All Chapters of Pieces of Me He Never Protected: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

Josh was getting careless.Not loudly.Not obviously.Just enough for someone who was already awake to notice.Before, his lies were smooth. Practiced. Almost gentle. Now they came with pauses. With swallowed words. With movements that didn’t match his mouth.Diamond noticed it one evening while they sat outside a café near campus. The sky was already dim, students drifting past in groups, laughter floating in the air like smoke.Josh was beside her, phone in hand.Buzz.He didn’t check immediately.Buzz again.He shifted.Diamond didn’t look at the screen. She looked at him.At how his shoulders stiffened.At how his jaw locked.At how he inhaled like someone preparing for impact.“You’re not answering,” she said lightly.Josh smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.“Just noise.”Noise.Funny how noise always needed silence around it.He turned the phone face down and slid it into his pocket. Then he leaned closer, brushing his fingers over Diamond’s hand like nothing was wrong.But so

If Josh had a talent, it was balance.Not the good kind.The dangerous kind.I noticed it first at a party in second semester. Loud music. Sweaty bodies. Cheap drinks. Girls everywhere pretending not to care who belonged to who. Josh moved through them like water, easy, smiling, familiar with too many people.“Guy, you too dey lucky,” I told him, watching another girl slip her number into his palm.He laughed. “Na vibes.”Vibes.That was always his word for trouble.Everybody on campus knew Josh had Diamond. Pretty girl. Calm eyes. Loyal type. The kind you don’t play with unless you’re ready to lose something real.But Josh?Josh never liked choosing.He liked options.I watched him that night as Peaches’ name flashed across his screen. He didn’t pick immediately. He waited. Counted seconds. Then stood up casually like he was just going to the restroom.“Where you dey go?” I asked.“To breathe,” he replied.I followed him with my eyes as he disappeared behind the hostel corner. A minu

Morning came quietly.Diamond woke before Josh.She watched him sleep.His face looked innocent when he wasn’t talking.No lies in his breathing.No secrets in closed eyes.Just peace.That annoyed her.She slipped out of bed gently and went to the kitchen corner to make tea.When Josh woke up, she was already dressed.“You’re up early,” he said, rubbing his eyes.“Couldn’t sleep well,” she replied.He walked over and hugged her from behind.She stiffened for half a second.He didn’t notice.“You’ve been distant,” he murmured into her hair.Diamond almost laughed.Distant?She turned slowly to face him.“Have I?”He searched her face.“You feel… different.”Because she was.But she smiled.“Maybe I’m just tired.”Josh nodded slowly.He wanted to believe that.He needed to.—Later that afternoon, Josh was with the guys.Tunde leaned back in his chair and watched him scroll through his phone restlessly.“You look like someone who’s about to lose something,” Tunde said.Josh frowned. “R

Diamond first spoke to Thelma during a statistics class.He wasn’t loud.Wasn’t popular.Wasn’t trying to impress anyone.He was just… steady.The lecturer had asked a difficult question and most people were confused. Thelma raised his hand calmly and explained it in simple words.Diamond listened carefully.After class, she turned to him.“Can you explain that again?”He looked at her properly for the first time.“Sure.”They stood near the corridor while he broke it down slowly, patiently. He didn’t rush. Didn’t act superior. Didn’t tease her for not understanding.When he finished, Diamond smiled.“Thank you. That actually makes sense now.”He nodded. “You just needed it simplified.”That was it.No sparks.No flirting.Just clarity.Over the next few weeks, they started studying together.It wasn’t planned.They just happened to sit near each other.Thelma noticed things.Not in a romantic way.Just observant.One afternoon while they were reading, Diamond’s phone buzzed repeatedl

Diamond was laughing.Not loudly.Not dramatically.Just softly.The kind of laugh that slips out when you forget to be careful.She and Thelma were sitting under the big tree beside the faculty building, books spread between them. The afternoon sun filtered through the leaves, warm but not hot, calm but not sleepy.Thelma had just said something dry and unexpected, and it caught her off guard.“You don’t laugh like that often,” he observed.Diamond smiled. “Like what?”“Like you’re not thinking about anything.”She tilted her head. “You notice too much.”He shrugged. “I pay attention.”She was about to reply—When a shadow fell across the table.Not from the tree.From someone standing close.Diamond looked up.Josh.Her smile froze.Not disappeared.Just… paused.Thelma followed her gaze and turned.Josh stood there, hands in his pockets, jaw tight, eyes unreadable.No greeting.No expression.Just watching.Diamond blinked. “Josh?”“You didn’t tell me you were here,” he said.His t