The Painful Pleasure (TPP)
EPISODE 41
She opened her mouth to talk, and what came out really surprised me. “Do you think you have anything that can make me have feelings for you?” She asked. My lips were shaking as I was really disappointed. I wanted to answer her question, but she told me not to. “Please, you don’t have to answer that question. You’ve said it all already.” I kept calm and listened to her. My feet were shaking in disappointment. She continued. . .
“Dapo, you know what? I have no reason to love you, it’s not that you are rich or special. There are so many guys that are better than you on this campus. You rarely buy things for me, not until recently that you just changed. But you know what? I have always chosen you. It has always been you.” She said. I didn’t really understand what she was saying, so I just listened to her. She continued “Since the first time I saw you, I’ve loved you. But what did you do? You took me for granted, and was fooling around with some slut. Anyway, I’m glad the whole thing is over. Do you know how long I’ve waited for you to tell me this? As you have said, you most likely do not have anything that can make me love you. But the truth is; if I love you because of your money, if you stop being rich, I will stop loving you. If I love you because of something that fades, when that thing leaves I will stop. Dapo, I have discovered that I can’t stop loving you. At some point, I tried to stay away from you, but it almost killed me. I can’t just stop, I can’t just stop, I can’t just stop. . .” She kept repeating the same thing, this time, she couldn’t control her tears. They just started coming out uncontrollably.
It’s like I was dreaming. So Moji had always loved me. How come I didn’t see it, how come I didn’t know it. If I had known that she has feelings for me, even if I didn’t love her, I would have asked her out. I was really confused. I didn’t know whether to hug her in excitement, or apologize for talking so late. “Is that a yes?” I asked her. “I don’t know whether it’s a ‘YES’ or a ‘NO’, but I do know that I want to be yours forever, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” She said to me. This time around, I had lost control, I was really excited that I hugged her so tight, as we both started crying as if someone just died. It was really epic. It was really eventful. I got a ‘YES’ at last. Apart from the day I gained admission into OAU, the day I gained admission into Moji’s life is the second happiest day of my life. We finished all the emotional display, and we said goodbye as late as 11pm. We didn’t want to leave each other but someone had to take the bold step. It never occurred to me to ask about her boyfriend harry. I just went to my room overly joyous.
I slept like a king, and dreamt of Moji. What more could I have dreamt of. I woke up on Sunday morning. Well, that is our free day since Matthew is the only one that goes to church in the whole room. Abdul was not in the room, since Sunday was his special reading-day. I told my roommates about the improvement. They were really happy. I used the change from the date to buy them drinks. We were flexing happily. “Omo, I happy say that girl love you back o, you for kill yourself”. Emeka said to me. As we were talking, a message came into my phone, it was Moji. I read it, and the contents were: “Harry is just my cousin in Canada. I’m all yours dear. I love you so much.” I got overly excited, and showed my roommates. “I told you she likes you, you didn’t believe it”. Mayowa said. It was really a great day, as I announced officially to my roommates that I’m engaged. They laughed at me, but I was too excited to care about that.
My life was going great, as I started dating Moji. We paid Sandra her money. Before we knew it, CHM test was around the corner. I really tried so hard to prepare for the test. We wrote the test on a Saturday. And two weeks later, the results were pasted. I know my Matric number, and Moji’s own too. The test was over-40 so I went to check My result and Moji’s. . .
Tbc
The Painful Pleasure (TPP)
EPISODE 42
I was really surprised when i saw the result. I scored ’11’, while Moji had ’26’. That was the first test result. Moji has shown to be a guru by having the highest score in the department. The scores were bad generally, but 11 is rather on the extreme side. I went to my hostel really sad. I didn’t even know how I was going to face Moji. I wrote post utme thrice to gain admission, but then I failed chemistry test. I’m not really surprised that I failed the test, since I’ve only preoccupied myself with emotional issues from Aramide, to Sandra to Moji. I didn’t tell any of my roommates about my result since results are always confidential. I just kept calm, as I was deeply thinking about the whole thing. At first, I thought of breaking up with Moji, but I can’t just afford to do that.
I saw Moji, she had seen the result already. “It’s fine dear”. Moji said to me. She really encouraged me. I just told Moji how weak I was academically, and Moji became another Aramide for me except for the prayer part. We started reading, preparing very hard for other tests and the exams. I really gained a lot from Moji. She taught me all the topics I found difficult in Chemistry and Physics. She taught me shortcuts of knowing the tough names in zoology. Moji and I were dating, quite alright, but all she did was to shield me and help me to become better academically. Aramide is totally gone, I see her sometimes, but we just wave at each other. As for Sandra, after I paid her money, she left me for good. I believe she got herself a new ‘machine’, since there were more guys than girls in OAU. Moji was my ‘Aramide’, she became just like Aramide was then. In fact better than her.
My relationship with my roommates suffered. I was always going to read. I was so scared, I didn’t want to carry any course. Moji is really brilliant, and as the Man, I needed to live up to expectations, by doing well academically also. I became sure of myself. I was really ready to face all the exams. To cut the long story short, we wrote all the Exams and we were expecting results. The results came and it was as expected. Except for Chemistry and Physics, where I had 53C and 55C respectively, all other subjects were A’s and B’s. My result was quite good to me, but it’s nowhere near my Moji’s result that has A’s except a ‘B’ in Zoology.
It was Part two. Moji and I rented two different apartments in town. (Don’t bother to ask who paid). It was in the same area. My place was just a stone throw from hers. We were always visiting each other regularly. There was a day she came to my place, I kissed her, then I tried to touch her. She refused. “Not until after our wedding”. She said. I quickly apologised to her and promised never to try such again. To be sincere, at that point, I kind of missed Sandra. It really made me stronger. I was once a weak-willed person, but dating Moji made me have a stronger will.
Moji is a Christian too, she goes to church only on Sundays, I decided to join her. We started going to her church. We made church ‘Sunday-Sunday-Tablet’. And our lives were going great. My academic life was going smoothly. I studied really hard. Although, Moji is always having better grades than me. I did all these for the remaining three years.
Soon, Moji and I defended our projects and graduated. Moji was one of the three students that graduated with a first class in our department, and had the second best GP. I just maintained my ‘2.1’ (Second class upper) honours. Luckily for us, we were both posted to Lagos for service.
My mum was really happy. She blessed me, and you know, what else can be expected of her than the ‘get a job and get a wife’ speech. After telling me that, she started a long talk. “You know what, my son. You are in a very delicate part of your life. There is something I’ve always wanted to tell you, but I knew it wasn’t time yet. But now, you are old enough to understand me.” She said to me. “Alright mum. I answered her”. She continued. . .
What next?