“Damn, this is good,” Chichi said, savoring a spoonful of pepper soup.

Sunny took a bite out of a long slice of fried plantain. “Best dinner ever.”

They ate for a while, Sunny’s words lingering between them. Sunny knew they were both thinking the same thing, neither daring to speak those thoughts aloud: Last supper.

“I can’t imagine this thing that’s happened to you,” Chichi suddenly said.

Sunny stopped eating. “You don’t have to.”

Chichi took a gulp from her glass of orange Fanta. “I mean, no, I don’t mean it like that.” She shook her head. “You’re just full of surprises, Sunny.”

“You’re telling me,” she muttered.

“You know you should be dead, right?”

Sunny slammed her fork down and looked at her friend. “What are . . .”

Chichi put both of her hands up, a grin on her face. “Ah-ah, biko-nu, don’t kill me, o. I’m telling you, you are so strong and amazing, Sunny. And you don’t even know it.” She laughed, clapping Sunny on the back. “Eat your plantain and keep on surprising everyone.”

Sunny bit into her plantain and as she did, she could feel Anyanwu’s presence. Not like the stirring of herself, as Chichi would have felt her spirit face, but as the shifting of someone outside herself, yet who was herself. And for a moment, she saw through two sets of eyes. This had happened once before, about a week ago when she’d woken up after a good sleep. She’d lain in her bed staring at her room. And this had gotten her thinking about her cultural halves, American and Nigerian, how she’d always felt like two people in one. Then she’d wondered how Anyanwu felt about the American part of her. And then she knew for a moment because she was Anyanwu, but with the broken bond, it felt like Anyanwu was separate from her.

Now it wasn’t so consuming because both she and Anyanwu were angry at Chichi for the same reason.

Chichi was watching her closely, and now Chichi laughed. “I see you! That’s because of the doubling. Wow. I look in your eyes and see you both.” She chuckled some more, picked a piece of fish from her soup, and ate it. “Full of surprises.”

When the countdown began, Sunny was so stuffed with food that all she wanted to do was sleep.

But Chichi had found a bottle of wine and wine glasses, and before Sunny knew it, she was carrying her first glass of wine. They all screamed “Happy New Year” and clinked glasses when the time came. Chichi and Sasha shared a prolonged, nearly obscene, kiss.

“Happy New Year,” Orlu said to Sunny, giving her a tight hug and planting a third kiss directly on her lips. It tasted like red wine.

“Happy New Year, Orlu,” Sunny said, looking into his eyes. There was a hint of fear in them, and she wondered if, like Chichi, he saw Anyanwu in her eyes. However, she ignored this as she took another sip of wine. It tasted both awful and wonderful.