𝔼𝕂𝕀𝕃𝔸

43

Chidiogo was still grounded to a spot when Amelia snapped her fingers in her face.

"Hello? Do you want to have lunch or not?"

Chidiogo snapped back to reality, blinking at Amelia. "Huh?"

"You're unbelievable! Come on, let's go."

Amelia grabbed her forearm and led her to the line of students waiting to be served their lunch.

"See what you caused!" Amelia said, huffing and crossing her hands over her chest once they got to the line. "There's a line now and we'll have to wait! What even made you stop?"

Chidiogo shrugged. "I was just shocked by all the things you knew. And you say you aren't a stalker."

Amelia's lips formed a perfect circle. "Oh! That's why you stopped? I actually made like half of that stuff up. I mean some of them are true but they are just hunches. I haven't confirmed them yet."

Chidiogo nodded, even though she didn't believe her.

"And I just wanted to know whether you actually liked Justin or not," Amelia continued, "I only need the truth. Do you like him?"

Staring into Amelia's doe-like eyes, Chidiogo almost felt like spilling the truth. Amelia hadn't given her any reasons to doubt her. But again, she was Mmachi's best friend.

"I don't," Chidiogo said, deciding to play safe.

Amelia hummed and faced front, craning her neck to find out why the line wasn't moving. As Chidiogo watched Amelia, she mulled over a question in her head. One which might be dangerous to ask.

She bit into her lower lip trying to decide whether or not to ask her the question but eventually she gave in to her curiosity.

"Lia?"

Amelia tilted her head a bit to Chidiogo's side, giving the slightest indication that she was paying attention. Chidiogo continued speaking.

"If, say, my answer had been yes, what would you have done?"

Amelia remained facing front after Chidiogo had asked the question, still stretching her neck to get a view of what was happening in front. Chidiogo was already regretting asking the question when she spoke up.

"It depends. If you have a crush on him, it's totally fine so far you don't plan on acting on it and try to kill it off instead. It would be a problem if the reverse were the case.

"Because you acting on the crush would mean hurting Mmachi and Mmachi is like family to me. I won't hesitate to hurt whoever hurts my family."

Chidiogo remained silent after Amelia's words. She couldn't get herself to give any sort of response to Amelia's not-so-subtle threat, not even when Amelia began laughing minutes later while claiming it was a joke.

But Chidiogo knew better than to believe her. Nothing about the deadpan expression she maintained while uttering the words made it feel like a joke.

"Relax," Amelia said, giving Chidiogo a playful nudge which caused pain to radiate at the side of her ribs where Amelia's arm made contact with hers.

Cuss words slipped out of Chidiogo's mouth as she clutched onto her sides, trying to blink back the tears which quickly fogged her vision.

"Are you alright?" Amelia asked, her voice rising in panic.

Chidiogo managed to keep back her tears before nodding.

"Are you sure?" Amelia asked, "Because that wasn't supposed to be painful."