LOOM OF THORNS

CHAPTER 6: EYE OF THE NEEDLE

BECCA’S POV

Josh lived in the "Elite Block." Even the name felt like a wall designed to keep people like me out. It was 10:30 PM, and the air was thick with the thumping bass of Afrobeats and the spicy, charred scent of suya from the aboki at the gate. I wouldn't be caught dead here under normal circumstances, but normal died the moment Josh bled on my floor.

I found him in the common room, looking like a king on a velvet throne. He held a chilled "Bullet" energy drink, surrounded by his political riffraff and Ada. She was beautiful, dark-skinned, and curvy, holding his hand with a possessive, coquettish smirk.

When I walked in, my Bible tucked under my arm and my eyes blazing, the room went silent.

"Becca?" Josh stood up, his lopsided grin faltering. "I thought I told you to stay away."

"And I thought I told you to go rot," I hissed. I stepped close enough to smell his expensive cologne—the scent that now felt like a curse. I didn't slap him. Instead, I pressed that chilly note into his hand.

I watched his face drain of color. Arrogance turned into a ghostly, haunting pale in three seconds.

"Who's she?" Ada snapped, her voice sharp with jealousy.

"We'll discuss it later," Josh muttered, trying to pacify her.

"No, Joshua Adeyemi! You’ll answer me this minute!"

She didn't wait for him to find a lie. She didn't care about our silly drama. Ada huffed and stormed out, shoving me as she slammed the door.

"They were in my room, Josh," I whispered, my voice trembling with rage. "Because of you. Because I saved your life, my home is no longer safe. You want to play the big man? Fine. But you will fix this. Or I will take this note to the Vice-Chancellor and tell them exactly whose blood was on the floor of the Textile Lab."

Josh gripped the paper so hard it crumpled. For the first time, the "King of NUAT" looked truly terrified.

"Becca, listen to me," he grabbed my arm. "You can't go to the VC. If they’ve moved from me to you... it means they think you have it."

"Have what?" My heart hammered.

"The drive," he whispered. "The one they think I tucked into your bag in the lab."

I froze. My bag. The one sitting on my kitchen table right now.

"A drive?" My voice broke into a jagged scream. "You endangered my life for a piece of plastic? You selfish, arrogant human! I helped you! I gave you my bed while I slept on a hard couch praying for your soul! And you used me as a locker for your dirty secrets?"

I slumped against a wooden pillar, my strength deserting me. The tears finally flooded over. I ignored the boys staring. I ignored the shame.

"Oh, Rebecca," I moaned into my hands. I was supposed to be the pride of my family. A source of joy. Now, I was a target.

"What business do you have with people like that?" I sobbed. "Why are men with sharp knives hunting you?"

JOSH’S POV

I signaled my friends to clear the room. I didn't feel like a king anymore; I felt like a prisoner.

"It’s the election funds, Becca," I said, my voice dropping. "I found where the administration was hiding the money for student bursaries... the death of some student activists. That drive has the proof. I thought I could use it to change things. I thought I could buy myself time by saying I’d tucked it into your bag. I didn't think they’d come for you so fast."

Becca let out a bitter, watery laugh. "Bursaries? Murder? You played with fire, and now my house is burning."

"Let me take you home," I pleaded. "We can find a solution together—"

"No!" she shouted, her voice cracking. "I am not going back there. They were in my room, Josh. They touched my things. They sat on my bed." She shuddered, a fresh wave of tears hitting her. " What if they come back? I have nowhere to go."

She sank to the floor, her gathered skirt wrinkling against the cold tiles. As she cried—a deep, soul-shaking sound—the guilt in the room became suffocating. I looked at the girl on the floor, the girl who had saved me, and realized I had traded her safety for a political bluff.