Hidden Passion
Prologue

Lillian walked gently to meet the only friend she had made in her father's neighborhood. She'd come to spend the holiday with her father, and it had ended so quick. She would be leaving the next day, which was Sunday to get ready for Monday. She was going to miss her friend. The first time they met, he had been very warm to her and they had become fast friends, if not best friends.

Now, she was going to her mother's house. She was going to miss her friend. Her parents didn't live together, and she had chosen to live with her mother, so she only visited her father during holidays and special occasions like birthday. Lillian had agreed to meet her friend at their favorite place in town before she left for Lagos. She smiled as she saw him under the shade of the tree they usually sat under to chat and went to sit beside him. His house was only a few steps away. "Hello, Lilly," her friend greeted. He loved calling her by her shortened name.

"Hi, Nath," Lillian replied with a broad smile. He was the only person that called her that nickname. She loved it and wanted it to be that way forever.

They said nothing for a while until Nathaniel broke the silence. "You're leaving tomorrow, right?"

She nodded.

"When will you come back?" His voice was full of worry and bitterness.

"I don't know. That depends on my mother. And she got into a fight with my dad on the phone, so I'm not sure if I can come here again," Lillian said, looking up at him.

Despite sitting, he was still taller than her. At eighteen, he was two years older than her.

"Does that mean we might not get to see each other again?" Nath asked.

"We might...in the future," she replied but Nath only shook his head and excused himself. He went inside the house he lived in with his mother, brought out some strange tools, and bent before her.

"I am going to write on your arm, Lilly," he told her.

Shocked and scared, she asked, "What? Why?"

"I don't recognize people easily, Lilly. And I want to be able to recognize you in the future," he explained.

That was true. The only person he could recognize really well was his mother. He could only guess everyone else's faces even if he had seen them a million times. He would have loved to be treated by opticians, but his family was not well off like Lilly's.

She could only look at him and ask, "Will it hurt?"

"I will do it gently, so it won't," he assured.

"I'm scared, Nath. I'm really scared. What if...What if I die?" She voiced her fear.

"No, you won't. Believe me, you will not die. I will use this thing to rub it, 'he assured again, showing her an ointment.

"Okay. I trust you," Lilly uttered and moments later, he was already scribbling on her left arm while she groaned in pain with closed eyes.

"It's done," he said after scribbling on her arm.

Lillian forced a smile and tilted her head to a side to look at her as she tried to read what was there. "Li... Lilly...Na...th. LillyNath?" She inquired with a painful smile.

"Yes. That's our name, Lilly and Nath. LillyNath," he pointed out.

"Okay, but what about my mum?" She asked. She was still worried about it. "What if my mum kills me?"

"No, Lilly. She will never do that to you. Since you said you have your own room, that will help because you will not be dressing in her presence. And you can wear long sleeves to hide the tattoo," Nath said. "So this is a tattoo? I hate tattoos. Where did you learn how to do it?"

Nath smiled. "From my uncle. This is not really a tattoo, though, because that requires a machine. But it's still a kind of tattoo."

"Okay, then." Lilly affirmed and painfully covered her arms with the sleeves of her shirt.

"I will miss you, Lilly."

"I will miss you too, Nath," she confessed and hugged him tightly with one hand. She couldn't lift the other. It was still aching, but she hoped he would really be able to recognize her with that in the future.