Twirl

Epilogue

She was set to resume school the next day. Lolade and her friends from church – Yemisi, Zipporah, Emeka and Zion decided they all go out for the last time before she left for university. After church service that Sunday, they ordered a cab to an eatery. They bought their food; everyone else paid for their meal except her. Zion was kind enough to pay for hers.

They sat in a booth at a far corner in the large room. As they ate, easy conversation went on but she was mostly quiet unless a question was directed to her. She had mixed feelings. She was happy she was finally going to university but was also sad she had to leave her friends behind. She would miss them terribly.

“What course are you doing again? Sorry, I think you’ve told me before but I’ve forgotten,” Emeka said.

She laughed lightly. “Food, nutrition and dietetics.”

To her surprise, her dad let her choose Food, Nutrition and Dietetics as her course of study while filing out her UTME form. This time around, she scored 240. She re-took WASSCE in the school big mummy was principal of.

“Oh nice,”

“I’m going to miss you so much,” Zipporah, who was seating on her right, said.

She hugged her tightly. Tomini laughed heartily, even though she felt the urge to cry.

“Do you want to kill me?” she jokingly asked, elbowing her. Zipporah loosened her hold but still kept an arm around her.

“I know who will miss her most!” Lolade said, mischief dancing in her eyes.

Tomini knew what her cousin was up to. She glared at her. Lolade laughed.

“Abeg o, me I love gist. What’s happening that we don’t know?” Yemisi said excitedly.

She shook her head and concentrated on her plate of jollof rice.

“Zion will miss her the most. He can’t even deny it,” Lolade declared, smiling widely. She burst into laughter and the rest of the table joined in except Tomini. She shook her head again.

“Oya Zion, deny it!” Emeka said, chuckling softly.

“Deny what?”

Tomini looked at him and looked away almost immediately. She wanted him to miss her…she wanted him to miss her the most.

The topic died down and they started talking about other things. They took tons of pictures before leaving separately as their destinations differed.

Lolade followed her to her house and they cross-checked her luggage. She had moved back after her exams and her dad let her attend church with her uncle and his family every Sunday. They had long settled their rift.

“I wish you were coming to my school,” Lolade pouted like a baby whose sweet had been taken.

“I know right? Daddy was so adamant about this Covenant thing. I guess it won’t be that bad, abi?”

“You’re asking me? I don’t know. I’m going to miss you so much. I hope I don’t cry.”

Tomini threw her head back and laughed.

“Me too. I hope I don’t cry.”

“I know Zion will cry. He’s always forming tough,” Lolade said, mischief twinkling in her eyes.

“Can you stop with this Zion thing?”

“Can you stop with this Zion thing?” she mimicked her cousin, laughing. “But you like him. You know you can’t lie to me.”

“Oh God!” Tomini exclaimed, frustrated.

“Don’t call God into this matter o. You didn’t even deny it. Chai!”

She picked up a pillow from the bed and flung it at her, a frown etched on her face.

“Don’t worry, he likes you, too. Did you see his whatsapp post?”

Tomini’s brows drew together in confusion. “What post? I’ve not been online since morning.”

“Lolade to the rescue!” she exclaimed, fishing her phone out of her bag. After a little while, she showed the post to her.

He posted a selfie they had taken at the eatery with the caption
“You’re not yet gone but I can’t wait for you to be back.” Two heart emojis followed and her heart melted.

She quickly changed her expression into a nonchalant one and handed the phone back to Lolade.

“Mtchew, Eh hen? What’s the big deal?”

Lolade burst into laughter and shook her head at her. “Keep lying to yourself.”

***
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