Lilia my love

9 years old Michael stood at the facade of the house with the piece of cookie in his hand as he awaited his Lilia to come out.

He kept stretching his neck and disappointed, the first person that came out was Rose- Lilia's younger sister.

"Michael!" She called in excitement and ran to him.

"What're you doing here? Why didn't you come in?"

"I'm...I'm just waiting for Lilia" he replied, a little pissed off.

"Lilia? Okay. You have a cookie with you. Can I have a bite?"

"No no Rose. You can't. It's actually for Lilia."

A frown suddenly crept into Rose face as she folded her hands.

"Why does it always have to be Lilia? Do you ever think about me? You're so unfair Michael" she sued angrily and ran back into the house.

Michael shook his head at her awkward behavior and decided to draw closer into the house to see if he could get a glimpse of Lilia.

He really wanted to see her.

He tiptoed into the balcony and peeped through the door and there he found her at the dining, together with her mom and Rose.

Oh, that pretty face of hers.

She was fair in complexion, had sparkling bulgy eyes, pointed nose and tiny pink lips.

She was just too perfect; too perfect that Michael always thought her a goddess.

"Lilia " Mrs Oscar called as they had lunch together.

"I think you've been too close to that Michael of a guy. Don't you think you should keep a little distance for now?"

"Mum, but why? Why should I distance myself from Michael?" She asked with a little cringe.

"Well, I think he's been having a bad impact on you. He makes you play a lot and...and...okay; imagine this; just yearsterday, your dad had caught you roaming around the streets with him. What if a vehicle had knocked you down? Or you yad run into bad companies? You're still a kid Lilia and..."

Every other thing Mrs Oscar had said fell on deaf ears as Jocelyn had gotten a sight of Michael at the door, making funny gestures at her. And they had started communicating non verbally.

"Lilia, have you been listening to me?" Mrs Oscar asked, amused at the way Lilia had been laughing the whole time.

"Lilia!"

"Oh! I love you too, mum"

Mrs Oscar flinched and looked behind and that was when she saw Michael at the door

"Excuse me mum. I'll be back" Lilia said in a giffy and left the dining even before her mother consented.

She ran to him with her tiny legs and took him outside.

"Michael ,what're you doing here?" She asked.

"Just came to give this to you" he replied and gave the piece of cookie to her and she took a bite.

"Hmm. It's delicious. Was it prepared by you?" She asked with relishment.

"No it was nanny Maria, but... I assisted her in licking the bowl" he replied and she laughed.

"I'm afraid I don't have enough time Lilia. Steve, my dad and I are on our way to the mall and I actually punched my dad's tyre from home so we could have a flat tyre on our way there. And fortunately, it happened around your residence and that was why I rushed over here to give you this..."

"Oh, my God, Michael! Tell me you're joking. You mean you punched your dad's tyre just to give me a cookie you didn't prepare?" She asked in amusement and he shrugged.

"Michael!"

They heard a tiny masculine voice and saw steve- michael's younger brother- scuttling towards them.

"Hi Lilia" he greeted with a wave.

"Hey steve , wats up?" She replied and asked.

"I'm okay. I got you a flower, Lilia...

"Hey, hey, I'm the only one who gets to give her flowers okay?" Michael chipped in and collected the flowers from him and they all laughed.

"By the way, Michael; daddy's done fixing the tyre. so let's go' steve said and michael turned to Lilia.

"Okay. We'll talk later. Bye"

"Bye Romeo" She replied.

"Bye Juliet"

And they ended up laughing again.

He gave her a peck and left with steve.

***

Lilia was searching for her toy phone all over the house.

She couldn't recall where she had last seen it.

She paced around the house and met Rose in the sitting room.

"Rose, would you happen to know where my toy phone is?" She asked.

"And why will I know where it is? Why don't you ask Michael about it?" Rose replied repugnantly and Lilia flinched.

That was strange.

She decided to ignore her and go upstairs to her room and there she found the toy beneath her pillow.

"it was here after all" she said with a sigh.

She changed into a towel and went into the bathroom for a shower and when she came out if the bathroom, she noticed something different in the room.

Her windows were open, whereas she could remember closing them before going into the bathroom.

She drew closer to the window and found a clip on the floor. She smiled and picked it up, knowing fully well whom it belonged to.

"You dropped your clip, Michael" he said and Michael came out from where he's been hiding, under her curtains.

"Yes, can I have it back, please?" He asked and collected the clip from her.

"Michael how the hell did you get in here? Haven't I warned you to stop sneaking into my room?"

"Uhm...I'm sorry, Lilia, but the door wouldn't open"

"Anyway, you should leave. I need to dress up".

"And why should I leave just for you to dress up?"

"You..."

"I could simply face the wall".

"Promise you won't stare?"

"I promise"

She watched him as he faced the wall and after that, she took her clothes from the bed and wore it on.

"Okay. You can turn around. I'm done" she said to him and he turned around.

"Okay. I...was hoping we could go for a stroll" he said after turning around.

"I'm sorry, Michael. But mummy wouldn't approve of it."

"Well, who said she has to?"

"But..."

"Don't you trust me, Lilia?"

"Of course, do"

"Then, give me your hand."

***

You know, lilia,when we get married, I'd want us to live in a house that'd be close to the beach" Michael said to Liliaas they walked along the lonely street.

"I've told you Michael to stop bringing up such topics. My nanny told me it's inappropriate for a kid to discuss such issues" Lilia replied enthusiastically.

"But what makes it inappropriate?

"Anyway, why don't you sing me a song?" He asked as he rested on a tree while Lilia remained standing in front of him.

"Uhm sure." Lilia replied and cleared her throat and began singing her favorite- love story by Taylor Swift:

🎤 We were both young when I first saw you

I close my eyes and the flashback starts

I'm standing there

On a balcony in summer air.

See the lights,

See the party, the ball gowns,

See you make your way through the crowd and say hello

Little did I know

🎤 That you were Romeo, you were throwing pebbles

And my daddy said

Stay away from Juliet.

But you were everything to me I was begging you please don't go.

And I said.

🎤 Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone.

I'll be waiting

All there's left to do is run.

You'll be the prince and

I'll be the princess

It's a love story

Baby just say yes.🎤

She went on singing until she had gotten to the end of the song and that was when she stopped.

It has always been her favourite, but michael didn't really like it. He always felt the lyrics didn't entirely match.

"I wonder why you like that song a lot" he said immediately she was done singing.

"It's our love story, Michael don't you get it? You're my Romeo and I'm your Juliet" Lilia replied.

"Okay. Whatever".

He looked left and saw a familiar house.

"Hey, Lilia. Look over there. That's pa Anthony house. He has a mango tree in it. Let's get some"

"I don't think that'd be possible Michael. I heard he doesn't let anyone into his building"

"Well, whoever said he had to let us in? We don't need his permission, do we?"

"What're you trying to say? Are you crazy? Are you trying to break into his building?"

"Come with me, Lilia."

He took her hand and led her towards the building and she couldn't be resistant for long.

He climbed the low fence and urged her to do same and in the next moment, they were standing in pa Anthony compound.

"Michael ,I think this is a bad idea. What if we get caught?" Lilia asked, a little worried.

Michael was always making her do crazy things.

"Trust me Lilia. This is gonna be fun" he replied and started climbing up the tree.

Pa Anthony didn't seem to be around.

Lilia kept looking at Michael as he climbed the tree and plucked down some of the mangoes.

But just as he was about climbing down, the gate opened and pa Anthony walked in. His eyes dilated at the sight of Michael on the tree.

"Hey, you two! What're you doing here? How did you get in? Thieves!"

Lilia was already hyperventilating as Michael quickly got off the tree.

Pa Anthony tried to grab him, but Michael took Lilia's hand and escaped him, running out the gate.

They kept running with the old fella behind them and were almost knocked down by a police car that was luckily not on a high speed.

And as a result of that, Lilia had fell and hurt her ankles.

"Lilia, are you alright?" Michael asked in fear as he helped her from the floor.

But they couldn't run anymore as they had already been caught up by pa Anthony and the police men.

"Seize them officers. They're thieves. They broke into my house" pa Anthony said.

The policemen came out of the car and were started at the awkward attitude of the two kids.

They had almost knocked down one of them and it could have resulted in her death.

"Michael? Lilia?" One of the officers called in surprise.

He seemed to know them.

***

"When did you start sneaking into people's houses, Lilia?" Mr Oscar asked angrily ad they all walked into the sitting room.

They were just returning from the station.

"I've told you to stay away from that Michael of a boy. He's making you jump fences, who knows what he might do in the future?"

"Baby please take it easy on her" Mrs Oscar said with pleading eyes.

"Don't tell me that, Lovelyn. She needs to learn how to respect my words. How could she think of breaking into some body's house and..."

"We didn't break anything dad. We just wanted to take some mangoes" Lilia interrupted.

"Will you shut that mouth of yours?" Mr Oscar snarled at her.

"You're just seven years old, Lilia yet, you're already making me leave my office just to pick you up from the station. What the hell is that?

"Stay away from Michael. He's a brat and I wouldn't want you to have anything to do with him."

"He isn't a brat. So stop calling him one!" Lilia said with anger and Mr Oscar slapped her.

"Oscar!" Mrs Oscar called in fright and watched lilia as she ran away in tears.

Lilia ran into her room and threw herself on the bed. She hated everything.

She couldn't think of being away from michael. He meant the world to her.

It didn't take long before the door went open again and her mother came in, looking perturbed.

"Lilia baby" she called in an unfeigned voice and sat on the bed with her.

"Why did you have to behave that way towards your father?" She asked.

"But he was calling Michael a brat mum".

"Well, Michael shouldn't be the reason you raise your voice on him".

She sighed and held her hands.

"Lilia, I need you to apologize to him okay?"

She remained silent.

"Okay?"

"Okay mum".

"Good. Now that's my baby. I'll be right back" she said to her, planted a kiss on her forehead and left.

Immediately she left, Rose came in with a glass of milk.

She walked over to Lilia on the bed and proffered the milk out to her.

"I made you some milk Rose" she said and Jocelyn collected the milk from her.

"Thanks" she replied and sipped from it.

"Sorry about what happened, but you shouldn't had risen your voice on dad".

"I know Rose but...Michael didn't really nothing anything wrong. We were just playing".

Rose smiled and sighed.

"Anyway, sorry for being rude to you earlier. I ws just upset over something" Rose added.

"Sure Rose. I don't hold any grudges against you" replied Lilia and Rose giggled.

"Okay. How about I leave you for sometime to rest then I'd return later and so we could play video games together?" She asked.

"I think that'd be a great idea. I'll be waiting".

"Okay. Bye" Rose replied and left the room after giving her a parting hug.

Lilia remained on the bed for sometime and after a while, left and stood at the balcony outside her room.

As she did, she thought of michael. She really wanted to see him.

Most times they wanted to be alone, they'd spend time in their garden since they fancied it a lot.

And at that time, Lilia wished michael would meet her there.

Using the tactics she had learnt from him, she began sneaking out of the house.

She left the house unnoticed and got to the garden and after a while, Michael also arrived.

🎤 Romeo save me

They try to tell me how to feel

This love Is difficult

But it's real

Don't be afraid

We'll make out of this mess

It's a love story

Baby just say yes.🎤

She sang the lyrics of her song immediately she showed up.

"finally, I think your song makes sense" he said with a scoff and held her hands.

"I'm sorry lilia for making you go through such troubles. Please forgive me" he added morosely.

"Stop apologising michael,you're not at fault, okay? Our parents are just the ones misunderstanding everything." She replied and he smiled.

They walked over to a spot and sat on the floor.

"Pa anthony is so selfish. I hope he takes the mango tree with him to his grave." Lilia said with a frown and michael laughed.

" That's funny" he replied. "By the way, hope you didn't get more than a scold from your parents?"

"Uhm...no".

They were still talking blissfully when michael heard some footsteps behind them and turned around to take a look.

There he saw some armed men tiptoeing towards them.

"Get them!" One of the men said to the others since their surprise attack had been busted.

Michael sprang on his feet with lilia and started running in fright.

It was dark and being muddled at the armed men who were probably gunnedmen,they lost focus.

And as a result, Lilia missed her step and fell off a cliff.

"Lilia!!" Michael shrieked and knelt in front of the cliff.

And fortunately at that time, she hadn't fallen off completely but was holding onto tiny cracks on the cliff.

"Michael! Help me" she cried out.

There was a big body of water just below the cliff that flowed in every direction with a heavy current.

Michael stretched his hand towards her but she was too far away.

"michael I can't hold on much longer" .

"No lilia you have to. I'll...I'll get some help".

He was muddled and tried thinking of a way to help her.

He looked behind and saw the gunnedmen fast approaching and the next time he turned back to the cliff, he saw lilia falling off.

"Michael!!!" She screamed as she finally let go, going deep down.

"No!!! Lilia!!"michael also screamed and without a second thought, jumped off the cliff