The Woman I Cherish 12

Angel didn’t mention it to anyone that
she saw a piece of paper warning
her to stay away from God knows
who, in her bag. she kept it to
herself. she didn’t know who the
paper was from and what it was
about. She wanted to find out who
the paper was from and why it was
sent to her.
“I must find out who sent this to me
and why it was sent to me” she said
to herself.
************************
The next day in school was quite
hectic. They had 3 lectures in a
space of 4hours. One of their
lecturers also had a make up class
with them. Jewel was very exhausted
by the end of lectures. He just
wanted to go back to his hostel and
rest. It was already 5pm and before
he would get to his hostel, it would
be time for his personal study with
Angel. He left the class without
informing Francis or Henry. And
moreover, Henry seemed to be angry
with him. Just as he step out of the
class, he heard his name behind him.
He turned to see Daniel walking
towards him.
‘why is he coming to meet me? is Dr.
Femi looking for me’ Jewel thought.
“what’s up Jewel” Daniel said,
immediately he got to Jewel.
“I’m cool.” Jewel responded.
“are you leaving already?” Daniel
asked.
“yes. is Dr. Femi looking for me?”
Jewel asked.
“no no, you can go ahead. I just
wanted to say hi” Daniel said.
“okay thanks, I have to leave now.
I’m already exhausted.” Jewel said
and made attempt to leave.
“Jewel” Daniel called.
“yes” Jewel responded.
“I thought you and Angel were not in
good terms. why did I see you both
alone at the faculty garden?” Daniel
asked.
Jewel stared at him, not sure why he
asked that question.
‘what’s wrong for him to be seen
alone with Angel. Is he expecting
them to keep avoiding each other
forever’ he thought.
“you don’t need to answer me. I was
just curious. that’s all” Daniel
continued when Jewel didn’t
respond.
“you can leave now. see you in class
tomorrow”
Jewel turned and left his presence
without saying anything. Daniel
stared at his retreating figure until it
was out of sight before leaving.
*********************************
It was already 5:45pm when Jewel
got to his hostel. That means it was
almost time for his private study with
Angel. He dropped his bag on his
bed and picked his notebook on the
table. He left his room immediately,
because he was already late.
********************************
Angel was seen lying on her bed,
while Jessica was solving some
questions. It was already 6:30pm
and she hasn’t left to join Jewel for
their personal study. She didn’t plan
of going to meet him. She was still
scared about the message written on
the piece of paper she saw in her
bag. She didn’t know if the message
was referring to Jewel. Maybe the
message was trying to tell her to stay
away from Jewel, because it was
after she spent time with him that
she got that message.
‘or could it be that Jewel actually
kept that piece of paper in my bag,
because he was the last person I
was with before I saw that paper in
my bag.’ she thought.
‘yes, it should be him. he might have
done that to get back at me. He must
have done it to scare me. I just hope
it’s not him, because if it’s him, I
won’t take it lightly with his. That
piece of paper is giving me sleepless
night.’
A tap on her shoulder brought her
back to reality. she turned to see
Jessica standing beside her.
“won’t you pick up your call. your
phone has been ringing continuously,
and it’s distracting me from
studying.” Jessica complained.
Angel was so carry away that she
didn’t realize that her phone was
ringing. She sat up and took the
phone from her bed. she stared at
the screen.
‘speaking of the devil’ she thought,
when she realized that the call was
from Jewel. She dropped the phone
on her bed for it to continue ringing
and lay down back on her bed.
“won’t you pick the call?” Jessica
asked.
“it’s not important” Angel responded.
*******************************
Jewel sat alone at the faculty garden
with his phone placed on his ear. He
was dialing Angel’s number. He
removed the phone from his ear and
stared at the screen with frustration.
That was the fifth time he was calling
Angel, but she wasn’t picking. It was
already 7pm. He had been sitting
there all alone for an hour, waiting
for Angel. There was no how he
could do anything meaningful there
alone, because Angel was with all
the materials Dr. Femi gave them.
“how can she just leave me here all
by myself. If she won’t come,
shouldn’t she have called to inform
me, so that I wouldn’t have come
here to waste my time. She is even
ignoring my calls. This is so
frustrating” he said in frustration.
Jewel stared at his watch and
realized it was 7:10pm already. He
picked up his book which was
beside him, stood up and left the
garden in annoyance.
Just immediately Jewel left the
garden, Henry came out from the tree
he was hiding behind. He had been
watching Jewel secretly all the while.
He couldn’t hide the smile on his
face when he saw Jewel so
frustrated. He knew Jewel was
waiting for Angel and eventually got
frustrated because Angel didn’t show
up. He was very happy to see Jewel
so angry.
“you want to steal the woman I love
from me. let’s see if it will go your
way” Henry said.
He waited for some minutes before
leaving the garden.
***************************
Jewel opened his door and stormed
into his room. He went straight to his
bed and lay on it. He sighed deeply
when he realized that Henry was not
yet back.
‘it seems Henry is still avoiding me’
he thought.
“I can’t believe I just wasted my time
out there. If I knew this would
happen, I would have saved myself
the stress of going there.” he said.
“let me use this opportunity to revise
what we learned today.” he said and
picked up his bag which he left on
his bed.
He brought out a notebook from his
bag and flipped through pages. I
piece of paper fell off from the book.
“what’s this” he said and picked up
the paper.
He unwrapped it and read the
content on the paper. His mood
suddenly changed when he read what
was written on the paper. His stared
at the paper in annoyance.
‘If you don’t stay away from her, I
will ruin your life’ that was the
content on the paper.
Jewel stared at the piece of paper in
his hand with so much anger. He
was so certain that the message was
from Henry.
“Henry, you must be a coward for you
to confront me this way. so you
cannot come to me personally and
confirm if there is anything going on
between me and Angel. so you
chose to do it this way. I was even
planning of telling you why Angel
and I always meet, but since you
choose to go about it this way, I will
have to see what you are capable of
doing. I won’t tell you why Angel and
I always meet. I will watch and see
how you will ruin my life, since that’s
what you plan to do.” Jewel said to
himself with a frown.