Dedicated to tahsia-are, you've been here forever and I love you so much.
And to all my active readers, you guys are always fuelling me with so much energy. Thank you and I love you so so much, every single one of you.
NADIA SULAIMAN
The first person that saw me was surprised. Her eyes met mine and I saw how her expression changed from excitement to surprise. She was in the middle of saying something to her friend when her eyes flicked over to where I sat and I watched as the excitement in her eyes started to dwindle and it kept dwindling till there was no excitement in her eyes again except surprise.
She was pleasantly surprised and she looked at me with eyes that seemed to say, 'What is this girl?' and it wasn't in the usual Nadia Sulaiman is a bitch manner but rather, in a pleasant How can this girl be this awesome manner.
And as if to buttress my observation, she smiled pleasantly at me before she walked out.
That didn't look like the reaction I was hoping for at all.
The second person was shocked. She was pressing her phone when she entered and right in the middle of making her way towards the counter, her head turned towards where I was sitting and she looked at me, kept looking at me as if I had grown a few more heads before she looked at her phone, then at me again, then at her phone again.
She repeated that like four times.
Then she turned back and she walked out without even doing what she must have come here initially to do.
That didn't look like the reaction I was hoping for too but at least, it was better than the first one.
The third person walked in looking like she had a lot on her mind. She looked disturbed as if there was a huge turmoil going on within her. It was a Monday midday and she didn't look like it. She was dressed in a jumper and an oversized tee that seemed to have swallowed her entire frame.
That wasn't even it.
There was a bonnet on her head and something that looked so much like bathroom slippers on her feet.
It was a little bit suspicious that she was dressed like that on a Monday midday and she looked so lost that even when she walked up to the counter and the girl behind it asked for her orders, she just kept looking at the girl while looking completely lost.
The girl had to repeat her question, louder this time around than everyone around heard and that was virtually only me because it was Monday and people had other things to do than to sit around and sip coffee.
The girl finally placed her orders and I watched as she collected what looked like Spring Rolls and a Smoothie after making her payment. She turned back and started to walk out only for her eyes to flick over to where I sat.
And she stopped short in her tracks.
She kept staring at me and I also kept staring at her, kept staring at her as her hold tightened around the takeaway nylon in her hand while her eyes kept boring holes into mine.
She didn't look like she had seen a ghost but she looked like she had seen the last person she expected to see.
And that person was me.
She took two steps towards me, then stopped, glanced at the door then back at me again, then at the door, then back at me again.
Something about that piqued my interest, made me sit up straighter. I could tell that she was considering her odds, weighing her options. She wanted to come up to me, that was obvious but she was also thinking of the thousand reasons why she couldn't walk up to me.
She stood there, looked like she was in complete turmoil before she finally decided on what to do.
She walked out.
Now, they looked a lot like the reaction I was hoping for.
I brought the mug of my coffee to my mouth only to realize that my cup was now empty. That was unusual. I wasn't a fan of coffee so if I had drunk a whole mug, then I must have been here for a very long time.
I confirmed that when I check my wristwatch and I realized that I'd been sitting here for over 45 minutes.
Good of him to delay me for over 40 minutes when he was the one that set up this meeting.
For God knows what?
After pulling an all-nighter for the test we were supposed to have this morning, our lecturer just had to announce to us a few hours to the stipulated time that the test had been postponed till God knows when because of a law seminar.
I didn't even want to recount how terrible that had made me feel. I didn't sleep well for three nights straight because I had to read and reread all the materials for the test just to be sure that I wouldn't forget anything what did I get?
A postponement!
I wondered why lecturers always do that.
And as if that news wasn't terrible enough to ruin my whole day, I had seen his message demanding that we meet up at 11 am and now, it was almost 12 and he still wasn't here.
I chuckled to myself as I readjusted myself on the chair to make myself more comfortable by crossing my legs. I looked out through the top-floor window that was the entire wall of Cakes And Creams to see if he was anywhere close.
But he wasn't in sight.
I was surprised by myself. The fact that I've been sitting here for almost an hour because of a human being that I give no fuck about was utterly mind-blowing.
And it should probably enter the Guinness book record.
But I guessed it was because I've been in a good mood since morning. The article I wrote was published at exactly 6 am and it had garnered so many views, even more than the article about Ayo and there has been so much noise, so much fuss about it.
And it wasn't even half a day yet.
And that article wasn't even the main deal. It was just the tip of an iceberg.
I glanced outside before mentally concluding within myself that I was going to leave immediately it was noon.
God forbid me to wait for someone like him for more than one hour.
God forbid me to wait for any man for more than an hour.
Something being gently placed on my table and a towering figure looming over me distracted me and I looked at the table to see a fresh and hot cup of coffee.
I didn't even order...
I looked up to see that cute part-timer staring down at me, his face devoid of the usual hearty smile.
"I didn't order..."
"It's on the house," He interrupted me, his voice sounding almost stern as if he was talking to an errant child.
I looked away from his none smiling face to the steamy coffee on the table. It looked very hot with the steam rising from it and disappearing into the air and the smell, that addictive smell of coffee was enough to make me want to take a sip even though I wasn't a fan of coffee.
But I was feeling too sleepy because I had stayed up all night reading for a test that ended up getting canceled but I can't sleep because I had to revise for a mini test that might or might not even hold tomorrow.
And besides, it was cold because it had been raining constantly since Saturday and even though it was almost noon, it was really cold so I needed a second cup of coffee.
"Okay but I insist on paying." I started to reach for my wallet but his voice stopped me.
"And I insist too, it's really on the house." My body sort of froze at his words and tone. He didn't sound chirpy like he always does and he wasn't even grinning from ear to ear.
And he sorry of looked like he was angry at something or someone.
What's wrong with this kid now?
"See, Kiddo, I told you I'll..."
"And I told you that the name is Alfred, Alfred Bamidele."
Oh God. I exhaled and I brought my left hand to rub a side of my face in sheer frustration.
One bastard had kept me waiting here for almost an hour and this little kid was trying to frustrate me.
"Okay, Alfred," I started to say only to trail off because of how the name sounded on my lips and how it seemed to go straight to my brain as if it was a name I had heard a thousand times.
His name sounded so familiar.
So familiar.
"Alfred Bamidele," I repeated, more to myself while trying to get my brain to remember why his name sounded so familiar, "Alfred Bamidele," I looked away from his impassive face to my steaming coffee, still pondering while his name sounded that familiar.
"Why do you keep repeating my name?" My eyes went to his face to see the beginning of a smile on his lips, "Do you like it that much?" He asked with a smug undertone in his voice and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at his silliness.
"Alfred Bamidele," I mused and I watched as his eyebrows furrowed together in what looked like confusion and amusement, "What does your name sound so familiar?"
The blooming smile on his face deepened and a chuckle that sounded so heartfelt escaped from his lips, "Because I'm so popular? You know," His smile deepened that it brightened his eyes as if stars were shining in them, "I'm the most popular none student in CSA and that must be why my name sounded so familiar."
Oh, God! I kept staring at him, my stomach rumbling from the laughter that burst out of my mouth without me meaning to.
What was I going to do with this ki...
With Alfred Bamidele.
"I like the sound of your laughter," He told me like he was starting a fact and my laughter trailed off, "And I love your top too."
I glanced down at what I was wearing. It was a brown and baggy cardigan because it was cold and I just wore deep blue jeans with it and a black scarf tied to the back.
Our boss bitch's look ✨✨❤❤
I looked up at him again to see that he was staring at me quizically, "Thank you...?"
I wasn't even sure if the thank you sounded like a question or a normal thank you to a compliment.
He nodded, started to turn back only to stop again, the smile disappearing from his lips and eyes.
"He's a jerk."
His words and the absurdity of them halted my movement and the coffee I was about to sip scalded my tongue.
"Hmmm?" I frowned at him and I dropped the cup back on the table.
"If you've been waiting for him for almost an hour and he still hasn't shown up, then he's a jerk and he's not worth it."
I didn't even understand him at first so I just kept staring at him until the meaning dawned on me and when it did, my lips stretched into a full-blown smile that soon developed into a peal of small laughter.
So Alfred showed up here, a little bit angry all because I've been waiting for someone he assumed was a guy and I was romantically involved with, for almost an hour?
Oh God!
"You honestly deserved better," He told me, sounding as sincere as a two-year-old who was demanding more candies and I could only stare up at him, my shoulders still shaking from laughter.
God! I had no idea what I was supposed to do with this Alfred of a boy.
"So, wait," I started, finally finding my voice after the laughter had died down, "How do you know I was waiting for a boy?"
For a split second, he looked at me as if I just asked something that shouldn't even be a question.
He turned to me fully and he jammed his hands into either of the two big pockets on his black apron, "It's so obvious. You've been sitting here all by yourself for almost an hour and you've been staring outside at intervals while staring at your wristwatch. You even finished drinking your coffee and you didn't know that because why else would you want to take a sip from an empty cup?"
Oh wow. He wasn't even at the counter when I came in but wherever he was, he must have been watching me.
I knew I was supposed to feel somehow about that but I couldn't recall how exactly because I wasn't feeling like that.
If anything, I was just pleasantly surprised.
"Don't you have anything better to do than to ogle at your female customers?"
"Of course not! What could be better than staring at your pretty face?" He replied to me in less than a nanosecond and my lips crinkled before it stretched into a full flown hearty smile.
At this point, I guessed I just had to give up on trying to figure out what to do with him.
His case was just an impossible one.
"And it's not all my female customers," He started again, his voice sounding, and his eyes looking as sincere as possible, "It's only you."
My smile trailed off as I stared up at him with his eyes intent on mine as he maintained that intense eye contact.
I blinked once, then twice before looking away.
The door opened at that moment and we both turned simultaneously to look at the person entering.
It was him. The person that had delayed for... I looked at my wristwatch to confirm the time. It was a minute to noon so he delayed me for an hour!
Good!
He started making his way towards me and I saw Alfred looking away from him to me, then back to him again. Then, he chuckled softly, the smile returning to his lips and eyes and it lifted his entire facial features.
I didn't understand what was funny but because he kept looking at the guy who just entered while smiling like that, I deduced it to be, 'Oh, is this the guy she has been waiting for? He's not even that fine. He's not worthy of my competition.'
Oh, God! I chuckled. I chuckled again because of God! What kind of person was this Alfred of a boy?
The boy in question walked closer and he settled himself on the seat in front of me without saying even a word.
"Enjoy your date," That was Alfred as he picked up my empty cup and he walked away.
I kept staring at him, kept staring at him till he walked up to the counter and he got behind it. And when he turned back, our eyes met and that smile was quick to find its way to his eyes and lips, making him even cuter than normal and just before he was about to turn back and disappear into their kitchen, he winked at me.
Like he actually winked at me.
He winked at me.
Like a wink, wink, wink.
My God. I chuckled again and I shook my head at the absurdity that was embodied by the boy called Alfred.
"How will you explain this?" I turned back to face the boy in front of me at the same time he slide a tablet to my front.
I didn't even need to glance at the tablet to know what it was but I did anyway.
CovenView was written in bold and block letters that were in a pattern of nude and beige colors, CSA's front gate was the background cover and again, the site looked really beautiful with the menu listed on the left-hand side and a pin icon right beside all the menus.
My lips stretched into a little smile as I looked up at him again.
"What's it?" I asked innocently and something akin to fury flashed for the briefest second in his eyes, "Do you want us to change the design? It's okay to me though," I took a sip of my coffee, "The site is perfect just the way it is."
"For fuck's sake, Nadia, I'm not talking about the goddamned site!" He yelled, he actually yelled at me, his face contorting into that of mad fury, "I'm talking about that damned article that you wrote," He pointed an index finger to the tab that was now locked.
"For starters, you published an article without tabling it to the congress, without seeking my permission as the... As the... As the vice... Vice President of the congress."
I mentally rolled my eyes, if there was something like that. Typical of him to stutter whenever he was about to refer to himself as the Vice President.
"And what were you thinking? We're still dealing with the aftermaths of your article getting Ayo expelled and you still had the nerve to publish something like this-
-Have you lost your mind!?"
My right hand flew to my chest in mock panic as I stared at him, stared at the enraged boy that was literally fuming with mad rage and fury, totally lost and confused.
Because I couldn't possibly be the one he just shouted at like that.
No one said anything. We just kept staring at each other with him looking at me as if he expected me to start explaining myself to him.
God forbid.
And from the corners of my eyes, I could see Alfred looking at us, looking at the guy opposite me in particular with undisguised interest.
I took another sip of my almost lukewarm coffee, glanced at my wristwatch to see that the time was 12:05 pm and I concluded within myself that nothing, absolutely nothing could keep me here past 12:15 pm.
10 minutes was the most I could waste on someone like Blaine.
I leaned back against the backrest of the chair, still looking at him with interest because really? Blaine just screamed at me?
"You asked me to meet you here by 11 am," I started, my voice sounding calm, calmer than I expected, "You delayed me for an hour, then you waltzed in at exactly noon, you sat you down there without something as simple as hey or hi not to talk of even apologizing for coming late..."
"Is a mere apology more important than the issue at hand?" He interrupted me, his voice still slightly higher than normal.
"Ohhh, sorry, I guess you being mannerless is not that important."
"Nadia!" He growled, his teeth clenching hard against each other and I just shrugged at his expense.
Someone chuckled from behind the counter and I looked up to see Alfred trying really hard not to burst into laughter.
I looked away from him to Blaine again and the latter looked like he was trying to calm himself down.
His expression almost made me chuckle. I was almost sure that he came late on purpose. He had probably been hanging around Cakes And Creams forever and had only decided to come here after delaying me for that long.
Blaine Lewis was that childish.
"Listen, Nadia," He started, his voice surprisingly calmer, "I just want us to have a normal conversation about CovenView and its progress..."
Blaine and I? A normal conversation? Tortoises would have to start flying before that would happen.
"CovenView is progressing insanely without us having this normal conversation."
If he heard me, he didn't even act like it, he just continued talking.
"That's the more reason why I didn't bring this up in the congress. I just wanted us to have this conversation as the leaders of the congress..."
"You're the assistant leader," I corrected him in case he had a memory loss and had temporarily forgotten that he barely made it to becoming the vice president.
A slight clenching of his jaw was the only indication that he heard me, "I care a lot about CovenView and I care even more about the students of CSA and my honest opinion about how you've been doing things since you resumed office-
-It's that you're really overdoing it. The previous leaders didn't do half of what you're doing and CovenView did just well. You really need to calm down."
"Where's Ariyike Johnson?" I just had to ask and that got a reaction out of him because he frowned.
Deeply.
"What's her business with this conversation?"
"Ohh, she's your sidekick and I'm just wondering why she's not here when you're reprimanding me."
Not only did his jaws clench this time around, but his left fist also was on the table too and he looked like there was an internal battle going on within him.
An internal battle of either succumbing to the rage building in him or remaining calm.
"Nadia Sulaiman, I'm trying to have a normal conversation here."
I shrugged, then looked at my wristwatch again.
Good! Just 4 minutes to go.
"We're campus journalists," He continued, "We should prioritize students' welfare instead of catchy headlines and your so-called newsworthy articles."
I fought an intense urge to roll my eyes.
"So, the article that I published about the menace that's becoming more and more rampant in all higher institutions isn't caring about the students' welfare?"
"You speculated!" He answered in a very angered voice, "You speculated, President! Shouldn't you know better as the number one journalist in CSA that if there's one thing a journalist shouldn't do, it's to speculate?"
"And as the number two journalist in CSA, shouldn't you know better that there's a huge difference between Investigative Journalism and Opinion Journalism?"
His jaw clenched harder this time around and he looked so mad, so blinded with fury as if he wanted to punch something.
Or someone.
I really hoped it wasn't me sha.
Then he chuckled, his facial features softening a little as he made himself more comfortable on the chair.
"Opinion Journalism at the expense of dragging your school's name through the mud?"
I shrugged nonchalantly, "If my school is doing something they shouldn't be doing, then why not?"
He looked at me as if I had suddenly grown two horns on my head before he heaved a very loud sigh, "I'm not sure. Do you have someone on the school board backing you up? Because I don't think you really understand the gravity of your so-called investigative journalism."
I shrugged again for what seemed like the umpteenth time since Blaine got here, then I leaned on the table with my two hands crossed over it.
"And why are you so bothered by this? It's not even an investigative article, there were no investigations, no names were mentioned, nobody was called out or anything."
He kept looking at me as if I had horns on my head.
"Are you afraid of what will happen when I write an investigative piece about this same article? If yes? Then why?" I readjusted myself on the chair so I was resting against the backrest while still maintaining eye contact with him.
"Or by chance, are you among the boys that willing offer sex to female lecturers for better grades?"
Anger, blinding and intense one flashed through his eyes.
"It's always the other way round, especially with female students and male lecturers."
He clenched and unclenched his fists.
"But that doesn't mean that there are no few exceptions to it. Students regardless of their genders can even be the ones offering their lecturers sex for cheap grades."
He made a sound that sounded so much like a frustrated and angered growl.
"So why are you so bothered about this particular news piece if you're not guilty of sex for grade too?"
He stood up in a maddening rage that the table shook and almost turned over with how quick he stood up and the coffee spilled and splashed on my top.
I stared at the splashes on my top before I looked up at Blaine again.
His face was vivid with anger, dark, intense, and mad fury as he stared at me as if he was really a step away from hurting me or something.
"Fuck you," He sneered at me, his voice filled with the same venom that was written on his face.
I'd have veered back in shock if I didn't see this coming but I had seen it coming. I had known that it was just a matter of time before he'd tip over.
"Fuck you and your stupid presidency that you're not even worth," He continued as he leaned over on the table with his two palms pressed on it, "Let's see how far you can go as the president with all this ridiculousness you're exhibiting."
"If I were you," I replied him calmly, "I'd be more concerned about keeping the vice president title that I managed to secure."
"F*** You!" And his hand went to the table, banging it, and the loud sound echoed through the entire Cakes And Cream.
"I think you should leave!" That was another voice, a voice that belonged to Alfred, and I could see that he was standing behind Blaine.
Blaine turned to look at him too, the rage in his eyes darkening, "And who do you think you're to tell me to leave?"
"We run a business here and we don't want customers causing scenes and constituting nuisances," Alfred replied to him in an impassive and authoritative voice that I didn't know he could possess, and has he engaged him in an intensive stare down, he looked way different from the chirpy guy I was used to.
Eventually, Blaine backed away from staring down and he glanced at me with so much venom that I'd have shuddered if I didn't know that he was all bluff before he walked out.
When he turned back to look at me, there was a small smile tugging at his lips, "If any other person is disturbing you, just holla at me, I'll get rid of them for you."
I kept staring at him and before I knew it, my lips stretched into a smile of their own.
***********
I found myself going to the Law Library afterward. I mean, I was already wide awake because of the two cups of coffee that Alfred made me drink so I decided I could just read a little before retiring into the hostel.
And don't even get me started on all the whispers and murmurs as I walked from Cakes And Creams to the faculty of law. Every single clique I walked past had something to whisper between them but immediately I walked closer to them, they'd all quieten down like scared chickens.
The walkway that served as the major linkage between all departments and places in CSA was always filled to the brim with both students and workers alike because there were tuck shops on either side of the walkway where snacks were sold and where cyber-cafe businesses were been run.
"Hiii," Two young girls cornered me out of nowhere just when I was about to walk out of the walkway and enter the backdoor of the faculty of law.
I stopped in my tracks at the eagerness on the girls' faces.
They didn't say anything, they just kept staring at me as if I was someone awesome or something.
And the clock was ticking, they were wasting my time.
"Excuse me, how can I help you?"
"Oh, sorry, don't mind us," The fairer of the two girls apologized and the darker one picked it right up.
"We really admire you and we just wanted to tell you that you've been doing a really good job with CovenView."
Oh wow. I didn't know how to feel about that because this would be the first time students would walk up to me to tell me that they loved what I was doing with the school's newspaper.
I thought the entire student body hated me with no exception.
"And this article you published this morning," The fairer girl continued and she even grabbed my right hand with her two hands, "You don't even have an idea how many lives you'd be saving. Some many female students have been suffering in silence for so long because they don't have anyone to tell their stories to."
"You're giving voices to the voiceless and I don't think you know it." The darker girl complimented and it made me feel lightheaded.
I wasn't used to compliments like this, especially when it was about CovenView and it almost made me want to smile and throw my arms around these two girls.
"Thank you," I told them in a meek voice that I didn't know I could use.
"Oh, please, don't thank us," That was the fairer girl and she was quick to dismiss my words with a brief wave of her right hand, "We're just stating facts."
"And don't mind the entire student's body that seemed to have some things against you, most of them wished they could be you."
"And don't worry, no matter what happens, we dey your back, we're your die-hard fans."
I smiled warmly at them, muttered thank you and they both smiled warmly at me before they took their leave.
I still couldn't wrap my head around the fact that two students walked out to me to compliment me about my journalism skill and deep down, a meaningful part of me was wishing that Blaine was with me so he'd be able to properly choke on the huge bitterness that had been growing in him.
As always, the law library was almost filled to the brim with students. Honestly, the way students, especially law students, read was alarming but our course was one very huge and unsurmountable battle and we constantly had to be prepared for the unseeable.
And it actually made me wonder how people like Wale continued to effortlessly be at the top of the class.
I mean, he started with 5.0 out of 5.0 in our 100l.
And even now, four years after, he was still on 4.9 something.
I really wondered how he could be that smart especially since he never acted like it.
"Watch where you're..."
But it was too late. I was already stumbling fast and hard into a very hard plane. So hard that I thought my forehead had collided against a rock.
My right hand automatically went to massage my forehead to see what I just bumped into.
It wasn't a what but a who.
A who like Wale Kukoyi.
He just kept looking at me with that ever impassive and blank expression of his before he turned back to the bookshelf.
He actually turned back to keep looking for whatever book he had been looking for before I bumped into him.
How outrightly rude?
There was a lot on my tongue to say to him but since he was a pro at ignoring people, I decided to ignore him too and I started to walk away only for his words to halt by steps.
"Have you read through what I gave you?"
Yen yen yen, I mimicked him in my head before I walked away and I could feel his eyes boring holes into my back as I walked away from him and I felt that he was either surprised or offended that I ignored him.
But well, two can play the game.
*********
I ended up in one of the group study rooms because I couldn't find a suitable position in the main library and I actually got a free pass even though I didn't come with a group because the librarian there was one of the people who just got along with.
The group study rooms were like 15 in total and they all had a top to floor windows separating them from the main library which meant you could be in one of the study rooms and see what was going on in the main library and vice versa.
But the study rooms were all soundproofed so students in the main library wouldn't hear those in the study rooms no matter how much they were yelling.
There was a small circular table with 12 chairs, a computer, a projector, and a whiteboard among other necessities of an elite study room and it made me marvel again at the number of millions Wale's parents must have put into building this kind of mind-blowing library.
I made myself comfortable on one of the chairs and when I wanted to pick a note from the notebooks I had brought it with me, my hands instinctively reached out for Wale's notebook.
I haven't gotten around to checking out whatever he wrote there because I've been so occupied with reading for the test but now, I could as well use this free time to check it out.
I opened the notebook and even though I was low key expecting that he'd have really nice handwriting, I was still taken apart at how impeccably neat it looked.
His handwriting was easily the nicest and the neatest handwriting I've ever seen. It looked like he had taken all the time in the world to write.
Every single thing he had written looked perfectly carved out as if it was an artistic drawing instead of mere handwriting.
I mean, handwritings weren't supposed to look this perfect.
I had to snap out of my reverie and stop admiring Wale's handwriting so I'd be able to actually go over what he had written.
And to say I was taken aback again would be an understatement, even though I knew he was brilliant and all, I was still pretty surprised at how organized he had arranged everything.
He had arranged all the topics we were going to work on, along with the main laws about them and how we were to discuss the pros and cons of the laws.
The door opened and I nearly bolted out of my skin as I looked up to see Wale making his way in leisurely as if he owned the place.
"How did you get in?"
"Through the door, obviously," He replied in a tone that screamed, What question stupid is that?
"Obviously," I replied in an extremely tired voice, "But I locked the door."
"And I opened it," He replied in an extremely bored tone and he dangled a set of keys in my front as he took his seat opposite me and that surprised me because I didn't understand why he had a spare key with him.
"And why is that?"
"Because this is my study room."
His reply made me scoff and I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes, "One would think you brought the whole library from your parents... Oh, it's your parent's library so technically, it's yours!"
From a split second, his impassive expression changed into something I couldn't decipher, it looked like rage or fury or anger but I wasn't exactly sure.
Then he relaxed back on the chair, "Looks like you've gone through it, what do you think?"
I looked away from him, glanced at his notebook, and opened my phone to snap the pages before I dropped the notebook at his front.
Just like he had dropped it that other day.
"Why are you so keen on hearing my opinion? I thought you could do it alone."
His reply was instantaneous, "Do you want me to do it alone?"
Asshole, I muttered underneath my breath but he heard me anyway because his brows furrowed together.
"Did you say something?"
"I said you're a cocky asshole."
He kept looking at me impassively, eyes blank and devoid of any emotion before his lips cracked and a short chuckle I didn't expect escaped his lips as he leaned further back against the backrest of his chair and he regarded me with an expression I couldn't decipher.
"Trust me, I've been called worse."
"Must be good that you're keeping a tally for bad names," I replied him before looking away from him to pore over what he had written again.
I kept reading and he just remained silent as if he wasn't even in the room. 5 minutes or 10 minutes must have passed and he remained silent.
Totally and completely silent that it made me wonder if he was still actually in the room so I looked up at him and yes, Wale was still in the room, right hand sprawled on the table and back still against the backrest of the chair while looking at me.
Typical.
"What?"
"I'm waiting for you to be done with reading so we'll get this over and done with."
"Yeah, right?" I can't stand your presence as much as you can't stand mine.
"There's really nothing much to say. You've done almost all the work alone even though it's supposed to be a joint work."
He kept staring at me impassively.
"We're starting with rape laws in the country, right?"
The slight nodding of his head was the only thing that gave me the inclination that he heard me and I tried really hard to ignore the flare of anger that was starting to build up in me.
"We're supposed to pick specific rape cases in the country, discuss them about the laws and then, add a few of our opinions, right?"
Again, he nodded, ever so slightly that if I hadn't been staring at him intently, I wouldn't even have noticed.
And that was it.
I was over his sudden and self-imposed dumbness.
"Can't you talk?" I snapped at him, my voice rising above an octave and the guy in question didn't even look fazed.
He might as well be alone in the room with how calm and totally laid back he looked.
Heaven knows I really can't deal with this rude and impassive attitude of his.
"It's already a herculean task working with you, don't make it any harder by playing dumb please," I told him angrily, and guess what? Wale didn't even budge.
He didn't look at me as if he heard a word out of everything I just said. In fact, I might as well be thin air with the way he kept looking at me.
Asshole.
"If it's that much of a herculean task to work with me," He started, finally deciding to prove that his mouth wasn't there for decoration, "Then, leave the whole project to me. I'm not really keen on working with you too."
"Well, that makes two of us," I replied him in less than a nanosecond, "But it's my project and I'm not exactly keen on having others do my work for me, no matter how much of a scholar they are."
He didn't even look as if he heard me. He just went back to staring at me blankly before he sat upright, "Okay then, I already have some rape cases I'd..."
"I'll look for the cases we'll use," I interrupted him and he frowned as if he didn't understand what I was going on about.
"You don't have to do pointless work, I already researched and..."
"It's not pointless work," I interrupted him and he heaved a sigh, shook his head slightly as if I was being absurd when in reality, he was the one being absurd.
"I'll look for the cases and get back to you."
"Okay then, suit yourself."
And before I could say anything, he was already out of the chair and letting himself out of the door.
I kept staring at the door for a very long time while feeling a tiny burst of anger course through my veins.
Cocky Asshole.
Lmaoo!
This is the longest conversation between Nadia and Wale and Alhamdulilah, it went better than I thought. When I started writing, Wale was supposed to end up stomping off in anger but I was able to salvage that.
And let's be factual, do you think Nadia has been doing anything wrong with the sort of articles she has been writing or she's just doing her job as a campus journalist?
And who else has noticed that Nadia can be pretty petty?
Alfred Bamidele is still being him 😂😂😂💔💔💔 and I just love that guy on a totally different level 😩😩❤❤
See you on or before Friday Insha Allah 🙏❤❤