(060 - Promises)

First of all, We are on our way to 100K Views Guys😭❤️🔥. The growth of this book is very impressive. This is actually the first book I'd be writing that will be entering 100K while I'm still writing it. It's such a big flex for me 🔥. Thank you so much Family Members for getting this book so far. DEMMM Y'ALL! A DEMMER WE EMIRATE!

Secondly, ọmọ... see how everyone wanted to tear Natasha Malik apart in the last chapter. And honestly, I don't even blame you guys. That woman is a disgusting human being. She doesn't deserve to be breathing. I honestly hope someone ties her up to a train track and a train runs her over 🙂.

Hehehe, I'm just kidding. I actually hope someone ties her up in the midst of several ant hills so that red ants will eat her alive🙂. Yeah, that's a lot better.

I swear, I'm no psychopath😌.

This chapter was meant to be the Part 2 of the previous chapter, but I decided to change the chapter numbering and title for reasons that would be obvious as you read on. Don't worry, this chapter will still be in Semeeha's POV.

Let's see if Semeeha will revert back to her old way in this chapter.

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𝐒𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐄𝐇𝐀
(Semeeha Iris Malik)

Collins Odion.

He's here?

Half of me really wanted to believe that he had graduated to stalking me because it was by far too reoccurring to be coincidental with how much he managed to show up to every single place that I am, though this is the first time outside of school premises.

But I knew for a fact that this, indeed, was coincidental because he wasn't here alone. He was here with the Crestview Dance Team, and from the looks of things, they had business here.

Plus, it wasn't like I planned to come here, and he was here before me so there's no way he could have known I was coming here if, at all, he actually was stalking me.

You give yourself way too much importance, Semeeha.

That annoyingly tiny voice that has refused to leave the depth of my subconscious mind decided to mock me. I cringed, trying desperately to push those words to the back of my mind, but they still ended up creeping back, and I couldn't stop myself from thinking.

Ever since the conversation we had in the classroom on Monday, I've been avoiding Collins like a plague. No matter how much I tried, I couldn't stop thinking about everything he said, those statements he made with hardly subtle suggestive undertones in them that messed my head up in ways I could never have imagined.

...I'm not going to stop getting concerned about you because that's who I am, and because I care about you...

...When I have my mind set on something I care about there is no changing it...

...Especially if it's something - someone I'm really passionate about...

Passionate about? What the hell was that even supposed to mean?

And then, when he went ahead to call me Talented after he saw my sketches, that was the highlight. Hearing someone call me talented for the first time ever - hearing him call me talented rubbed me off in a way that I couldn't explain. His words messed me up so bad that I wouldn't stop thinking about them.

So, the only reasonable action I could take in effect to those statements was to stay from Collins. Yet here we are, in the same place, almost in the same space.

The universe was playing one sick joke on me at this point because after the shitty day I've had, the last person I wanted to run into was Collins of all people.

He disturbed me.

And, it aggravated me even more to the core that I was overthinking words spoken by someone that wasn't supposed to matter to me.

But apparently, he does matter. The voice again.

Shut up!

Right now, he was standing several feet away from where I was in my side of the crowd, popping and locking away in perfect sync to the music with the other dancers, heavily engrossed in what he was doing to even notice me among to crowd. Honestly, I wasn't even sure he noticed that a crowd had gathered and was cheering him on because of how dedicated he was to giving the other team a beatdown with his badass dance moves.

This was the perfect opportunity for me to walk away before he noticed me, and act like I was never there.

But as much as I tried to will myself to turn around and walk away, I found myself equally engrossed in watching him just as every single person that had gathered was.

Maybe I should stay till the dance is over. I told myself. Then, I'll leave before he sees me.

My eyes occasionally swept across the other dancers, from Crestview, and the other team, but in the end, they always came back to rest on Collins.

I have always known Collins was a talented dancer, the best male dancer in the entire set... the entire school even. But I don't think I have ever paid attention to him in this way before, this closely. Maybe because he has always been second to Dawn, always in her shadow.

I guess that's one thing we both had in common.

The only difference was that he seemed very much content with it that way.

Unlike you. The voice snickered.

I fought the urge to roll my eyes, though deep down, I couldn't help but think about the underlying truth in that two worded statement.

I kept watching Collins till the point that I couldn't dare take my eyes off of him for fear that he'd do a stunt and I'll miss it. I was too invested in watching him that I didn't know when my hand unconsciously went to my hoodie and pulled it off, revealing myself to anyone and everyone that knew Semeeha Iris Malik.

But when I realized that I had completely exposed myself to the world, it wasn't because anyone screamed and rushed at me to ask for a picture or an autograph. Actually, it seemed like I was invisible to every single person because no one recognized who I was.

No one, but Collins.

And in as much as I was low-key glad that he was the only one that noticed me, I was suddenly self-aware of the fact that I never wanted him to notice me in the first place.

Right before then, he was doing a dance move I was familiar with as the "knee drop", a dance move that involved him spinning on one leg for a moment before using the knee of the other leg to push the back of the knee of the spinning one, dropping down in the middle of the spin. It looked easy, but it was a pretty dangerous dance move that could cause a hamstring.

But if anyone could pull it off effortlessly, it was Collins.

And it was while he was spinning on his left knee, about to drop down that his eyes met mine in the crowd.

He spotted me so easily.

His eyes held a little bit of surprise at my presence, but he didn't for one-second halt his dance moves because he had seen me. And while he wasn't the least bit distracted by my unexpected presence amid the crowd that was watching and cheering him on, I was so caught unawares by him unexpectedly spotting me in the crowd.

This is exactly what I was avoiding. I sucked in a breath.

In a bid to hide myself, I swept my hoodie over my head and pushed my shades back against my face. But even through the tinted lenses of my shades, I was just as able to still see him clearly as much as he was still able to tell that I was the one he saw.

And through the shades and even with the little distance between us, I could make out the smirk that he flashed my way, followed by a slight shaking of his head.

It was as if he was making fun of me for trying to hide behind my hoodie and shades when he has already seen me.

He went right back to dancing after that, not sparing me a glance for the rest of the dance. Again, this was supposed to be the moment I should have turned around and left the place, but I still couldn't bring myself to leave. I wasn't sure why, but I didn't want to believe it was because of him.

The Dance Battle ended with the Crestview Dance Team winning by majority hoots and cheers of approval from the crowd, and the other team honorably accepted defeat. Before I could help it, I found myself clapping as well, eliciting a glance from Collins.

His eyebrows tugged up in amusement, and I stopped clapping momentarily, averting my gaze from him till I was sure he wasn't looking at me anymore.

As the crowd dispersed and the dancers from both teams muddled up till they became one, talking to each other all at once, the leader of the other team came forward, meeting Collins halfway before they gave each other a bro hug, deep laughs rumbling out from the both of them.

There was this air of familiarity with them. It was like they knew each other. Either that or because guys easily flowed with each other.

Collins easily flowed with everyone, and as much as I didn't want to admit it, he had an aura that effortlessly drew people to himself. If he knew he possessed that sort of energy, he sure never basked in it. Again, it's either he's just faking this friendly demeanor, or he's an angel.

Before, I'd have easily zeroed my mind on the former, but lately, I've had an inclining to lean more toward the latter.

I didn't like it.

No one should be so full of positivity.

Just because you are so negative doesn't mean every other person should be.

That damned voice again.

"Bruh! I have to say, you handed us our asses," I heard the guy from the other team tell Collins. The dark-skinned guy chuckled, shrugging first in response before he spoke.

"Hey, I warned you," He replied the guy. "You cannot openly challenge the Crestview Dance Team and expect us to take it easy on you guys. It's impossible. You should even be glad Dawn is not the one that took you on." He told the guy while stealing a glance in my direction again as if to check if I was still around.

When his eyes settled on me, a smile quirked at the corners of his lips before looking back to the guy he was speaking to. It was like he was giving me an unspoken request to wait for him but I couldn't help but feel a little insulted that he didn't ask me with words. Or maybe I was just the one that assumed he wanted me to wait for him.

What if when he's done with whatever he's talking about with that guy, he just walks past me?

In fact, why the hell should I be waiting on him when all I have been trying to do is to avoid him?

Get yourself together, Semeeha. I chided myself, irritated that the mere thought of Collins was making me feel so edgy.

Now, that was my final cue to leave, the urge to get as far away from Collins as possible overwhelming every jumbled-up feelings in my head. My thoughts might be scrambled up but I knew for a fact that I shouldn't be around Collins.

Not today of all days.

So, I willed myself to finally turn around and walk away from the vicinity, away from him.

But if at all I knew Collins as well as I thought I did, he wouldn't just let me walk away without at least speaking to me. And unlike other times that I have somewhat, low-key craved his attention, today was not one of those times.

I wasn't sure I could pull myself together to face the ever-scrutinizing gaze of Collins, especially after everything that has happened in the last few hours.

But my intuition was correct. Of course, Collins won't let me leave unless he has spoken to me because, in no time, he flashed right beside me before he came to stand in front of me, stopping me from walking any further.

"Get out of my way, Collins,"

The rapid warning left my mouth before I could stop it, but I hoped he'd take the hint that I was not in the mood to indulge him. But Collins being Collins didn't take the hint. Or rather he did take the hint but chose to ignore it.

Instead, his lips stretched in that familiar calm smile of his, hands folded across his chest.

"Hello to you too, Semeeha,"

He answered, bobbing his head to the side as he peered at me with something between amusement and interest twinkling in his eyes. I averted my gaze from him quickly, thanking God for the fact that the shades were still shielding my eyes so he wouldn't know I wasn't looking at him.

Scrutinizing Gaze. Just as I thought.

Even though I wasn't looking at him, I could feel his eyes everywhere... unashamedly. It made me feel uncomfortable and self-conscious about how I looked, knowing that I didn't put any effort into the way I was dressed. Yet, Collins was staring at me unbashful, a smirk playing on his lips.

Is he mocking me inside his head?

The mere thought of that spiked my initial irritation up.

"If you don't have anything to say to me, then you should really get out of my way," I spoke after what felt like hours of silence between us. "If you don't mind, I have important places to be," I added. If Collins heard the anger in my tone, he sure as hell didn't act like it.

If anything, his smile widened.

"So, you were just going to leave without saying hi to your classmates," He nodded his head to the rest of the dance team. I followed his gaze, noticing three other familiar faces there. I couldn't remember the names of the two guys but I could easily pick out Lase, the timekeeper.

She was the same one that had walked in on us in the classroom on Monday.

As if she knew someone was looking at her, she looked in our direction and her eyes met mine. If she was surprised to see me here, she didn't show it.

In fact, she didn't show any emotions at all regarding me, eyes looking away almost as soon as they looked at me, going back to conversing with the boys with a cheery expression in contrast to what she exuded when she was looking at me.

In other words, she disregarded me.

A frown contorted on the corners of my face at that.

Who is giving this one mind?

"I don't have any business with them," I told Collins when I looked back at him, inwardly asking myself why I was indulging in this instead of just walking away.

But, I didn't act on my thoughts.

"And me?" His left brow tugged up in question. "You were going to leave without saying Hi to me?" He asked, his lips pulled in a pout as he feigned heartbreak. I fought the urge to roll my eyes.

"I thought we were friends," He added, and I scoffed out a humorless laugh, taking off my shades so that I could look him right in the eye as I made my next statement.

"Friends?" I repeated, my voice laced with sarcasm. Collins shrugged, ignoring the sarcasm in my tone. "I thought you said you weren't desperate for my friendship, hmmn?" I reminded him of what he said on Monday.

"I still stand by that because I'm not," Another nonchalant shrug punctuated that statement, and a lazy smile tugged at the corners of his lips. I tried my best not to be irritated by it.

Why are you always irritated by everything?

Shut the fuck up!

"Yet here you are, tagging yourself as my friend when I know for a fact that we are not friends, Collins," I told him point-blank, hoping he'd get over that delusion of his that we were somehow in the friend zone when we were merely classmates.

I wanted to squash that mindset he had that not everyone he smiled at, or spoke incredibly soothing words to wanted to be his friend, least of all, me. I needed to get him out of my system and there was no way I would be able to do that with Collins being this way.

This... inciting.

But yet again, he didn't seem deterred by my attempt to break his spirit because all he did was smile and bob his head sideways again, his index finger tapping his chin in a thoughtful expression.

"You coulda fooled me," He said and the frown on my face deepened slightly. "You claim not to be my friend yet you stayed to support the dance battle even when you could have just walked away,"

I tried to hide my shock behind a stoic expression.

How the fuck did he figure that out?

"Me supporting the dance battle had absolutely nothing to do with you, but with the fact that this," I gestured to the team. "is my best friend's team," I answered shrewdly.

"It's actually the school's dance team that your friend is heading," he corrected, holding an index finger out to me. "And she's not even here right now," He smirked back at me. I rolled my eyes, knowing that he wanted to back me up into a corner till I admitted to him.

Never.

"What can I say," It was my turn to shrug. "I have school spirit. I like to support my school in every way," I stated matter-of-factly, keeping my face as straight as I could.

Collins stared down at me for a moment before his smirk transcended into a smile, then a small laugh. He shook his head slowly as he laughed while I wondered what the hell was funny about any of this.

"You just won't admit that you stayed back because of me, would you?" He asked. I scoffed for the third time, mimicking his posture by folding my hand across my chest.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Collins," I told him. "Pride is not a good look on you," I added, sweeping off my hoodie from my head to reveal my full face. There was no point covering up anymore.

Or maybe there was.

I watched the smile that has been playing on his lips for the past minute disappear into thin air, replaced with a frown. I've been so used to Collins smiling, even at the oddest of times that seeing him without a smile on his face was so out of character.

I looked over my shoulder, wondering what he might have seen that spoilt his mood. But I didn't see anything odd or out of place, not even from his buddies that were still talking.

It wasn't until I looked back that I realized he wasn't staring at anything behind me. Rather, he was staring at me... at a spot on my face.

Do I have something on my face? I asked myself, instinctively wiping my right palm over my face.

I didn't feel anything out of the ordinary.

"What?" I asked, a confused frown etched at the corners of my face. Collins didn't say anything back. All he did was stretch his hand out toward my face.

I flinched back, wondering why he wanted to touch my face, but my reaction didn't seem to deter him.

He moved closer and touched his left hand to the side of my face, fingers skimming breezily against my cheek before making their way to my chin. He gently tilted my head up and to the side as if he wanted a better and much clearer view. It was when he did that that I realized the exact spot he was looking at.

It was the same cheek Mother had slapped me on.

Jesus.

My breath suddenly caught in my throat and my heart began to pound erratically against my chest at the mere thought that he could tell that I was hit by someone. I mean, I checked after the photoshoot and I swear, I didn't see anything that could give away that I was slapped across the face.