ᴊᴜᴍᴏᴋᴇ

~5~

"'But why?' His friend asked as Tortoise continued to cry, with his cap filled with food in his hand." Jumoke dramatically said as she glanced towards the children who were eagerly listening to her.

"'I was hungry. And the porridge looked so delicious, I wanted to take some for my family' The Tortoise lied. He only wanted it for himself. His friend pitied him and invited Tortoise family to eat. But he didn't let Tortoise have a single taste of the porridge. And Tortoise cried bitterly and learned his lesson. The end" Jumoke ended, closing the light weighed book and placing it back in the shelf as the children cheered at the good ending.

"So, in today's moral lesson class, what did you learn from the story. I'll ask everyone of you, one after the other" Jumoke said to them, as they all stretched their hands up to say something.

"Eri! Tell me what you learnt" Jumoke picked.

"Tortoise is bad and he like to eat, ahum ahum" He said, making chewing noises as Jumoke laughed before asking the class to clap for him.

"Jay! Aren't you going to tell us what you learnt?" Jumoke called out to him, noticing he was oddly quiet today.

He didn't reply but placed his head on the desk instead.

"Jay? Everyone sit down" Jumoke ordered rushing over to Jayden.

His body was terribly hot and his face looking pale.

"Jay, are you okay?"Jumoke called out, as she felt his forehead and realised he was burning up.

"Is anything the matter, Miss Jumoke?" Mr Femi asked as he sensed something wrong as he passed by.

"No, help me. We must take him to the nurses office" Jumoke requested as Mr Femi hurriedly rushed over to them and lifted Jayden up.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Hey" Jumoke felt a tap on her arm as her eyes fluttered open.

Joel thought she looked adorable when she slept. He basically couldn't stop staring at her sleeping figure beside Jayden. He watched how she had patted his nephew to sleep. He couldn't help but feel jealous and wish he was in Jayden's shoes.

Jumoke let out a yawn, before finally opening her eyes and noticing how Joel hovered over her.

Their eyes both held each other's gaze as tension filled the air.

Jumoke snapped her head from Joel's direction, as she stood up from Jayden's side.

"I'll uhrm leave now."She stuttered grabbing her hand bag.

"Wait" Joel hurriedly grabbed her by her wrist as Jumoke turned to listen to him.

They both had effects from the contact. Jumoke felt tingles as his fingers wrapped around hers.

"Thank you so much for today. I appreciate it, honestly" Joel told her as she gave him a warm smile.

Jumoke loosened her hand from his grasp as Joel immediately realised he had still been holding unto her.

"I was just doing my job."She replied with a smile before walking away.

A frown took over Joel's face as he wondered why everything had to be about her work.

"Has miss Jumoke gone?" Joel got snapped from his nephew's voice as he rushed over to his side.

The school nurse made him realise that Jayden hadn't been getting much sleep, and adequate sleep is needed for his age.

Joel immediately knew that the littleboy really missed his parents.

***************

"But ma'am..." Jumoke tried to explain herself as she faced the proprietress who probably weighed more than a bag of rice.