Chapter 71

GORIOLA ADAMS

"Where is this Harvard boy?"

"I can't believe he's still sleeping by this time of the day. Is twelve o'clock already!"

"I didn't even know he bought a house. Whao! This decoration is mad men! Gori and his expensive kind of life.

Thought he said he was staying at his hotel." "What I thought too until the address came in." "Harvard boy, where are thou?"

Jeez! I thought I could survive with their murmuring, but Shayo never kept his mouth shut. Now I regretted sending the address of the new house I bought at Victoria Island to them. I should have waited till I was up before doing such. I had been staying in the hotel but I just didn't like it so I got a more peaceful, and comfortable place to stay.

Besides, I was yet to recover from the sudden headache I experienced since I saw Jade. Damn! Girl had become really hot and beautiful. But she was still the same sassy girl, and that never changed about her with the way she reacted to me yesterday.

Guilt swallowed me up, but I felt like I did what a responsible person should have done by apologizing with the letter I left before travelling out, and I was told she got it. By doing that, I felt like I did my part already. But seeing her again after these years, even I knew I couldn't keep my eyes off her. Not like I was hoping for anything because I knew if she wasn't married yet, then she must be seeing someone. But that child, that little girl! I kept glancing and checking up my phone every minute through out last night, but her call never came in. Not even a text. And because of my damn pride, I held back. I expected her to at least acknowledge the message I sent her, but she didn't and I just couldn't start calling like a desperate guy. Men shouldn't do such. She would definitely come around. But then, I assumed something was wrong. It was obvious my presence bothered her so much yesterday.

"Mr. Goriola is up. One of the three rooms upstairs." I remembered hiring a cook at the Danero catering services yesterday to come over this morning, and prepare me breakfast, and lunch. And immediately she told them, I could hear sounds hitting each staircase as they made their way up to find me. Their noise woke me up, but I kept mute maintaining a sleeping position on the bed to make Shayo pay for screaming in my house.

"Who sleeps till twelve noon." Davery commented, but then I was expecting Shayo to make a move. But hey, it's my house. And I could fucking sleep till anytime of the day. Shayo's voice moved closer and closer, while I thought and prepared on what to do. The idea that came to my mind brought a little smile to my face as I couldn't wait to experiment the beautiful idea. Shayo raised his voice again. "This guy must have taken a sleeping dose, or is he just tired." Immediately my bedcover was taken away from my body, I grabbed his body down with me, rolling as I sat on top of him, laughing at the only skill I was good at. Making trouble. I hit his head with my soft pillow as our laughter filled the whole room. It had been long we did that together.

"Gori, this your mad spirit has not left you ehnn!" Shayo laughed, pushing me aside. I dragged up my boxer and took my time to laugh at my silly act.

Shayo shook his head. "So all the books Harvard put in your head never cure this madness still."

Sweet madness as I love to say.

Shayo got up and threw back his own playfully at me. The pillow hit my chest before landing back on the bed.

"Welcome back." He added sincerely. Davery stood with this two hands in his pockets, dressed as if he was going to work with his white shirt perfectly tucked inside his long black trouser. As always, he noticed something was wrong with me despite trying to lighten up my mood. While Shayo was receiving a call, he raised his brow at me from where he stood, but I just waved his look aside.

"Coming guys, Sophie is lost." Shayo announced and ran down the stairs leaving Davery and I alone. "What about Des? He promised be back before today."

"Yea!" Davery rubbed his forehead, and continued. "He couldn't make it cause of another emergency that came up. So, how have you been?"

I lay my back on the bed again still exhausted. "I saw Jade." I knew that wasn't the answer to his question, but I needed to talk to someone. I waited for his reply but he never responded. I sat back straight, and stared back him.

"Davery you not talking." "You slept with her?"

I suddenly became tensed. I wasn't expecting that. I needed someone to talk to and not being reminded of what we had together. But I wasn't going to admit it because he sounded like he already knew the answer. "Why did you think something happened between us?"

"Because after you left, we saw her once. Lola said she came looking for you crying, and was shedding serious tears. We decided to look for her just to know the reason behind her desperate moves to look for you. But what we saw couldn't make us face her. You were not around, and your mom would never even believe or take that into consideration."

Now I was earnestly curious to hear what they saw. Lola never told me that. All she said was, Jade collected the letter, and left. What a sister she was! "And what did you see?"

"She was pregnant with a child Gori."

Oh my God! That shook my system really hard. I got up staring at Davery completely dumbstruck! Pregnant! Jade was Pregnant! I paced up and down the room

completely out of my mind. Then I stopped. "Why didn't you guys tell me!" I was almost yelling.

"Yelling wouldn't change anything. If we had told you, what could you have done from where you were? You think your mom would have believed us? And when we thought of facing her, we heard she left Abuja already. And who knows if the pregnancy was yours anyway. I couldn't even believe it myself. I didn't view her as that kind of girl."

"She was never the kind of girl. Everything was all my fault." I needed to make it clear because deep down, I knew Jade wasn't the kind of girl who sleeps around with just any guy. I was her first, and I knew she regretted what happened.

Everything I heard injured my pride. If the whole story was exactly how I pictured it to be, then the little girl was mine. I picked up my phone immediately, but Davery walked towards me, and took it out of my hand.

"Calm down," he said. "Do you just want the child, or both?"

I was afraid of my response. I knew Jade to have once had a crush on me. She once liked me. She was once over me. And during the process, I got to like her, but I wasn't sure she was the one. Besides, how she reacted yesterday showed she was completely over me. While trying not to date, I had always wanted to end up with someone I love, and I still had that in mind.

"Gori," Davery called. "It's okay. You will get to know in no time. But listen, we really don't know what she had been through during these years. I'm sure you are having a hard time now because she didn't treat you well when you saw her. And that's the major reason you have to tread in with caution, and take your time. If you are ready to take up responsibility, with time, she will come around. Now, where did you say we are going?"

I chuckled slowly at how quickly he swapped the discussion. "Having lunch in my house."

He raised his brow, giving me a this is not the kind of Gori I know. "You becoming boring Gori."

I laughed, and he did too. "You guys better get used to my boring life now. Man gotta take his bath. Catch ya downstairs. And thanks for helping a brother." I put my towel round my neck, muttering... "Jadesola Coker. I'm coming for you."