october rush

I got into the university the following year. Before I did my registration, my parents gave me money to buy provisions, clothing, everything that I would require to feel good as an undergraduate. My mother was always full of surprises. She always ensured that her children got what they needed. Two days later I went to the market, got some new sassy casuals and shoes. I also bought provisions according to my elder sister’s advice ‘YNV, don’t buy too many clothes yet. Wait until your mates arrive and when you see the kind of clothes they wear, you will then know exactly what extras to buy.’ my eldest sister was very protective of me. She loved me so much.

My mother’s advice kept changing as I grew older. During that time she told me it was normal and OK to have a boyfriend. Infact, she told me that if I told her I don’t have one she wouldn’t believe me. She warned that I should always know my limits. She also said I could party, go out, but all should end there. No extracurricular activities...Lol
I had all that at the back of my mind. Interesting thing is that I had made up my mind to go that route. She encouraged me in the beginning and it made sense to me. It was all a personal thing.

Lectures started, I got new roommates and I started making new friends. My roommates were a very funny set of girls. The most senior one was kind and friendly but she was a ‘runs girl’ as we used to call them then. She made older male friends outside school, always slept in their houses and she will come back with money. It was a way of life for her, a way of survival. She was considered hot among her mates. I don’t remember having any opinions about her lifestyle. She always used the money she got to buy new clothes and pay up some school levies. One day she told me ‘YNV, u know if you follow me to Abuja, the men there will like you. They will say you are still fresh. Honestly, they will like you’ I just smiled and didn’t encourage her to continue.

Some months later, I went to the Bank in school to collect some money. I was still standing in a cue when I caught a set of eyes fixed at me. The guy was handsome and of average height. I looked away and after some minutes he walked towards me.
O- Hi,
YNV- Hello
O-My name is O.O. you look so familiar, do you live in ….?
YNV- No I don’t (I said very calmly not knowing exactly what he wanted)
O- Ok, I am a final year student of….What’s your name?
YNV (I smiled) my name is YNV. I am a new student
O-That’s nice. Hope you enjoy our school though it’s a lot of work. What department are you in?
YNV- (I told him)
O- it’s a pleasure meeting you. Hope to meet again. Bye
YNV- alright, bye.

I ran into him again after a month in one of the departments in our faculty. He was with a friend and he stopped to say hello. A week after, I met him inside our hostel he was coming down the stairs. He said he came to see his sister and asked for my room number and I gave it to him. That was how O became a regular visitor to my room.
My roommates thought O was cute. I thought he was too but there was this silence I always saw in his face. He didn’t say much whenever he came. All he could tell me most times was how babyish I looked and I always laughed at that. Slowly I started getting very used to him. He visited every night. Then there were no mobile phones so he would come all the way from where he was living without confirming if I was around or not. One night, O didn’t visit, I waited and waited and he never came, it was at that point I realized I was gradually falling in love with him.