (I find this song so funny)

*Unedited* (We're getting to the end now. I can feel it)

Four long weeks had passed. Four weeks, we'd been staying at the Faye mansion and nothing had happened. I never saw Mr. Faye. Not even once.

The night Kofi took me to the room we shared, he made me sleep on the floor. It was excruciating, of course, for my ribs. My leg had suffered some nerve damage, so luckily, I couldn't really feel the pain it would've obviously caused.

We didn't talk for the next week or so. Not even one word to each other.

He didn't stay in the house much. He usually went out in the mornings and came back at night, while I lay on that rag thing on the ground all day. Resting helped, but I wasn't getting any pain medication. I wasn't breathing deeply because doing that caused the pain to increase.

Guess who decided to take advantage of that? Pneumonia.

I probably would've had serious lung damage if Justus hadn't noticed.

A doctor was brought to examine me, and due to proper treatment and healthcare, the pneumonia had disappeared within a week. I was still quite weak after that. To prevent that from happening again, they finally gave me some pain medication. They, as in Kofi.

I can't even begin to explain how guilty he was after my pneumonia attack, since it was all his fault. The moment my pneumonia was discovered, he let me sleep on the bed and apologised, saying that he didn't want us to sleep at the same place because he was afraid that he'd hurt me during the night.

Of course, I asked why he didn't have to sleep on the floor then, and we got into a huge fight. He brought another bed into the room and slept on it while I slept on the one that was already there.

It was very awkward, how we weren't speaking to each other yet he was the one taking care of me, making sure I was taking my pain medication. Eventually, he decided to break the ice by giving me a real apology, and completely forbidding Justus from coming to visit me.

I would forever be grateful to Justus for helping discover the pneumonia early, but that didn't mean that I had forgiven him. Attempted rape was not something that could be forgotten so easily. Besides, Kofi would've noticed, just later.

Even though we started talking again, things became really awkward — for me, at least — when I got too damaged to take my own showers. Kofi didn't seem to mind at all, but every time he helped me shower or bathe, I was so embarrassed that I couldn't even look at him.

He was making fun of me, of course. Not body shaming, but he was making fun of how shy I was. It got to a time when I refused to shower for a whole day, but then my January period decided to come that very same night.

Let's not even begin to talk about that one.

It's been a trying few weeks, but Kofi and I had been able to find a stable ground. We weren't exactly friends, but there were no fights, harsh words, or silent treatment.

He made me tell him about my childhood because, it may be surprising, but my childhood wasn't exactly bad. The times when I went to bed on a full stomach were much more than when I went to bed without any food. We weren't poor enough to suffer from starvation.

Plus, when I was a kid, I had friends because we were too young to be thinking about male affection. When we started growing up, the girls worshipped me, and that wasn't even putting it lightly. Everyone wanted to be my friend.

By the time puberty had hit, everything started going downhill. That must've been when my father began his paedophilic ways and blackened Etornam's heart. That was when most of the bad memories started, so he didn't want to hear that.

He didn't talk about his childhood much because it was all very dark. He spoke a little about his brothers though and why they were so close. Yes, they acted like his father wasn't abusing him, but they were the cause of all his happy memories as a child.

It was a bonding moment between Kofi and me.

Now, after four weeks, the cast on my leg had come off and I was practicing feeling my leg again. Instead of tapping my leg gently like they do on television, the idiot was pinching my toes.

"Would you stop that?" I glared at the grinning man, throwing a pillow at him and messing up his hair in the process.

"So you can feel it? That's good," he replied. He pulled the covers back over my leg. "It's high time we left."

"Wait, what?" I pushed myself to the backrest of the bed and sat up slowly. My ribs too were doing spectacularly well and I was not ready to go back on the progress I'd made these past weeks.

"The man hasn't even spoken to us once since the day he brought us here. We've been cut off from the rest of the world for four weeks."

"Wait," I frowned, casting my mind back to a few weeks ago, "didn't you spend most of your time away from this house? During the time we fell out?"

"I just didn't stay in the room but I was still in the mansion. You think if I had the chance to leave, I would've stayed?"

"Yes. You wouldn't have left without me."

He stared. I was about to say something when he spontaneously threw his head back and laughed out loud. "You're delusional, I tell you."

"Kofi, I know you want to act like you don't care, but you do. You wouldn't have left me. I know that."

He kept laughing.

"Laugh all you want. You wouldn't have."

He laughed a little more, then after a few more spluttering laughs, he settled for a smile. "I would've, but go off."

I rolled my eyes, hating how he wanted to seem like he was so emotionally detached from the world. He wouldn't admit that he cared, no matter how hard I tried. It was better that I let it go.

"As I was saying, I'm not going to spend a minute more in this dump. You're fine now, so we can escape."

See? He could've escaped without waiting for me to recover. No matter how hard he tried to deny it, he cared.

"I'm not fully recovered. You heard the doctor. I can start trying to walk but I can't exact too much pressure on my leg by running or doing any other strenuous activity."

A puzzled look crossed his face. "I thought you of all people would want to leave. Don't you want to see that stupid boyfriend of yours?"

No, I didn't want to see Michael.

This mansion was like an escape from reality. I didn't have to think or worry about anything or anyone. I got fed, got enough rest and I could sleep all day if I wanted.

If I went back to the real world, I might have to face the reality that Michael wasn't in it anymore. If I went back to the real world, I might have to face the reality that Elikem was the only living relative I had left.

"We should just stay. At least, until I can run again."

"I don't know how to describe what emotion I'm feeling for you right now, all I know is that I want to get away from you. You're disgusting."

I closed my eyes exasperatedly. "Don't backtrack on all the progress we've made."

"I'm leaving. You can stay if you want." He left after saying that, banging the door noisily behind him.

I sighed and wriggled my toes, just to make sure they were still working. After thinking about how selfish I was and hating myself for hours, I fell asleep.

I woke up again around midday and Kofi was nowhere to be found.

I touched my leg to make sure that feeling had really returned to it. I didn't feel the touch as strongly as I would have on another part of my body, but it was much better than before, when I couldn't feel anything at all. Using the environment around me, I got up and went to the bathroom.

It wasn't easy or quick to get to the bathroom. I was limping quite nicely, managing to put as little pressure on the leg as I could. I went to take a shower. I felt so happy and accomplished at the thought of taking a shower on my own for the first time in a long time. There would be no more free shows for that idiot.

Washing my back was hard, because I was leaning back on the shower cubicle and standing on my uninjured leg to balance all my weight. I was just managing it, when Kofi burst in.

Immediately I saw him, my eyes enlarged to the size of saucers and I crossed my arms over myself like that could do anything. "Get out!" I screamed like a wounded animal. I kept screaming the same words to him over and over, but he just stood there, watching me and laughing like an idiot.

"I've been seeing you like this for almost three weeks. Stop being dramatic," he laughed.

"Out!"

"Need help?"

"Leave!"

"You think you don't need me anymore, right?"

"Get out!"

"Aye, okay. Cool down," he held up his hands in surrender, still laughing like an idiot. "I'll be in the room, we need to talk."

"Out!"

"I already said I was leaving," he frowned.

"Leave!"

He rolled his eyes and left.

It took a while for me to calm down, but after I did that, I decided that I was going to take a much longer time showering than I needed to. I knew what he wanted to talk about. He couldn't leave without me, he wanted me to come along, and he was going to try and talk sense into me.

I stayed in the shower so long that my fingers became soggy, just like drenched cornflakes. I got out and wrapped two towels around myself, along with a bathing robe.

"Took you long enough," he looked mildly annoyed, watching me like a hawk as I came out of the bathroom.

"I know what you want to talk about." I told him.

I hurried to get dressed while he waited there, sitting on my bed. I went back to the bathroom to put on clothes.

"If you just let me help you, this would be much quicker. Look at how slowly you're walking. You're just backtracking on the healing you've done."

"Would you shut up?" I snapped, settling in front of the dressing mirror to tackle my afro.

"At least let me help with that," he said, not even waiting for me to give my consent. He simply snatched my comb and started dividing the thick tight curls into sections to be combed.

"Add shea butter. It makes it much easier to comb," I held the cream up so that he would take it.

He snatched it from my hand like I was forcing him to comb my hair. "I know you're wondering why I didn't leave you when I could've."

"No. I'm not wondering. I know why."

He stopped applying shea butter to my hair just to glare at me through the mirror. I smiled back sweetly.

"We need Justus to leave without detection. He could easily smuggle us out, but he wouldn't let me leave without you."

He was dividing my hair into four sections, and I winced when some of the teeth of the comb grazed my scalp painfully. He gave me an apologetic look.

"But that doesn't make sense. If he let you leave, he'd have the freedom to do with me as he pleases."

"Maybe he didn't really want to rape you? Because honestly, he could've. That night. I think he's simping for you so that he can sleep with you the legal way."

"What's simping?" I asked, honestly curious.

Kofi rolled his eyes, ignoring the question completely. He had successfully combed through one section and he was moving to the next one. "We have everything planned. We're leaving tonight."

I groaned frustratedly, running my palm down my face. "Where are we leaving to?"

"Your village, of course."

The way he said that so simply, like he didn't just drop a bomb on my entire being... well, I could only stare at him. The mention of that place alone made my heart begin to race. I clenched my teeth, grinding them against each other and squeezing my eyes shut so that those thoughts wouldn't invade my mind.

"I'm not going back there."

"Your family and your boyfriend are there."

"You don't know that!"

He stopped combing my hair and stared at me. "You should want to go. That's all you've ever wanted since you got here. To go back."

"Not anymore."

"I can't even begin to wonder why." His voice had an air of confusion to it, and his eyes were squinted, trying to make sense of what I was saying.

"I was kidnapped in November. It's January, two days left till February. They didn't make it," I told him, struggling to keep the sobs in. I didn't want to think about it, I hated that he wanted me to think about it. They weren't the best, but they were mine. Now, they're gone.

"You don't know that. What about your boyfriend?"

"He was deprived of so much oxygen, and his body was poisoned with carbon dioxide. Even if he survived, he may not be the same anymore."

"You have no proof that either of them is dead. Just go and find out for your own! If your family is still alive, even if it's not all of them, you can still help the survivors."

I took a deep breath, seeing the sense in what he was saying. There was a rare chance that some of them survived, and if that was true, it was up to me to help them. But if all of them were gone, going back there would drive me mad. "I don't know if I can risk it."

"Nonsense. We're going back and that's final. If the prince is dead, that really doesn't matter. There are better men."

My palm itched to slap him as soon as he uttered those words. His indifference to the wellbeing of Michael was what caused one of our fallouts. He hadn't learnt from that. "How are you sure that he'll be at the village if he survived?"

He shrugged and started tending to my hair again. "He has nothing to do in the city. You were gone and his village has no ruler, since his father is dead. I'm sure he'll be there."

"Why do you want to go there anyway?" I queried. I wasn't warming up to the idea of going back, but I wouldn't like it if Kofi left me behind with his father and that creepy bright-eyed rapist. I didn't need Kofi to protect me, but having an ally is underrated.

Kofi sighed and dropped the comb on the dressing mirror. He went and sat on the bed and looked at me accusingly. "You have to ask so many questions, don't you?"

"I'm just curious," I shrugged. "Please don't stop combing my hair. It's too thick for me to manage alone."

At that, he smiled a little. "What would you do without me?"

"I would be happy."

He glared.

I picked the comb up and waved it around. "You have work to do."

"So what's the plan?" I asked. After some hours of talking and persuasion, he'd finally managed to convince me that going back to the village was the best, especially since it was for a good cause.

"Justus is going out today. All we need to do is find a way to get into his car."

"And that's difficult because?"

"Old-fashioned security. Also known as guards."

"Why can't we just hide in boxes or something?"

"No. No small spaces."

He had claustrophobia. He was either born with it or it was caused the time when his father tried to bury him alive. He had gotten angry that day because one of his businesses was raided by the police. He tried to kill Kofi in a fit of rage.

The minor details Kofi had indulged me in about his childhood were enough to leave me scarred.

He liked to behave like the memories didn't haunt him, but they did. He started off nonchalant, but as the narration progressed, he'd broken into cold sweat and his breaths became shorter. His eyes glazed over as the memory was so vivid that he thought it was happening all over again.

He had a panic attack and was wheezing on the ground, scratching thin air and pleading. Seeing him like that... it terrified me. It terrified me how much pain and suffering he was going through even though he was no longer being abused. That kind of thing stayed with you.

I tried to help him, but he must've thought I was his father. He scrambled away from me, begging like I was actually going to hurt him. Seeing how terrified he was in that moment... he had been completely shattered by the person who'd given him life, and it was the saddest thing ever.

Eventually, he did let me get close to him. He realised that it was just a flashback and he calmed down. He was too ashamed to sleep in the room though. He came back the next morning to help me shower, like nothing happened. I didn't talk about it since, and neither did he.

In fact, this was the first time I was thinking about it since it happened.

He was obviously suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, but I was afraid of triggering him if I said anything about it. I could only hope he'd get help when I finally left his life.

"Did I ever tell you how noble what you're doing is?" I smiled a little to encourage him. When he told me why we were going back, I almost couldn't believe my ears. It didn't sound like him.

He didn't return my smile. "It's only because of him."

"Either way. It's noble."

He rolled his eyes and averted his gaze. "We still have to figure out how to get into that car without being spotted."

"You said they're guarding even the stairs, correct?"

He nodded.

"Did you ever notice that tree just outside that large size window?" I pointed at the window in question.

He groaned, shaking his head then slapping his palm onto his face so aggressively that it must've hurt him. "I knew you'd think about that. You're so cliché."

"It's a great idea! What does being cliché have to do with this?"

"First, have you actually seen the distance between the window and the tree? You have to jump and somehow land safely on one of the branches. Notice how the branches end long before you hit the ground? Are we supposed to slide down the trunk or what?"

"You really thought it out, didn't you?"

"Well, at least one of us needs to be smart." He replied cockily.

I ignored him and smiled, thinking of an idea. "How about you get him to put something like a mattress on the ground? We'll jump!"

I expected him to call me stupid or something like that, but he simply smiled. He had a beautiful smile.

"You think you can jump from this height?" He mocked, then his smile instantly became the ugliest thing ever.

"Of course I can."

"Don't kid yourself."

He held his chin with his index and thumb, looking into the sky thoughtfully. "That would be so easy if you could actually jump. If it was late enough, we could do that. The guards at the gate never doze, but they wouldn't be suspicious of Justus leaving the mansion. We would simply hide in the car."

"I can jump."

He eyed me strangely. There was a hint of affection in his eyes; it'd been there these past few days. I could only hope my eyes didn't mirror the same emotion. "Even if you could, we can't risk it. You're fine, your ribs barely hurt anymore. After that pneumonia scare, you can't take any chances."

I smiled sarcastically and clasped my hands together. "I don't know, Kofi, but I think that's the point of the mattress. Or, maybe I could be wrong, I don't know—"

"I'm serious."

"I am too! Now I know why we must go back, don't expect me to stay!"

"You're also going for your family, because they might still be alive."

"Kofi," I eyed him angrily, "we agreed not to talk about that. We won't talk about what haunts you, so we won't talk about what haunts me either."

That effectively shut him up.

"So, we're going with the mattress?" He asked, after the tension died out.

"That's our only option," I shrugged. "If we could get some entirely black clothes to camouflage with the darkness too, that'd be great."

"You're not as dumb as you look."

"Kofi, I don't look dumb."

"Yes, you do," he said. I was about to cut in when he added, "being that beautiful and all."

That effectively shut me up.

I really didn't know how to receive compliments, especially genuine ones. I usually just smiled, but I also felt bad for not replying. 'Thank you' sounded snobbish in my opinion.

"Idiot, just smile and say thank you," Kofi said, obviously noticing my discomfort. He started laughing after that, but I was too embarrassed to think of a comeback.

When he calmed down, I asked, "We never thought about how we're going to get the mattress down."

"We'll just throw it, of course."

"No," I shook my head, frowning like my life depended on it, "what if we miss our mark?"

"We? You think I'd trust you to throw the mattress?"

"I would insult you back on a normal occasion, but I agree this time."

He started laughing, and I remembered the time when I tried to hit him in the face with my clothes, the morning after Michael led me on and left me. I had such terrible aim.

"Go and change into something black."

By the time we were dressed, it was very dark outside, and owls were being the weirdos they were by hooting excessively.

"It's like they're trying to warn your father."

"He's not my father," he spat so vehemently that my brain set an automatic daily reminder to never repeat that mistake.

I peered out the window at the mattress he'd thrown. He threw mine, because it had a much larger area. His wouldn't be able to cushion our fall. "You threw that too far."

"Did you help me pick it up? I didn't even get to aim before it fell. The wind carried it."

Looking at it now, I felt scared. What if I missed it and broke myself?

"You're scared, aren't you?" He asked.

"No," I lied, "it's just, far away. But I can jump, I'm not scared."

He kept looking at me, obviously not buying it. "Do you want to jump with me?"

"What?" I observed him with shock written all over my face.

He was giving out bored vibes when he said, "So that you won't kill yourself."

"Oh," I looked away. He could be so considerate when he wanted to be, even though he would never admit that. "Can we fit through the window?"

"Woman, did you see the size of the mattress I threw? Of course we can fit," he said. "Here, take my hand."

I scrutinised his outstretched palm bewilderedly.

"What? Or do you..." he trailed off because he simply came behind me and put both hands on either side of my waist.

My whole face was aflame. The heat his body was emanating onto mine made me aware of just how close we were. My throat tightened, and it was hard to take a breath. I just stood there like an idiot, with wide eyes.

He sent us to the edge of the large window and I looked down at the mattress on the ground. Coupled with his proximity and the mattress' distance, I was a breathless piece of flesh. Even my brain had gone AWOL.

Suddenly, he turned us around so that we would both fall on his back. It was smart; even if he missed, his body would cushion my fall. That, though, would break every bone in his body instead, and I couldn't be certain whether I wouldn't leave him behind.

I turned slowly to look at him. I was glad when I saw him looking back and down, so that he could aim our fall. I didn't expect him to turn his head back so suddenly though, so I was a stupid mess when our faces were just inches away.

I stilled.

Luckily, he looked away quickly. "In three, two, one." And just like that, we were free falling.

I closed my eyes, because the motion made me sick. I couldn't get the thought that we would hit the ground and splatter out of my mind. I clutched my hands into fists.

The motion stopped, but I didn't hit the mattress. I nearly panicked when I felt Kofi's hands leave my waist. My eyes flew open.

I was hanging.

How was I hanging?

"What is happening?" I asked, looking around frantically. I was in the air, but I couldn't determine how exactly I was there.

Of course, until I noticed the tightness around my neck. I looked up. When we were falling, the neck of my hoodie had gotten caught on one of that stupid tree's branches, and sadly, it was strong enough to keep me in the air.

Kofi had already fallen safely on the mattress. He was sitting up and laughing so hard that you'd think he was watching a comedy skit.

"It's not really funny," I protested, wriggling.

"How? How? What kind of unlucky person are you?" He laughed.

"I've been asking myself that my whole life," I felt pity for myself. Of course, I wouldn't land safely. This is Elorm Nutsugah we're talking about. "How am I supposed to get down?"

"Wow, you got caught on one of the highest branches. I can't climb up even if you got caught lower. What kind of tree is this?" He kept laughing like we were allowed to make this much noise without risking getting caught.

Just then Justus came out of the car that was parked at the entrance of the mansion, quite far away from us. He came over to us, but when he saw me hanging from the tree branch, he started laughing too.

"It's not that funny," I muttered dryly, while the two sworn enemies joined hands just to make fun of me.

"But on a serious note," Justus began once they'd both calmed down, "how are we supposed to get her down?"

Kofi shook his head. "Take the hoodie off, genius."

"What?" I crossed my arms over my body. "No!"

"Justus, go. She isn't shy around me. I've seen it all." Kofi said smugly.

"How?" Justus replied, suspicious.

"I'm not taking it off. I'll just lift it or something." I reached up somehow and pushed myself to the edge of the branch, then I fell.

Kofi didn't see me coming, so I left him groaning in pain when I crashed onto him with all the kinetic force of my body mass. I was the one laughing this time around.

"You're such a bit—"

"Really, you children are too noisy. This was such a fail." We all froze in our tracks upon hearing the voice of Mr. Faye himself.

Kofi jumped up and so did I, while Justus averted his eyes sheepishly.

My heart sunk into my stomach, realising that we did all this for nothing. We couldn't do everything we'd planned. We were so foolish, Kofi and I. How did we even expect to succeed? How did we actually think we could do it?

And now, even if my family or Michael survived, there was nothing I could do, because this crazy man had decided to keep us prisoner without a sensible reason. What was he expecting? Were we supposed to just live here and be cut off from the rest of the world?

What did he really want?

"Uncle, I can ex—"

"Save it, son. I already know what was going on here. You were going to help these two," he pointed at Kofi and I, "escape."

"What do you expect? That we stay there forever for no reason?" Kofi butt in. "We have actual lives to live, things to do."

Mr. Faye nodded. "I assumed so."

We were astonished when he began to walk away.

"Uncle?" Justus called uncertainly, just as confused as the two of us. "You're... you're going to let them go?"

He turned back around to face us, his poker face never slipping for even a single second. "They have lives to live." He replied.

He started leaving again when Kofi said, "You're just going to come after us. I know you. You love the chase."

"I'm older now, Kofi. I like easy things, I'm not the same man you're used to. We will meet again, but for now, go and live your life."

I couldn't even tell whether he was joking or not because his face was like a blank canvas. We just watched as he left.

As soon as he was out of sight, I let out a breath, feeling light-headed. "I thought we were going to have to stay."

"No," Kofi shook his head, "I know that man. He has something up his sleeve."

"It doesn't matter anyway. Let's go, it's going to be a long drive."

* * *

So we're going back to the village. I'm scared. 🤔

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