Ife was going through the pages in her study book as she searched for a particular page she wrote out an important word.

She could feel her stomach rumble, indicating that she is hungry. A groan left her lips and she frowned then paused her searching to go get herself something to eat.

The past weeks has been really stressful for all the students in her level. Their finals were coming so fast and they have to prepare for the exam they will be having, it was good that they did their projects earlier else, the workload would have been too much for them.

"I don't even have what I can easily cook" she sighs then went back to her living room to have a seat.

She didn't really have many options now except she ordered some meal but she was currently low on cash to do more spending so she decided to just go ahead and cook herself that beans she was avoiding to cook.

Ife stood to go to her kitchen but halt in her step when her phone began ringing. She sat down on the chair again picked up her phone to see who it was.

When she saw the name that flashed on her screen, a frown instantly made its way to her face and she put her phone down, hissed through her teeth, stood up and went to cook that beans.

Seconds ago, she felt pressured to cook beans due to how long it usually takes to get ready but seeing her boyfriend's name appearing on her screen angered her a bit.

She didn't know why she was still angry for what he did before she came back to school. It wasn't pleasant for him to ask her that when he was fully aware of how badly her mum and sisters treats her. He knew she struggled to be around them and studying abroad gave her a fresh breath of air, so allowing her sisters and mum to influence him to tell her to stay made her angry and sad.

If he wanted her to stay because he wanted her to, she would be fine with it but he, along side her father and bestie were happy when she broke the news then he started saying something else after some days, it was unpleasant for her.

Tomiwa, her mum and sisters have been calling her severally for the past weeks but she ignored their calls or didn't even bother to read their text, she wanted to consider it important but something like this has happened not once, not twice.

Her exams are coming up, it's stressing not just her but everyone and she didn't need their wahala at all. She was already dealing with enough. So, her decision to not answer them till she is done with exams and till she comes home for the holidays.

While she put the pot of beans on the stove to boil, she went to relax in her living room as she went through her phone.

A knock sounded on her door and she stood up to check who it was, she looked through the peephole to see Patrick at the other side of the door.

Immediately, she opened the door with a huge smile on her face then threw her arms around him in a tight hug.

"I missed you"

Patrick who was taken back from her sudden hug, wrapped his arms around her body and lifts her off the ground with a chuckle.

"I missed you too girl," he said when they let go of the hug. "How are you?" he asked when she gave way for him to get in.

"Stressed, a bit annoyed and just stressed" she shrugged while walking to the kitchen with Patrick following behind.

"I brought some bread though" he mentioned to which she returned with a grateful look "I know exams are fast approa-- is that beans you're making?" he cuts himself off when he saw her open the pot to check.

"Yeah, nothing simple to cook now," she glanced at him for a second then went ahead to start making some stew. "I'm kinda broke" she shrugged.

"And you didn't tell me?" Patrick asked in an annoyed tone.

"We all got our fair share of problems, Patrick" she said adding some spice and seasoning to the stew.

"Even though, remember I am your go-to plug every single time, no matter the issue. If I can't provide a solution, we can try to work things out" he told her. "That's part of what's stressing you out" he didn't ask.

She sighs then turned down the heat of the stove a bit then turned to look at him.

"I don't want it to look like I complain a lot but I just get fed up of things" she sighs again then lean on the counter. "I haven't spoken to Tomiwa, my mum and sisters since we came back from our holiday" she said to him. "Didn't even pick their calls or read their message."

"Why? What if he wants to apologize or they want to pass an important information to you?"

"Patrick, something like this has happened before and it was because of that weakling I call a boyfriend" she said angrily then realized what she said "I mean, Tomiwa... he's not a weakling" she defends with a sigh.

"I understand, Ife"

"I don't want any distractions... this is our final year and we have some weeks to wrap things up, our exams and all those" she sighs "I don't want them to distract me or make me feel depressed with whatever words they'll throw at me," she explained to him.

"You don't have to carry this alone"

"Thank you," she shook her head as she remembered something "I even had this sharp pain that went straight up to my head around last week" she said.

"Maybe the stress and thinking" he suggested.

"Probably" she shrugged.

"Just know that I am here always okay?"

She smiles then nods her head and continued cooking the stew before pouring the beans inside so that it can cook together.

"I knew it was stewed beans you were aiming at when you were making the sauce" he tells her when they sat on the floor in the living room to start eating the stewed beans, bread and hot chocolate they placed in the small table in in the middle.

"You always know what I am cooking sha" she laughed.

"Before nko? Remind me, so that I can bring some food stuff for you or we can go grocery shopping later today" Patrick suggested.

"That wouldn't be necessary, let's use what we have since we'll be going home soon" she told him "And it will be a while till I come back for my masters and I am not even sure I might want to stay here since I am opting for a real apartment outside school" she explained to him.

"It's this university you want to do your masters program?" she nods her head. "Okay, I picked the one out of town though, we can still be meeting each other when we aren't busy" he said and she agrees with a nod.

"That would be beautiful"

"I know, and I love this food... I'll come here to be eating till we go back to Nigeria" he comments.

"You'll pay me oo"

"No wahala" they laughed.

They kept talking more about their plans after school when Ife's phone rang, it was on the couch beside Patrick and she hissed through her teeth.

"Pick it" Patrick said looking at her but she didn't answer.

He picked up the phone from the couch then checked the phone screen to see Dara's name displayed on it.

"It's Dara" he said and she looks at him then collects her phone and answer.

"My mum and sisters didn't call you, did they?" she knew the twins wouldn't bother her with things like that.

"They did" Ife sighs "But for different reasons"

Ife didn't notice seconds ago but not she comes to, Dara sounded tensed, worried, anxious... scared even and it worried her.

"What's going on? Why do you sound this way?" she asked her.

"I... there's something..." she trailed off and that brought more worries to Ife.

"Is your sister good? Your parents? You're good? Everything good?" Ife asked.

"Yes, we are all good and it's, it's not about us, Ife..." she said sounding pained.

"Then what happened? My family... are they okay? Is everything fine? Dad? Mum? My sister's? Tomiwa? Is everyone okay?" she asked sounding so worried.

Patrick looked worried and tried to ask what the issue was but she didn't answer him.

"I'm so sorry Ife, I'm sorry" Dara cried.

Then that same sharp pain she felt about a week ago, went straight to her head and a numb feeling to her chest as she felt like something was snatched from her.

"Your dad is dead Ife"