Okenwa visits his parents’ apartment in Enugu, Nigeria. He notices that in their retirement his parents, once prolific academics, have become more childlike. They mention to Okenwa that their old houseboy, Raphael, is now allegedly an armed robber who leads a group of thieves. Okenwa remembers his childhood connection with Raphael. Raphael, then a teenage boy from a nearby village, comes to work for Okenwa’s family when Okenwa is young. Raphael and Okenwa first connect over their shared love of kung fu and Bruce Lee. Okenwa doesn’t love books as much as his parents, so he is glad to escape the house and practice kung fu in the backyard with Raphael. Raphael even makes them a nunchaku out of wood and metal springs to use for practice. Over lunch one day, Raphael’s eyes appear bright red from a contagious infection called Apollo. When Okenwa’s parents banish Raphael to his room to prevent the spread of his infection, Okenwa sneaks in to check on his friend. Raphael admits he doesn’t know how to use the eyedrops the doctor prescribed, so Okenwa administers the eyedrops for him. Each day, Okenwa sneaks into Raphael’s room and tenderly gives him the eyedrops. When Raphael’s eyes heal, Okenwa wakes to find his own eyes infected with Apollo. His mother begins to berate Raphael, but Okenwa tells her he got his infection from a boy at school, not from Raphael. Okenwa sneaks downstairs one afternoon, excited to see Raphael after his Apollo has healed. He finds Raphael with Josephine, the neighbor’s house-girl, and the two talk and do not pay attention to Okenwa. Okenwa confronts Raphael about why he never visited him while he was infected with Apollo, as Okenwa had visited Raphael. Raphael apologizes distractedly, just as Okenwa’s parents arrive home. Okenwa turns away from Raphael too quickly and accidentally falls. When his parents appear, Okenwa claims Raphael pushed him.