Christine Onyinye Nwafor

Monday morning came and had me excited for new things to begin. I was up by 7 am and took a quick shower.

Afterwards, I began dressing and aplying some make up quickly, mindful to not wake Kemi who was surprisingly still sleeping comfortably. I had a brief internal battle whether or not to wake her up. She could have classes this morning and be oversleeping, you never know, so after contemplating it, I decided to wake her up.

I shook her lightly repeatedly and some seconds after she turned to me, groggily wiping at her eyes.

"Good morning." I greet her as she stares up at me confusedly.

"Morning. What's up?" Her voice is raspy as she speaks.

"I'm leaving. Do you have classes this morning?"

"By 11, yeah. Why?"

"I just wanted to check in, make sure you weren't oversleeping." I say and at that she gives me a small smile.

"Thank you. Although, I should actually put an alarm." She grabs her phone and begins typing, putting an alarm.

I nod my head and go back to packing my bag for class. "I'm leaving." I inform her with my hand on the door knob.

"Have a nice day." She says with a small wave of her hand before turning back to sleep.

"You too." I leave, heading downstairs. I see some other students on my way, all dressed up, while others are in a break room I never even knew we had.

I head out and see Chinedum leaning against a red Lexus car while typing away at her phone. At the sound of my footsteps approaching, she looks up at me with a grin. "About time. C'mon before we are late."

She gets into her car and so do I. Soon we begin the drive to the cafeteria. We grab plates and I get some French toast, not really hungry. Chinedum and I go to seat in a corner by ourselves.

"Where are the others?" I ask her as we settle in.

"They are probably still sleeping. Besides, they don't eat breakfast here." Chinedum says as she digs into her food.

"How come? So it's not compulsory to eat here?" I ask remembering them saying earlier that some Remi guy doesn't come to the cafeteria.

"Nope. Take Remi for example. He has probably stepped foot in here once or twice in three years." She says with a small chuckle. "No one knows for sure where he eats but I have heard rumors that he has his maids from home bring him food every two days or so, he has a stocked fridge in his room which is supposed to be against the school rules but who cares when you are Remi Adenuga." Nedum informs me.

I nod my head before remembering something. "Oh, do you know anyone named Kemi? She's my new roommate and she says she knows you."

"Yeah, I do." Nedum says. "She's Remi's sister. Really nice girl."

I'm surprised at this but brush it off. No wonder she is in the Adenuga Hostel, I guess.

Soon, we are done with our meal so we make our way out of the cafeteria.

"Okay, so your class is like a five minutes drive away. I'll drop you and when you are done, text me. I'll pick you up." Nedum says.

I can't help but look at her in admiration. I've only been here for a very short while and she has been nothing but kind to me. "Thank you for everything." I tell her.

She shakes her head at me with a small smile. "It's nothing. Everyone needs someone right?"

We arrive at my lecture hall and with a deep sigh I get out of the car and walk in.

——————

Two days later, I arrive in my room around evening time thoroughly spent and tired. It's around 5 pm as I had a class that went overtime so I decide to take a quick nap. An hour later, I'm awakened by the shrill ringing of my phone in the darkness. I slowly locate it and pick the call without looking at the caller ID. "Hello?"

I hear a loud squeal that makes me move my phone away from my ear and look at it. I see that it is Chinedum. "He's back! So we are going out this evening. Are you interested?"

I rub my eyes and try to understand what she jut said in my sleepy state. Her boyfriend who was supposed to resume school two days ago was finally back and she wants to go out.

"Outside school?" I ask.

"Yup."

Anywhere outside school will definitely be expensive due to the status of the area and I'm not sure if I want to splurge the little money that my father had given me on just one outing.

Chinedum seems to sense my hesitation to agree. "Bills on me of course, as your inviter. Pleaseee. You don't want to leave me alone with that crazy cousin of mine and her friends, do you? Don't worry we won't be out for too long." She tries reassures me.

I'm still a bit hesitant, not wanting to seem like a charity case but then I like the idea of going out, only one problem. "But, chill, isn't it a school night? How come they'll let us go out?"

"Remi took permission for us." She chuckles at that. "Well more like demanded it and they had to agree ."

"Alright then, count me in. What time are we leaving?"

——————

The drive to our destination took a little under fifteen minutes due to the surprising lack of traffic and the nearness of the venue. The place is an outdoor restaurant. I can hear the sound of highlife music pouring from the speakers surrounding a stage with musicians on it. The vibe is chill and calm, and I immediately fall in love with this place.

Chinedum runs into the arms of a guy, a tall muscular dark skinned guy, who engulfs her in a tight hug before kissing her on the lips. Soon, their moment is disrupted by another guy who says, "Y'all act you're married or something." The guy says with a laugh.

I look to him but my attention is immediately pulled to the guy beside him. The guy from the car park. His attention is on his phone as he smokes a big brown cigar, pulling it out to release a puff of smoke from his mouth. I can't help but stare at him, finding that simple action so sexy.

He is just as good looking with his shades off as I had imagined. His face is sculpted with a straight nose right in the middle. His full lips are a beautiful shade of pink. I feel my lashes lower as I stare, just the sight of him intoxicating my senses.

It seems he can feel my eyes on him because he looks up at me and a flicker of recognition crosses his eyes. I feel a strange flutter at the bottom of my stomach at the knowledge that he remembers me.

Suddenly, I recall where we are and who we are with and I have to physically force myself to move my eyes off of him and back to my friend, just in time.

Chinedum turns to me and then to her boyfriend and says, "Baby, this is my friend Christine, she's new here. Christine, this is my boyfriend Micheal."

"It's nice to meet you." He says as we shake hands.

Luckily, he doesn't ask me about the fact that I'm new here because in all honesty, people's reaction when I say the reason is beginning to get old. I am now known as the scholarship kid like it is some kind of abomination to be intelligent.

We settle into the colored plastic chairs around the tables which had been pushed together. I see Samantha, Sade and Regina who is seated a little too close to the guy from yesterday. I feel a shocking spark of jealousy in my chest which settles a little bit when I notice that he doesn't even pay her any mind. I thought they said she was into that Remi guy, anyway. They call the waiter and we all place our orders.

I get beef suya and a bottle of coke. The atmosphere is chill with the sound of the music in the background creating a good vibe. The weather too is agreeable as the evening air is breezy.

Chinedum and Micheal are glued together as they exchange words low enough for only themselves to hear. Meanwhile, Samantha and Sade are huddled together looking at their phones, occasionally criticizing people they see on Instagram, or some other social media, aloud. While, the guy seated next to me is listening attentively to the band performing.

Our food arrives and we all begin digging in. Suddenly, the guy next to me turns to me with a grin on his face. "Hey, I'm Hassan."

"I'm Christine." I introduce myself reciprocating his smile. He is very light skinned, but not exactly what I will consider handsome as it almost looks like he is saved by his complexion. He doesn't look like a full Nigerian, however. His hair is low and in jelly curls which I like.

"Lovely name." He compliments but I just grin politely. His vibe was a bit off but I didn't want to come to any conclusions about him since I had only just met him so I stayed polite.

"Thank you." I say.

"So, what year are you in?" He asks, a slight American accent in his voice the more he speaks.

"I'm in my third year, studying financial accounting." I inform him hoping desperately that he doesn't ask me why I'm just resuming.

"Interesting. I thought you were in your first year for a minute." He lets out a small laugh to which I chuckle dryly, confused on what is funny. "How come you are just resuming then?" He finally asks.

"That's a story for another day." I tell him turning to use my toothpick to eat some suya.

"A woman of mystery. I like that." He says with a smirk.

I internally roll my eyes before looking forward and straight into the glaring eyes of the guy from yesterday who stares at us as if his eyes can cause a wedge between us.

"Remi. Remi. Remi." I hear Regina whine repeatedly while tugging at his arm. He turns to her reluctantly, breaking our eye contact.

I let out a small relieved sigh before my eyes widen as an understanding sets in. So this is the infamous Remi Adenuga. I'm not all that surprised. He does exude this powerful aura that seemed to make everyone around him seem a little less.

About fifteen minutes in, I'm bored out of my mind. Chinedum and Micheal are indulged in a seemingly intense conversation, the girls all have their attention on their iPhones, something it seems they do a lot, Remi and I keep exchanging small glances at each other meanwhile, Hassan is talking my ear off about things I couldn't care less about such as the recent trip he took to Cyprus during the summer break. I was just about ready to leave this damn place and it seemed I wasn't the only one feeling this way. Remi too looked bored out of his mind too, with Regina still holding on to his arm like it is life support.

Soon, the band ends their performance to the applause of everyone and they leave the stage. Hassan quickly excuses himself to go speak to them and I breathe a sigh of relief at the break from him however short. The three girls also excuse themselves to go use the restroom. Why they all had to go at once, I don't know and I don't care.

Left at the table is just myself, Remi, Chinedum and Micheal. I just look off at the open space when I hear the sound of a chair scraping against the cement before the chair beside me, previously occupied by Hassan, is pulled back. I look to it only to see Remi sitted comfortably there with a slight smirk on his face knowing he caught me off guard.

"Hello." He says, his voice smooth and deep.

I feel myself gulp loudly before I reply in a raspy voice. "Hi." Up close, the strong scent of his cologne is driving my hormones up the wall and making the butterflies in my stomach flutter harder.

"I'm Remi Adenuga." He introduces himself, stretching his hand out to me. I take it. His grip is firm and his hand slightly cold.

"I'm Christine Nwafor."

He nods at that before leaning back into the chair a bit. "Is it just me or is this whole thing awfully boring?"

"It is." I agree with a small groan. I could have been on my new, highly comfortable bed sleeping my ass off but here I am with all these people, some who couldn't bother to give me a second glance. Well, except the man currently seated next to me.

He lets out a small laugh, his pearly white teeth creating a sharp contrast against his dark complexion. I can't help but stare at his lips even after he stops laughing. I slowly blink when I realize I've been looking at him for a second too long and he noticed, my face hot with embarrassment.

"It's okay to stare. I think you're beautiful too." I hear Remi say making me look up at him so quickly I think I will have a whiplash.

"So, Christine, I have a solution to alleviate our boredom. Wanna hear it?" He asks with a playful glint in his eye.

"Of course."

"There's a bar right over there, how about I buy you a drink and you tell me about yourself."

And before I know it, I am allowing myself to be led to the bar by this dangerously handsome stranger.

——————————
I like danger.