Clandestine Affair

Chapter 2

Soon, a woman with her natural hair packed in a tight bun and pulled away from her pretty face catwalked through one of the side doors and ascended the podium. The woman looked so serious that Tafida wondered if she ever smiled but it was obvious that she was a lecturer. He watched a female student who was carrying the lecturer's handbag and books in her arms, placed them carefully on a desk on the podium before she left to take her seat in the front row.

"Good afternoon Dr. Suleiman!" The class chorused in unison. Tafida watched the woman clear her throat then begin to scan the theatre in scrutiny as if looking for any odd thing she didn't tolerate in her class. When she was satisfied with what she saw, she began with her usual introduction cliche.

"Good afternoon students, like you all know, I'm Dr. Suleiman. You all know my rules and regulations and most importantly, you all know what little tolerance I have for any form of distractions in my class. Anyway, today, we are going to be talking on the history of the American Literature and our first text to be treated will be The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain and in our next class, we'll move on to The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and I'll advice you all get the other literary texts such as Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, The Old Man and the Sea by Earnest Hemingway, Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell and Moby Dick by Herman Melville." She instructed.

As Yvonne began her lecture, Tafida began to wonder what was so scary about her that made her students so afraid of her. To him, all he saw was a simple good-looking woman in a pair of glasses and clad in a fitted ash suit and trousers that not only revealed her curves but also matched with a yellow inner blouse and shoes. She looked simple, too serious but attractive all the same. Soon he was snapped out of his thoughts when a phone began to ring in class.

Yvonne paused now, her brows knitting together as her gaze scanned the theatre but the ringtone immediately fell silent. "Whose phone was that?" She asked now, her tone, hard. When no one spoke, Yvonne threatened now. "If the culprit doesn't identify his or herself this minute, I'm leaving the class and I'm sure you all know the consequences."

As the students began to grumble and murmur amongst themselves, with some angrily stating that the culprit should identify his or herself since they didn't want to suffer for an offense they didn't commit, the chubby female student whom Tafida had seen receiving a call under the desk in the previous class tentatively rose to her feet with a finger shyly raised close to her head. "It was my phone, ma."

Yvonne shot her a glare now. "What part of all phones must be switched off during lectures don't you understand?" She asked sternly.

"Ma, I thought that I had-" the girl started to explain but Yvonne didn't let her finish.

"Leave my class." She ordered.

With fear in her eyes, the girl began to curtsy and plead now. "Ma, I'm very sorry ma, I promise it won't happen again ma. Ma, please par-" she jabbered on, looking like the world was about to end for her.

"For wasting extra five minutes of my time, you are suspended for three weeks, get out!" Yvonne stated, impatiently glancing down at her wristwatch.

"Ha! Three weeks ma! Mo gbe! (I'm finished!)" The girl suddenly exclaimed, lifting her arms and placing her hands on her head in total despair. "Ma, please, I have carried over this course before. I'm a spillover student simply because of this particular course, ma please don't let me carry it again! I beg of you ma! All my mates are already serving now, ma. I beg you with the name of God!" She pleaded, completely helpless since no one would dare risk Yvonne's wrath by begging on her behalf.

"Girl, you are wasting more of my time and my patience is running thin. If you don't leave now, I might just as well tell the security to see you out!" Yvonne hissed in irritation and impatience. She hated it when students could not just obey simple instructions. This one here was not only testing her patience by delaying her lecture and jarring on her nerves with her incessant begging, she was also making her look bad and Yvonne knew that she was not bad. She was a very good person, after all, that was why she had been chosen to be the H.O.D too.