Chapter {13} Destiny

'Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God- what is good and pleasing to him and is perfect.'

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Romans 12 verse 2 was the verse the Lord had given me on this beautiful Wednesday. Why? I did not know but what I knew was that his ways and his thoughts were not like ours so I just had to continue trusting and serving him to the best of my abilities and he would do the rest.

I was in Business Management class waiting for the lesson to start and also partially waiting patiently for my classmate and friend to arrive, today he was late, which was so unlike him. These two weeks he was back to his old self, closed off and intimidating. Today I was hoping I could ask him what was wrong, though I would most likely not be able to help him but God would so I could at least pray for him and that's only if I knew what was bothering him so much.

Students interacted with each other but it seemed no one was interested in talking to me, which was quite saddening but I knew that I had someone to talk to at all times; God and that assured me in times like these.

Mr Heywood walked into the class, dressed in his usual formal and neat uniform, jelled back blonde hair with a few grey strands that showed his true age compared to his face that could convince one that he was younger than he actually was.

He set his books on his table as the chatter of the class quietened down, the posture of some changed and we turned our attention to him.

"Good morning," He said in his loud booming voice as he got a series of murmurs and greetings from all seventy learners in the class standing in the middle front of the class, a good position to see everyone.

Samantha walked over to my table clad in a Gucci dress and short Givenchy boots, I would not know of these expensive brands if it wasn't for my best friend's love for fashion. She smiled kindly before taking a seat beside me as Mr Heywood set up his presentation. Everyone turned to look at us in curiosity and surprise. Whom I learned to be her best friend turned to look at her friend with furrowed brows but Samantha just winked at her with mirth-covered eyes as they silently conveyed a message to each with their eyes before a smirk spread on her friend's face.

"Hello," She said, her eyes going back to their warm blue colour.

"Hi," I smiled back reluctantly, why would she want to talk to someone like myself? Just by one glance, one could see that we were from totally different social classes though we are created by one God and made in his image, whether rich or poor, the world did not see that, unfortunately.

"Destiny right?" Her smile was now a smirk.

"Yes..." I trailed off, urging her to speak her mind.

"What would a small girl from a small country want to come here and take my man away from me," Her former menacing eyes were back but even worse.

"Excuse me?" What was she talking about and who was her man?

"You heard me, Destiny, what are you doing with Antonio?" The way she said or rather spat my name made me want to shrink back into my seat but girls such as herself toke pleasure in others' misery so I would not give her the satisfaction

"Nio-" I started before I was interrupted by her.

"Nio," Samantha's eyes turned a shade darker."Who gave you the right to call my man that?"

"Well, Antonio is fine with the way I call him now as I was saying before I was interrupted, Antonio and I are just friends. Nothing more and nothing less," I was tired of people taking advantage of me and bullying me but before it got to that point I would stop it.

"You better remain as friends," I could hear the underlying threat in her voice before she stood up, pulled on her extra short dress and turned to walk back to her seat.

My chair abruptly pulled back before quickly dropping on the floor with a loud thud, with me. The thud made everyone look at where the sound had come from, and when they noticed that it was me they started laughing hysterically, some pointing and chuckling while others just gasped. Tears blurred my vision before I quickly blinked them away and tried to raise my chair and sit up.

It proved to be a difficult task as I watched Samantha smirk victoriously before dusting her hands and graciously taking a seat and high-fiving her best friend who giggled at what she had done.

What had I done to deserve this? I thought as I felt a warm hand touch my forearm sending tingles through it, there was only one person who could make me feel tingles.

Nio effortlessly lifted up my chair with me on top of it before looking at me in anger, which I knew wasn't directed at me, the emotion then changed to worry as his grey pools looked at my dull brown eyes.

"Are you okay, amore?" He asked rubbing my shoulder gently. It was supposed to be a harmless gesture but it somehow put me in a freezy that I even forgot that he had asked me a question.

"Y-yeah I'm fine," I stuttered, for what good reason I did not know though my neck was twisted as a result of the unexpected fall but it seemed like the pain was easing as he stood near me.

Lord, please keep my thoughts pure and my heart clean.

"Bene," He replied with a nod and a gentle squeeze of my shoulder.

And that's when I noticed that the whole class was pin-drop silent, everyone was looking at us, some just staring, others snaring, whilst some boys looked jealous, but everyone was silent including Mr Heywood.

"Samantha, follow me," Nio said in a silent yet commanding voice, one that would send chills down your spine and I'm sure did to Samantha as she looked at him with wide eyes, consternation1 shining in her eyes.

"B-but, what do you want-" Surprisingly I did not take pleasure in her misery, even though I knew what she had done was wrong and truly unnecessary, the holy spirit taught me not to let evil defeat me but to conquer evil with good.

"Samantha I was not asking you," his voice was getting higher with every word he stressed out."I was telling you." I could hear the fury in his voice but I could not figure out why because he was not affected in any way so why would he get angry over something that had happened to me?

Samantha slowly stood up, with her head held down and hands stiff on her sides. She looked defeated as if knowing what awaited her when they were together.

The both of them walked out of the class, Nio taking long furious strides with Samantha slowly trudging behind him.

"Okay, so today we will be focusing on planning..." Mr Heywood said, completely ignoring or rather not caring about what had taken place just now and me falling. It was as if nothing had happened, everyone focused on the lecture, while I could not but how could I? I had experienced humiliation and pain over something that shouldn't have happened and the lecturer did not care a single bit but I knew my one defender was God.

One more excruciating hour passed before Nio and Samantha returned to the class. Nio with a stoic face and Samantha with a pained face, held on to her wrist, which with further scrutinize looked red and a bit bloody which made me gasp. She lifted her gaze from the floor and looked up, and looked in my eyes with the most intense emotion.

Hatred.

Her eyes held so much hatred my heart shuttered not only for myself but for herself as well. There was a great saying, "Hatred is the most destructive force on Earth. It does the most damage to those who harbour it."

Nio was about to take a seat when the bell suddenly chimed making everyone start packing up and cue to leave the class but Samantha did not leave before throwing me one final glance which I ignored as I packed up all I had used and as I was about to walk away Nio held back my hand, as once more I felt tingles which he might've felt as well as he quickly retreated his hand.

He sighed running his hand through his hair, "Destiny, I'm... sorry for what Samantha did to you," He seemed hesitant to say the word sorry like he had never said it before but I was grateful for his apology though I would have loved to have heard it from the horse's mouth, however, what stuck to me was when he said my name, he never said my name which meant that he was extremely serious.

"Thanks but no need to apologise, it was not your fault and even if it was it would not be you doing it," And for the first time since I entered this class, I genuinely smiled.

He just rolled his eyes, "Okay, amore." Nio toke his backpack, which I had not seen and pulled it on his shoulder before shortly waving his hand, showing off his ink sleeves tattooed on both arms.

"Wait, Nio," I called him before he made his exit.

"Yes?"

I grabbed my bag and rushed over to him not watching my steps on the sharp edges of the wooden stairs ultimately missing a step with a gasp I prepared for a painful fall -for the second time today and as I waited for the pain to register in my mind it did not come, instead, warm arms wrapped around my back pulling me into a warm and comfy chest. Grey eyes stared at my brown orbs, the more I looked the more I saw the contrast of grey and blue meshing together to form the most beautiful livid grey colour. Stories untold seemed to be hidden back behind what looked like lifeless pairs of orbs.

After what felt like hours, Nio cleared his throat, effectively pulling me out of the trance his beautiful eyes seemed to have out me. He gently set me on my two feet and awkwardness filled the room as none of us said a word, but we were internally questioning the complexity of the situation. I had never felt butterflies or tingles for anyone so why him? I decided to switch off my thoughts for now and turned to look at my mysterious, distant yet caring friend.

"Nio?"

"Yes?" This time around it was I to pull him out of his thoughts that seemed to hog his mind as distress could be seen hidden deep on his almost always controlled face.

"Why have you been ignoring me? If I did something wrong then please just tell me and I will apologise or if you simply do not want to be friends with me anymore, you can tell me and I will leave you alone," I started rumbling out of nervousness, for days I had been meaning to talk to him but when I finally did it seemed like my mind and mouth would reboot themselves.

"No, it is not you, amore, it is me. I'm sorry for pushing you away just as our friendship was blossoming but it is for the better. One day you will be grateful for this distance," And just like that he left the room but not without sparing me what would look like a solemn look to one who didn't know him but I could see the sadness and small, almost unnoticeable frown on his lips before he completely left the room, leaving me alone to my bugging thoughts.

'One day you will be grateful for this distance' what did he mean?