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Chapter 3
The party was a big one, and I had been able to avoid bumping into Abike so far. There were white canopies scattered all over Tony and Ejiro’s big compound, with people wining and dining underneath them. Their five bedroom brown painted duplex was a modest one, sitting on three plots of land. It had enough space to hold a thousand guests.

The few times I saw Abike from afar, she looked so happy and unscathed; I was the opposite. To calm my nerves I started drinking a lot. Normally, I would be done drinking with two bottles of Guinness stout in my system, but at the moment I was on my third bottle and was about to go and get the fourth bottle. 

Look at her feeling fly with the weaveon I bought her, I thought to myself as I took a sip from my drink. Tony followed my gaze from where he sat and saw I had been looking at her. “Bro, you need to control yourself.” When I didn't say anything or look in his direction he went on to say, “Don't kill yourself over a woman. Besides, it's not like you guys were dating. This was inevitable." 

Tony was right; she never agreed to be with just me. But it still hurt so much because I felt she had fallen in love with me over time. How can she make love to me one day, and the next day she decides to end what we had together? I thought to myself as I took the last content from my bottle and headed for the main house. I greeted a few of their family friends I was familiar with and when I walked into the kitchen I was face to face with Abike. "Hi." She said and tried to avoid eye contact with me as she walked out the kitchen. I instinctively grabbed her upper arm and slowly pulled her back. "Olumide, I told you..." 
"How can you just forget all the good times we had, just like that." I said, cutting her off. 
She sighed before saying, "please let go of my arm." When I did, she just walked away. I stood in the same spot for some minutes before walking over to the refrigerator. I pulled out one can of Guinness stout, shot the fridge and reopened it to pull out another. 

I heard Tony's mom's voice on the way out of the kitchen and quickly hid the two cans in my jeans pocket. "Happy birthday ma!" I said with a big smile on my face. She was already heading up the stairs and she turned around to look at me. “Hey, Olumide, so you are around and you haven't come to spray me money?” She said before continuing her ascent up the stairs. Before I could think of what to say, she was out of sight. 

I was about to pull out my drinks from my pocket when I heard footsteps coming from above. I looked up and saw Ejiro coming down the stairs. She looked really elegant and a bit older than usual in the native attire she had on. “Hey what's up? Do you need anything?" I shook my head but she walked up to me anyway. She had high heels on stood a few inches taller than me. “Are you okay?” She asked and stared at me. 

“I'm fine.” I said and held up the beads she had around her neck. “Like how much does this cost?”
“What?” She said and laughed lightly. “How much have you had to drink Olu?” 
I just opened my eyes wide and said nothing. “Ejiro!” Her mom shouted from upstairs.
“Yes ma! I'm coming mom.” She said to her mom but didn't leave the spot. Her eyes were on me, searching my soul as if trying to figure out if I would be of any trouble later on. 
“I'll see you later.” I said to her in a low voice and headed for the door.

Outside was lively; loud afro beats music playing from big speakers with some people dancing, and some drinking. I located my table around the side of the house. Someone had taken my seat next to Tony and they were talking soccer, which I didn't have interest in. Besides, I didn't know more than half of Tony's new friends anyway, so I wondered off to the back of the house.

Cooking was still ongoing. I grabbed a chair, sat under a coconut tree and watched three men working on skinning a goat with hot water and a razorblade. There were a couple of women next to them turning a big pot of Jollof rice. I thought of how skilled they must be to know the exact amount of salt and spices to put in the large pot of rice. The sweet aroma coming from there got me hungry. I was sipping my Guinness thinking where to get a plate of rice when I saw Abike near the kitchen entrance, talking to a guy. I wouldn't have really cared if it was a random guy I didn't know, but it was Sesan, one of Tony's friends I didn't like. The guy drove a Mercedes Benz G Wagon, had a duplex on the island and felt everyone else was beneath him. He once made fun of me for driving a 2003 C Class Benz. He said his dad drove it while he was in secondary school. Everyone at the table had laughed at the joke, and I hated him with a passion since then. 

Abike was laughing at something he had said and it made me angrier. I took down the content of my can, crushed it, tossed it to the side and opened the second one. The sound the can made when it hit concrete must have gotten her attention, because she turned around and saw me. Our eyes met. She looked away slowly. She must have told the guy something afterwards because they disappeared into the house. My gaze went back to the men skinning the ram. They had set the ram on fire. Wind was blowing smoke in my direction and I knew it was time to leave the place. As I walked back to join the party, the thought of the guy I hated taking Abike home tonight infuriated me. I took down the second can of stout, crushed the can and threw it away as I headed towards the front of the house. I had had enough of this torture. It was time to head home.
I didn't plan on telling anyone I was leaving as it would ruin the fun for them. But as i walked passed the table Tony and his friends were I saw Abike and the guy approaching. Immediately she saw me, she whispered something to the guy and walked away. The guy looked at me with a smirk on his face. It made my blood boil and as I passed by him I hit him hard with my shoulder.
"Bro, what the..." He said as he turned around to look at me. He was well over 6 foot tall and buff. In a physical fight, he would beat me easily, but I was too pissed and wasn't reasoning logically. I just wanted him to make a move towards me so I could unleash all my anger on him.

I saw anger take over him as he sized me up and just as he made a move to hit me, Ejiro came between us. The guy kept repeating the words, "what the Bleep" as Ejiro pushed him away. Music was loud but people had now caught wind of what was going on and Tony and his guys had gotten off their table to intervene. They pulled the guy to the side to ask what was going and Ejiro approached me. From the corner of my eye I could see Abike standing under a canopy to my left with her hands folded, shaking her head at me. 

"Come, let's go inside." Ejiro said. Reluctantly, I followed her as she pulled me along. We hadn't gone far when I heard the guy say out loud, "this stupid 190 Benz guy is testing me." I lost all control, pulled away from Ejiro's grip and charged towards the guy. People had been all over the guy listening to his explanation of what was going on and a couple of those guys lipped forward to stop my charge. They pulled me away in the opposite direction.

"Olu, are you dey mad? You wan fight because of girl?" Tony said in broken English as he approached me. "You wan scatter my mama party because of woman?" It wasn't my wish to disrupt his mom's party, but it was what it was. They kept pulling me away from the guy, and my blood kept boiling as the guy kept saying very derogative things about me. As they pulled me off I got a glimpse of Ejiro's and the look of disappointment on her face broke my heart. 

When we got to the front of the house, I shook Tony's hand, apologized to him and told him I had to go. He reluctantly said okay and let me go. I hurried out of the compound, not wanting to run into his mom or anyone I knew. I was approaching my car when I heard footsteps behind me. I turned around fast enough to see the guy's face before the blow connected with the left side of my face. It felt like my jaw had shifted as i fellI to the ground from the impact of the punch. The guy and his friends started kicking me. I just held my head to protect my face. The kicking stopped after a while and they hurried off. 

I didn't know if it was out of shame or just pure weakness, but I lay there on the ground for about a minute till someone helped me up. It was one of the men that had been roasting the ram in the backyard. He spoke Yoruba, asking what happened as he helped me over to a Bench by the gate of the house. My jaw, shoulders and ribs hurt so bad. I dusted the sand off my body and looked around for my car; it was just a few meters in from of me. When the guy said he was going to call Tony to come and assist me, I walked over to my car quickly. I was in so much physical pain, I wasn't about to add emotional pain to it. 

I got in my car and sat in it silently for a minute, going through all that had happened in the last 24 hours. A tear rolled down my cheek. Just then, I saw Ejio approaching. I quickly wiped the tears off, I started the car and drove out of the dead-end street in reverse gear.

OlufemiWhit:
20 likes loun loun.....i go dey wait sha

20 is not much jare. Just 8 more likes.

onlyfacts:
Hello, I'll like to help you publish your book with a novel company. the pay is $100-$500+ monthly. Reply my mention if interested.

It's me Kay...you are already working with me. I connected with you on my other account. I already gave you "In the World of Three Women" story.

As I stated earlier...I plan to post a chapter every 48 hours, or whenever I get 20 likes on the last post/chapter...which ever comes first.

Chapter 2

I was too miserable to attend church service the next day. I spent most of the morning going through our past Whatsapp messages, reading the beautiful things she once said about me. It made me angry and happy at the same time; happy because they felt good and angry because I felt she was lying to me all along.

I had been holding back the urge to throw my phone at the wall again. The screen was already cracked in like a thousand places, like tributaries of a river in a delta area. I was lucky it still functioned properly. Sometimes I would get angry at myself and put all my anger into squeezing the phone. At a point I thought it was going to break into pieces. That was how angry I was.

My phone started to vibrate when I was about to put it away under my pillow. It was Ejiro calling. What could she want to talk to me about? I thought to myself. Even though I had known her long before I got to know Abike, they were best of friends, so she was my enemy right now. I cut the call and threw my phone on the bed. The phone rang a couple of more times and then the room went silent. It was just me and my thoughts.

I was about dozing off when I heard a knock at the door. It startled me because I rarely had visitors. In fact, apart from Abike, no one had visited me at my new apartment. Could she be the one? Maybe she changed her mind and had come to beg me. I thought to myself. Then I got pissed at myself for being so needy. I got off the bed, grabbed my white singlet from the bed and wore it as I headed for the door.

“Who is it?” I said and waited.
“Hey Olu, it's me, Ejiro.”
How did she know where I live? I thought to myself as I turned around to look at the state my room was in. It was in disarray. “Give me a minute.” I said as I ran over to lay my bed properly and then picked up a couple of things from the floor. I was heading back to the door and realized I had boxer shorts on. I hurried back to my wardrobe, cursing under my breath as I wondered what she was doing here.

I had put on jeans and was about wearing a polo top when her knock came again. I said in a loud voice, “I'm coming!” I worked angrily to the door, swung it open and said, “What's up?” She didn't say anything back. She just stared straight at me, trying to gauge how pissed off I was.

Ejiro was dark in complexion, slim and tall for a girl at 5ft11. I was just an inch taller than her. She was dressed casual in a plain black tee shirt and blue jeans, with a small black hanging on her shoulder. Her wavy black weavon covered part of the left side of her oval face. We stood still, looking at each other; me with anger in my face, her with a poker face. She was my friend’s younger sister and I couldn’t stay mad at her for too long. After a while, I took a deep breath and stepped aside for her to walk into my apartment.

She took a seat on the couch, by the left side of the bed and I sat on the edge of the bed. I grabbed my phone and started acting busy. The room was silent for a while before she said, "I'm sorry. I understand how you feel."
“You have no idea how I feel.”
She sighed and sat back on the couch. I was wondering why exactly she was here and how she even knew where I lived when she said, “Umm, Abike actually forgot her bracelet here yesterday.” I didn't say anything and she went on to say, “She begged me to come over and help her get it.”

I remembered seeing something golden underneath my desk while cleaning the room earlier, but I had thought it was one of my watches. I went to the spot and pulled out the bracelet. Memories of us making out on the desk yesterday flashed through my mind and I shook the thought away. Without saying a word I walked over to where Ejiro was seated and handed the bracelet over to her. She said “thank you,” put it in her handbag but continued to sit there as I headed back to the bed.

The room was silent for a while before she got off the couch and said, “I'm leaving.” I reluctantly got off the bed and walked her to the door. When she got to the door she turned around and asked me, “Are you still coming for my mom's birthday?”
Or shoot! I thought to myself. I had totally forgotten about her mom’s birthday party. “She would really love to see you.”

I wondered why Ejiro would think I wouldn't want to be there, and then it dawned on me. “Is...Is Abike going to be there?” I asked and she nodded. I sighed and thought for a while before saying, “Okay. I'll be there.” She smiled and turned around to open the door. She walked out the door and turned around one more time to say “bye” before walking off. I wanted to walk her to the gate but I was almost certain Abike was waiting in the car outside. I walked back into my apartment and threw myself on the bed. Thoughts of how the afternoon was going to turn out ran through my mind. It sure was going to be an awkward event that's for sure. I thought to myself.

What's Love?
By
Kayode Odusanya



Chapter 1

Power was out, but the reflection of tiny rays of sunlight bouncing off of yellow painted walls illuminated the room faintly. Everywhere was quiet except for the low sound of spinning blades coming from the standing fan next to me. I was on the bed, lying on my side watching her breathe. Even though we had been a thing for almost 3 years, she was still so appealing to my eyes. She had such beautiful light skin. As if she could feel the intensity of my stare, her eyes opened slowly and she smiled. The white duvet covering her naked body came off as she stretched, and she quickly pulled it back up. “Naughty boy,” she said as she playfully ran her index finger through the length of my nose bridge before getting off the bed. “What time is it?” She said, standing over me, as she rolled the duvet tightly over her body. For a short girl, she looked really huge from where I lay.

"Come back to bed." I said and tried to pull the duvet away from her body. She chuckled as she won the tug of war and jumped off the bed. My eyes followed her as she walked away, till she disappeared into the door that led to my bathroom.

I had been in the apartment for three months and still hadn't finished unpacking. There were still a couple of duffle bags here and there on the floor. It was a downgrade from the three bedroom bungalow I was living in, and I just didn't know where to fit some of my belongings. The only thing I had in the place was the TV set hanging on the wall opposite my bed, and my black LG sound system with the big speakers beneath it on the floor.

The sound of water hitting the tiled bathroom floor filled the air as I sat up in bed thinking of how I was going to spend my day. It was Saturday, and usually, Abike and I would spend it together; mostly indoors or at the beach. But today, she had let me know she had a wedding event to attend. I had met Abike at my best friend, Tony’s wedding, and I went down memory lane. I was the best man at the wedding and she was one of the bridesmaids; the only bridesmaid that caught my eye. Ejiro, Tony’s sister had introduced us at the wedding reception, and as they say, the rest is history..

Abike playfully threw the duvet over me and said something as she appeared from the bathroom area. “What? I didn’t hear you.”
“Are Ubers allowed into your estate?” She repeated herself as she dried her body with my white towel.
“Yeah, but why are you asking? I would drop you off as usual.”
“I’m in a hurry and I don’t want you to stress yourself.”
“Abike, I don't understand. I can jump in the shower...”
“I said, don't worry." The tone of her voice was sharp and her disposition had changed. I had been getting off the bed and I sat back on it, wondering what was going on. I had never seen her get angry this fast before.
The room was quiet as she got dressed. The next word I said might vex her even more, so I sat there and watched her. When she was done, she walked up to my side and said, "I'm really sorry I snapped at you. You know how I get when I have to be at places with lots of people." She had her palm on my right cheek as she stared at me smiling till I forced a smile. “I'll call you later in the day.” She said before turning around and heading for the door.

I sat there in bed after she left, wondering about her anger from earlier on. Was there a part of her I hadn't seen? Or had I started irritating her? I knew she had social anxiety and always got edgy when she had a public event to attend, but she had never shouted at me before.

I sighed and lay back in bed and stared at the white ceiling. I closed my eyes and tried to go through the events of the last twelve hours, starting from when I picked Abike up at her estate gate last night. Maybe there was something I did to annoy her that I am not aware of, I thought to myself.

I was drifting off to sleep when my phone beeped beside me. I picked it up and looked at the screen. It was a text message from Abike. I immediately sat up in bed as it was very unusual that she would send me a text message instead of calling or sending a Whatsapp message.

The message read…
'After thinking this through all week, I realized the best thing for me to do is to end this thing we got going. It's not like we defined anything in the beginning, so it isn't going anywhere. And besides, I am not gaining anything from it. I sleep over at your place, and when I am leaving you give me just enough for my transportation.

I know we have had breaks over the years but this is final. Please don't try to contact me. I already blocked you on Whatsapp. After I hit send on this message, I will be putting all your numbers on blacklist. Bye Olu.'

I couldn't believe what I had just read. I stared at the screen of my black android phone till it went to sleep. Then I slowly dropped it on the bed as my mind raced. I picked the phone up again and navigated my way to Whatsapp. Truth be told, she had blocked me. I was confused. Even though we always had disagreements on the issue of money, I never thought she would actually end things with us. She always believed I could do better than I do financially with her, but I really was giving her my best.

I was exclusive with her, but she had been seeing other guys and the more they spent on her, the more I lost value in her eyes. Deep down in my mind, I always knew this day would come but I never wanted to face reality. I felt she had fallen in love with me over time, but I guess I was wrong.

Abike was a beautiful twenty-four year old girl in her prime, and she probably had just been swept off her feet by the highest bidder. The thought of never having her in my arms again made me boil up with anger and I threw my phone against the wall.

Good day people. I'm back, and by the grace of God, I will complete this story by month end. The story is written in first person point of view. I plan to post a chapter every 48 hours, or whenever I get 20 likes on the last post/chapter...which ever comes first.

With that being said, let's go!

abubakarbabang7:
Kayo80 how far na??

Life happened.

Besides, I wasn't getting enough comments or likes on this particular story, and felt unmotivated to continue.

Anyway, I have made it a principle now to fully complete a story before I start posting, and make sure I finish posting the whole story within 2 weeks tops. With that said, I am currently working on a new story and I should start posting by the end of the month.

About completing the two uncompleted stories I have on here, I can't say when that would be...I am fully focused on the new story I am currently working on.

Deasegun19:
Redmosquito : African Nerd
Repogirl: Forever and for always
Audrey timms: Letting go
Larrysun: Journey of a thousand flash
RueEl12: Nephilim
Silver1996: married and single
ironkurtain: Bloodline
sokodobo: Beneath my heart
devilpen: my demon sister
solomonbrown64: Choices, choices another perspective, A broken destiny a sword of vengeance
oyinprince: Tarasha
kayo80: In the end...the beginning
shiekshegetto: The children of thunder ...

Thanks for the mention...much appreciated.

Moura7:
https://www.nairaland.com/4235540/all-one-night-romance-novelette#63311650.....Here's a link to one of his stories. All of them are dope, trust me.

Thanks a lot for the promo...I really really appreciate it.

Chummyboo:
I think he has deactivated his account.. What's the title of his story? Kayo8

No I haven't. It's Kayo80, not Kayo8...this is a link to all my stories.

https://www.nairaland.com/4057216/links-all-kayode-odusanya-stories

I didn't even get nominated, not to talk of winning. Chai!

I remember an event from about 20 years ago, while attending a tutorial center in preparation for GCE. It was English class, and the teacher had asked us all to write a narrative essay. I always had a wild imagination, and I loved stories, so it wasn't hard to come up with a story to fit the theme the teacher had picked.

When the time was up, the English teacher started going from person to person, scoring the essay, right there on the spot. I concluded my story, and started reading through. Just then, the girl sitting next to me said, "Your story is good, but you have a lot of punctuation errors."

I didn't know her that well, so I was a bit perplexed, but I followed her instructions. "Put a coma here, put a semicolon here instead of a coma," she said. I did as she said, and we were done with the editing just before the teacher got to us. The man scored her first; I can remember she got 6/10. When he picked up my exercises book and started reading through my essay, he just kept smiling. At a point, he said, "this is what WAEC is looking for." He gave me 8 1/2 out of 10, and said, "great job." My self esteem was through the roof, and this event gave me more confidence to want to pursue a career in writing.

I always wonder what my score would have been if that girl didn't "help" me out with my punctuations on that essay.

In this world, everybody gets help one way or the other. It doesn't have to be monetary help; it can be help in form of moral support. Michael Jackson had his father, Joe Jackson; he also had Quincy Jones (the producer that worked on most of his biggest hits). Nelson Mandela had Winnie Mandela.

As you start this week, have the mindset of being the catalyst to someone's greatness. As I said, it doesn't always have to do with money. If you see potential in a person, encourage that person in the best way you can, and someone will also do the same for you.

I wish you all a great week ahead.

Happy Valentine's day to you all.

Chapter 6: Getting to Know Victoria (Part 1)

Hostels were closed indefinitely, so everyone came from home. I drove to school every day in a navy blue 1987 Mazda 323 that once belonged to my grand ma. After she passed on during the break, there was a unanimous decision among family members that I keep the car, since I was the one driving my mom to the hospital every day while my grandma was hospitalized. I loved my grandma very much, but I was happy she had gone to rest. She had been in so much pain from a hip injury she had sustained earlier in the year. Surgery would have killed her because of her old age, and frail state, so the doctors nursed her till she passed away peacefully in her sleep.

Coming from home changed everything. My friends and I weren’t as close as we once were, because people now hung out more with people that lived around their neighborhood as they went home together. I became a bit of a loner during this period; except for times I spent with Victoria, most of the time, I was alone with my thoughts. I started writing in a journal because I had never had time to really be retrospective with my life, because I was either numbing my pain with booze or hanging out with friends; there had never been a time for deep reflections on some of my past actions.

My journal had a lot of entries of times spent with Victoria. We had started hanging out after classes a lot. I would go over to her department, or she would come over to see me, and we would talk about everything and anything. Really, it didn’t matter what we talked about, as long as we were together. It was clear she really enjoyed my company, and her genuine smile always warmed my heart. I was slowly falling in love, and I suspected she was too.

Victoria was an introvert like me, but loved to talk when she was with someone she was comfortable with. She always said things that made me laugh. It wasn’t that she was a funny person, but the way she would say some things, or the fact that I didn’t expect her to know some things she spoke about always made me laugh. With time, I discovered I had created my world around her. Nothing or no one else mattered to me when I was with her. And when I wasn’t with her, I was thinking about her. Thoughts of her were always enough to keep me happy till we saw again.

Not only did Victoria have a great personality, she also had a great body. Even though she never dressed to show it off, there were days when she would wear a top that would show her upper body endowment, or she would wear jeans that would show her lower body curves. The fact that she didn’t intentionally show off her body made me like her even more.

The topic of her boyfriend never came up again, and I totally forgot he even existed. I just enjoyed every day with her, not bothering myself with when this whole thing would come to an end; I didn’t know what it was as we weren’t in a relationship, but I spent more time with her than anyone else. One day, I paid her a visit at home. Her real home was in Warri, Delta state, but she stayed with her relatives close to campus whenever school was in session. She wasn’t comfortable with me going into the house, so we stayed outside the gate to talk. I was parked opposite her house, and we were leaning on my Mazda talking when a girl from my class walked past and greeted me. I was surprised when she also greeted Victoria with a smile; it was clear they knew each other. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but that day changed everything.

Short chapter coming up.

EkopSparoAyara:
I've been busy for a while now.. I came and meet double updates, awesome..


Dude is falling in lust already with Victoria..
You just have to shoot your shot bro, some of them are taken but they're taken for granted!


BRAVO KAYO80

Salute.

Olabantu:
It been a long long while I made a comment here but Boss Kayo you just too Sabi sir. I dey always feel you. Thanks for bringing me back to NL literature

And thanks for your comment. Comments and likes keep us Nairaland writers writing.

everton4life:
Besides writers block,lack of comments on their thread is usually demoralizing and they feel people don't like the story.
My view though.

Speaking from experience, this is true...at least for me.

abubakarbabang7:
No specific date??

There is a story I am currently posting...it has like 6 chapters left. Once I am done, I will start with this. I'd say maybe in 2-3 weeks time.

abubakarbabang7:
Oga kayo80 abeg when will you continue updating this story na?

In a couple of weeks.

Chapter 5: The End and a New Beginning

Just as I thought, there were consequences for the protest. The very next day after the riots, mobile police men with vans and tankers came into school and commanded all students to vacate the campus. Students tried to resist the order and fight back, but when teargas canisters started flying in the air, majority retreated. Before night fall that day, the school was practically empty. Everyone had gone home.

We were now on an unexpected break. I thought it would be for a couple of weeks, but we ended up staying home for about three months. During that period, information was passed to us that each student was going to pay a certain amount towards renovation of damaged school properties before he or she would be admitted back as a student of the University of Lagos. I thought it was not fair that everyone had to pay, even though some students had not participated in the vandalism, but there was no other way around it. The majority of students were involved, and so everyone was going to suffer the consequences of their actions.

After the first couple of weeks of restlessness, I decided to register at a gym close to my house. Most of my friends went there daily, and it cost just five hundred Naira a month to register. I would go there every morning, lift weights, and spend some time talking music with some of my friends afterwards. At first, I saw no results. I was still the same lanky dude. But after about a month of lifting weights, I would notice my chest jingling as I ran up the stairs at home. Or, someone would stop to compliment my new physique. The compliments made me even more dedicated to the gym life.

By the time school resumed, I was an entirely different person physically. The weight lifting had increased my appetite for food, so not only did I gain muscle, I gained weight too. I didn’t have the physique of a wrestler, but I couldn’t be called skinny any longer.

Another thing I had done during the break was become friends with the girl I had seen with my friend Dare during the protests in school. Her name was Victoria, and she was actually in the same department as Dare. I would call or send her a text every single day. With time, she no longer waited for me to call, she would call first. By then, I knew she was hooked.

On the first day of school after the shutdown, we agreed to meet at the screening hall. I was on a long queue when her call came in, but I ignored it. Even though we had spoken to each other practically every day for the last 3 months, it was now time to see face to face and I was nervous. When I was done with my screening that afternoon, I called her and suggested that we meet at Dare’s house.

Dare’s dad was a professor, and he lived on campus at the senior staff quarters. I was sitting on my mom’s Camry outside Dare’ house, watching some guys play football on the field across the road from Dare’s house when I caught view of her approaching from my right. She smiled and packed her braids to the back when she saw me. My heart started racing and I had to take a few deep breaths to calm myself.

She had on black jeans, and a sky blue tee shirt.
“We finally get to meet in person.” I said and got off the car I was sitting on.

“Yes.” She said with a little laugh as we hugged.

“Are you done with your screening?” I asked and she nodded. I noticed she was focused on something ahead. I followed her gaze, and saw she was looking at the guys on the field playing football. Maybe she knew one of them, I thought to myself.

Seeing for the first time was awkward at first, and I couldn’t look in her eyes. She was more comfortable than I was, and with time this made me less nervous. We were deep into a discussion when I noticed one of the guys on the field approaching us. She excused herself for a moment to meet the guy halfway. He was all sweaty, in shorts and mud stained singlet. She joked about him looking like a herdsman; they both laughed and spoke for a few minutes before she returned to my side. We spoke for a while, before she said she had to get back to her department.

While driving to our faculty building, I asked her who the guy from earlier was, and she very casually said he was her boyfriend. My heart sank; I was silent for a couple of seconds. And then I continued the conversation, acting unbothered. But deep down, I was heartbroken. The girl I was just starting to like and thought I had a future with had a boyfriend. I wandered why it had never come up during our conversations in the past. And I stunned that her boyfriend had no problem with his girl hanging out with another guy. From the look on his face earlier on when he greeted me, he didn’t look like he gave a care in the world that she was with me. I was confused.

After dropping her off at our faculty building, I drove straight home. I was in no mood to hang around school any longer.

Chapter 4: The Unexpected (Part 2)

My hostel was along the main double carriage road leading to the University gate, and the road was currently filled with rioting students. I couldn’t believe it was the same road I had just walked through from class. Word on the street was that the student union president had received a call from the VC over a pressing issue, and during the call he had slumped and died. To me it was a coincidence; the SUG president could have been dealing with a terminal illness. But to thousands of students, the VC had killed him through the phone.

It was dark now, but the street lights were turned on, along the median of the road. I could see people coming out of their hostels in droves and joining the protest. Cars suspected to be owned by top University officials were vandalized as the rioting crowd matched through the streets. Sope had taken Debby to her hostel, but I had decided to join the protest and see where it would lead. I still couldn’t believe this was happening. I saw people I knew to be cool headed turn violent, smashing signboards and screaming at the top of their lungs for justice. The school security patrol vans were nowhere in sight. I didn’t even know who was leading the riot as it had branched out like tributaries of a river into roads off the main road. I followed the crowd that diverted to the road that went through the popular Moremi hall and was surprised to see even females from the hostel joining the crowd. It was like a spirit had possessed everyone in school. The University of Lagos I had grown to know had students that loved to party and have fun. I didn’t know there was this much ‘Aluta’ spirit in students.

I turned back when I noticed the final destination of the crowd I was following was the home of the VC. The last thing I wanted was to be named as one of the students that stormed the VC’s residence and vandalized his property. As I made my way back through the well lit, debris filled road, it was like a tornado had gone through the place. Broken glass, trash, and broken pieces of wood littered the floor. I wondered what would be the end of this. I knew it wouldn’t end well. What would be the logic behind the riot and all the destruction? Would students look at the faces of people on a panel and say that the VC had somehow used black magic to kill the student union president? It didn’t make sense, and I knew we were all going to suffer for this.

I saw my friend, Dare outside Moremi Hall gate as I made my way back. He had his back to me, and was talking to a dark skin girl wearing a leopard skin gown. The girl’s eyes grew bigger as I sneaked up on him from behind, and I made a shush sign to her with my index finger on my lips. She complied and continued her conversation with Dare

“Boo!” I made a loud sound as I grabbed and shook Dare by the shoulders. He was visibly tensed from the way his body vibrated. He turned around with frightened look on his face as the girl and I laughed at how scared he looked. A frown appeared on his face when he saw it was me, and then he cracked a smile. I spoke to him a little about what was going on, and continued the journey to my hostel. I wanted to get Sope’s opinion on what was going on.

As I headed back to my hall, walking through small groups of students still heading in the opposite direction, I couldn’t help but think of the girl I had seen Dare talking to. I had noticed her around campus a few times; ending up in the same cab with her, or at the same canteen. She was a dark skin beauty, with a calm demeanor I found really attractive. Earlier on would have been the perfect time to get to know her officially, but I was too shy to even look at her, let alone talk to her. And Dare was too startled after I scared him, he forgot his manners, or else he would have introduced us.

As I walked into my hostel, and headed down the noisy hallway, filled with hyped up guys shouting at the top of their lungs and banging on lockers, she was all I could think of. Even Debby didn’t have this effect on me. Her face was on the screen of my mind; dreamy eyes, teeth white as snow, black skin smooth and shiny. Somebody bumped into me hard and said sorry. He was gone before I could turn around to react. I was more pissed at him for distorting my thoughts than anything else.

I walked up the stairs to my hostel room floor slowly, with a shift in thought. My mind had now gone back to the rioting students. To destroy things is easy, to rebuild is always the hard part. I thought of all the damages that would be done on school property before the end of the night, and how it would most definitely affect our school year, one way or the other.

My room was empty when I walked in, and I wondered if Sope was still with Debby, or if he had joined the protest too. I thought to call him, but changed my mind. Wherever he was, it would be best if he doesn’t bring out his phone. As I lay on the mattress by the window, I realized how much I needed rest. The long walk around school had left me exhausted. I grabbed the remote of our CD player on the rug next to me and pressed the power button. Low tempo R&B music played at a low volume seconds later. I adjusted the pillow underneath my head a few times till it was comfortable enough, and stared at the spinning ceiling fan as my mind wandered back to the dark skin girl. Within minutes, I had fallen asleep.

EkopSparoAyara:
Teni still has a soft spot for her ex, Jack, just like her I also wish her friends could see things differently, the right way..


Chaos outside, what could it be this time.. I hope Debby hasn't gotten into trouble again..


BRAVO KAYO80

Thanks. Your comments keep me writing.

Chapter 3: The Unexpected

Whenever I see her, my heart beat faster, and my palms would become sweaty. But today was one of those days when my shyness took a back seat and allowed a confident Kunle to take center stage.

“Hey, Kunle, how are you doing?” Debby said with a smile as she leaned on the wall next to me. We were on the corridor, outside our noisy and crowded lecture hall.

“I’m cool. How was your weekend?” I asked as my eyes focused on the words, Just Do It written on the white tee shirt she had on.

“Good. Good.” She said, and the conversation flowed from there on. On a normal day, she would have greeted me and kept it moving. But I had sent her a text over the weekend, basically saying I didn’t like how things had gotten awkward between us over the years, and how I would love to sit down and just talk to her like old times again. I didn’t know how she would react to the text message, because all I got in response was an ‘okay.’ But from her demeanor today, it was clear the text had worked like a charm.

It was almost like I took a time machine back to year one, right before I made that blunder of telling her that her friend had asked me to ask her out. I cringe every time I think of how stupid I was to have said that to her.

She was telling me how she had gotten her car seized last week by the school security team for crashing into the road median, and knocking down some of the rectangular white and black painted concrete slabs that were used to divide the road leading to the campus gate. I volunteered to help her talk to someone I knew there, but she let me know she got the car back a few hours ago.

As we continued to talk about anything and everything, I saw a lot of our class mates walk past us with surprised looks on their faces. The ones that knew about our past were shocked to see us finally able to stand each other. And the ones that didn’t know were surprised to see me talking to a girl.

When the first lecturer for the day showed up, we walked into class together, and said our goodbyes as went over to our separate sitting positions; me at the back and her in front. I sat next to my friend, Babatope, and he kept bugging me, asking if Debby and I were back together. I was lost in thought; thinking of what would happen from here. Should I ask her out on a date after class, or should I wait till tomorrow. Or maybe I should do nothing, and see if she would reach out to me. At least I was the one that reached out this time around. Honestly, even though I was now in year 3, I was still somewhat a novice in matters that concerned the opposite sex.

……….

After classes that day, she walked out of the lecture hall with her crew, engrossed in a discussion they were having and I decided not to bug her. I would call her later in the evening, and maybe take her out to the chicken and chips spot close to her hostel. It was close enough to walk to, that way I wouldn’t have to worry about her suggesting we take her car. My ego wouldn’t let me ride in the passenger seat of her car.

I was still deep in thought on how I was going to spend the evening with Debby when my phone started buzzing on the table. It was Teni calling. I picked up and I could tell from her voice she had been crying. She wanted to know if I was in my room as she needed someone to talk to. I told her I was on my way and would be there in five minutes. When I ended the call, I picked my books up from the desk and stuffed them in my bag as I hurried out of the lecture hall. My mind raced, wondering what could be wrong.

Outside my department building, I broke into a run in the direction of my hostel. My heavy backpack won’t let me keep to the pace for too long, and I slowed down to a fast walking pace. I was there in about three minutes, and I saw her standing by the entrance, with her head bowed. She looked up and tried to force a smile when she saw me, but she broke into a cry. I walked up to her, and pulled her away from prying eyes, towards the hostel car park. It wasn’t visiting hours yet, and I couldn’t take her inside.

“What’s the matter? What happened?” I enquired leaning on a black VW Golf 3. She kept crying, with her head still bowed, and I had to hold her in an embrace and just let her cry for a few minute. Was she pregnant? Did someone die? Did someone beat her? I couldn’t think of what could be wrong.

She pulled away after a while and she wiped her tears. Still not looking up at me, she went on to say, “My roommates said I was promiscuous…that I was dating two guys at once.” I was wondering why that would make her cry, or why her roommates would say that about her, and then I remembered Jack, her ex-boyfriend. The guy had been a problem for Sope lately. He didn’t want to let her go, and would even sometimes come to our room to check on her. What made it worse was that Teni would sometimes give him audience. Her excuse was that he was weak and she didn’t want him to hurt himself.

She was talking in a low voice now, telling me how she cherished her reputation, and how being indirectly called a slot was too much for her to handle. I knew for a fact that she and Sope hadn’t gone past a few kisses now and then, but her roommates might think she was having sex with Sope every time she came to our place. I was sure that was what really hurt her.

Sope met us at the spot a few minutes later. She was in better shape then, but he could still tell something was wrong. “What’s up?” He asked, with his eyes on me as he approached us. She went into his arms, and just stayed there, quiet. It was past 4pm now and I suggested that we go up to our room.

There was power outage, and I led the way through the dark, poorly ventilated hostel hallway. Teni started talking in a low voice, filling Sope in on what had happened as we headed up the stairs to our floor.

The first thing I did when I walked into our room was open the windows, and let in fresh air. And just as we were settling in, we heard the loud sound of a car coming to a screeching halt. Everything was silent for a few seconds, and all of a sudden, we heard the sound of chaos outside. I rushed out of the room to see what was going on.