I stare at her as I listen to her story, but I can't summon enough sympathy for her. 

"I'm going to die, Nene," She tells me.

She stretches her hand forward where I fold them on the table, and grabs it, probably for support. Her hands are shaky, "Nene it's over! Nene help me, what am I going to do?"

My husband specifically begged me into not having relationship with her again, and do I blame the poor man? No.

"I told you, Gold. I warned you, you guys said I'm too much of an scriptural union to understand. What, Gold, what do you think was going to happen?" I ask her.

She tears up, and soon she begins to bawl out her eyes, I wonder what compelled me to come here in the first place. I look around, we are in a big restaurant and she is disgracing the hell out of my life, but I know Gold, and I know how manipulative she is, and there is no way I'm taking her to my home.

I remove the packed Kleenex from my purse, remove a perfectly packed one and give it to her.

"Sorry. I was asking you something." I will not tolerate any form of manipulation.

"Well, you always have good solutions and you are my best friend, that's why I'm here." She says, her eyeballs totally red.

It hurts my heart to see her in that state but my sacrifices, everything I've been through just so that my four friends doesn't get hurt from their social irresponsibilities and the peer pressure pushing them had failed woefully, at least save for Jackson, who is now abroad and newly married.

"I used to be that, not anymore. And what other solution do you think I was going to provide if not for eating healthily and using your anti retroviral drugs." I tell her.

She frowns, obviously not liking my answer, "I'm sorry, Nene. I'm sorry for everything that I've done."

"You know wetin pain me pass, the fact that I lost everyone of you. I told you, I warned you, everything isn't the way they appear. He was into Mafia, he was a cult member, at the end of the day! Your brain did not tell you you were in trouble then, did it?"

It started with three boys, two girls, all child hood friends living in the same neighborhood. We suffered a lot. Kaycee( Kelechi), JJ(Jackson), Luther(Dike), Mama(Gold) and me, plain old Nene, otherwise known as the SU, Mama Jesus of our group.

But it doesn't take Master's degree for us to know how wicked the world around us is. Most of our Fathers were fugitives and convicts or plain irresponsible. Most of our mothers were run away mothers. 

We were all trained by a single parents but our area makes it their business to take care of every kids around.

Then Martin came in, when we were in SS2, to our almost dilapidated public school for the community. Apparently, he was sent there so that he can be disciplined and change his bad habits, he was an out cast, so we took him under our wings.

Not me though, I just didn't like something about him but as usual, Mama Jesus was shut down. He brought his phone, my friends were more than happy to discover things through him. They began to watch the outside world through his phone, they began wanting to be like that, they started to crave for something like that but I was a nonchalant person, not ignorant. I left them to their devices.

He had unknowingly to me began to take them to forbidden gardens.

I caught my friends smoking cigarette, with Martin when we were in SS3, I was totally mortified. It worsened to the extent that their dressing changed. I knew our paths were now very different. Martin always made his hatred for me known, not like it could pick a hair on my body, so I showed him my utter hatred too.

The day I planned to talk to them at our hideout, I caught Martin and Gold making out, what am i even saying? They were almost naked! I was shocked to the core, because she was the one always telling me about the man she wanted to marry and how she would keep herself pure for him so that it would be magical. What happened to my fairytale friend?

She turns to me and was like,"Babe, you didn't tell me you were coming?"

Jesus, such shamelessness. I can't believe I considered her my sister

I was still gaping like a complete idiot when Martin made an offhand comment about me wanting him, I slapped him hard. He was full on going to beat me up, when the guys came to my rescue. They asked me to leave.

It stung a bit I said all I could say about them not going any further in the forbidden garden, all in vain.

I gained admission into the University in the country, Gold had become a proper slut by then. Told me 'you use what you have to get what you want, but since your Mother had done that for your bright future, you do not have the right to criticize me.'

Then my Mum finally found someone that made her happy, he was wealthy. He wanted to marry her and there, her happily ever after.

JJ was full time into robbery, I couldn't believe it.

 Luther was pushing drugs and my dear Kaycee was a sniper. I know that because they kept in touch, well, until my boyfriend, now husband, made sure I had nothing to do with them, anymore.

Well, except for JJ, whom I had finally managed to rescue from the hands of Jungle Justice.

Now, Six years down the line. I am married happily, with my own fashion house and happily pregnant with my first child.

JJ got married to his sweet heart, just last month.

Kaycee was killed in cold blood, a counter attack on his cult.

Luther is in life imprisonment.

And last but not the least, Gold. An HIV positive patient. No, she wasn't raped.

And I no longer feel anything for her again, she chose the path, in spite of warnings, she suffers alone.