CHAPTER 9

"You've been distracted these days, why's that?" Martins asked. He was tired of seeing Enya thinking about Philip.

"Nothing... it's nothing." She replied going back to her books.

Martins drew his lips near her face to try and kiss her but she threw her face away immediately. It meant she wasn't in the mood, though it wasn't surprising. He knew that it happened when she attended Claudia's burial.

"There is a problem, tell me"

"I said it's nothing."

"Is it Philip again?"

"We are here to study....we should concentrate..."

"You've been behaving strangely since you attended that burial and since you heard of his mother's death. I thought you were over him"

"Martins...can we just forget about all these right now?"

"I would be happy to" he said as he stood up and left the library. Enya sighed and leaned back on the chair.

"O God, I am going to get crazy if I think about him every time." The truth was that she was already crazy. She didn't know how to handle her friendship with Martins and she didn't also know how to start getting things right with Philip. She knew she had to sort her issues out.

It was night and Richie had come out of the building to get into his car, with Henry beside him. Just then, bullets hit some of his men who were around him and also a client who had come to see Richie.

The client was about to get into his car when he got shot. The men who were still alive guarded Richie till he entered his car and he was driven off. Henry barely escaped the bullet but he survived as he entered a car and drove off.

Meanwhile, the men on the ground started firing in every direction unfortunately for them, there was silence. No gunshots were heard again. Richie exhaled as his car ran at full speed on the expressway; he didn't know who it was that started firing bullets at his men, what he knew was that the person targeted him.

Some minutes later, a bullet was fired into his driver who was on the wheel, nobody needed to tell Richie to get control of the stirring himself as he got to the driver's seat and pushed the dead driver to the side. It took some seconds before he could get the car under perfect control.

When he looked up at the bridge that was right above the expressway, he saw someone with a sniper rifle aiming at his car. Looking closely at the person, he saw that it was Philip aiming at him that night.

Richie matched his brakes and did a U-turn then he drove back the same way he came. Meanwhile, Philip aimed at the tires and pulled the trigger making the bullet fly from where he was to Richie's car tire. The bullet hit the tire with force and before Richie could do anything, the car tumbled over and over again on the expressway and finally caught fire.

Cars stopped by to help any survivors of the accident but they saw no one inside Richie's car except his dead driver. The ambulance was called and the victims involved in the accident were taken to the hospital but Richie was not among them.

Philip had looked through his binoculars with night vision and he saw Richie run out of the car with blood all over his body. He sighed and removed his binoculars, he wasn't finished with Richie yet.

Richie got to his house and struggled to open the door before he could get inside. He sat down on the ground and sighed while letting go of his right arm where there was a piece of metal had pierced through. He cried aloud with pain as he drew out the metal and threw it away, his head was also bleeding causing the blood to roll down his face and his whole neck was filled with blood.

Henry called Richie to find out if he was okay and he got a positive response.

"He is smarter than I thought....he finally found out the truth." Richie said.

"Who?"

"Philip. He almost killed me today."

"How did he find out?"

"I don't know about that, all I know is that you have to be careful. We don't know when he's going to attack again"

"We shouldn't have killed his mother"

"We did the right thing. Now, he's coming out into the light slowly and that is what we want. He is going to return to his miserable life of killing soon enough" Richie said finally.

The news of the accident on the expressway reached the news. Paul knew that Philip was the one behind the accidents but what he didn't know was who Philip was targeting now. The fact was that he didn't want to disturb Philip because he had learned not to poke his nose into an assassin's business. It might spike up hatred and anger.

Enya on the other hand saw the news on television when she went to visit her father at the family home.

"Bad things are happening every day," her father said.

"True." She replied while arranging her clothes.

She was going to be staying with him for a while before school resumed.

"So you're going to be staying here" "Yep...I have work to do"

"Like?"

"It's been a long time since I have been home, dad. Can't I just walk around and reunite with neighbors?"

"Neighbors....you know that getting closer to Philip is going to be harder than you thought"

"I know....but I have to try."

"And his father....."

"His father thinks he can control Philip but he can't."

"Good luck then. I hope you don't bring problems to this house because of your stubbornness"

"I appreciate your concern dad. I am going to be fine" she replied with a smile. Martins had been avoiding her for days and when she got tired of the drama, she decided to come home because she knew that Philip usually came home to stay at this time of the year besides Christmas was not far away, just ten days away and then she would surprise Philip. She only hoped that he would love it.

Christmas love was in the air, both in Philip's neighborhood and outside the neighborhood. Paul had traveled for a business deal and he would not be back till the next year so Philip was left to take care of Sandra.

He sat down on the sofa to see some of the chats that he had not read in a while and just then he heard a noise outside. When he looked outside the window, he saw some of his neighbors about his age setting up a Christmas tree in front of his house.

"What is happening?" He asked himself in surprise then it wasn't long before he heard a knock on his door. He opened his door and saw Enya standing there with a smile.

"Come and join us" she said.

"And do what?"

"Just follow" she said and held his hand dragging him outside to see the decoration of the tree.

"Surprise!" One of his neighbors said with a smile hugging him.

"Wow" Philip said looking at the tall Christmas tree beautifully decorated.

"We decided to set the tree at your house for this Christmas." George said. He was one of Philip's course mates and neighbor.

"But it wasn't our idea at first, Enya talked us into doing it and we considered that it was worthwhile." Yeanna said.

"We are having a college students' party on Christmas night. You are invited." George said.

"Thanks" Philip said with a smile then he glanced at Enya.

"You're most welcome" George said and left with the rest of the gang.

"You didn't have to...." He said but Enya interrupted him.

"I have been listening to you for a long time and it got me nowhere with you but now, I think I will stick with my ideas. See you later." She said and walked away from him towards George and the others.

Philip sighed and wanted to look away from her but he couldn't, she was beginning to break walls guarding his heart that he thought no one would break down.

Enya sat down to look at a picture of her family. She could see her father, her mother, her sister and her. Her sister had died some years ago due to a terminal illness and she had been lonely since then. Her mother was a workaholic, she would travel like three times in a month and had no time for her family

She had hoped that this Christmas, her mother would be around to celebrate with them but instead, she had made up another excuse of having too much work to do and could not come back to celebrate.

"Enya" her father called.

"Yes, Dad."

"Someone wants to see you"

"Who?"

"I'll call him in" he said. Philip greeted her father and came into her room.

"I'll leave both of you to talk" her father said and left closing the door behind him.

"It's a surprise to see you here" she said keeping the picture on the table.

"No surprise though, your mother isn't around" he said looking at the picture that she has kept on the table.

"Work as always." She replied. There was silence between them for a while before he spoke upholding the picture.

"You are still thinking about her right?"

"I can't stop....the fact is that I still miss her. I thought I would grow it off with time."

"Can I have it?"

"If you want...I feel lonely anytime I look at her"

"It's not because you look at it, it's because you want to feel lonely" Enya smiled seeing that Philip was talking freely to her again like old times.

"Ever since I began to love you, I never felt lonely again but when you began to hate me, I think I felt the impact." She said.

"And what was the impact?" He asked.

"Loneliness"

"Very funny."

"I wished it was but it's not. Olivia called it madness"

"Olivia is starting is getting too involved in your personal affairs."

"I mean....she gave me some ideas that made you notice me in the first place."

"I noticed you even before you started taking bits of advice from her, you didn't need to show me that you were in love because I knew." He said while he looked out of her window.

"Let's go out for dinner, if I leave you, you might die of loneliness" he said. Enya smiled and took her jacket. "So sweet of you to take me out for dinner" "Don't take it too seriously" he said with a faint smile as they walked out.

Sandra had gone to her friend's house for a sleepover, some boys were invited and they were with their girlfriends but Sandra had none.

During their discussion, she was asked about her relationship status and she gave a simple reply

. "Still single"

"Still single? Not an answer" Vivian said sitting on her boyfriend's lap. They were all high school students gathered for the sleepover.

"Trying to concentrate on my life for now. I've got too much going on in my life right now"

"You have to move on"

"Moving on doesn't mean getting a boyfriend does it?"

"Moving on includes having a boyfriend. Love isn't easy to find these days" Vivian replied. Sandra smiled and just shook her head. She wasn't in the mood to talk too much. During their dinner, Sandra went outside to get some fresh air and a guy came from behind her and stood beside her.

"Fresh air?" He said.

His name was Vincent.

"Yep, it doesn't look like much of a sleepover to me yet"

"It must have been very hard for you" "It was...I can't still get over her death."

"Can I take you downstairs? I would like to show you something"

"Okay..." They both went downstairs and they walked all the way to a tunnel where some paintings were made on the walls.

"Why are we here?" She asked.

"Take a look at the paintings closely" he replied.

She got nearer to it and touched the wall containing the images while Vincent watched her. He had always loved her from the moment she stepped into his class as a new student. Even though she didn't notice him but other guys, he didn't stop loving her.

"What do you see?" He asked.

"An eagle....with wounds on her wings."

"From afar, you can only see the eagle but when you look closely, you can see the beauty of her strength." He said getting closer to the painting.

"I thought I could only see the eagle." She said.

"I thought so too when I first saw it....it took me three more years to see it clearly." He said with a smile.

Sandra glanced at him and then at the painting.

"Thank you so much...this meant a lot to me" "It meant more to me." Some minutes later, they walked back to the house and joined the others but Sandra could not take her eyes off Vincent. He was handsome and intelligent, though he wasn't too much of a talker. She preferred it that way because he listened better than he talked.

When it was midnight, they all prepared to sleep and Sandra looked everywhere for Vincent and finally, she found him on the other end of the room lying on his bedspread. She crawled closer to him and laid down close to him and when he saw her in front of him, he drew closer to her and his hand slid through her hips causing her to hold her breath. She closed her eyes as he felt his hands across her body, it was easier for her to sleep close to him than with any boy.

It was Christmas and there were activities and parties everywhere. Philip who was invited to a college students dinner attended the dinner party. He looked around and saw Enya with some of her friends, smiling and happy. He walked around and helped with some things in preparation for the dinner then finally, the party started.

They got to the part where they sat for dinner and there were discussions on how to curb painful pasts and move on. Some of them shared their regrettable past and Philip listened carefully, he was so lost in thought that he didn't know when George asked him for his contribution in the matter.

It had been long since they had heard Philip make a contribution to their talks but this time, George made it compulsory for him to speak. At first, Philip kept quiet and then he spoke up.

"What has been your experience?" George asked.

"My experience..... pain, physical and psychological torture, betrayal, when you have to survive among wolves who want to destroy you... it's very easy to give up and hard to never give in."

"We didn't hear from you for two years and when you came back, you changed. What happened?" Yeanna asked. Enya's heart beat faster when she heard that question. It was all because of her betrayal that he went missing for those two years.

"I survived a fire incident and got kidnapped...I had to fight to survive in their land. I remember when my master sent me to get some woods for him in that forest and some men chased me trying to kill me....later, I discovered that it was my master who sent them to kill me."

"Did you forgive him?"

"No, I didn't. I picked up my clothes and ran away from him the following night after he died." The real truth was that he killed the man by piercing through his chest with a metal. He remembered how blood spilled on his face that night before he ran away.

"But most times, you have no choice but to forgive someone who betrayed you because you love them." Philip said and they all agreed.

Soon, they started eating and Enya got up from her seat to sit on a seat Beside Philip, since she saw that there were some empty chairs. Some of them had gone outside to enjoy the fresh air or eat outside with their loved ones. When the party was over, they greeted themselves and shared gifts.

"Let me walk you home" Philip said to Enya and she smiled in agreement.

"Why didn't you tell me that I caused you pain?" She asked as they walked.

"You didn't need to know."

"Because you didn't want me to feel guilty."

"Because I didn't want you to change your attitude towards me."

"I would still love you...."

"You would have changed your pattern of love." He said. When they got to the front of her house, Philip took out a box from the bag he was holding and gave it to her.

"For you" he said.

"Me?" As confused as she was, she still opened it and saw the picture that he had taken some days ago, the difference was that it was new and was in a beautiful frame. "The reason why you feel lonely when you look at the picture is that the picture feels lonely too." He said.

Enya's tears rolled down as she looked at the picture. "Thank you so much." She said.

"Good night" he said to her

She nodded and turned to walk away, the gift that she had prepared for him was in her own bag, but she didn't want to give him. It was lame compared to how valuable his gift to her was. She suddenly stopped and turned around walking back to Philip. When she got nearer to him, she drew her lips closer to his, and slowly kissed him.

For a moment it seemed as if nothing was happening but then he responded to her kiss and slid his hands on her hips. Her body belonged to him as far as they were together and she didn't object. It wasn't long before they withdrew their lips and Enya found her breath.

"Good night" she said and walked away towards her door. He watched her go into her house before he left for his own house. Enya found it hard to sleep that night, her thoughts were filled with Philip, it was as if she could never get enough of him.

That night as Philip slept, he had a bad dream where his body was filled with blood, and blood was dripping from his hands. Some minutes later when he woke up from that bad dream, everywhere around him was dark. As he stood up to put on the lights, someone gripped his neck causing him to struggle with his breathing.