Mrs Magnus and Darlington looked at the person standing in front of them in so much shock that neither of them could react for a couple of seconds.
"Where did she come from? What just happened?" Darlington asked himself, looking totally lost in thought, as Samantha walked closer to them.
On her part, Mrs Magnus was looking really troubled as she wondered if her daughter had been listening to all she'd been saying to Darlington.
"Samantha, where were you? We have been looking everywhere for you, child" Mrs Magnus said, trying to hug Samantha.
Samantha pulled away from her mother, not giving her a chance to touch her.
"Please mum, please just let me be. It'd be better if you just returned to what you were doing in your room" she said coldly and walked past her.
She was soon standing in front of Darlington, looking at him fiercely, but not saying a word to him.
"It's been a long night uncle Darlington, don't you think you should be try to get some sleep? Why don't you ask her to leave" she asked him, looking every bit the old Samantha he'd always known.
Her mother pushed Darlington aside and stood in front of her to confront her, but she simply told her mother that she wasn't in the mood to talk to her.
"Enough of this nonsense Samantha! Enough I say! What is your problem? You have been misbehaving for so long, and I chose to ignore you because I know it's your age that's troubling you, yet you think I haven't taken enough from you.
"How dare you ignore me when I'm talking to you?" she barked at Samantha who simply shrugged and ignored her still.
Darlington finally found his tongue and asked his million dollar question.
"Samantha, how come you appeared from the bathroom? Have you been inside the suite since I left? Did you by chance meet Justin, at any point, this night?" he asked all at a time
Samantha had a smile on her face as she told him that she had been in the bathroom all along.
"What?" Mrs Magnus and Darlington screamed in unison, realizing that she must have heard everything they said.
It turns out that after Darlington locked her inside the room, she got quite restless because she had already been sufficiently turnêd on.
Her whole body was twitching and burning for a man's touch. It had now gone beyond the challenge she was trying to win; she needed to get what she wanted any way she could
Samantha and her friends made a bet, after one of her friends teased her about how much of a big baby she was that she was still a vïrgin at that age.
Kamala laughed even the more, when Samantha reminded them that their teacher had advised that they kept their vïrginity till they were married.
"You're such a clown Samantha. In which century are you living now? You mean to tell me that you do not know that teacher Beatrice is just an old and sad woman who talks too much because she thinks everyone must be like her?" Kamala asked.
"It's a lie! Tell me you're lying Samantha. So, at this age, and with everyone dripping with steeze, you let an old woman, who knows next to nothing about what's up in today's life, lead you four decades back?
"Are you cràzy or what?" Amanda screàmed at Samantha, looking at her unbelievably.
"Calm down Amanda, please take it easy on her. You know Samantha really didn't have close friends to put her through, all the while.
"So she depends hook line and sinker on everything teacher Beatrice says. Imagine how old and outdated a Gen-Z is now sounding!
"They really have to look into these teachers' activities and compel them to focus on class subjects they were paid to teach oooo
"What's all these?" Kamala quipped, making Samantha feel even more stupîd.
She had been feeling so good with herself that even though her mother never had the chance to counsel her or guide her on so many things, teacher Beatrice had filled in considerably, always asking her questions and advising her.
She had been taught best practices for self respect and told how sacred her body was, so she made sure to establish boundaries and keep her honour in tact.
But now, as she stood in the midst of her new friends, she felt stupîd and out of place. Her face flushed in èmbarrassment as Amanda continued to taunt her, saying it was a big shame, something that couldn't be said among others that a girl as beautiful and endowed as she was, was still a virgïn.
"You can stop laughing Amanda. I know that teacher Beatrice made me believe it was best to keep my body, but you should also see that I don't have the kind of freedom you two have.
"You go to parties and visit people at will, but my parents won't let me ever do any of that. How the hèll am I supposed to mingle in the sense you're talking about?" Samantha asked.
"Your parents don't let you go to parties? Pray tell Samantha, aren't your parents the same that you said are never around? Just how have they stopped you when they're never around?" Kamala asked.
"Kamala, I have a chaperone ! I have uncle Darlington who has been with me since my childhood days. My parents only need to tell him once and he's enforcing their instructions.
"Like you must have noticed, he comes here to pick me up from school and takes me wherever I want to go to" she replied matter-of-factly, hoping that they'll say they now understood, instead, they began to laugh uncontrollably.
"Wait Samantha, are you just naïve or you want us to believe you are? Your parents gave you a man that can fulfil all your fantasies and you didn't know how to harness the opportunity?
"Why do you think they let you have a male chaperone ? Why did they let him take charge of everything and made him be with you all the time?" Kamala asked.
"You're right Kamala, they know that she must surely be needing a man, so they kept him handy, to save themselves the èmbarrassment that can arise if she got into a scàndal, being seen around with different men
"Samantha, your parents knew that you will be needing a man, and that's why they gave you that cute dude for a chaperone" Amanda chipped in good naturedly, but Samantha got infuriated.
"Will you quit spilling bàlderdash? How can my parents want me to have a man at this age, when teacher Beatrice said that parents expect their children to…" she was saying but got cut off by a roar of laughter.
"For a change Samantha, would you please leave teacher Beatrice out of this discussion? Doesn't it sound awkward to you that while we, young bloóds are having an important conversation, you won't let that old woman's name stay out of it?" Kamala asked.
Then Amanda went on to validate her assertion that Samantha's parents gave her Darlington for dual purposes.
Tired of arguing about that, without referencing teacher Beatrice, she asked them how someone as stoic as Darlington could be considered for such fantasies.
Her two friends took time to analyze why they're so sure Darlington is the man for her.
"Have you not seen how he dotes on you? Are you saying you don't see the love burning in his eyes, when he looks at you?
"Samantha, that guy is màdly in love with you but hasn't made a move because just like you, he doesn't know that your parents hired him for dual purposes" Kamala said
They all laughed about it and let the topic slide that day. But the days that followed and the days before her eighteenth birthday, they made sure to drum it into her ears and taught her different things she had hitherto not known about
She pulled the stunt as per their instructions on her birthday, and felt so good, being as intimàte as she was with Darlington that day, that she began to develop personal desire for the conquest.
However, after failing to get Darlington on the same boat with her, her friends began to móck her, shàming her for not being able to get Darlington where she wanted.
So they made a bet, her friends daring her to get Darlington to make lóve to her before that week ran out, or she'll be expunged from their circle.
Samantha told them that they may have started the game before her, but with her smartness, she was going to show them who the pro was.
So technically, all the efforts she put in from the previous day to that day, was just to win the challenge, and to show her friends that no matter how stoic Darlington was, she still got him to deflówer her.
Darlington refused to be swayed, no matter what she did and how much she thrèatened him, so she decided to blàckmail the man with her mother into deflôwering her, then show her friends the video she made of her and Darlington, just to prove that she won.
She called her mother's room and spoke with Justin, waiting earnestly for him to come to her, but didn't see him. Then she walked into the bathroom to ease herself, hissing in frustration, after a long time of waiting.
Samantha literally slippéd in the bathroom, when the door opened and Darlington's scream followed.
"What is wrong with him" she thought, and made to rush out of the bathroom, but stopped in her track when she heard Darlington begin to mumble complaints.
She had no way of knowing when the smile crept to her face, as she heard Darlington imply that he had fallen in love with her.
Then just like it had appeared suddenly, the smile vanished, when she saw her mother enter the room and began to speak.
She couldn't believe that all that mattered to her mother was keeping her extra màrital affairs from her father.
It broke her heart in a thousand places to see how much she meant to her mother, yet, her heart swelled with love for Darlington, a new kind of love, actually.
So after hearing Darlington say he was going to stop her and Justin, she was forced to come out from the bathroom.
She rolled her eyes in disgúst as her mother began to fidget, asking her to calm down and let her explain why she said what she said.
"Please go mum, I have a question for uncle Darlington. I want him to help me decide whether or not it'll be a good idea to go after Justin
"I want him to help me decide the best line of action, starting this morning" she told her mother and walked into the bathroom again.
Darlington was standing numbly in the room, neither saying a thing nor showing any signs that he could hear Mrs Magnus.
"Did you hear what I just said Darlington? I'm begging you right now to please save my marriage and my face
"She has made up her mind on what she wants, and knowing Samantha, I know she will stop at nothing to get it
"If she goes after that hóoligan, I'll be damned for life. And if she goes the other way too, it'll be a colossal loss for us both.
"Please do what she wants, to ensure that we also have a bargaining chip, something that will restrain her from telling her father about me and Justin.
"I am her mother, and shouldn't be asking you to sleep with my daughter, but believe me Darlington, it's in the interest of everyone involved. Please do it" she told Darlington before she walked out of the room
The sound of the door brought Darlington's mind from the faraway places it had journeyed to. He straightened up at once and ran in the directions Samantha had gone.
He found Samantha sprawled on the floor, just at the entrance of the bathroom. She was weeping bitterly and her whole body was vibrating.
Darlington knelt down beside her, scooping her into his arms and began to console her, begging her to please stop crying.
"I have failed uncle Darlington, I have failed now. I'm going to be mócked to no end" Samantha whimpered, confusing Darlington.
He stammered incoherently, asking her what she was talking about.
She managed to get up after so much cajoling, and told him how she made a bet with her friends to get him to deflówer her.
Darlington was shocked at her words, but more shocked at the kind of pains his heart felt, when he realized that she had been after him, not really because she fancied him, but because she made a bet with her friends.
He wondered why he no longer liked the old Samantha that addressed him as Uncle, and spoke to him formally, seeming to prefer the new Samantha that was all over him, burning with desirè
"I could easily find a way to meet up with Justin, who already assured me he can do what I want, as long as I come to him, but I have fallen in love with you uncle Darlington.
"I want to win this challenge, I want to show them that I got this, but I have also come to realize that I truly love you and don't want another person doing this
"Please help me Uncle Darlington, I can't afford to face the hümiliation Kamala and Amanda will dish out tomorrow, if I go back to them without results" she told him and tears escaped Darlington's eyes.
"You know Samantha, I have also realized that I can't keep what I feel for you to myself any longer.
"I love you too Samantha and I can't bear the thoughts of you being with someone else.
"And though I know you're not old enough to fully understand this feeling called love, I still do not want you to fail this challenge" he told her, and she got up quickly, rubbing off the tears on her face.
"Are you going to do it uncle Darlington? Are you going to make lóve to me?" she asked him delightedly.
"I'm going to do more than that Samantha. I'm going to give your friends the proof that we're now together" he told her and Samantha rushed into his arms, pressing herself against his frame in a tight hug.
Instantly, his mêmber reacted, jerking up as though a crane was lifting the càp.
Samantha's hands began to crawl all over his body, sending cold shivers down his spine, and making it difficult for his legs to keep carrying his weight
His hands moved instinctively, lifting her off the floor and headed for the bed.
He placed Samantha on the large bed, got on the bed beside her and gave her a sound kîss.
It was the first time he was taking the initiative to kiss Samantha, so a kaleidoscope of butterflies took flight in her stomach, nearly driving her cràzy.
But his next move shocked Samantha to her core!
🍑TO BE CONTINUED 🍑