The Woman I Cherish 22

It’s been 2 weeks since they began
their first semester examination.
Jewel was very happy with the
exams he had done so far. He was
so sure he would make ‘A’ in all the
exams he had written so far. He
has just one paper left to write. He
sat on his bed, revising his note.
He dropped the book and stared
into air. He heaved a sigh of relief.
“so the semester has almost come
to an end. That means by weekend,
I will be returning back home. My
last paper is tomorrow, and it’s the
most difficult of them all. It
involves lot of calculations and
drawings. I will be needing my
calculator and mathematical set this
time around. I can’t wait to go
home. I need to see my parent. I
haven’t seen them for a long. I will
also miss my friends here. It has
been a great time here, and I wish
to continue it next semester.” He
said.
A knock on his door brought him
back to reality.
“come in, the door is open” Jewel
said.
The door opened to reveal Angel,
standing at the door. Jewel sat up
properly and stared at her.
“Angel!” Jewel called.
“Jewel” Angel said and walked into
the room.
“can I sit?”
“sure” Jewel responded.
“thanks” Angel said and sat down
on the bed.
The room suddenly became silent.
Jewel slowly turned to face Angel,
and saw her already staring at him.
He fixed his gaze on her and they
stared silently at each other. After
staring silently at each other for a
while, Jewel took his gaze off her.
He took a side glance at her and
realized that she was still staring
intensely at him. The room
suddenly became uncomfortable for
him. He didn’t like the atmosphere
in the room.
“Jewel!” Angel called.
“yes Angel” Jewel responded.
“what’s you plan after our last
paper?” Angel asked.
“I’m going back home. I miss my
parent and can’t wait to see them.”
Jewel responded.
“do you have any plan after the
exam?”
“I’m going home also. I miss my
parent too” she said, smiling.
“sure you do” Jewel responded.
Her mood suddenly changed.
“I will miss you Jewel” she said,
sadly.
Jewel stared silently at her. Those
words came to him unaware.
“I will miss you too” He finally
responded.
Angel’s phone suddenly started
ringing. she brought it out from her
purse and stared at the screen.
“my mum” she said and picked the
call.
“hello mum, good
evening……………I’m fine and
you……….. I’m writing my last
paper tomorrow, so I will be
returning home this
weekend……………. you have
relocated………….When?
why?………….thank God for
that………….. okay, send me the
new address………. love you
mum…..bye” She said and ended
the call.
Angel fixed her gaze on her phone
screen. Jewel noticed the
expression on her face.
“what’s wrong?” Jewel asked.
“my mum just told me that we have
relocated to a new area. My dad got
a new job in a different area, so we
had to relocate to a place closer to
his work.” Angel explained.
“I see, that’s good. that means you
will be going to a new
environment.” Jewel said.
“yes” Angel responded.
“that’s good.” Jewel said.
“I will be leaving now” Angel said.
“okay, see you in the examination
hall” Jewel said.
“see you too. I know you will
murder tomorrow’s exam” she
joked.
“I’m prepared for it already. my
calculator and maths set are
already intact” Jewel responded.
“I trust you na. okay, let me be
going” Angel said.
“okay” Jewel responded.
Angel gave him a quick hug and
left his room. Jewel’s mood
suddenly changed immediately
Angel left. He became a bit sad. He
stared at his door continuously.
“I’m sorry Angel. what we both want
cannot happen. It will make me
look like a backstabber. I wish it
didn’t have to happen this way. I
wish it happened earlier.” he said.
He lay on his bed and sigh in
frustration.
**************************************
Everyone sat quietly in the
examination hall solving the
questions before them. The only
materials that could be seen on
their desk were the question
papers, answer script, calculator,
maths set and pen. All other
materials are unauthorized and not
allowed into the examination hall.
Students were sitting at reasonable
distance away from each other.
About seven invigilators could be
seen in the hall monitoring any
student who dare to turned his or
her head. Jewel sat quietly at the
far left, solving the questions.
Though the questions were
technical, but he was so sure he
would pass in flying colours. He
had already come across some of
the questions, so he didn’t find
them difficult to solve.
The hall door suddenly opened and
an invigilator stormed in.
“everyone stop writing. stand up
and take two steps away from your
seats” The invigilator ordered.
Everyone stood up immediately and
moved two steps away from their
seats.
“I just received an information that
someone smuggled answers into
the hall. We will search everyone
right now and whoever smuggled
answers will be severely dealt with”
The invigilator continued.
‘who will dare smuggle answers
into the exam hall, knowing fully
well what the punishment is’ Jewel
thought.
The invigilators in the hall moved
from seat to seat searching
everyone. An invigilator got to
Jewel’s seat.
“let me see what’s in your pocket”
the invigilator said.
“nothing sir, just my wallet” Jewel
responded and gave him his wallet.
The invigilator opened the wallet,
but found only a key and some
money in it. He gave Jewel back
his wallet. He searched Jewel
thoroughly but didn’t find anything.
“step aside” the invigilator said and
went to Jewel’s desk.
He took the calculator on Jewel’s
desk. He opened it but didn’t find
any thing suspicious. He dropped
the calculator and took the maths
set. He opened the maths set and a
folded paper fell from it. Jewel’s
eyes widen in shock when he saw
the paper. He was sure he didn’t
put that there. He prayed silently
that the paper should not contain
anything that would implicate him.
“what’s this?” the invigilator asked
and picked up the paper.
He unwrapped it and stared at the
paper.
“so you are the culprit” the
invigilator barked.
Everyone in the hall turned to their
direction immediately the invigilator
said that.
“no sir, that’s not mine” Jewel
defended himself.
“will you keep shut” the invigilator
barked.
All other invigilators approached
them immediately. Before Jewel
could say anything, his question
paper and answer script were
collected from him and a
malpractice form was placed in his
front for him to fill.
“but sir, I ……….”
“will you fill the form now” another
invigilator barked.
He knew very well that once he
filled that form, he would have to
face the school panels and the
outcome won’t be favourable.
After much pressure, he finally
filled the form and was dragged out
of the class.
The exam continued smoothly and
additional time was added to make
up for the one lost.
Angel sat quietly on her sit, staring
into air. She couldn’t continue the
exam. She was still in shock at
what just happened in the hall. She
knew every well what would happen
to Jewel. She stared at her
question paper with teary eyes. Her
mind had suddenly gone blank and
couldn’t concentrate again. She
stood up, took her answer script
which still have some unanswered
questions and submitted it. She left
the hall immediately.