My Coursemate - S01 E03

5 months ago

My Coursemate - S01 E03

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 3

"I didn't get the chance to say this yesterday, but permit me to express myself today." I said to Azizat. She was sitting directly opposite me and was looking straight into my eyes. She used her left hand to wedge her chin in a lovely way.

When I woke up that day, I took a decision to take Azizat out and personally pay the bill. I borrowed N5,000 from my friend, Eke. It was his handout money and he warned me seriously to return it to him in two days. I promised to return the money even though I had no hope of any income. But Azizat was worth it.

I wanted to be the one to ask her out, so I called her and told her of my desire to take her to the school canteen. She agreed. We arrived there by 5pm. I had requested her to leave her car behind, so she came by public transport. The car made me feel intimidated the other day.

"What was it that you wanted to tell me yesterday?" Azizat asked.

"I wanted to tell you that you are beautiful. I actually like you even before you asked me to be your boyfriend. You were just faster to ask me out first." I said. It was a lie. I just wanted to take charge of the relationship. I just wanted to be a man. I think she knew what I was trying to do, but she allowed me to do it. Both of us laughed knowingly.

"So may I officially ask you to be my girlfriend?" I said. At that moment, the waitress at the canteen arrived to serve us point and kill fish. I was very lucky that Azizat insisted on eating point and kill. It was very cheap as it was sold for N2500 at the canteen. But unfortunately for me, the waitress prepared two fish for us. I had asked him to prepare one. He added two soft drinks and two bottles of water and the bill climbed to N6,200.

I became very restless because I had only N5k in my pocket and I was trying to manage it. I don't know if the waitress didn't hear me well when we ordered, but I'm officially in trouble.

"Yes, I will be your girlfriend." Azizat said. Her voice interrupted by thoughts and called me back to the moment. My mind was calculating how I will pay the remaining N1,200 when her voice came. I tried to control myself and appear normal even though I was sweating inside.

"I'm so happy right now. I'm happy to have a girl like you in my life. Thank you for accepting to share your beautiful life with me. I love you Azizat. You are as beautiful as a freshly plucked rose flower." I said.

"I love you too, Oti. You are so handsome and smart. You shine like the morning star. With you in my life, there will be no darkness." Azizat responded. We began to eat the fish. It was so sweet and far testier than any fish I had ever eaten back in the village.

"I'm from, Udi in Enugu state. I'm the only child of my parents. I'm 25. My parents are farmers and to be frank, we are not well to do. To be blunt, we are very poor." I said. I took a bottle of water, opened it and gulped like a frog.

water, opened it and gulped like a frog.

"I'm from here. I mean, I'm a Lagosian and my father is the Vice Chancellor of UNILAG. My mother runs a supermarket at Lekki. I'm the lastborn of my parents' three children. I'm 19. The rest are abroad." Azizat said. Her words came like bombshell.

"So I'm going out with the VC's daughter? Am safe?" I asked as both of us laughed. It was a serious thing and not a laughing matter but I pretended to be fine with it. The implications could be dangerous, but there was no going back.

We spent some more time at the canteen talking about many other things. Azizat is so fun to be with such that I didn't know when it became dark. We decided it was time to leave.

As soon as we stood up, the waitress arrived and asked me to pay the bill. I stylishly left my phone on the table and told the waitress that I was coming. By then, Azizat had called her driver to come over and pick her up and he was waiting outside the canteen. I led her to the car and made sure they had driven very far before I returned to the canteen to attend to the waitress.

"Please, I want to beg you for something. I only have N5k with me and the bill is N6,200. Please, keep my phone and take the N5k. When I come tomorrow, I will complete the money and take my phone." I pleaded. I was behaving as if I wanted to cry. I should have asked Azizat to help me complete the money but my pride did not allow me.

"We don't do that here. But there is a way we can settle this issue." The waitress said. Before I could utter another word, I was dragged into the kitchen and made to wash plates and scrub the floor. After about two hours of suffering, the security man at the gate still seized my phone when I wanted to leave.

"You will collect the phone when you pay the remaining N1,200. You have only two days." He said. I was so humiliated. Things we do for love.