Song: Tokyo - King Promise & Wizkid (Fun fact: Elorm and Kofi met in chapter seventeen)

*Unedited* (My favourite author is reading my book and I'm going crazy)

Dedicated to Oueenread for her long and humorous comments!

It suddenly made sense; why he was treating me so nicely after I got beaten up by the chief. Maybe, seeing me the way I was reminded him of what he'd gone through, and how he didn't want anyone to go through the same pain.

That was the only logical explanation as to why he was holding me so carefully, making sure that every step would bring me as little pain as possible.

His expression didn't betray how he felt about the scene that unfolded minutes ago. He was just walking, like a robot with no feelings.

When we got to the mini hospital, he sent me into one of the rooms and lay me on the bed.

"Kofi?"

He looked at me expectantly.

"I... I know you don't want to talk about what happened... but, take it easy on Nate. It... it can be difficult to go against your loved ones or the people you look up to. Not everyone is that brave."

He just kept staring at me.

"Good morning," Doctor Obeng greeted boisterously, striding into the room like it was his own personal space, "how are you today?" There was that smile that was missing yesterday.

"In pain," I laughed nervously.

"Don't worry, we'll give you some painkillers soon enough."

Kofi went and sat on a chair against the wall.

"Are you going to stay?" The doctor asked him.

Kofi fixed his eyes on him without saying a word.

The doctor nodded. "Okay then," he turned to me, "please take off any jewellery or any metal objects you have on."

I took my earrings off.

A nurse came in after that, and she and the doctor helped prop me on an uncomfortable looking table. The X-ray tube - I suppose - hung over the table while the nurse carefully used pillows to prop my leg up.

I closed my eyes when they injected me with a substance that the doctor informed me was iodine. Over the next few minutes, the room was filled with clicks and buzzing sounds that I assumed were made by the machine.

They took images of my leg, ribs and cheekbone and it was over soon enough. Even though I was uncomfortable, I didn't really feel anything afterwards. They helped me back onto the soft bed and took the exam table out of the room.

After they gave me my painkillers, I decided to take a quick nap.

"The results will be ready by tonight or early tomorrow," the doctor told Kofi.

Kofi didn't say anything in reply.

A while before I fell asleep, I felt the bed dip as he came and sat beside me. "People like that are the reason why there are so many injustices going on in the world."

I sighed, not finding any reply befitting enough for that because he was right.

When I finally woke up again, it was dark outside and someone was prodding my cheek. "What the heck? What's wrong with you?" I asked annoyedly, swatting his finger away.

"You sleep too deeply," Kofi complained.

"Being awake hurts a lot, for your information," I retorted.

"It looks like you'll have to go into hiding after all."

I opened my eyes, rubbing them sleepily. I was about to sit up but I was quickly reminded by my current best friend - pain - that I was an invalid. "What do you mean?"

"Mr. Mark rang. He asked me where Chief Amegah was, that he'd informed him that he was coming here but he hasn't heard anything from him."

I blinked. "What did you tell him?"

"What could I have told him? He wanted to speak to him."

"Kofi," I glared at him, "what did you tell him?"

He glared back. "Don't talk to me like this or else I promise you, I'll leave you to your fate."

"Really?" I shook my head. "Just beca-"

"I told him that the chief left, but he didn't tell me where he was going. He's probably going to go to the village, and when he doesn't find him there, he'll come here. That's a given."

"So," I exhaled, "what are we going to do?"

He eyed me. "Better recover fast and get out of here."

"If I could control how quickly I recover, do you think I'd still be here?"

He shrugged. "Your boyfriend is looking for you. He thinks his father left without him."

"Michael," I groaned. There was nothing keeping us apart now, except for the fact that he would hate me because I killed his father.

"Yes. Wolfgang is looking for you too."

I eyed him, hoping that the next question I was about to ask wouldn't rub him the wrong way. "And... Nate?"

"He left," he said in the same tone as before.

I felt sorry for any girl who'd date or marry Kofi. He was so unreadable when he wanted to be. He could be mad at her and plotting to kill her but she'd never know.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. This has been a long time coming. I should've cut him out a long time ago."

"He cares about you."

"You heard him. He said he doesn't even like me," he smiled and sat beside me.

"We say a lot of things out of anger."

He shrugged.

"Kofi," I paused, feeling like an intrusive female dog, "why did your father single you out for abuse?"

He looked at me, rolled his eyes and averted them. "He wanted three sons. One he loved - Nathan, which is why he gave him all the legal businesses so that he wouldn't end up in jail - one who was a pushover - Wolfgang, who would oversee nasty businesses just to please him - and another one who was his personal punching bag - me, who'd accept most businesses as long as they were far away from him. That's the only reason I could think of." He shrugged.

"Did he ever hit Wolfgang?"

"No. He was always nice to the two of them. He took them fishing, camping, taught them to swim and all the fun things fathers and sons do together."

My heart sank. "Did he ever take you along?"

Kofi laughed. "So that he'd feed me to the wild animals? Thank goodness, no. The times I got to spend alone were the best of my childhood. They gave my old wounds enough time to heal before he could give me new ones."

How he was talking about this like he was recounting normal childhood memories made me sick. It was like he had detached himself from every emotion. "Still, you never felt lonely?"

"In a childish way, I guess I did. Especially when they'd come back from their trips. He'd buy them things like mini sports cars and take pictures of and with them. At dinner, they'd recount their best memories and laugh... yeah, as a child, it really hurt. I'd often start crying before I'd realise and wet my food." He laughed.

I won't cry. I won't cry. I won't cry.

"But I got used to it eventually. Overtime, I learnt how to numb it all, block them out. My brothers shared their toys and treats with me though; it helped me stay human. When we turned eighteen, he gave us our properties. I got to be the pimp, then I relocated the prostitutes here back in November, when you arrived."

"You don't feel lonely here?" I asked.

"No, not really. I'm used to being alone. It's not as bad as people make it out to be. There's no jealousy or envy here. I don't feel any hatred and more importantly, no one uses me as a punching bag to let off steam."

I frowned. "It doesn't make sense. How did he just start... when... why-"

"He's been abusing me for as long as I can remember. Even when I was a toddler. There was a time when he broke my leg; I started walking later than I should've because of that."

"How can you say this so easily? Don't the memories haunt you? Doesn't talking about it cause you pain?"

He stared at me. "No."

Of course, he had to be lying. No one goes through something that traumatic and comes out unscathed.

We were staring at each other like the first one to look away was automatically the liar.

I ended up submitting, closing my eyes when the weight of those green orbs was too much for me to bear. "I want to see Michael." I said.

"Will you tell him that his father is dead?" He asked me.

I opened one eye. "I won't tell him anything about his father."

"It's your choice," he shook his head, "he's gone out right now so unless tomorrow."

"Where has he gone to?"

"How am I supposed to know? He's not a prisoner."

I opened my eyes. "Tomorrow is Christmas eve."

"And? Do you really feel like celebrating? At a time like this?"

"I'm never too down for Christmas," I smiled.

"You have to be joking," he shook his head.

"Decorate the mansion. The decorations we bought, use them. I would've helped, but..." I gestured to myself.

"I'm not in the mood. Christmas is supposed to be a time of joy, merrymaking and all that jazz. Meaning, I haven't done that in a while."

"Really? What do you do this time of the year then?"

"The same things I do all year."

I frowned. "What the- even at my village we celebrate as much as we can. How dare you, with all the money in the world not do anything to celebrate the most important birthday on earth?"

He glared. "So, what, is it by force?"

"Yes! You're decorating tomorrow, whether you like it or not." I said seriously.

He rolled his eyes. "I'll ring up the decorators if that's what you want."

I sighed. "Where's the fun in having the decorations done for you?"

"Have you seen the size of this place?"

"Who said you have to decorate the pool too? Do the exterior of the mansion, the living room and your room, maybe. That's enough. Okay, you can have the decorators do the other places but the Christmas tree is your task."

"This is a waste of time," he rolled his eyes, "I'll just go to church or something."

"No, no, no way! I don't get why people go to church on Christmas day, like wtf?"

"What is wtf?"

My lower jaw hit the ground. "Do you even use social media?"

"Do you?"

I closed my mouth. "I used to until your brother kidnapped me and forgot to bring my phone along. And, don't go to church on Christmas. You're supposed to spend the day with your loved ones, celebrate Jesus' birth by loving your neighbour. Togetherness, love, joy, that's all the day is about. You can go to church any other day."

"Togetherness, love, joy," he paused, a sarcastic look crossing his face, "no thank you."

Right. He doesn't even technically have family.

How do you even spend Christmas alone?

Back at the village, Christmas day was the only day we got to eat rice - usually Jollof or fried rice - and chicken. At least it was something, even though my parents were more traditionalists than Christians.

I wondered why I was so concerned. Even though he has suffered, he doesn't deserve my sympathy. He's treated me like crap, nothing he went through was an excuse for that.

"Pity. Decorate though. I'll be celebrating."

He pursued his lips. "I'll be right back."

"Where are you going to?"

He took his phone out of his pocket. "I have something to attend to." He proceeded to call someone.

As soon as he began talking, he left the room.

* * *

It was late afternoon or early evening when I woke up. Christmas eve, and I was trapped on a hospital bed and in pain. Kofi came to see me just a few minutes after I woke up.

"You're awake? Good. We need to go."

"Excuse me?" I yawned. "I think my painkillers wore off. I need more."

"A bruised cheekbone, two broken ribs, and a broken fibula. Look at your leg."

I pushed the covers down and saw that a huge cast had been put on my leg. "When did you do this?"

"They set your leg bones, then bandaged your rib area and put the cast on you while you were asleep."

"Excuse me? How didn't I feel a thing?"

He shrugged. "That gas they use during surgery. Grab your crutches and let's go."

"What? What crutches?"

He gestured beside my bed.

I turned and saw the crutches. "When-"

"While you were asleep, I received some bad news."

"And..." I urged.

"And, you need to come with me right now. No questions asked."

"Wait! What about Michael?"

Kofi grabbed the crutches and shoved them at me. "Later."

I groaned when one smacked my ribs. "Be gentle."

"You could've caught those. Your fault, not mine."

"You're so rude," I complained, grabbing both crutches, "help me up, yeah?"

He groaned, but helped me anyway. He helped me stand on one leg while I stabilised my crutches beneath me. "Hurry."

"Will you even tell me what's happening?" I asked.

He started walking fast. I tried to use the crutches like I'd seen people use them on television, but I just ended up falling on my bum. Thankfully, the cast helped keep my leg straight so that I didn't hurt myself... too much. My ribs were a different story.

"What part of hurry don't you understand?" He asked me.

"To my knowledge, most people have a physician teach them how to walk with crutches. I didn't get that."

"To my knowledge, most villagers don't even get crutches."

"To my knowledge, most people don't get forced to sleep with their boyfriends' fathers and-"

"Do you want to leave or not?"

"I don't even know why I'm leaving!"

He rolled his eyes and grabbed my crutches, then disappeared while I sat there like an idiot on my butt. When he came back, he didn't waste time picking me up like I weighed a feather and taking me to his car.

Of course, I complained the whole time and repeatedly smacked his chest but he didn't budge. When he put me inside the car, I screamed upon seeing Wolfgang there.

"Princess, you don't seem so happy to see me." He chuckled.

"Thank him, he's the only reason why I'm bothering to do all this nonsense."

"Yeah right," Wolfgang teased, glaring at Kofi through the driver's mirror.

"Shut up," Kofi retorted.

"What's the fuss about?" I asked.

Kofi got behind the wheel and started the car. We were off in no time.

"I heard what happened. With the chief," Wolfgang told me.

I fixed my pensive eyes on him and asked, "How?"

"It's going around the whole mansion. I don't know who heard it first but everyone knows now."

"It must've been the doctor, maybe the male nurses who saw the body. It was stupid of me to think that we could keep this under the wraps."

There were so many things I should've thought about, but the only thought that plagued me was, "What about Michael? Has he heard about it?"

"That man. He's the most disgusting person I've ever met, I promise. He doesn't deserve you."

My heart sank. "What happened?" I asked, even though I was dreading the answer already.

"What's circulating the mansion is that you poisoned him. They said you put rat poison in his food, but that sounded too sketchy so I didn't believe it. I went to see Kofi and he told me what happened. That boyfriend of yours however, was already frustrated because apparently, you two were supposed to have se- I mean, do the dirty but you didn't show up. He kept looking for you and he even almost beat Nathan up."

That must explain why Nathan found me.

"I swear, I don't know why you're with that horseshit," Kofi shook his head.

"Nathan promised to look for you but he left mysteriously yesterday."

I looked at Kofi through the mirror as Wolfgang said what he said. He glanced at me, but it was only for a second as he fixed his eyes back on the road ahead of him. Apparently, he hadn't told Wolfgang about the fight.

"Then the prince heard about the rumours and in true Amegah male fashion, he went crazy. First, he started looking for you in a fit of rage. What annoyed me the most was that he was looking in the kitchen cabinets," he paused to laugh, "then he started sobbing, then he got mad again and broke a lot of things. Then he went to the infirmary - he was so close to finding you - to look for his father's body and he beat up a number of nurses until we finally caught him and threw him out."

"Woo," Kofi said, whistling. He and Wolfgang started laughing like there was something funny about that narration.

"Woo? Why didn't you tell him what really happened?" I asked angrily.

"He doesn't deserve to know. When he finds out what really happened, he'll just come crying to you and apologising like the puny female dog he is." Wolfgang said.

"That doesn't concern you. All you needed to do was just tell him the truth!"

Kofi glared at me through the driver's mirror. "If you knew all the things he said about you, you wouldn't be telling us this trash. Someone who believes such silly rumours about you - this isn't even the first time - doesn't deserve you."

I glared right back, clenching my fists. "Who are you to tell me what I deserve?"

He rolled his eyes.

"A sensible human being?" Wolfgang interjected. "He doesn't trust you. You can't be with someone like that. Even I, who's known you for less than a month, knew that sounded superficial. Where would you even find rat poison?"

"You two have no right to tell me who I should be with!"

Kofi fixed those eyes on me, "Watch me."

"You said I could go," I reminded him, breathing deeply to calm down because my heart was beating too quickly.

"Yeah, well I change my mind. Maybe you should've gone with Nathan when you had the chance."

I didn't think I'd come to regret my decision this quickly. I didn't think he'd change this quickly. Why did I even choose to stay? Now that I think about it, I can't even remember.

"What are you talking about?" Wolfgang asked.

He didn't know that Nathan had found me.

Seeing this as an opportunity to get back at Kofi, in a fit of rage, I decided to tell him. "Nathan found me. He thought Kofi w-"

"Elorm," Kofi warned, his eyes narrowing into slits.

"Since you won't let me take decisions concerning my own life, I won't let you either!" I bellowed, digging my fingernails into my palms. "Kofi blurted out how Nathan was a bad person for allowing your father to maltreat him, and that was what made Nathan leave."

Wolfgang's expression was filled with so much guilt in that instance that I felt bad for him. He turned away, hugging himself in a vulnerable manner.

"You'll regret that." Kofi spat.

"And you'll regret all that you've put me through! None of this would've happened if you didn't try to force me to sleep with the chief!"

"What?" Wolfgang was shouting too now.

"Looks like you didn't tell him the whole truth, did you?" I asked maliciously.

"Just stop it!"

"No I won't!" I slapped the headrest of the seat in front of me out of anger. "Everything would've been fine between Michael and me if you'd just told him what happened, but you didn't because you are a stupid idiot who thinks the world should be a dark place for everyone else just because your father spanked you a few times!"

"Elorm," Wolfgang warned, shaking his head, "don't say what you don't know."

"He should've said what he knows. Heck, you should've said what you know. But you didn't because you're both sadistic jerks!" I felt like a pressure cooker. I'd been sitting on too much hurt and physical pain that the thought of Michael hating me again was driving me crazy.

I jerked forward when the car came to a halt.

"You ungrateful stupid bitch!" Kofi spat. He looked so angry that my heart skipped a beat. "Do you know what is going to happen to me if the other two partners find out what really happened to the chief? Do you know what they're going to do to me when they find out that I'm taking you into hiding?"

"I. Don't. Care." I spat.

He matched my glare. "Then why should I?"

"Kofi, Kofi stop," Wolfgang begged as Kofi shot out of the car.

I knew something bad was going to happen to me, but I was too angry to care. I closed my eyes when he pulled the door open. "Get out."

"Kofi, please. She's just angry and in pain, she-"

"Don't," Kofi held out a finger to him.

"I don't want to be anywhere near you anyway." I grabbed the crutches I could barely walk with, and leaning my back against the car door, I got out of the car.

My ribs hurt. My breath hitched in my throat at the amount of pain I felt as soon as I was on my feet.

"Elorm, please, don't be stupid. We're in the middle of nowhere, what will you do, where will you go?" Wolfgang asked.

The pain was shoving the logical part of my brain back into action, but I'd gotten too far to back down. "Anywhere is better than here."

I began to hobble away from the car. The palm I was digging my too-sharp nails into was burning and slightly bleeding over the crutch, and because I didn't know how to use the crutches, I was moving at a snail's pace.

I bit my lower lip because I didn't want to cry in front of those idiots.

Surprised that I wasn't hearing the roar of the car as it left, I turned around as slowly as my burning ribs would allow.

Kofi was standing there looking at me with a blank face and a hard-set jaw. Wolfgang was resting his face on the headrest of the seat in front of him.

"What are you waiting for?" I asked him, hating how my voice broke at the end due to the pain.

"Get back in." He replied.

"You just asked me to get out!" I yelled, frowning.

"And now I'm telling you to get back in," he frowned too.

"No." I said stubbornly.

"I don't remember requesting that you get back in. I'm ordering you."

"You're sick, that's all!"

Just as I said that, I heard a strange rustling behind me. I failed to realise our surroundings. The mansion was situated in a huge clearing in the middle of the forest, and that meant that to get back to civilisation, we had to traverse acres of the dense, dangerous forest.

It was a bad idea to travel at night, which was why they always took the huge cars, or fast ones so that they could avoid any unwanted encounters. Today however, we were unwise to stop in the middle of the forest.

Kofi's eyes enlarged to the size of saucers as he looked above me.

I heard it before I saw it. That dreaded hissing.

"Don't move," Kofi said, inching closer to me.

I held my breath, pressing my lips together as adrenaline and fear shot through me.

"Give me your crutch." He said.

"I-I need that to stand," I replied.

He looked at me for a second, then his eyes went back to the creature. "Come to me as slowly as you can."

From inside the car, Wolfgang was also watching the thing above me, fear etched onto his face. His expression made curiosity overwhelm me, and I made the mistake of turning my head around.

I froze.

It must've been a boa constrictor. It was dark, with bright eyes and had a long tongue it was constantly flicking. It was one of the hugest snakes I'd ever seen, and it was watching me.

I was petrified.

I screamed. I couldn't help it; it was the closest I'd been to danger in my life, and it was different from humans, because you could reason with humans at least. Not snakes.

The snake must've seen that its dinner was trying to escape, or as a more reasonable explanation, it was frightened.

It struck.

Before I knew what was happening, Kofi had grabbed my crutch and wacked the snake on the head.

I fell, and so did the snake. It recovered quickly, and before I could blink and Kofi could react, it struck again and grabbed Kofi's arm in its mouth. I could only scream as it moved to strangle the life out of Kofi.

Wolfgang shot out of the car to help me up, but I shoved him. "Help him!"

Kofi ran into the tree which the snake was previously perched on and rammed its body into the trunk. I bit my lip, wondering how much pain he must've gone through, since that would only dig the snake's teeth into him.

Wolfgang rushed and yanked the snake out of his flesh, then threw it on the ground. Kofi raised the crutch and drove it into the creature's head, splattering it.

I let out a relieved breath as he dropped the crutch and stumbled back, breathing deeply. He hit the car, and Wolfgang rushed to help him stand upright.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

Kofi nodded, swallowing. "Don't worry, it wasn't a poisonous snake."

"That bite was vicious though. Get in, I'll take you to a hospital."

"No," he pushed Wolfgang away weakly. He seemed to be physically exhausted from the battle, "I'm fine. Let's get out of here while we still can." He looked at me. "Are you okay?"

I pushed out a breath. Everything hurt, but he'd just been bitten and almost constricted by a snake. "You're asking if I'm okay?"

Even through his exhaustion, he couldn't resist rolling his eyes. "Get in before another wild animal decides to make you their dinner."

After helping Kofi into the backseat, Wolfgang came and helped me in beside him. He grabbed the crutches and handed them to me.

I pressed a hand to my aching ribs, wondering if this was the kind of pain I was bound to suffer for the next few weeks. Then, I turned my head to Kofi and got angry with myself for being so selfish when he just wrestled a snake for me.

He had his head turned away from me and his hand was gripping his left arm, where the snake bite was visible and bleeding. From Nat Geo Wild, I realised he was right about the bite not being a poisonous one because the bites indicated multiple puncture marks, like a dog bite.

A poisonous bite would have only two puncture marks.

"Stop looking at me like that," he said, making me jump.

How did he know I was looking?

"You... I..."

"I would've done the same for anyone else, don't flatter yourself."

He was right, yet I couldn't help the guilt and the gratitude flooding me. "I'm sorry, and thank you."

"You should be apologising to that poor snake that had to die just because you frightened it."

"I didn't take you for a nature enthusiast," Wolfgang joked.

I smiled, but Kofi glared at him. "We should be preserving our wildlife, not killing them."

The rest of the ride was silent. Kofi fell asleep in no time; I would've done the same if my ribs weren't aching. The doctor hadn't given me anything for my cheekbone, and when I caught sight of my face in the rear-view mirror, I wanted to vomit.

The top left side of my cheek was swollen, and it altered my whole look.

I looked ugly.

I quickly turned away, horrified. Surprisingly, I couldn't feel any pain from there. They must've injected something there or my injury was serious enough to cause numbness.

I closed my eyes and only opened them when we arrived at our destination. We had been on the road for almost seven hours.

"Where are we?" I looked at the skyscraper in front of us in awe.

"Kofi's penthouse flat, which is where I suppose he wanted to take you. If it isn't, well, he's going to be pissed," Wolfgang laughed.

I took more calming breaths because my ribs were threatening to kill me. "I'm sorry. If I wasn't such a hothead, none of that would've happened."

"It's okay. He was wrong to kick you out in the first place. Though I'm quite surprised he didn't leave."

"Kofi has been a little sympathetic since the chief's attack," I confessed, averting my eyes ashamedly. I felt more guilty than I should've, considering all that he's done to me.

"What you said though was uncalled for," Wolfgang turned, checking to see if his brother was truly asleep, "Kofi has been through a lot. It wasn't just some spanking. Our father used to beat him so badly that he couldn't attend school sometimes. He had to repeat a whole year once because of how many lessons he missed."

I frowned. "Have you ever wondered why your father hated him so much?"

Wolfgang was silent for a while, then he looked at Kofi again to make sure he was asleep. "I'm not sure, but I feel like our father knew and hated his birth parents. Nothing else makes sense, because if he was just a violent man, why didn't he beat Nathan and me too?"

I nodded. He was right. "Why didn't you do anything to stop it?"

Immediately, his face became closed off and he turned away. "We should get in. Wake him up, please."

I was being too inquisitive, I knew, it was time for me to back off. Telling me won't do anything to ease the pain. "Kofi?" I called.

He ignored me.

I frowned. "Kofi."

He ignored me still.

He must've been pissed about the attack. "Kofi Faye!" I shoved his arm, but I was surprised by how hot he was. I frowned and felt his head. He was burning up. "Oh my gosh. Kofi! Kofi! Kofi!"

He didn't respond.

He couldn't respond.

* * *

Nicki Minaj is pregnant! I'm so happy 😊

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