Christine Onyinye Nwafor

It's been over a week since that night outing we'd had, and in all that time, Remi hadn't contacted me. I found myself thinking of him often and coming up with possible reasons why he hadn't called; maybe he lost my number? Maybe his phone got stolen? Maybe he's been too busy with school? And then, in some moments, I wished I had asked for his number as well but in all honesty, I wasn't sure if I would have even used it given the type of person I am.

Chinedum had noticed a few times that my mind was occupied with something but I hadn't told her what, although, I'm pretty sure she had an idea. However, she didn't outrightly mention it to me.

Friday came by in a flash and I was glad to finally have a chance to rest over the weekend. This school was a lot more rigorous in their scheme than Chapel Ground so I had to work twice as hard to keep up with the work and maintain good grades which wasn't very easy seeing as I resumed late.

Adding to my workload were the plans that Chinedum and I were making to start up our partnership business. She tried not to burden me with the business aspect, wanting instead to use her contacts to pull some strings, but she still often needed my opinions on some things so we spoke about it a lot, mostly brainstorming on how to make the brand unique.

The prospect of owning a business -although not solely as Chinedum would be getting a cut of 30% from the profit- had me so excited. I'd like to think I'm an intelligent girl, but in all honesty I never really considered being an entrepreneur. I felt like it took too much time for a business to pick up especially without the proper resources, hence why I chose Accounting. Bankers made all the money these days, it seemed. But, with Chinedum giving me the financial backing I needed, I was grateful to her for the idea.

The sound of Mr Bademosi's hand coming down on his desk had me jolting out of my reverie and back to the present real quick. I stared ahead with a straight face as if I hadn't just been caught day dreaming along with some people, the rest of the class dozing off instead.

"This is preposterous!" His loud voice boomed in the hall. "I will not condone such lackadaisical attitude in my class!"

"Na wa oh." I heard the girl behind me say lowly before kissing her teeth.

Business administration lectures were the most boring so far and it was not because of the course itself, rather, it was because of the lecturer, Mr Bademosi.

I consider myself a good speaker with a wide array of words at my disposal, but this man took English to the next level. He often times spoke in a nearly incomprehensible manner and it led to us not being able to focus, hence the sleeping and day dreaming in his class.

The only good thing is that he loves the sound of his voice so much that he could drone on and on for a really long time, before he finally realizes that no one was paying him any attention all the while, well, in most cases, no one but Gbemi, a small but brilliant light skinned girl who always sat in the front of his class. I could see her opposite me, paused in her note taking process by Mr Bademosi's abrupt speech.

"As a punishment for all of your irreverence and pure insolence towards my presence." He spits out, his nose stuck high in the air and his forehead heavily wrinkled in annoyance. "Your assignment for today will be to revise the whole part 11 to part 15 of your handbook ahead of the class, I want each and every test question at the end of each chapter answered and this assignment should be turned in without fail on Tuesday morning." He said and immediately the sound of students clamouring erupted in the hall.

The man was being absurd at this point, there was no way we could get this done in four days more so with the school Rager being tomorrow night and the whole weekend ahead. I wasn't still sure if I would be attending it, but it seemed like right now I didn't have any choice but not to if I planned on getting this ridiculous assignment done on time.

"Silence! Failure to do so..., well, I need not inform you on the repercussions. Class dismissed!" He barked and students slowly began making their way out, the sound of their collective groaning and annoyed sounds echoing through the hall.

I stole a glance at the man and he looked pleased with himself at being able to get such a reaction from us, I'm sure. With a roll of my eyes, I made my way out of the lecture hall and straight into the scorching heat of the day. It was nearing March and still in the harmattan season so the weather was melting to say the least.

What was even worse is because Chinedum had gone off campus with Micheal, I had to walk all the way back to my hostel just to get my purse before I could head on to the only Sharwama spot in school cause I was craving it badly, but with no money on me at the moment. With a groan, I began the trip inserting my EarPods into my ear and playing some music to make this trek a bit more bearable.

After a few minutes, I saw a car drive past me, I saw several cars actually, but this one, a familiar Range Rover 2019 model, slowly pulled back to where I was walking. The driver's window rolled down and I was surprised to see none other than Remi Adenuga. He gave me a wide grin that had my stomach fluttering but that was halted all too soon. Why was he smiling as if nothing had happened after not contacting me for two whole weeks? I thought incredulously. He didn't owe me anything, that I knew, but why collect my number in the first place if he had no intention on using it? So much for planing to meet up last week.

"Hey, Christine, can I give you a ride?" He asked from inside the car but I paid him no mind, continuing my walk on the pavement after rolling my eyes obviously.

I wasn't in the mood for this.

The car continued moving, trying to keep up with my pace. "I'm sorry for not calling you." He semi yelled but I ignored him still.

Some part of me was able to admit that I was being petty right now, but I didn't care. I had thought we shared some kind of connection that was mutual but obviously it was not if he could switch off on me like that. I didn't have time for guys at this point in my life but I was ready to make an exception for him for some crazy reason.

When he saw that I had absolutely no intention of speaking to him, he pulled the car over and hurried to catch up with me.

"Damn, girl." I heard him say as he suddenly held on to my arm, halting my movements. I looked up to him in mild irritation, most of it dissipating by the second from merely having him standing so close to me. "I'm sorry I didn't contact you earlier. I haven't been in school due to some family issues that I had to handle. I actually just got back in when I saw you walking by." He informed me, an apologetic look etched on his face.

"Is everything okay?" I ask in concern immediately, finding myself worried about him for a split second, or so.

"Yes, everything is fine." He replied with a small smile.

I adjusted the bag strap on my shoulder awkwardly, looking down at the hand he still had wrapped around my arm, his big veiny hand. I never thought a hand could be so sexy but damn, suddenly it was to me.

He followed my eyes and pulled his hand away, dropping it to his side. I licked my suddenly dry lips before staring back up at him. "I thought you'd forgotten about our plans to meet up." I tell him.

"Had it on my mind all week." He points out. "Let me make it up to you. You hungry?"

I nod before replying. "Starving."

"Me too. C'mon let's go get something to eat." He suggests with a tilt of his head to his car and I nod before he begins leading me to it.

Remi comes to open the passenger door for me, waiting until I'm fully in before shutting it closed and heading round to get into the drivers seat. I notice a black duffel bag in his backseat proving what he'd already said; he was just returning to school.

There was silence as he began driving but I became confused as I noticed we were headed for the school gates. "Where are we going?" I asked him in confusion. I thought we were going to the canteen but then I remembered that Remi doesn't eat there.

"There's this place just around here where I get my food from most times. They have the best ofada on the island hands down." He says as he shoots me a grin.

I shook my head with a smile. "I thought you had your fancy maids come drop off food for you." I voiced teasingly.

He chuckled. "Is that what people are saying about me these days?"

"Some." I concurred.

He shook his head chuckling again. We pulled up at the gate and Remi rolled down his window to give his name, I suppose.

"Boss Man, you don comot again?" One of the security guys whose name tag I couldn't see asked in pidgin English.

"I wan go chow." I heard Remi reply and I found it both surprising and funny to hear him speak pidgin. Surprising because of his demeanor and funny because of how he sounded acts voicing the words.

"Ah, Bros, don't forget your boys oh!" The other security man said, bowing his head.

Remi with a small laugh, reaches into his pocket and pulls out his wallet before bringing out some one thousand naira notes. As he was peeling them out, the man closest to the car had his head shot in and an anticipating expression on his face that was so comical, I almost laughed out loud. Remi handed them the money and after them thanking him loudly and one even saluting, we drove out of the school.

I looked to Remi, a big grin on my face. I didn't peg him as a Father Christmas and to be so generous but the revelation was quite pleasing to know.

He glanced at me. "What?" He asked referring to my grin.

"Nothing. I'm just pleasantly surprised with what you did back there, very generous of you. Those men obviously respect you."

He shrugs, "I respect them too. I mean, they are good men who are on this job 24/7, away from their families because they are trying to take care of them through honest work, I respect that so I try to help them out whenever I can." He says simply.

"That's very kind of you." I tell him bringing my hand down to his on the car gear before thinking of my action. He looks down at it before staring at me and for a second I find myself caught up in his deep brown eyes. Until, the car behind us honked loudly making him tear his gaze away from mine and back to the road with a quiet 'shit'.

In a matter of minutes, we pulled into our destination, a mini plaza. Remi put the car on park in front of a building with a sign on it that said Nana's Buka, and as I unlocked my seatbelt, Remi made his way out of the car to pull my door open for me.

"Thank you." I tell him with a small grin which he returns. We make our way into the grey painted duplex, and I'm immediately in love with the decor. I had initially thought, after seeing the name, that the place would be a bit run down and what not but I was completely wrong. The furniture is modern and eccentric but the african art and prints on the wall are what really give it a homey feel. It looks more like a safe place than a restaurant and I turn to look up at Remi who was already staring down at me.

"You like?" He asks me.

"I love it. This place is so cozy." I say as we walk further in, his hand placed on the small of my back causing tingles to course through my body.

"Exactly what I thought when I first came here." Remi says as we head to the counter where a small Calabar girl is seated using her phone. "Table for two please. Upstairs."

She nods and stands up to lead us upstairs. It is even more beautiful with the clear floor to ceiling window that overlooked the road below and I noticed that there weren't much people up here as opposed to downstairs We were led to seats in the corner of the room where there was enough privacy but we still had room to admire the view below us.

We settled in and the girl handed us menus and said, "Your waiter will be with you shortly." And with that she spun on her heels and left.

Remi dropped the menu on the table and stared at me while I went through mine. I wasn't used to eating at such an upscale restaurant that to Remi's kind wasn't even really considered upscale. The menu prices were expensive and I scanned through the pages thoroughly searching for something I could comfortably afford.

Suddenly, the menu I was holding in my hands is plucked away and folded by Remi just as the waiter arrived at our table. He handed the waiter our menus.

"Your usual, Mr Adenuga?" The young guy asks as he collects the booklets.

"Yes." Remi responds and the waiter looks to me as if waiting for a reply but Remi says, "She'll have the same."

Once the waiter walks off with a curt nod, I turn to Remi, my head tilted and my eyebrows raised in question. He gives me a shrug of his shoulders with a smile. "Trust me, you'll love it." He said and I just shook my head.

I got the vibe already that he was used to getting whatever he wants and it wasn't really hard to see why. I'm sure being born in a family as affluent as his, it came with the title.

I was about to speak when his phone went off and with an annoyed glance at it, he turned it off.

"So, how are you going to catch up with all the school you've missed?" I ask him, resting my arm on the table and placing my hands under my chin.

"I've got the syllabus and notes, just a few days to study and I'll be good." He said simply and I nodded. His phone went off again and with an exasperated sigh, he excused himself to take it.

He took a while and in that time our food had arrived. I didn't want to start without him so I pulled out my phone and went to my WhatsApp. I saw that I had a few messages from Chineye and a few 'friends' of mine from my old school. I was suddenly hot stuff to them after I got the scholarship and suddenly they all wanted to be in contact.

My only genuine friend from Chapel Ground is Nnenna and she and I have been friends for as long as I can remember. So, I went ahead to reply she and Chichi's message before dropping my phone on my lap just as Remi began approaching the table once more.

"I was worried I'd have to wait for you till the food got cold." I half joked with a smile and he chuckled.

"My apologies. I had some work to take care of." He told me and I nodded.

We opened up our food, the sweet aroma of the ofada wrapped in moi-moi leaves releasing. I had to remind Remi to say grace and after flashing me an apologetic grin, we prayed together before we began eating.

After the first spoon, I was in love. "Wow." I moaned. "This is so good."

"Told you. Best ofada on the island hands down." He pronounced and this time I couldn't help but nod in agreement.

For the rest of our meal, we both remained quiet. This wasn't the type of food you could eat and be talking otherwise you'd choke. The pepper was a lot but not too much for me to handle, or Remi, but the stew was tasty as well.

Once we were done, we wrapped the moi moi leaves together and kept it on the plate, cleaning our hand with the napkins.

"That was so good." I said after finally drinking a full glass of water.

"I come here almost every week, I'm addicted to their food at this point. Plus, this view helps me calm my head." Remi told me as he wiped his mouth clean before inserting a toothpick.

"I bet." I said as I stared outside the glass windows. Everything looked much more calm from up here, nothing like the usual Lagos madness. Even better, the loud noises from the streets couldn't be heard.

I turned to Remi to find him already staring at me. His face was scrunched up like he was trying to figure me out but his eyes held a certain amount of interest and tenderness all in one stare. I felt my cheeks heat up at I flickered my gaze down to the table before pulling it back up to his. "What?" I asked with a timid smile but he gave me a grin before shaking his head, his eyes seeming to blink slowly as they stared at me.

"So, are you coming to the Rager tomorrow?" He asks changing the subject.

With a semi disappointed smile I replied, "I'm not. I can't. Prof. Bademosi gave us a long ass assignment just because we found his class boring and couldn't hide it." I say, the annoyance in my voice audible. "Anyway, I plan on spending my weekend doing it cause it's a lot."

Remi gives me a sympathetic look. "When do you have to turn it in?" He asks.

"Tuesday." I reply.

He makes a thoughtful sound. "How about, you go to the Rager tomorrow, and Sunday and Monday, I'll help you study. I'm pretty good at Business Administration and I did it last year as an extra course." He informed me.

"Wait, last year? I thought we are in the same year?" I ask perplexed.

He shakes his head. "I'm in 400 Level studying Computer Engineering."

My mouth made an 'O' shape as I suddenly felt stupid for not knowing that although, how could I have?

"So, you'll help me study?" I ask him skeptically with an expression that added the unsaid, 'No funny business?'

He let out a quiet laughter. "Yes. Just study."

"And what do you get in return?" I ask him, squinting my eyes.

"Be my date." He said simply, his eyes staring deeply into mine.

In that moment, I couldn't have said no even if I wanted to. I didn't though.

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