1 Chapter 1 ~How It All Begun~

Her gaze kept moving to her feet as the woman talked on and on, she really was getting frustrated with the woman, but she still kept smiling sheepishly as the woman rebuked her in a much embarrassing way, she was much glad and grateful no one was listening on, she wondered how it got to that moment, she remembered it had to do with the refuse she had brought out not long, and the woman, who happened to be her landlady didn't understand why she hadn't taken it out earlier, the woman wouldn't have an excuse, so she, Ariana, wasted no time explaining herself. Her attention shifted to the boy who stood behind her landlady, that was the woman's son, the boy who made her nervous, he stood tall, not even sparing a glance, he talked quietly with the gateman with a straight face. After the woman had finished talking, she left for her apartment sighing deeply. She didn't like this new compound house, she thought for the umpteenth time, it was her mother, she just didn't like how noisy the community was, not to talk of the cluster of apartments that made up the whole compound house, it was really big, with too many children running around, as she entered her apartment, she saw Efe, her new friend, she smiled at her before entering, the girl was really fun, but they weren't even that close. She, Ariana, didn't even have friends to begin with.

"What happened out there Dede?" Her big sister asked her, looking up from her new expensive phone, her sister laid on the bed, legs crossed.

"Nothing, she was just complaining about the refuse that's all" Ariana replied resting her head on the pillow next to her sister, they shared a bedroom, whilst their mother had her own.

" you better go and wash the dirty dishes before mummy comes" Her sister advised her, still engrossed in something on her phone.

"Why do I have to do the work here, you do literally nothing" She whined, standing up from the bed.

" oh please when I was your age, I worked so much , you want me to remind you of all the things I used to do back in Nigeria? " That shut Ariana up, she wasn't supposed to be complaining, but sometimes she just couldn't help it, in her opinion, she worked too much, not to talk of the fact that, her sister always sent her on an errand, and it made her tired and stressed sometimes. She left the room heading straight to the tiled kitchen, she wasted no time as she begun washing the dishes and tidying up the whole place, she checked the time on her phone and realised it was six in the evening, her mother would be home anytime soon. She hated to admit it, but her mother's presence always made her feel secure, although they argued almost every seconds.

She still wouldn't deny how much she loved that woman.

Just as she exited the kitchen , the door suddenly banged, revealing her mother in front of it. She had too much stuff on her, and Ariana hurried towards her helping her out.

"welcome, ma" she mumbled.

" You know, Dede, maybe you should start waiting for me at the bus top so I won't struggle too much" Her mother complained as she moved to the living room.

Ariana frowned, shaking her head, her mother was sometimes unbearable.

She took the stuff to the Kitchen dumping them on the kitchen counter before rushing to her room.

"mummy is back" She announced to her sister, who jerked her head up, before getting out of bed.

"oh no! I didn't wash the dress she told me to wash" She pressed her palm against her forehead, as her face morphed into worry.

"mummy is going to talk, just tell her you were busy" Ariana suggested. Just then, their mother's head popped into the room, her face looked weary and she looked tired.

"Did you wash the dress I told you to wash?" Their mother asked the obvious, both girls just stood there for a split of seconds, before Miranda spoke up.

"No, I totally forgot about it, I was busy with some assignments from school, you know how the lecturers are." Her sister said, shrugging her shoulders.

Their mother sighed tiredly , frowning a bit.

"okay but do it tomorrow" She finally said before closing the door, they stayed silent until they could barely make out the sound of their mother's footsteps.

They sighed simultaneously, before sitting on the bed. Her sister continued with whatever she was doing on her phone, Ariana just sat there staring into space.

She finally dragged herself out of the room when her mother called her.

She entered the kitchen where her mother was , her mother was about to prepare dinner, and as usual she had to help.

Her sister joined them later on, as they prepared dinner they started conversing, which mostly consisted of their mother's day and the interesting things that happened that day, like how her boss was cheating on his wife with one of the staffs, the woman had barged into the office and created a scene. As their mother explained into details what she had witnessed, a knock on the door made her pause and she gestured for Ariana to go see who was at the door, the girl sighed loudly before moving towards the door, she opened the door quickly and the person in front of her made her heart jump, she froze and goosebumps formed on her arms.

" My mum asked me to give this to your mother" His voice was so beautiful, the deepness of it making her shiver slightly, she nodded slowly before taking the paper bag from him, in an attempt to take the item from him and quickly shut the door, their hands mistakenly brushed against each other, and she couldn't deny the zap of tingles that rushed through her hands, she avoided his gaze as she quickly shut the door. A smile crept on her as she walked through the corridor towards the kitchen, the smile soon turned into a wide grin and she found herself taking in deep breaths.

"Control yourself Dede" she said, she wondered how a small insignificant touch make her behave like a psychopath, and she was trying to control herself from giggling. Her sister frowned at her when she entered into the kitchen.

"why that smile?.. you look funny" Her sister said chuckling, her mother also looked at her , however their attention soon shifted to what Ariana had in her hand.

"what is that?" Her mother asked, observing the item with kin interest.

"oh the landlady asked her son to give this to you" She handed the paper bag to her mother who soon peered through it to see its contents.

"oh the necklace" she said taking out a necklace, it was a gold necklace, a simple one yet beautiful. Her, mother had a strong love for jewelries and it didn't help that she also had good taste, most at times, Ariana and Miranda sneaked into their mother's room to get a jewelry, their mother never noticed since she had a wide collection of jewelries.

"wow mum, it's beautiful" Her sister said, taking the necklace from their mother.

"I know, but I'm not giving this to you" Her mother said, taking the necklace back from Miranda, she dropped it back into the bag before placing aside. They continued preparing for dinner, conversing throughout, Ariana just listened, not taking much part in their conversation, she couldn't deny how lately her mind kept drifting to a particular boy, no, she started thinking of him from the very first day she saw him, she still didn't know what he looked like, because she always avoided looking at him, why, she herself didn't know, maybe if she looked at him she wouldn't be able to look away again, at first, his height intrigued her, she had never seen someone so tall, a sharp contrast to her small body, she was of average height, at least, that is what she thought, with slim, curvy features that mostly caught attention, she was also pretty, she knew that very well... her train of thoughts were interrupted when her mother directed a sentence to her.

"Did you hear what I said?"

Ariana shook her head, before moving away to wash her hand in the kitchen sink.

"Your cousin is coming, I'll be travelling tomorrow to Sogakope to pick her up, apparently, Margret and Peter are travelling on a business trip" Her mother announced.

"To where?" Miranda asked, setting the table since dinner was ready.

"Canada" Her mother said.

Ariana sat with her family as they took dinner, she was excited about Ida visiting, the girl was fun to be with, Ida was the only person in the family she was close with. She wondered why Ida had not told her over the phone when they had spoken recently.

Maybe she wanted to surprise her, she had a feeling that Ida's visit would change things.