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* Make every second count. *
------ Mira ------
As soon as we entered his room, Joseph sat on his bed and began pulling off his sandals, while completely ignoring my presence.
I sat on the sofa in the room and stared at the room. Nothing has changed, his room still had the usual style and vibe, pictures of his artworks hang all over the room, one of them caught my attention.
A painting of me? I stood up to the wall to confirm what I was seeing. It was when I touched it, did I realize it was real. I remember jokingly telling him once, that I'd love for him to paint me, I never would have thought that he really did. But why hadn't he shown me this? I turned to face him only to find him staring at me, but he averted his gaze the second our eyes met.
I walked back to his bedside and crouched in front of him, Holding his hands in mine, I made sure we maintained eye contact. “ Jose, do you really think, I would have done that to you? ”He didn't say anything for a while, and when I'd thought he won't reply, I heard him say. “ Do I have a reason not to? ” His words were like feiry knives, aiming at my heart. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Does it really mean he trusts outsiders words more than mine? Where was the best friend who promised to love me and dote endlessly on me? If one thing, he was nowhere to be found.
“ I always thought you had some kind of trust in me, Jose. ” I didn't hide the disappointment in my tone. For a second, I thought I saw guilt in his orbs, but it was gone before I could see it clearly.
“ You've always claimed that, I'm the best thing that has ever happened to me. ” I continued, seeing no response from him. “ We've been best friends for over five years now and I've never hurt you. So why would I now? ” I shook him desperately, annoyed by his silence. “ Tell me why, Joseph! Why? ”
“ Because you were jealous, Mira! ” He stood up abruptly and pointed at me. Frightened by his action, I flinched. “ Ever since I'd started dating Vera, you've been acting out of jealousy! How do you expect me to trust you when you are totally blinded by jealousy? ”
Silence reigned in the room as the impact of his words sunk deep into me. I couldn't deny the fact that I was jealous when he started dating, Vera the Queen Bee. Why wouldn't I? Joseph was my very first real friend and best friend! He was the very first person who treated me like an human being followed by his Nanny. I'd never experienced true love and affection ever since my parents died until I met Joseph. I'd fallen in love with him along the lines and somehow I believed he loved me.
I'd been living in that dream until he introduced me his girlfriend, Vera Lynn. I'd been attacked by waves of jealousy that day seeing the softness in Joseph's eyes as he stared at her.
He'd never stared at me, like that! It was then I'd realized that maybe he'd never seen me as someone he could date, but as a sister as I was not his type. The realization had hurt me.
Yet, inspite of my feelings, I was still happy for him. Why wouldn't I? Best friends are people that are always happy to see you happy, aren't they? So I was or at least, I tried to be happy. That was until I learnt about the scheme Vera and her friends had planned against Joseph. I'd so desperately wanted to tell him about it, but how could I have? When we so blinded by her love. So I kept quiet, secretly hoping he'll find out himself but he didn't. But in the end? I was blamed.
“ Do you really think I'll stoop that low, because of jealousy, Jose? Do you really think so? ”
“ I honestly don't know what to believe, Miranda. ” He sat down on a chair nearby and crossed his legs. “ It was obvious you weren't happy with my relationship with Vera. Or where you? ” Our gaze locked and I couldn't form the words to say. I sighed seeing his knowing gaze, at that moment. I hated the fact that he knew me so well. Too well.
“ But Jose, that still doesn't mean I'd actually done that. ”
“ Maybe, but I do know one thing, a girl who's jealous can do almost anything. ”
“ Joseph, you — ” My words were interrupted by his ring tone, which he'd specially used for Vera. It was a song titled, Perfect for me by a Nigeria gospel singer, Moses Bliss.
Joseph reached out and picked up the phone from the stand. “ Babe? ” I couldn't stop the pang of pain I felt hearing that. I've heard it more than a dozen times already in the space of two months, yet it still hurt everytime.
“ The IP address of the fellow has been found? ” His words brought me back to the present and I didn't miss the way his face changed hearing her.
“ Who's IP address? I wondered? ”
He ended the call after exchanging the, “ I love you ” words with her.
His countenance changed when he stared back at me. “ I'd never expected this from you, Miranda. ” the disappointment in his tone was too obvious to go on notice.
“ What —- ” I'd just started speaking when I was suddenly pulled off the sofa I sat, he dragged me till I was at the door, without saying a word. He pushed me out of the room so harshly that I fell. I was still trying to recover from the impact when the door was slammed in my face. “ Jose. ” I called out subsconsciously as tears welled up in my eyes.
“ What had just happened? ” I wondered as I pulled myself up to a standing position and walked towards the guest room.
.....A/N : What do you think happened guys? Do comment down below your thoughts. Take care, okay?
>* Follow and focus on your own path regardless of others opinions. *****------ Mira ------I kept tossing and turning as sleep evaded me. My mind was hyper active as I kept wondering what Vera had said to Joseph that made him act like he did. He mentioned IP address, what's that really about? I wish I had my phone with me, then I would have checked the school group chat. Yet, at the back of my mind, I was thankful I didn't bring it along earlier today as I would have lost it. As a result of my lack of sleep, I ended up with huge eye bags, and when morning came, I was feeling more exhausted than I'd felt earlier. I freshened up and went downstairs after doing the laundry. I met Nanny Jenny on my way out. As it was still very early, breakfast hasn't been made as she'd just woken up herself.“ Good morning, Nanny Jenny! ” I embraced her desperately, in a quest to draw strength from her. “ Morning, Hon. How are you? ” she stared closely at me after we broke up. I felt naked
>* There's no such thing as failure until you fail to learn a lesson. ****----- Mira ------The day I met Joseph, is one I'll never forget. We've been in the same school for about a year and despite being the student's president, I never knew him since we weren't classmates and I was an introvert, who barely related with others. Due to all of this, I never knew him until that day.It was during break time on that particular day, I was in class pretending to study, though I wasn't able to as the pain in my stomach was becoming too much to bear. I’d been having the pain for about a month now, but it never got this intense. As time went on, I felt my consciousness begin to slip from me and my vision became blurry. It was at that moment, I heard a voice, close yet so distant calling out to me. “ Are you okay? ” The voice was like the sweetest music to my ears and for several seconds, I was hypnotized by it. “ You okay? ” The question came again and this time, I was about to an
> * Nothing worthwhile in life comes easy. * **** ------ Mira ----- Taking a taxi from Joseph's street, I soon arrived at the orphanage. After paying for the fare, I stood for some minutes in front of the big building, recalling the first time I was brought there. “ Precious Kids. ” I remember staring at those words feeling broken and disheartened. As someone who was raised in a rich home with loving parents. I'd never thought that a day would come when I'll have to end up in a substandard hotel. Even as a young child, the realization that I had just moved from grace to grass, from privileged to underprivileged had hit me greatly. It would have been better if I hadn't tasted wealth than to end up this way. But well, I'd accepted my destiny after a really long time, haven't I? The noise in the building didn't surprise me as I navigated my way to my room. The girls were chatting as always. I was probably the only one who didn't have anyone to talk to there as they see me a
> * Everybody has a dream, but not everyone is willing to put in the hard work and discipline required to achieve their dreams. * **** ----- Joseph ----- It's always said, the betrayal of a friend hurts more than a stranger's as you are never prepared for it. To think my lifelong friendship with Miranda all came down to this moment that I finally saw her true colors. Over the past few days I've been in doubt, not wanting to believe she's really guilty. But now, seeing the evidence right in front of my eyes, it hurts. Despite the fact that I've got all this evidence, somewhere deep in my heart, I still believe Mira is innocent, but the question in my mind is how can she be? Recalling the pain and longing in her eyes, when I’d thrown her out earlier made my heart ache. I desperately want to believe she's innocent, but how can I? It would have been easy to say she's innocent, if she hadn't acted out of jealousy once. I desperately want to go to her and tell her I'm s
> * Do the right thing even when no one is watching. — Oprah Winfrey. * *** ----- Mira ------ It's been one week since I'd last heard from Jose. Though we've been in no contact for almost three weeks, it still feels different, especially after our last encounter. The memory of how he'd thrown me out of his room the other day still haunts me, though I knew he’d only done that because he was pissed. Yet, it didn't stop it from hurting. “ How could he? ” As much as I try to make excuses for him, it still doesn't change the fact that he'd hurt me. I've always heard that being sensitive and understanding is a bad thing, I'd never known how true that was until now. On one hand, I'm very well aware of how hurt he is by what happened, but yet it still doesn't give him the right to treat me the way he did. It doesn't. My alarm clock went off indicating the end of my ten minute break. I went back to my desk and plopped my butt on my study chair, as I opened my bi
> * You can't connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. --- Steve jobs. * **** ----- Joseph ----- I sat on my bed after breakfast, feeling confused and lost. I'd thought my decision had been set and unchangeable until the conversation I had with Nanny. “ Am I really blinded by Vera's words, that I'm failing to see the truth? ” “ Am I paying more attention to logic than to my heart? ” ‘ Always listen to your heart, Jose. ’ Mira's words from two years ago rang in my mind, making me wonder if I'm really doing that. Am I really not listening to my heart? Is that why I've been way too confused? “ What should I do, Lord? ” I stared at the painting of Mira, I had hung on the wall with mixed thoughts. I desperately wanted to believe that Mira's innocent and Nanny's right. But how can I do that, when all odds are against her? Especially now that believing in her will mean betraying my girlfriend. “ I'll never hurt you, Jose. You know
> * If you live each day as if it were your last, then one day you most certainly will be right. * *** —Joseph — I arrived at the canteen in no time and found it crowded as usual - it was filled up with my school mates; chatting, gisting, laughing and eating. I covered my hair and half of my face with a hoodie, trying hard to go on unnoticed but failed. “ Isn't that Joseph Winfrey? ” I heard a girl say and all eyes Immediately turned on me. “ Yes, it's him. ” “ What do you think he's doing here? ” “ What do you think? ” “ Haven't you seen how depressed Vera Lynn had been ever since he was suspended. ” “ Oh… I wouldn't be surprised if he came here to see her. ” “ What do you expect? ” Ignoring the chatters around me, I walked into the canteen in search of Vera and soon found her at our usual spot. Vera Lynn, she lived up to the beauty of her name as she's an epitome of beauty. With straight brownish black long hair, well blossomed pink lips
>* You gotta find what you love. *****----- Joseph ------Vera was dressed in the school's uniform; light purple shirt, dark purple flay skirt, white pop socks and black flat shoes. Her long hair covered half of her face as she scrolled through her phone with her well manicured fingers. She didn't notice my presence even when I stood right beside her. “ Hey Babe. ” She looked up immediately, I didn't miss the beautiful smile that made its way to her lips the moment she saw me. “ Hey, Joe… ” She stood up and crashed into my embrace, hugging me tightly. “ I've missed you a lot. "Her words made my heart swell with wonder and pride. “ Me too. ” I replied, patting her hair.We remained in that position for minutes in silence until she spoke up, “ I've missed your presence greatly. ” I sighed, breaking the hug. “ Let's have a seat. ” I pulled her towards the chair and we both took a seat side by side. “ Have you ordered? ”“ Not yet, I was waiting for you. ” she said w