Tiwatope’s Redemption

Tiwatope’s Redemption – Episode 3

Tiwatope’s Redemption – Episode 3

By Kayode Odusanya

She kept her eyes focused on him as she took deep breaths, trying to slow down her heart beat before finally saying, “What’s your name?”

“Tolu.”

“Tolu, are you trying to get yourself killed?” she said and Tolu smiled even more. “This is serious. Why do you keep smiling?” He put his arms in front of his chest in sort of like an upside down V shape fashion, with his left palm wrapped around his balled up right fist. He focused on her as his facial expression went from a smile to a scary frown. She was taken aback for a second, until he started to laugh. “What is wrong with you? I am not trying to have someone’s blood on my hands.” She said and pulled out her phone. “I’ll call my boyfriend…sorry, my ex…I’ll call him to straighten things out.”

“Life is ephemeral.”

“What?” She said and stopped what she was doing to look up at him.

“For whoever wants to save their life will lose it.” She stared at him confused, and he went on to add, “That’s from Mathew 16, verse 25.”

“Wait; are you some sort of religious fanatic?” She said, and he laughed lightly. “Is that why you have been following me about? Are you trying to get me to your fellowsh¡p or something?”

“No.” He said and laughed a little more. “I saw that Bible verse in a bus yesterday, and it just got stuck in my head.”

She looked towards the gate and looked back at him. “Whatever…dude, you really need to realize the consequences of what you just did.”

He sighed and stared at her for a few seconds before saying, “I came here to eat. Come let me buy you coke or something.”

She looked at him in shock as he walked into the cafeteria nonchalantly, without an atom of fear in him. Her eyes went back to the gate for a second before proceeding to join him in,side the cafeteria.

……….

They had been there for about half an hour and the place had gotten scanty over time, with just about half a dozen people eating. Tolu and Tiwatope were seated opposite each other directly under a ceiling fan and her full curly hair made continuous up and down movements. A loud, fast talking man was on the radio, speaking broken English, making up jokes about the poor state of the country. Tolu was explaining to her how his Dad was the dean of student affairs at their university, and that most of the cult members on campus were known by him. But there was really nothing he could do, as some of them had parents who donated millions to the school yearly, so the school couldn’t rusticate them.

He went on to tell her that all the cult boys on campus knew who he was, and that they knew never to mess with him as that would lead to his dad opening a can of worms.

His story was somewhat believable, but she felt there was something else he wasn’t telling her. “So…why have you been following me around?” she asked and the familiar smile came back on his face. Even though he wasn’t so good looking, she found him attractive as he smiled.

“Because…” he started saying, then stopped. He looked into space for a while, and then focused back on her. “I’ll tell you in a couple of days.” He said and got off his seat. She sat there, looking up at him with a scowl on her face. “Come on! Do like me and smile. Life is beautiful; beautiful like you.” He added and slowly, a smile crept up her face.

___

A complete week had gone by since the cafeteria incidence and Tiwatope hadn’t seen Tolu. She got really scared thinking of what could have happened to him. Chucks had told her he didn’t have anything done to the guy, and even though she knew that would be his response even if he did, she believed him. At a point, she was tempted to get descriptions to Tolu’s house and check on him, but she changed her mind last minute. If something had happened to the son of the school’s DSA, news of it would have been everywhere by now, she thought to herself.

Now she was seated at the right rare end of a white Volvo luxury bus with the other students of her department, waiting for the takeoff for their field-trip. She thought he would at least show up for this trip, and even kept a seat for him beside her, but he was a no show. In the bus, up ahead was lanky Professor Ojo, dressed in his usual grey colored Safari suit. Tiwatope wondered if he had many of the same type of suit, or it was the same one he wore all the time. His younger assistant, Mr. Okereke was dressed casually in a sky blue Lacoste polo top, and black jeans. He was in his early thirties and rumor had it that he had slept with more female students than he could count. Apart from being Mr. Tall, dark and handsome, he also helped lazy girls upgrade their exam scores. The reason he had gone on this long without being caught was because anytime the stories would make rounds, the same female students were the ones that defended him. Tiwatope saw him staring at her, and looked away. He just wasn’t her type.

The professor was addressing the crowd now, talking about the two destinations that would be visited during the trip, and asking if anyone had any medical conditions that he needed to know about. The driver fired up the bus engine and the professor was inaudible for a few seconds. Tiwatope was half listening anyway, so she turned to the side to watch her course mates running up to the bus with the fear of being left behind. She undid the topmost button of her deep brown shirt and sat back in her seat. She was drifting off to daydream world when she heard a familiar voice say, “Is there anyone on this seat?” She looked up at him with a smile; he didn’t smile back.

……….

They were side by side on the seat just after the back door of the long bus. She wanted to ask him where he had been all these while, but it seemed like he wasn’t in the mood to talk. Asides from the initial greetings, Tiwatope and Tolu had barely said anything to each other. It was odd seeing him with a straight face. He also had a neat haircut, and looked a little more handsome than usual.

She occasionally looked his way, but the expressionless look was still on his face. After a while, she got up, reached into her bag on the luggage rack above and pulled out her iPad. The bus tires entered a poth0le and she fell back in her seat abruptly. He smiled and looked her way for a second before looking away. Then he looked at her again; intensely this time. “How long have you had this hairdo?” He said and she turned to look at him with a quizzical look on her face. “You must really like it.” He added.

“What?” She said and ran her fingers through her hair before adding, “This is my real hair.”

His eyes grew bigger in shock, and then he slowly reached for hair. Still not convinced, he looked at her and said, “how come?”

“My…I’m biracial.”

“Oh! I didn’t know that.” He said with excitement in his voice as he waited for her to say more, but she looked out the window of the bus, and their sitting area went quiet again.

She turned to him after a while and asked, “So what happened to you? Why did you go MIA?”

He looked into space for a few seconds before answering with, “I had some family issues.”

“Oh! Sorry to hear that. I was…I thought someone had done something to you.”

He smiled before saying, “You mean Chuks and his clique? That’s the least of my worries.”

“You care to share what’s bothering you?”

“Umm! Really, there is nothing you or anyone can do about it, so I’d rather not.”

“Okay; if you say so.” She said and turned to look out the window again.

“Did you miss me?” He said with a smile on his face.

“What? I barely know you, why would I miss you?”

“Hahaha! You are very straightforward. I like that. But you can’t say you didn’t miss me bugging you.”

“Why would I miss that? By the way, you said you were going to tell me why you had been following me around.”

“Hmm! That’s true.” He said and started biting the fingernails on his right hand for a while before adding, “Don’t worry, I will tell you…after this trip.”

To be continued

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