MANY TROUBLED WATERS . Part 2 - Servant of Sin

Ken was always going to be the underdog. It was as if fate wouldn’t permit her to have the one thing that could bring her joy. As she bathed her kids and got them ready for sleep she thought about him more freely . No use struggling to keep thoughts of him out of her mind. Her response to his message and her consequent resolve to get back in touch with him opened up the dam she had kept securely locked up for 12 years. She remembered every little detail. It was eerie how clear it was after these years. There were no grey areas, everything was crystal clear.

She remembered. It was her second year. No guy had succeeded in hunting her down during the crazy JAMB rush so she was still very single. She was a tad too mature for all that. Truth was she never had interests in starting a relationship with any campus boy; she was eyeing bigger fish that were already swimming in the corporate world. Her friends would ‘yab’ her for her aloofness,

“Don’t mind Kiki, she did her own matric before she entered school”

“Kikelomo, you go roast die for this campus, we jus’ dey look you”

But they had no idea where she’d been or where she was coming from. Even as a secondary school girl with ‘shuku’ hairstyle, zero makeup on cherub like face and endless long legs, she was already turning heads and causing accidents on the streets. It was as if men saw her and lost their senses immediately. Initially it terrified her but later she got used to it and basked in it.  As an only child she rarely made it past her father’s high walls and iron gates but whenever she did, the whole neighbourhood guys stood still. There were no cheap catcalls for this exotic cat, only awe and wonder.

Only the women antagonised her,

“Kikelomo, does your mother know you’re outside?”

“Small sister, your skirt is too short, don’t let all these useless neighbourhood boys rape you o”. She could sense their resentment from three blocks away. Bad belle people.

Entering into the university, she knew her pedigree and the endless possibilities of bagging a ‘big boy’ boyfriend and she wasn’t going to mess up her chances. Not until she met Ken.

She had just turned 19 and they had just resumed after one of the long ASU strikes only to discover that exams were just less than 2 weeks away. So the mad rush for classrooms had commenced. Students towing large number of books to classrooms from dusk to dawn.  She was already in her second year in the Accountancy department and was keeping up with her promise to her dad to come home with a first class result.

One of the evenings she was heading to class with her friends, Juliet and Amaka when this tall guy cuddling his books to his chest sauntered past them. He only glanced briefly at them and seemed to lose interest immediately.  Julie, the man crazy one among them was the first to start gushing

“Kiki, Amaka, see guy, o’ boy eh” she turned around to look

“Stop disgracing yourself babe” Amaka responded harshly

“I’m sure he’s a medical student; see all the mighty books he’s carrying” Julie observed

As they chatted away they didn’t notice Kiki’s quietness.

She didn’t just see him, she took him in. In that split second their eyes met she took everything in. she saw the title on the first book he clung to, she took in his clothes, the colour of his eyes. Every single detail. She could tell what went across his mind. It was one word, an exclamation rather, ‘wow!’ In that brief flash life had been in slow motion setting.

Reading that night was a catastrophy. It just wasn’t happening and she finally packed her books and left in frustration.

She never saw him again for weeks. She searched for his face in the crowds, she ‘strolled’ past classrooms - she was looking for him. For the first time in her life she was looking for a man, she laughed at herself. This was getting very embarrassing for her self-esteem.

Then one day, just a day to her exams, she walked into a classroom to tidy up her revision. Everywhere was jammed but in closer scrutiny she saw one seat that was free and even that was stacked with books. She hoped it was just a seat reserved for someone. It was easier to charm her way to getting it for herself than if it belonged to someone who just took a break from reading.  She came closer and was about to ask the guy sitting on the next desk if the books were his when she realised it was him.

If she was white, she would have flushed bright red. It was an awkward 5 seconds before she finally asked if she could sit. He wordlessly cleared the books and she sat.

Was she able to read that night? She thought not. After like 10 minutes she discovered she had been staring at the same paragraph without reading a word. The guy seated next to her was a mighty big distraction.

Finally, with a big sigh about two hours later she packed up her books and stuffed them into her bag. It was then he spoke

“Are you leaving already?”

“Yep” was all she could say.

“Are you walking back alone?”

“Yep” she didn't trust herself to say more for fear of saying something stupid

“That’s not safe…may I walk you a bit” he asked staring intently at her, while she looked at everything except him.

She hesitated briefly, but inside her heart was doing cart wheels

“Ok”

It was that walk that sealed everything. He had a gentle and friendly manner that relaxed her frayed nerves. He didn’t exude the ‘hunter’ aura that most men unwittingly gave off when they came around her. Talking to him was easy, too easy and in the short distance it took to get to their hostel they had become friends.

Part 3 - Servant of sin 2