I switched on the Bluetooth headset I took from ykay’s room and started playing the song, paying attention to the lyrics rather than the beats, all this I did amidst near violent rumbling in my stomach. I knew quite well that none of fmr friends would lend me money, and it wasn’t yet month end, in fact the month was sjust beyond half, so there was no hope of getting money from home. I continued learning the song amidst heavy thoughts of how to get food, the 110 naira on me was already gone before I even spent it spent since I had to call Funke.
I was grateful to Etisalat when I discovered I still had about 10 megabytes left of the weekly 15 megabyte I was given. In order to utilize it , I quickly clicked on Google and started searching for ‘love my baby’ lyrics. I had just few hours left before 7pm- the time I ought to call Funke, therefore, the best I could do was to concentrate on the task despite the protest by the worms in my stomach.
When I felt I my preparation was enough, I went to the Aboki’s shop just outside my hostel to recharge my phone with 100 naira, and I bought 10 naira sugar for the sake of my stomach. I got back to my room and soaked the remnant of my garri, I could feel jubilation in my stomach when the first spoons of garri dropped there, and gradually I came back to life…never underestimate the power of love…I only got to know how hungry I was when I started drinking my’ garium sugarnitrate’.
After my sumptuous meal, I called my Funke to prove to her I could do anything to make her happy…
The best way to enjoy being with the one you love is in the silence of nature, to be out of sight and hearing of the market eyes and ears. Thus, I strolled to the back of the girls hostel, which was the closest to the most silent part of the school- the bush. The female hostel was usually busy at that time of the night with the trooping in of visitors, and I sometimes went there to feed my eyes. On that particular night, my eyes were almost blinded by the powerful rays produced by the headlight of several flashy cars parading the hostel searching for dates.
I kept wondering why the female hostel had to be filled at night with men various classes of the society, I remembered my first few weeks in the school when I told my friends that the fathers of those grills coming to visit them almost every night must be very caring. I remembered how they busted into laughter, don jazz especially who was laughing with tears in his eyes. Mt was benevolent enough to inform me that its actually the daddies that came to visit them, not the biological daddies but the aristo-daddies.and so as I made my way through on that night, I reminded myself it meant actually nothing to those involved, after all it’s a free world.
By the time I got to my silent destination, a feeling of déjà vu stole the moment, as I kept imagining being there with Funke herself in all her glory. As I dialed her number, an additional feeling of anxiety came over me. I was hardly aware when my darling picked up, until I heard ‘hello’, I didn’t bother replying her, though inadvertently, I started singing in the most melodious voice I could produce…and on I went.
To my amusement, i was as good as flawless throughout the song,when i finished singing, the receiver reminded me that I just had a minute left, and with that I simply told her ‘I love you’ and as usual she replied with ‘ok’. It was over three months into our relationship but I was yet to get a word of love from her. I wished her goodnight, tucked my hands into my cashless pockets and started finding my way back to the hostel with a feeling of complacence….
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