You look angry. Is anything wrong? You didn't even greet me when I brought your food.

His response came in quickly than I expected.

Sorry about that. I was pissed with my mother.

I remembered he always had issues with his mother and wondered why.

What happened?

Curiosity killing me, I hope he'll open up.

It's nothing much.

I eyed my phone as if it was him.

I noticed you always have issues with your mom, did she offend you?

It's nothing much, just don't bring up her matter, let's talk about something else.

I believed there was more that he wasn't saying but decided to shrug it off, he'll surely open up whenever he was ready.

Okay ooo.

While he was typing, someone snatched my phone from me and I looked up to meet Crystal's devilish smile.

"Who were you chatting with?" She questioned while scrolling through my phone.

"No one," I told her before attempting to snatch my phone back but her eyes widened as she read my chat.

"You're chatting with Tise?" She asked as if it wasn't obvious.

"Tise?" Juliana who was pressing her phone on her bed turned to us in surprise.

"Like the chat is long ooo, you guys have been chatting for how long now?" Crystal asked and I lifted my shoulders in a half shrug before successfully collecting my phone from her.

"Hmmm, K.Y," Juliana wriggled her brows at me as a mischievous smile appeared on her face.

"What? You guys always have hard thoughts sha, it's just normal chatting, nothing more," I assured them but their expressions showed they didn't believe me.

"It's still hard to believe you guys are chatting, I mean Tise is such a..." Crystal shook her head and I pursed my lips at her.

"That's where it do start from sha," Juliana teased and I eyed her before sliding my legs into my slippers and walking out of the room, if I should stay any minute longer, they'll tease me to death.

Arriving at the garden, it was as peaceful as always, then I took my seat on the bench before unlocking my phone to read Tise's message.

So how far with your sister's birthday preparation?

While typing my response, I heard the ruffling of the leaves and looked up only to meet Tise's smiling face.

"Hey?" He greeted before taking a seat beside me. I wonder why he sat beside me when there was an opposite bench which was like his own seat in the garden.

"Hi," I responded before clicking send on my phone. His phone chimed and he glanced at it before looking at me.

"You didn't have to reply again so far I'm already with you."

"Oh," I mouthed before turning back to my phone. Just when I presumed he would shut up and face what he came here for which was mostly to edit or write but then he wasn't with his laptop, he opened his mouth.

"Why did you reply late?"

I took a glance at him before responding,"My friend snatched the phone from me so, they were teasing me about chatting with you, they find it absurd."

"I find it absurd too, I prefer talking on phone to chatting so, it's strange that I enjoy chatting with you," he said and I blinked my eyes not knowing what to say.

Finally, I opened my mouth to utter anything but a call entered his phone, I found myself peeping at it and upon realizing it was Amara, annoyance settled in me. I didn't like that Amara girl at all, the way she'd even been all cozy and chatty with Tise during the last dinner made me dislike her more.

He picked the call and I strained my ears to listen to their conversation but couldn't get anything out of it. Just then Karen walked into the garden.

"What are you doing here? You don't even know your boundaries at all," she uttered with disgust but was soon replaced by a glower when Tise glared at her, she stomped her feet angrily before walking away.

She bumped into Tumi on her way out but all they did was glare at each other. Immediately Tumi walked up to us, Tise dropped his call.

"I didn't know you were here oo," Tumi turned to her brother with a smile.

"Well, here I am."

She nodded before facing me, "Hi."

"Hi."

"I actually came here for you, can you help me with my assignment when you're free because it's much this time, sixty questions from the WAEC past question," she explained and I glanced at my phone in order to check the time, it was almost time to start preparing dinner.

"I'll do that after dinner," I assured her and she flashed me a smile.

"And can you also tutor me in chemistry, my final exams is coming soon and I don't want to fail?" She asked with a pleading eyes that made her look cute just like a baby.

"Sure," I bobbed my head.

"Thanks a lot, you're way more useful than my stupid brother," she eyed Tise who chuckled.

"You'll still come back to me, shebi there's physics and maths."

She gave a dismissive wave of her hand, "Oh, please, don't feel so high of yourself."

"We'll see."

She stuck her tongue out at him before flashing me smile, then she left. When she was out of sight, I turned back to Tise.

"It's almost time for dinner, what would you like?"

He placed his index finger under his jaw, "Hmmm, anything."

I rolled my eyes internally at this so far I wasn't gifted with the act of rolling of eyes, "Is anything a food?" I made an air-quote at anything and he smiled.

"Okay, let me not stress you too much, I'll go with bread and egg."

I scoffed a laugh, "As if that's not stress too, I'll still need to go to the supermarket to get the bread."

He cocked his head, "Okay, shebi there's still soup right?"

"Yeah."

"Then let's go with Eba then."

"Good," I rose to my feet and made to leave but he grabbed my wrist.

"Are you leaving already?"

"Yeah."

He cleared his throat before letting go of wrist, "Well, I'm not hungry now, so, can you still stay till I'm hungry?"

I creased my brows, "I need to help in the kitchen too."

He raised his right brow, "Help? What else are you doing apart from being my cook?"

"Nothing much," I shrugged before returning to my previous sitting position. We stayed in silence for some minutes enjoying the breeze before he broke the ice.

"So about your education, have you been able to convince your sister? You know JAMB form is out now."

"I already told you Kike is a mule, there's no way she'll help me, I just need to fend for myself and for the JAMB form, thanks," I gave him a thankful smile which he returned.

"Won't you attend JAMB lessons?"

"I will, we're just looking for the best one."

"Oh, I can help you with that."

"Thanks."

Slowly, we drifted to another topic and I realized Tise was a talkative when he's with someone he's comfortable with. We didn't even know it was past dinner time until darkness crept in.

"Wow, it's almost eight oo," I announced as I unlocked my phone.

"Let's go back to the house then."

We both got to our feet and walked into the house, while he headed to his room, I went to the kitchen to prepare his meal. Few minutes later, after serving the food, I sauntered to his room, after knocking once, I stepped in only to meet Amara on his bed, she smiled at me but I only tried to resist the urge of smacking her face. I dropped the food on the table and walked out in annoyance.