Father Ekene watched them, although he could not hear what they were saying, but there was something in their stance that screamed an affair.
He observed Ivie the most. He had seen Father Chibuike leaving her room once and now he's witnessing her with the dean. Was she trying to seduce them? But Father Chibuike hadn't flagged it down as that when he asked him. He wondered how he would react when, by tomorrow, we would tell him about what he had witnessed, Ivie was, after all, his favourite student, or something like that.
He watched until their rendezvous ended and disappeared from his sight, unaware that they had been seen. A kind of excitement coursed through him. Maybe if he told Agatha about this, she would realize the faith was not as pure as she had thought and would finally agree to elope with him. He just had to wait for the morning.
However, Father Chibuike jerked to a wakefulness in his office when Amaka suddenly pounced on his laps. He tried to brush her off and go back to sleep but she was persistent. It was the uneasiness and whining from Amaka that had him opening his eyes. He wasn't much of a sleeper, so he liked his brief sleeps undisturbed.
He stroked her. "What is it?" When she only jumped from his laps, he sighed. "Mother should have given you the ability to speak, was she trying to torture me or something?"
He yawned and rubbed his eyes, clearing the grogginess from them.
"If you're bored go and look for Ivie's trouble."
Amaka walked to the door and scratched the edge. She was at it for a long time until Father Chibuike stood up and stretched, before opening the door. It wasn't everyday she threw tantrums, so he knew something was amiss.
"This better be good," he murmured as he followed her.
At first he suspected they were going to Ivie's room but Amaka didn't even go near the dormitory. Then he suspected it had something to do with the dean, but she didn't go near the teacher's wing. Then he suspected that another student may be laying in the forest, unconscious, but she didn't go near the forest.
Then he stopped suspecting.
He followed her as she led him away from the school buildings, moving towards the gate.
"I'm trying to remember, but I don't I ever mentioned to you about leaving the place," he told her, wondering what was going on in her head.
Her steps increased and soon she began to run. He tried to keep up to her pace, but she galloped further away and disappeared from his sight.
Amaka raced deeper, following the soulful scent she perceived and when she caught sight of a figure, she jumped on her.
Tears hovered in Ivie's eyes as she sat upright, despite the pain, to fight who her attacker was. Then the tears streamed down when's she saw Father Chibuike's cat jumping on her laps.
"Amaka?" She called, relieved. She nestled it closer to herself, hugging it tightly. To think that she was once afraid of the pet.
She pulled away and the remembrance that she was Itohan made the cat's behaviour suspicious. Was this really Amaka? She turned her face to herself and saw her eyes, then she nodded.
But how come? Was the cat also friends with Itohan? Or was the cat—Ivie's eyes shone in disbelief, teasingly—she knew?She knew!! Ivie nearly couldn't believe it, but she gathered her in her arms and stood up.
"Thank you," she sobbed, rubbing her face against her fur.
"Amaka, ke bi—" Father Chibuike's steps halted when he took the sight before him. "Except I'm was blind, which I'm not, this looks like my pet in Itohan's arm," he said aloud as if saying it aloud would make it less true.
Itohan's arms? Wasn't she supposed to be somewhere else serving punishment? He furrowed his brows in honest confusion.
Ivie's heart hitched when she saw him and she stood there, resisting the growing urge to keep Amaka by the side and hug him.
"If this isn't an unpleasant surprise by an unpleasant time is the night, what could it be, Itohan?" Father Chibuike asked, still trying to understand what was going on.
Her eyes glistened with fresh tears. It felt like an eternity since she last heard him speak. "Father, I—"
The sound of approaching footsteps stopped her and her eye shone in disbelief when she saw Sister Rita pointing her out to some of those mean security guard she failed to outsmart in the past.
How was Sister Rita here? Ivie remembered knocking her down, so how was she—
"That's her!" The nun shouted, pointing.
Terrified, she ran to Father Chibuike and circled her arm around his neck in a tight grasp that threatened to choke him.
"I understand that you may hold revengeful thoughts against me, but there are other better ways to kill me," Father Chibuike said, feeling the air sucking out from him.
"Father, please," she cried. "They're going to take me away."
He held both his hands up, away from Itohan's body pressing against him, and said to the guards, "Don't get any funny ideas, I didn't touch her. The last thing I want is rumours about my most gracious self and this unrepentant, reprobate juvenile."
"Father!" This wasn't the time for this! She tightened her hold on him as the first guard tried to pull her hand away.
"Okay," he hissed when his neck shifted. "I think you're forgetting that my neck is very vital for the sustainability of my life. How about we settle this with a dialogue, Itohan? Release me from this bear like hug and I'll talk to them about reducing your punishment.
Ivie shook her head vehemently. "They are going to take me away, it's me I—" the other guard pulled her hand with a force so strong she heard her bones break. "—argh," she cried.