The bullied girl is with a child

23: Midnight Houses tour.

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Maybe staying in one room alone was not the best for her, Dara turned for the umpteenth time on the very comfortable bed she had been provided. The types of luxury, she had been accustomed to but she knew not anymore. She sat up and rubbed her face before checking the time on her phone, 3:44 am. It had not been long since had gotten back from the party but she knew sleep was far from her.

She opened the large duvet and walked, stepped down from the bed, and she slowly made her way toward the door, and slightly opened it. The hallway was lit by lamps that sat on long lean tables. She had not seen this side of the penthouse the last time she was here. She had not seen more than the living room and the kitchen the last time she was here but that was her opportunity to explore the place.

She stepped out of her room and closed the door quietly before turning around to the direction she came from, she needed water first, this place was huge and this could as well qualify as a mansion itself. She walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge before looking through the well-stocked fridge.

"Money is good o," she tsked and brought out a closed exotic, it was chilled. Just something she needed to cool her chaotic pounding head. She turned and looked for a cup, she opened the cabinets to finally find them at the top.

"What are you doing?" she yelped the glass in her hands almost slipping, she turned back and glared at him, "dude! You don't sneak up on someone like that!" she said holding the glass cup tightly.

She blinked finally seeing him better, he was in grey sweatpants and nothing else, and she averted her eyes quickly not wanting to embarrass herself, "why are you awake?" he asked walking toward the counter and taking a sit one of the stools.

He pulled the exotic from her across her and took a huge gulp while she stared at him, "I couldn't sleep, dopamine rush, you are awake? When I asked for you to be asleep for you can be awake by nine," Kelvin rolled his eyes and dropped the exotic carton on the counter.

"You and I both know nobody in the house is waking before nine," Dara shrugged, "I could try," His eyes flew back to her dress. She was still dressed in the little thing that barely covered anything and now that he could see her in a better light, he felt more and more attracted.

"Why are you still in the dress, I mean I'm not complaining but isn't uncomfortable to sleep in?"

"I did not prepare to come here did I?" she brought out a biscuit from the cabinet and carried her glass with the biscuit around the counter to sit next to him.

"There is a bathrobe in the bathroom, you could have worn, that is way more comfortable, how is your leg?" he suggested, she shrugged and munched the biscuit humming, "it better, it was a dull ache and you carry on your head. This is o nice, I will say it again money is good o, you have everything," she quizzed.

"I would not say everything," Kelvin tried to turn it down, "are you kidding me? You have your mansion at twenty-three, and you are a uni student! You are not even working!"

"Well that's where you are wrong, I own a bit of share here and there," he said not wanting to get into it. "I do not want to know about what the here-and-there part means," he chuckled softly and downed the exotic again, giving her a view she did not want but appreciated. He dropped the first exotic on the table before turning back to her, "why child labor though? I mean I am not complaining but..."

"I think the question should be why not child labor?" Kelvin scoffed, "that was corny, very corny, did you get that line from Tv?" Dara shrugged.

"I was a child and I was abandoned, if not for ain't keasha I would have died or something, she does not want to tell me the full story of what I went through but I know the struggle when I see one. I am just thankful for a generous donator from aunty Kesha's work. You know how Nigeria is now, they stop paying her pension and we had no how we would survive, I am just glad the person made that huge donation."

Kelvin's chest squeezed at the gleeful look on his face, "come let me show you around, since you refuse to come back to the penthouse, then this might be my only opportunity to show how magnificent it is," she dropped her glass and jumped down from the high stool.

"I was thinking of doing some exploring myself, but since the host has offered who am I to refuse?" she joked, "well then shall m'lady?" he asked in a fake British accent, "we shall dear sire," she replied and followed him forward as they started exploring the penthouse.

"Rich people," she would exclaim looking from one luxurious item to another, they got to a final door and he stopped and turned to her, "this is my room, do you want to turn back, or are you comfortable entering?" she shrugged.

"It's supposed to be part of the areas we explore so why not?" he turned and opened the door to the large room. "So here is my room and also the master's bedroom," he said inviting her in, the bedroom was huge, and her head could not wrap around the fact that only one guy stayed there. The room was the side of an entire hall, a very big hall.

Her eyes flew to the platform bed at the center of the room, the bed was big, and there were two other doors on opposite sides of the room, a flat-screen TV that was about 49 inches. It sat on a platform wooden table that was opposite the bed.

The floor-to-ceiling windows were draped with huge curtains that were drawn, lamps sat all across the room, and a chandelier was in the middle of the room. A mini room sat not far from the bed, around the Tv and the chairs looked well-finished. There were art pieces all around the room.  A big wall clock hung over the bed, a table and chair set full of books, and a library next to it.

"This place is incredible!" she said before walking toward a floor-to-ceiling door that opened into a balcony that had a nice view, "this place must cost a lot of money," she looked around the neighborhood and turned back to see him staring, "three million dollars," she took in a deep breath.

"Why did I have to ask?" she muttered to herself earning a chuckle. She looked back at the view of the quiet neighborhood, everyone was asleep and relatively quiet. This place was really nice, her eyes flew to his back, and notice he had a tattoo covering it. It was intricately designed to cover his whole back and she knew he would catch her if she did not stop staring.

"You have a tattoo," her eyes went back to the tattoo before she looked away, "yeah, got it when I was sixteen, those were my rebellious years," he shook his head thinking about his pasts years and how much of a menace he was.

"Did it not hurt?" she asked looking worriedly at the tattoo again. He shrugged, "I was ok drugs so I had no idea what hurt and what didn't. I just went on like that for years, now I believed I am a changed person."

"Are you now?" she asked jokingly raising an eyebrow. "I never really said it before and I don't know whether you are okay with it or circumstances led you to be around me but I am sorry about what I did and I am not saying this for you to forgive or anything. I have no excuse whatsoever, I was just a rich asshole that fed off of people's pain and fear which is not sane I realized that and it is not fair that you had to bear the brunt of my escapades. I wish you healing from whatever damage I did."

She blinked feeling shaken, like the Kelvin she knew now was not the one he claimed to be or everyone knew. She honestly did not know what to do with the apology he had just rendered, she could not even remember whatever happened between them so how could she hand out forgiveness, if she did it might betray her past self and all that she went through. Then again she could not bring herself to genuinely care about it.

"Hum... I am really tired, maybe I should go back to sleep," she started leaving the balcony before he could say anymore thing, "I will walk you..."

"No! I... I am fine... I can figure it out on my own," she opened the door, "good night," she said in a rush and slammed the door shut. She took in a deep breath, things are starting to get real and she did not want that. Why did he have to apologise? At least she could have held unto that!

She entered her room in a jiffy and climbed on her bed, she switched off the main light and left the lamp, she needed to call aunty Keasha the next day. It had been a week since she spoke to Layo, and although she could remember the child. She knew that dumping her responsibility on women even though she was not complaining.

Her mind went to the night she had and everything happening at the same time. The apology still bothered her because that was not how things would normally go. Rich guys like Kelvin were assholes, very few of them had empathy and to see it on the display from someone that was said to have none did something to her.

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