Change of heart
Clarissa stood watching the boys as they gathered around to block the entrance, which prevented her from rushing to the bus stop.
She clearly knew not to fight with them, not because she was scared but there was a group of people standing right at the bus stop staring at them and she didn’t want things to look ugly and eventually end up on the news, her father was definitely not going to be happy with her.
She stood thinking of what to do, she glanced at her watch and it was already 6:55am.
The man from earlier grabbed her once again.
“I’m still waiting for you to make me regret being born” he said with a smile on his face.
“Oh you will” she smiled before giving him a kick in between his legs.
He let her go as he fell to the ground, she took the opportunity and started running back towards where she came from, with each step she took she cried because she knew clearly well how long it took her to walk down to this point.
She didn’t need to turn back to know if the boys were after her, she could hear them screaming and their legs moving, she tried to increase her speed in order not to let them catch up with her.
Clarissa diverted to a bend that she hadn’t followed before and just then someone grabbed her by the hand pulling her into a dark corner and closing her mouth with his hands.
“Where did she go?” the boys asked as they searched through the place
“I think she must have ran ahead” one suggested.
“It’s a dead end over there, we will definitely meet her” his words caused all of them to run after him as they went in search for her.
Clarissa jabbed the person that covered her mouth with her elbow causing him to push her off him.
“Do you always like causing me pain?” the person asked and in an instant she could recognized the voice, she’d definitely recognize it… even in her sleep.
It was the little demon that allowed her missed her bus.
“Gabriel!” she said under her breath as she looked closely
“ Yes it’s me, you were too blind to notice that you were on the wrong bus” he reminded her.
Gabriel watched Clarissa’s eyes glare at him.
“Why are you here?”
“What do you mean by that, you got on the wrong bus”
“Everything was your fault, You made me miss my bus
“No I didn’t, I got pepper sprayed remember. How did I make you miss your bus then? Did you see me cover the sign of the direction that was clearly written on bus? No!. Did you see me drag you onto the bus and then pay for your bus fare? No. Did you see me begging the driver to take you downtown instead of taking you to where you were supposed to go? The answer still remains No, so how on earth is it my fault?” he asked
“Urgh….. I thought I got rid of you, you’re such a chatterbox. Can you for once in your life keep quiet and let’s get out of here first?” she said as she was beginning to lose it, she thought she had left his running his mouth at the bus stop but here he was standing right in front of her.
“You’re suppose to tell me a very big thank you because I saved you from those guys” he voiced.
“Thank you? You want me to tell you thank you, after this was all your fault!” She said almost screaming, her patience was running thin.
“I see you like blaming people for everything that goes wrong in your life but I’m not a bad person, I drove all the way from town to come rescue you and take you back because I knew there was no bus coming again till 8 a.m.”
“Wow thank you so much, I missed the part where you drove all the way here just to save my life, I really appreciate it. Tell me, how would you like me to repay you? A hug? Or better still I can marry you and be your wife for the rest of your life how is that for redeeming a debt” she said as she stared at him
“You are nothing but ungrateful and mean.”
“You’re absolutely right, I am ungrateful and I am mean. Just get the fuck away from me, every time you close to me, something bad happens” she glared
“Are you trying to say that I have bad luck and I gave that to you?” He asked as he looked at her.
“You don’t just have bad luck, you are bad. I got my morning ruined because of you, I got on the wrong bus because of you, I walked down from that bus station to this bus station because of you, then I got chased by a group of God knows who and it’s all because of you. You’re bad luck, you shouldn’t be around people” she concluded.
“I see, so that’s how you want to play, I came to save you and you’re blaming me for everything that happened – fine then, how about you wait till 8 a.m and get on the bus yourself, since you are lucky those boys would not get to you before then” he said as he came out of where he was hiding.
“I will…… I will go my own way and you go your own way and never turn back” she said but Gabriel didn’t reply. Gabriel’s silence made her wonder why he stopped talking.
On reaching outside, the gang of boys were standing right in front of where they had been hiding.
Just great, she said to herself as she looked at Gabriel with an irritating face.
“Look at what we have here, her boyfriend came to rescue her” the guy from earlier said, both him and his friends burst out laughing.
“He is not my boyfriend, if you ever say that again I will rip your mouth into two” she said as she shifted away from where Gabriel stood, the idea disgusted her so much.
“Exactly, she can’t be my girlfriend, somebody as rude and ungrateful as she is will never be my girlfriend, she’s just some random girl that I came to get back to town” he said as he too shifted away from where she stood.
“it’s good you’re not his girlfriend and you’re not her boyfriend, this means you share no relationship with one another, so I would request you to leave so we can continue our business with the young lady” he voiced about to move towards Clarissa but he was stopped by Gabriel.
“How can I do that? It is going to make people think that I’m a weak man and I couldn’t protect her and return her back in one piece, I am not and I want her to come along with me”
“No, I’m not going anywhere with you, wherever you go there will always be disaster, please ask him to leave I don’t want to see his face anymore” she said.
“Looks like she doesn’t want to be around you” the boy pulled Gabriel.
“I warning you sir, don’t you ever touch me like that, ever and as for her I am not leaving without her” he spoke as he grabbed her by the arm.
Clarissa was shocked as he spoke with authority and his face embodied his seriousness.