WHITE!!!!!;The color of your heart?????????
(A wall flower’s guide to finding God.)
Chapter 3
(Winner takes all…..)
It was Saturday.
I piled my dirty clothes into a large black bowl, including the Orange sweater, and headed downstairs to wash. I met Feyikemi already seated on a stool by the tank, and joined her gladly.
“Babe. You have perfect timing. Abeg give me small detergent.” She said to me.
I grabbed the small, yellow packet of detergent and poured some out onto her outstretched hand. She smiled gratefully and poured it into her bucket. We talked about several topics, and spent more time washing than we should have.
One of the porters, Mummy Grace, came by where we were seated.
“Ahn. Ileri, Feyi Feyi. You dey wash since?” She asked playfully, and Feyi and I laughed at her statement.
Most takes I had heard from people, were that the porters of their hostels weren’t always nice people, and they were never on good terms with them, but the case was different here.
Maybe it was because mummy Grace was fairly younger than most porters, but she was friendly and kind, and she treated us like equals.
“Ehn, let Grace help you.” She said again, dropping the thirteen month old baby she was carrying on a piece of newspaper by my side.
“I dey come.” She said smiling, as she hurriedly up the steps.
I smiled at the cute baby we all in the hostel had become very fond of, and began to make faces at her, earning excited giggles from her saliva clad lips. She reached her hand up and pinched one of my bre@sts, and Feyikemi burst into laughter.
“Chai Ilerioluwa, this your bre@st always used to attract children. Better hurry up and have your own.” She said, wiping tears from eyes and doubling over in more laughter.
I missed at her, pulling the baby’s hands away from my clothes. She smiled at me, then soon got distracted by her feet.
“So, did anything interesting happen during your week?” Feyikemi asked.
I hissed again.
“Nothing much oh. The usual.”
“Ahn, then why did you hiss?”
“Hmm. It’s just this guy. The VC’s grandson that joined our department on Tuesday.”
Feyikemi began to pour her water away.
“Ehn ehn? What about him? Is he fine?”
I rolled my eyes at her. Why was that the first thing she would ask? The girl was not okay.
“He’s fine, but his attitude is not. The guy is too rude.”
“See your mouth like the guy is too rude. Why did you allow him to be rude to you?”
I scoffed at her, as usual dodging her question.
Feyikemi had been my friend for as long as I could remember, so she knew how I was. Yet she still sometimes asked me stupid questions like this. She should know it was too late for me to change my character.
Although she could be very annoying when she wanted to, Feyi had stood by me through thick and thin. We were both inseparable, and her mother sometimes always joked that if either of us had been born a boy, we would have gotten married.
Feyikemi was one of the strongest people I knew.
When were in SS2, she had gone though a reckless and wild phase, and had ended up getting r@ped and impregn@ted by one of her many make friends. Out of fear, she had gone ahead to abort the baby, and her family didn’t take the news well when they found out.
It had been a completely messy affair, and my friend had fallen into terrible depression, the guilt eating away at her so bad that it began to manifest on her health.
During those times, I couldn’t help her. I couldn’t even reach her. Not that I would even be able to help her if I had the chance. I had nothing to offer her as a person, so I just hoped and joined my own mother in prayers for her salvation.
After months of that, she made a miraculous recovery. She claimed to have found God in her depression, that he had saved her, especially after watching a news clip about a famous rape victim and motivational speaker named Rika Sato-Akabane, who had almost committed suicide due to depression but was rescued by God.
She spoke and spoke of God and how she could see Him more than ever now, and most of the time I just agreed with her. I was happy as long as she was back to normal.
It wasn’t that I didn’t know what she meant, I just didn’t understand it much. To me, God was just a routine that I did on Sundays, like someone that it was just necessary for me to worship, because my parents worshipped Him.
I could never begin to fathom what she meant by having a deeper relationship with God, and I didn’t really pay much attention to that aspect of my life.
My friend had returned back to her normal, joyful self, and that was all I really cared about.
I was sure that if it had been me, I would never have been able to do what she did.
She stood up, bringing me out of my thoughts, slapping a mosquito on her leg.
“I’m done oh. Finish and come inside quickly.” She said, patting my head and pulling the baby’s cheeks playfully.
“Okay mummy.” I answered back playfully, and she gave a hearty laughter.
????
I sat at a very long lecture a few days later, trying hard not to sleep. It wasn’t like the class was boring, I was just so tired.
I had been woken up abruptly the previous night by one of my roommates who had returned to the hostel very late, and she almost took my head off for locking the door when I knew she was still out.
She had complained and complained for several minutes, and naturally I couldn’t say anything to her, but her constant insults kept me awake until the sleep cleared from my eyes. I had ended up staring into space until it was time to get up, being very irritated and sleep deprived.
I yawned.
I was finding it really hard to stay awake, and I felt my eyelids start to close. My phone buzzed in my hand and I sprung awake, quickly unlocking it.
There was a message from Tobi.
‘Roses are red, violets are blue, I’m trying to stay awake, and so should you.’ was what it read, followed by a string of Emojis. I giggled involuntarily, and scanned the hall for him, finally spotting him some seats away from mine.
He was staring softly at me, his head resting on his palms, and then he gave me a little wave.
I nodded awkwardly, and turned back to my phone, replying him with a thanks.
Tobi should really be careful about how he behaved around girls like me.
One wrong move and it would make my heart race.
I sighed.
It was better not to get my hopes up. Someone like Tobi would never like someone like me. Whoever would be compatible with him, had to be as smart, beautiful and wonderful as he was.
Not that it really mattered anyway.
I had accepted that I would probably never receive attention from boys, and I would pettily call girls that received attention from boys attention seekers or pr0$titutes in my head.
Yep.
I was that kind of person.
But you can’t really blame me.
Eighteen years of low self-esteem, bullying and social anxiety can do that to a person.
I unconsciously looked in Tobi’s direction, and was shocked to meet his eyes already on me.
I blushed furiously. (Seishun satsbasaron)
Had he been staring at me?
He smiled warmly, like as if what he was doing wasn’t turning my brain into jelly.
I didn’t return the smile, but instead turned away quickly, and didn’t look his way again.
Once the lecture was over, I gathered my things quickly, hoping to make a James Bond exit before Tobi could accost me with his stupid heart racing smile.
I stopped halfway through my frantic packing.
What was I doing?
He would accost me? For what? What I had seen earlier had probably just been an honest coincidence. I sighed. Why was I getting ahead of myself?
I began to walk calmly out of the hall.
“Ileri.”
I heard my name behind me and turned back.
Jesus Christ.
This Tobi boy was walking up to me.
He smiled and began to walk in step with me, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.
“How was the lecture?” He asked sweetly.
“F-fine.” I responded nervously.
He smiled at me again.
“Are you still having problems with that topic? I can teach you again like last time.”
“O-oh? Did Ire ask you for help again?”
“No, it’s just the two of us this time.”
I almost choked on my saliva.
Ehn?
Just the two of us keh?
In which world?
With which Ileri?
We had reached the main road now, and I began to scroll through my phone, ignoring his statement and trying to distract myself from this very weird conversation.
I focused all my attention on my phone, and didn’t notice that I was walking into the road.
Suddenly, soft but firm hands grabbed my arms and pulled me roughly to the side.
I gasped, then watched as a Keke zoomed past where I had just been standing.
“Ilerioluwa! Are you okay?” Came Tobi’s voice from my other side.
I stuttered, then looked up at the cool, slightly irritated expression of my rescuer.
It was Sean.
He stared blankly at my sweaty face.
“I’m beginning to think that you really have a death wish.” Came his soft, dry voice.
Oh God.
What kind of situation was this?!!!!
????
Did anyone spot Rika??????
What did you think of the today’s chapter???
Written by Authoress Covenant.
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