Diary of a college girl episode 1

Diary of a College Girl
THE WRITER
Hi I’m Grace
 
I’m an Akora and a graduate of KNUST where I read computer science.
 
I love reading novels and apparently, I can write too.
 
Life in the imaginary world is beautiful, and I hope this story takes you on another wild ride in the life of our college girl.
 
GRACE KLUBI
 
DIARY OF A COLLEGE GIRL:
A TOUCH OF LOVE
EPISODE 1
 
My first long vacation was exciting.
 
I had applied for an internsh¡p at another furniture company called Agtu Woodworks. The founder was my father’s good friend and my mum had wanted me to have experience in another industry before I came to Nana K.
 
I obliged because I didn’t want her fussing over me while we worked in the same company.
 
First-year of school had been like a dream. I’m sure it would have made for an exciting story. I wonder if anyone’s first-year story could top mine.
 
My internsh¡p was supposed to be for six weeks, and it was to begin two weeks after I arrived home.
 
On arriving home, I realized that my mum had hired a house-help since she was no longer a housewife and had to fill in my father’s shoes at the company.
 
This gave me a bit of relief.
 
I was constantly worried as to how she was coping, but she always got so crestfallen whenever I brought up the subject of my late father that I eventually had to stop asking.
 
He was the love of her life, and his death had taken a toll on her even though she was trying to be strong for me. She had lost a little weight and, sometimes, her eyes were bloodshot from crying all night.
 
She missed him dearly and I feared for her sometimes, but like the strong woman she was, she always managed to look cool, calm, and on top of situations.
 
I admired her greatly and never brought it up. The idea of someone living with her was welcome. At first, I had my doubts, but after three days of living with the help – Yaa, or Sister Yaa as we all fondly called her – all the doubts went up in smoke.
 
Sister Yaa was very hærdworking and friendly. She was a joy to be around. Although she had ended her education at the middle school level, she was very affluent and could express herself with much finesse and decorum.
 
Despite being from the village, she handled the management of the house with precision and expertise. She was a great cook and honest to a fault. I felt blessed that she was there to keep my mum company. She also cracked us up with stories of her life in the village.
 
She told us of one occurrence when she was twelve years old, and a man came to spy on her having her bath. Her grandmother had told her she would get pregnant if a man saw her unclad. She s₱0tted the man and quickly covered up and went home wailing and begging for forgiveness for getting pregnant.
 
Her mother – who was a single mother – beat her up while her grandmother seemed so disappointed. After a while, they accepted it. The first month, no show, no morning sickness, no fatigue, nothing.
 
Her mother began to fear that she had aborted the baby and sent her to a doctor to check.
 
The doctor confirmed that she wasn’t pregnant. Her mother wanted to beat her up again for having an abortion in the doctor’s office but the doctor confirmed that her womb didn’t seem like she had had an abortion.
 
Upon further investigations, they found out that she had come to confess pregnancy after a pervert had spied on her taking her bath. The doctor had a good laugh and tasked her mother to cook her a bowl of etor (mashed yam and plantain) with six eggs as compensation for beating her up.
 
We had a good laugh at the story. And my mum seemed lighter than ever. She was almost her old self. It was a very good evening for us.
 
With Sister Yaa around to help, there were no many chores for me. I slept, ate good food, played games and watched movies for the two weeks before my internsh¡p.
 
Life at Agtu began well.
 
Wanting to give a good impression, I had gone shopping and bought some decent but beautiful office wear. I was going to be working with the administration department of the company.
 
On my first day, mum had the driver drop me off with a warning that on subsequent trips after I knew the area, I would have to take public transport like everyone else.
 
“This woman has taken over the disciplinarian role,” I thought to myself. I was a bit jittery and all kinds of thoughts ran through my mind.
 
Would they like me?
 
Would they think I was too haughty?
 
I hoped no one knew I was the heiress of Nana K.
 
What if the CEO popped in and hugged me? He was friends with daddy. Would people think I was stuck up?
 
“Small Madam, we reach oo,” the voice of Mr. Alloy interrupted my reveries.
 
I sat up and looked out the window as our car entered the headquarters of Agtu.
 
I was impressed. Although not as magnificent as Nana K, Agtu had a beautiful headquarters.
 
A central fountain with a directions map sat beautifully in the middle. To the east were huge buildings where the furniture factory was located. There was a lot of noise coming from that end.
 
The western wing held storage and containers packed with furniture ready for distribution and sh¡pment.
 
To the north of the fountain was the administration. It was an edifice. It had two main pillars rising to the roof proudly, and at the base of the pillars were two gold-plated lions.
 
The roof was dome-shaped and the walls glistened like crystals. It was a magnificent edifice. I was impressed.
 
Nana K’s administration building paled in comparison to Agtu although its compound was much bigger and more glamorous.
 
My Alloy parked in front of the building and I alighted.
 
“Thank you. Please come get me at six o’clock.”
 
“Madam say make ano come pick you oo. She say make you follow your friends pick trotro come house, no vex.”
 
I smiled and shook my head as I walked off.
 
My mum was determined to continue in my dad’s disciplinarian footsteps. I wasn’t bothered though. Life had taught me to be strong and face all challenges head-on.
 
“Besides, one day I would be CEO of Nana K. I’ll have cars at my disposal. This is the only time I can have the trotro experience,” I said to myself.
 
I got to the reception and greeted with my signature smile. The lady looked up and smiled back. She had been busy watching YouTube videos on her phone.
 
“My father wouldn’t have tolerated such behaviour in Nana K,” I said to myself.
 
“My name is Cherie, I’m here for my internsh¡p.”
 
“Oh okay. It’s seven-thirty now. The manager will be in at eight or thereabouts. Kindly wait with your friends over there,” she said as she pointed to a bench where two other ladies and a guy was seated.
 
I walked over, greeted, and sat next to one of the ladies.
 
After toying with my phone for a while, as usual, I decided to make a conversation with the girl seated next to me.
 
“Hi,” I said.
 
She glanced at me and sized me a bit disrespectfully and faked a smile.
 
“Hi.”
 
I was slightly irked by her behaviour but I decided to press on.
 
“My name is Cherie. What’s yours?”
 
“Fala,” she replied.
 
I was curious as to what language the name was in, so I asked.
 
“It’s Ewe. It’s a name given to a person who gives calm, or peace,” she explained.
 
I nodded and smiled.
 
“Beautiful name,” I said.
 
“Thank you.”
 
This time, her smile reached her eyes and made her look very beautiful.
 
I decided to engage her more but, as if she sensed it and didn’t want a part of it, she pulled out her headphones started nodding to some music.
 
I also returned to my game of Candy Crush game as we waited.
 
The receptionist came back to us at 8:12 a.m. apologising for the delay. She said the manager had arrived and had a few things to attend to. She was required to give us a tour of the place while we waited for his audience.
 
Smiling, she asked us to follow her to her workstation and when we got there, a young man very handsomely dressed walked in. I thought of him as a very handsome boy, till he opened his mouth.
 
“Yo! B! What’s up!” he yelled.
 
The receptionist smiled at him and they exchanged pleasantries.
 
As I looked at them being nice to each other, my displeasure mounted.