chapter 2

JOHN'S POV

Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring!

I stretched my arms still in sleeping mode and smashed the alarm clock sitting on the bedroom lamp stand on the tiled ground. That would do the trick. I sat up on the white king-sized bed which was now in disarray. I rubbed my eyes and got up from the bed. James never came back. James probably didn't want to see me. Or Mama had notified him that I was coming to meet me.

I hissed. He can go wherever he wants to. I went to the bathroom. It was another sight I couldn't stop feeding my eyes on. James was really rich. But I thought judges are just supposed to be comfortable. My eyes caught a clean shaving stick and I knew my moustache was begging to be shaved. It didn't take five minutes before bits of hair was sprawled all over the sink. I went to the bath tub and scrubbed my body clean. The soap was scented with pineapple and strawberries. I reached to scrub my shoulders as I came face to face with a tattoo I got before the law caught up with me. It was a lion head. Mama hated it a lot, she said it was demonic and tried to clean it when I was fast asleep. It was not a pretty situation when she found out it was permanent. I chuckled. 

I wrapped a towel round my waist after and went back to the room and I combed my bushy hair till it was presentable. I looked in the mirror and I was scared of my own reflection. It didn't look like mine, but it looked a lot like James. I made for the closet and grabbed black jacket and black trousers to match. I laughed. I didn't expect my twin to be so fashionable. I expected him to be nerdy just the way I remember him to be. I went to the large living room and then to the kitchen to get a morning meal. I hadn't taken my time the previous day to feast on the scenery of his house. 

The living room was filled with portraits of James. I groaned internally. But a portrait stole my mind. It was a brown-haired lady, eyes so blue and lips were so full and she was smoking hot. I smiled.

She's pretty 

She's probably his girlfriend. 

I let the portrait down from the wall and used my fingers to explore the picture. But I was disturbed by a sharp door knock and I dropped the portrait accidentally. I tiptoed to the door and stopped to listen. After a few overbearing knocks, it stopped. I sighed and tiptoed back to start my breakfast but was startled when the door unlocked by itself and I came face to face with the lady that I had been admiring in the portrait not so long. It seems portraits do come true. We looked at each other in silence.

It was over! She knows. I watched as her beautiful mouth opened.

"Hey, I thought you would be mature since our breakup a month ago but I didn't expect you to be this childish. Have you forgotten I have the extra keys to your house?"

I was dumbfounded. She really thinks I'm James. She can't tell the difference. I kept looking at her as she continued talking. Her big mouth kept opening and closing in an admirable and funny way.

"If you have forgotten, I am Eniola, your ex-girlfriend and your new trainee as a judge. I can't believe I was assigned to you. The court has been calling you non stop. You have a freaking case today and you are being late. You can't even talk to me. You are just so silly. I called you repeatedly and you didn't answer the phone at all. You don't care about me at all, how do you expect us to get back together. You are such a jerk."

And she dropped the keys on the dining table and made to storm out of the house and I found my voice. 

"Didn't you know James was a jerk, didn't you know he likes to look down on people? Didn't you know his pride is so fat and curvaceous. Didn't you know he was egoistic. Didn't you know he was so immature?" 

Eniola smiled out of the blues and moved close to me and scanned up close. 

"It's odd seeing you reflect on yourself James, it's kind of good seeing you admit it. But you have a case this morning and I suggest you change from that jacket to a dashing suit and let's go to the court, J.J"

I smiled too. And I watched as she fiddled with her watch and she stepped out of the house waiting on the porch and moving briskly back and forth. I found a suit in the closet and wore it. It fit me like a second skin and it made me more attractive. I found a phone lying on the dining table and I guessed it was James. I clicked it open. But it had no password, pin or even a fingerprint. James was really silly and I stuffed the phone into my suit trouser pocket. I ran out of the house and I saw Eniola had hailed a cab and I allowed her to enter first before I did. 

The cab driver was playing 97.9F.M, a radio station that I hated a lot. I focused my attention on getting to know the woman sitting beside me.

"So Eniola, what does J.J mean?" I said opening the buttons of my suit. 

"It means Judge James, it's a nickname. Do you want me to erase it just like the way you erased our relationship?" Eniola muttered typing rapidly on her phone without looking up.

"I guess not" I replied looking at my window for any distraction rather than my supposed crazy and angry ex-girlfriend. 

After 30 minutes, Eniola told the cab driver to stop and I wondered why until I realized we were at the court premises. Time to start acting as a judge. I took large deep breaths and got down from the cab. What have I gotten myself into? 

Eniola screamed. 

"James, it's almost time. Let's get going now." Eniola said as we walked briskly into the court. 

I wished she could call me John but I knew I had to endure this, probably for a day till James comes back from his hiding place. Eniola dragged me towards an office, she opened a closet and grabbed a judge’s outfit and pushed it into my hands 

"Wear it now" Eniola said biting her fingernails.

I wore it in a flash. Before I could speak, we were walking again. In a short while, I was dragged into a room. It was all brown. I was first confused until I realized it was a court. Eniola had found a seat at the front and she had a notebook and a pen in her hands. 

There were people, not so much in number. But the court was packed with an audience ready to listen. The clerks looked pointedly at me and gestured to the biggest seat in the court. I sat down; my limbs were starting to betray me as it shook in fear. One of the clerks passed a spiral bound book to me and I looked at it curiously and it was the court hearing of the day. I opened it and I noticed that the only sounds in the court were the sounds of the pages I was flipping. In a stuttering voice I said. 

"Let.... the...... trial....... begin"!