Chapter 12

Two days later Kolapo was seated next to Kiishi, Bisola was not around this time too.

" You love reading. " Kolapo spoke in order to start a conversation with Kiishi, Kiishi ignored him and continued reading ' sins of a Duke. '

" Everyone says you're Joshua's plaything. I don't believe a girl like you will be anybody's plaything so I'm finding it very hard to believe. " Kolapo continued talking even though it was clear Kiishi was intent on ignoring him.

" Well Kiishi what I think is that you need me. Let me explain, you need me to redeem your reputation as the bad-ass you are. " Kiishi was reading now about the ball where Josephine's dad finds out that his daughter had revealed important information that could implicate him and will make him lose a lot of money just when he had been so close but because of ...

" Oh love what hast thou done! " Kiishi exclaimed as she momentarily closed the book to allow her mind absorb what she had just read.

" You love Joshua? " Kolapo asked.

" I think you should shut up. I don't need you to redeem my reputation. " Kiishi pointed out.

" So you were listening. Oh but you do, as the ardent feminist you are you have a reputation of using boys and then dumping them. " Kolapo insisted.

" You are very stupid. Whoever told you this gibberish? " She snapped at Kolapo.

" Bisola has been very helpful. " Kiishi sighed, of course Bisola would have blabbered about some of her ideals to this guy considering she was currently enamoured to him, she doubted though that Bisola had outright called her a feminist the word had never come up between them ever and she hated this Kolapo for taking advantage of her friend's fickle emotions to get close to her, his body was great but he was disgusting.

" What is it that you want? " Kiishi asked Kolapo, it was better to get this over quickly to think she had even briefly entertained thoughts of ending her long fling with Joshua for this fish brain.

" You. " He said with a shrug as if he his reply to her question had been ' biscuits. '

" Why me? " Kiishi was not surprised.

" You're the hottest girl in school. " He said and continued to look at her.

" So? And you have your facts misplaced, Aina is the hottest girl in school. "

" I want you and I always have what I want. " Obviously the guy was an idiot if he ever thought that he could have her simply because she were some price he would love to see on his arm. He was an utter fool in fact even Joshua who had her did not fully have her.

" I am a very picky person and I refuse you. "

" I am way hotter than that idiot you are fooling with and I can assure you I have experience, lots of it you will be experiencing nirvana with me. " It was true that he was hotter than Joshua but his sight right now was an eyesore to Kiishi, she wished the guy would just leave her alone.

" I don't need your nirvana just get lost. "

For the rest of the ride Kolapo did not bother her again she knew however that she had offended him and he will seek revenge to protect his male ego.

When she got home she saw something she was not quite expecting, a pregnant cousin, a heavily pregnant cousin. It was Tamilore her cousin who schooled in Ogun state and unlike her parents her mum's younger sister was a devout Christian and Tamilore would always preach to her about how abstinence was the best thing and would always insist that sex before marriage was a sin one she would never engage in but somehow here was Tamilore, pregnant!

Kiishi was surprised to see her cousin holding her swollen stomach as she entered her living room. She could not speak for a while she could only stare at her and staring was rude very rude but it was Tamilore that had talked her out of losing her virginity in SS 1 because Kiishi had been so intent on wanting to do ' big girl things. ' Afterall, she had told her older cousin Hannah, her classmate and friend had lost ' it ' already.

" Kiishi don't you attend Sunday school? " Her cousin has asked her.

" No, we always miss it because of mum. " Kiishi had shrugged.

" You do know you and your sister should be attending children's... "

" Please, that place is a total bore. " Kiishi had not allowed her cousin to finish her sentence.

" Well if you had been attending Sunday school you would have known that sex before marriage is a sin. " Tamilore had told her.

" Please you cannot possibly believe that God would plant all these hormones in my body just so I do not have sex. The irony. " Kiishi had rolled her eyes, she knew she should not have brought up the topic of sex to her ' holier than thou ' cousin but asides that Tamilore was a cool person and nice too. She was the only cousin she could call her ' big sister ' and asides from sex they shared the same perspective on virtually everything else.

" Okay religion aside, you are a big girl yes, there is no denying that but you are still very young for the emotional rollercoaster sex brings and trust me you cannot possibly phantom the responsibility that comes with sex should you be careless. " Her cousin had explained.

" I would use a condom, I am not stupid. " Kiishi had rolled her eyes.

" And if things get too rough and it tears? Or you forget to take your pills? Surely those are the only options you have considering you are a minor. " Tamilore had pointed out.

" I strongly believe you should wait until you are atleast halfway through uni. Abstinence is still the best by the way. " Tamilore had finished her lecture that day with a smile and she had decided to heed her cousin's advice by waiting until much later but here was Tamilore visibly pregnant.

" Is this some sort of prank? Bring the cameras out already. " Her sister recovered from the shock more quickly than she and Kiishi felt bad that she did not consider the possibility that her cousin was playing a prank or perhaps she had fibroid.

" The two of you should go to your rooms now. " From the tone of her mother's voice she knew that Tamilore was playing no prank and she had no fibroid and yet when she locked eyes with Tamilore she had been smiling at her.

When Kiishi and her sister came down for dinner much later she noticed that the table was set, they were going to be having a family dinner even her father who usually had his dinner upstairs while watching football or listening to the news was present at the table, they were in for some serious talk tonight.

" It's my favourite! " Busayo squealed when she saw it was spaghetti and meatballs that was served, to be frank every food was Busayo's favourite.

" Daddy guess what I had a ten over ten on my maths classwork today. " Busayo said excitedly ignoring the tension in the room.

" Really? But that's why I send you to school to be the best. " Her father said ruffling Busayo's hair.

" You said you will treat me if I had perfect maths scores three times in a row, it's the fifth time now! " Busayo said holding our five fingers to make her point more clearly.

" Alright young lady we'll discuss this later in private, I believe you do not intend to let the others in on our little secret? " Her father had said.

" Of course not! " Busayo said as she picked her fork ready to dive into the goodness of spaghetti.

" Now dear drop that fork, we have to pray before we eat. Sweetheart please pray for us. " Kiishi's father said as he held Busayo's hand in an attempt to stop her from munching away.

After her mother had prayed for the food they started eating. Fortunately the mood at the table did not affect anyone's appetite.

" Okay, it is obvious why we are all seated here. " Mr. Adeoti cleared his throat.

" Let me say this. Tamilore I deeply sympathise with you and I can only imagine the great pain this incident must have caused you. " Kiishi was lost, what great pain was in Tamilore having a baby except if perhaps, Tamilore had been...

Oh no! Kiishi thought to herself as she risked a glance in her cousin's direction. All afternoon she had mulled her cousin's betrayal about the subject of sex. She had thought that Tamilore had been having lots of sex while pretending to be an advocate of abstinence and she had felt slightly betrayed but now... Now she felt extremely bad her cousin had been raped, she had not even considered the possibility.

" Trust me when I say that the person who did this to you would be severely punished should he be caught. " Her father continued.

" I have given your aunty my word that alongside this family we will provide you with all the emotional support you would need in this time. And you girls, " her father turned to make eye contact with Kiishi and Busayo respectively. " Make sure this home is also home to your cousin, treat her like your own sister. I would appreciate it if you did not parade this place with your friends for the time being and... " This time he was looking at Kiishi " this should serve as a lesson to you girls to ensure you keep the necessary distance you can from the opposite sex, most boys are wolves in sheep's clothing. " Her father finished firmly.

" Tami what happened? " Busayo asked not quite understanding the gist of what was going on.

" She was hurt by a boy in her class. " Kiishi could see her mother squeeze Tamilore's hand as she said this.

" Oooh. " Busayo was not stupid, with what their mother had just said she knew Busayo understood exactly what was going on.

" Thank you for having me in your home. " It was the first time Kiishi heard her cousin say anything since she arrived here pregnant.

Later that night as Kiishi thought over the events of the day she felt anger, that was the only emotion she could muster; she felt anger towards the idiot who had hurt her cousin. She was angry that her cousin may have to give up some of her dreams because of this baby she would now have to cater for. She was angry because she knew that Tamilore was not going to simply have the baby and continue full time with her studies, it was possible especially with the support of her family moreover money was no problem but Kiishi knew Tamilore she had always told Kiishi that once she had her baby she would stay home full time.

" so you want to become a housewife? " Kiishi had asked her cousin as they ate ice-cream.

" No Kiishi by the time I'm ready to have a child I would have been a successful business woman I would employ a manager I won't have to be at work all day long. " Tamilore had replied with dreamy eyes as if she could picture just how successful she would have been then.

" I don't understand you. So you'll stop painting to stay at home full time. You can just employ a nanny. "

" No Kiishi. Children are beautiful I want to be there through it all. I want to see my baby take her first steps besides having a baby won't mean I would stop painting. " Tamilore even then at just fifteen had been a locally known painter and it was her dream to become more renowned than the likes of Leonardo Da vinci, Kiishi believed she could achieve far greater even Tamilore was talented.

" You won't have time to paint once you start having babies. Kiishi had commented.

" I will Kiishi while the baby is sleeping I will be painting. " Tamilore had said.

" That's a pipe dream, you will be praying for your baby to sleep so you can have a shut eye. I know what I'm saying, did you see the dark circles under aunty Bunmi's eye? " Kiishi had said and they had both laughed.

Now as Kiishi rolled on her bed she wondered what Tamilore would do. Unfortunately she could not ask her cousin, she did not even know what to say to her cousin if they ever happened to be alone. Her father had said they should treat Tamilore like she was part of the family but he had failed to mention if she was to be treated like nothing had happened or... Or what Kiishi thought.

And still there were still many unanswered questions like what had happened to the boy who had rapped her, had he run away? And why was Tamilore here anyway? She had her own family she did not think her aunt in spite of her very strict rules would not want her daughter anymore after all it had not been Tamilore's fault. Or maybe they had just wanted a change id environment where nobody really knew her. Sometime around midnight Kiishi drifted off into a fitful sleep.

The next morning Kiishi woke up to see a nudes on her phone's gallery. She cursed when she saw the pictures, she had forgotten to change her WhatsApp setting that did not allow pictures to download automatically to her phone. When she opened WhatsApp she was furious, it had been Kolapo he had spammed her with pictures of his engorged penis. He was disgusting she muttered to herself how dare him? She had not requested for nudes and personally she had no interest sight seeing unsolicited male genitalia.

She needed to have a serious talk with Kolapo and on second thought she figured it will be best if she just ignored him, she knew this was his pathetic way of trying to get her attention. She decided to just block him instead and by the time she had left her room she was a lot more calmer.

" Ore. " Kiishi greeted her cousin who was in the kitchen as she made her way out of the house; they hugged and Kiishi could feel her cousin's stomach.

" Something is wrong. " her cousin said as she pulled away from Kiishi to look at her face, that was Tamilore for you she could tell through any facade if something was amiss.

" It's nothing and we have to... "

" we have to talk. I know I have to explain things properly to you. " Tamilore responded.

" No, you don't have to explain anything to me. I'm so sorry that... "

" it's okay Kiishi. I've cried several times but I've come to understand that it's not going to change anything. " Tamilore gave her cousin a smile just then the school bus horned.

" We'll talk when I get home. I'm happy you're here though, I missed you. " Kiishi said as her sister joined her in the kitchen so they could both leave through the back door.