9. LOCKED

The only person that could chuckle that way was Bernard. Instantly, my fears were replaced with anger. I felt irritation from the deepest part of my belly and pushed him off me with full force.

“What the fuck do you think you are doing right now?” a loud yell ran out of my throat.

My fists folded in anger as I walked forward, giving some distance to the wall.

I couldn’t understand the reason why he created such a drama just to talk to me. Although we were engaged, we did not talk unless it was highly necessary because it was obvious that we hated each other. We were very much aware of the fact that we needed each other for business, so we didn’t stress it out. Nothing like romance or love was ever mentioned between us.

“Are you sane? What is this scenario? What are you trying to pull here?” I shouted at him, my anger shooting through the roof.

“I saw how interested you and the new boy are in the sick boy’s affair. Don’t bother to dig up anything, I will not stay still,” he threatened.

“And what will you do if I don’t stop? Are you scared that I will find out the dirty secret you are hiding?” I gritted back, and he slammed his fist on the desk, hard

I didn’t even flinch. I couldn’t care less about his tantrums.

“What dirty secret are you talking about? I just want you to stay the fuck away from him!” he roared, his voice shaking like that of a man near orgasm.

“Since when do we give rules to each other? Why are you concerned about my affairs? Don’t ever pull this kind of string on me, I will not take it easy with you if it happens again,” I warned him seriously.

My anger was so evident in my voice. He could hurt me or do anything scary to me at that moment, given his short temper, but I didn’t care. I didn’t know where the confidence came from, and I was never scared of him to begin with. He had always accorded the respect I deserved, not because he loved me, but because I was his escape card from his misery.

We both know the smelly secret he was hiding beneath his tough and bullying façade, but I wasn’t interested in his personal life, he should sort out his mess alone and not pull me into the mud with him.

“Don’t ever try to cross the line,” he started, and reached for my hand. I could feel his pulsating vein in his grip on my hand, but I managed to push him back and cut him short. “Touch me again and watch me bruise your cheeks” before walking away.

I didn’t even know where I was going, but I wanted to leave him as soon as possible. I was beyond livid. The reason why he had to turn off the whole building’s lights and even chase after me in the dark was beyond my understanding. If he had anything to say, he could just have told me in the hall or during classes.

Due to my anger, it took me a while to detect that I had taken a wrong route and walked deeper into the building instead of heading for the entrance.

“Shit!” I cursed under my breath as I turned to see the total darkness facing me.

My heart stopped for a second. I didn’t even know where I was or what to do anymore. I was also on the verge of tears but just then, a miracle happened. The light came on.

The first word that came out of my mouth was “Bastard!”

A sense of relief flooded my entire system as I made my way back to the hallway and took the right turning. I couldn’t see Bernard anywhere around the building, so I just assumed that he would put on the light and left before we walked into each other.

Dela had already noticed my long absence and rushed towards the building when I got out.

“Annabel!” she screamed for joy and rushed towards me.

“Why are you here? Did you miss me that much?” I teased her to cover my ordeal, and she hit me lightly on the shoulder.

“You were gone for too long, so I was worried that something might have happened to you. I also looked for you everywhere. I was this close to pushing the emergency button,” she remarked with a voice full of worry.

“What could possibly happen to me in this school? Urgh! You worry too much”. I pulled her cheeks as I laughed.

I was thankful for the fact that she got concerned about my long absence. I had felt several emotions in the span of fifteen minutes, and I was still going through it but the fact that she showed up for me calmed me down at the moment.

“Will you still be reading tonight with the look of things? The lightout is in just two hours” she questioned, and I nodded.

“Sure! I will just read what I can”

We marched towards the hall where we saw the new boy strolling inside the hall with his hands inside the pockets of his big white hoodie. Dera hit me suddenly at the sight of him and blushed hard.

“Don’t you think the new boy is cute and stylish? Look at him being handsome effortlessly,”

I shrugged her head off my shoulder in disgust, my eyes rolling on their own. I was not in the mood for her drooling over some guy. One of them just pissed me off a few minutes ago.

“You should work on your taste, it’s mid,” I slammed her and hastened my footstep to my footsteps.