The Woman I cherish 5

The lecturer walked to the board and
wrote ‘first semester test’ on it. He
turned to face the class.
“I said you should space yourself” he
barked.
“please sir” the class chorused.
“will you shut up. do you think I
came here to joke” the lecturer
barked.
Some minutes later, students were
seen sitting at reasonable distance,
away from each other, with their pen
and paper on their desk. It seemed
that the lecturer really meant what he
said. He went to the board and wrote
5 questions for the class to solve. He
turned and faced the class when he
was done.
“you have 15 minutes to answer the
questions. if you like, joke with it.
that will be the beginning of failure
for you.” he said in a serious tune.
The class began the test
immediately. While some were still
trying to write down some things,
others still have their paper blank.
15 minutes later, the lecturer
collected the answer scripts. most of
the students submitted a blank
script, with just their names and
matric number on it. only few
students were able to write down
some things. The questions the
lecturer set was suppose to be the
topic for that day, which most of the
students have no idea of.
“see you all in the next class” the
lecturer said and left the class.
A loud uproar filled the class
immediately the lecturer left.
students gathered in group of three
or four to discuss the just concluded
test. Henry came to sit beside Jewel
immediately.
“how was it?” Henry asked.
“it was cool” Jewel responded.
“you call that scary questions cool. it
was not cool on my part o.” Henry
said.
“why? didn’t you finish it?” Jewel
asked.
“I didn’t even attempt any of the
questions. I submitted a blank
scripts.” Henry responded.
“why?” Jewel asked.
“that’s because I don’t know any of
the questions. I just pray the lecturer
won’t use it as part of our C.A,
because I will surely score zero if he
does” Henry said sadly.
“I don’t think he will use it.” Jewel
said.
“anyway, let’s put that aside.” Henry
said.
“okay” Jewel responded.
After a while of silence, Henry spoke.
“Jewel” he called softly.
“yes” Jewel responded.
“I really don’t know what transpired
between you and Angel, that made
her said those things to you, but I
just want to plead on her behalf.
please forgive her” Henry pleaded.
“why are you pleading on her
behalf?” Jewel asked.
“because I like that lady, and I plan
to date her. I don’t want you to be
having problem with someone that
might be my girlfriend. I hope you
can forgive her” Henry responded.
Jewel stared at Henry for 2 minutes
without saying anything. after a while
of silence, he spoke.
“I truly don’t have anything against
her. All I will do from now on is to
avoid her, so that there won’t be any
problem between us. you don’t have
to worry yourself. you can go on and
date her if you like her” Jewel
responded.
“thank you very much Jewel.” Henry
said.
“you are welcome” Jewel responded.
Francis joined them minutes later
and they left the class together.
*****************************************
***
Angel, Jessica and Lucy went to the
school restuarant to have lunch.
They had attended four lectures
already in just one day, and they
seemed to be tired and hungry. They
sat at the far-left in the restuarant
and ate their food silently. After a
while of silence, Lucy spoke.
“Angel, I really don’t know why you
said those things to Jewel. what did
he do?” she asked.
“just leave that guy. he thinks he can
joke with everyone and go free.
certainly not with me” Angel
responded.
” I think you must have
misunderstood him. maybe he acted
rudely to you when he was in a bad
mood. he did same to me, but later
apologized. he is not who you think
he is. he is a very nice guy. you will
get to like him if you get close to
him.” Lucy said.
“why are you speaking as if you have
known him for a long time” Angel
said.
“I don’t need to stay with him for a
long time to know that he is a very
nice guy.” Lucy responded.
The restuarant door opened and their
course rep walked in. He went to
meet them immediately.
“Angel, I have been searching for you
all over the school.” The course rep
said to Angel.
“Daniel, I hope there is no problem.”
she said, referring to the course rep.
“why are you looking for me?”
“Dr. Femi wants to see you. he said
you should meet him in his office”
Daniel responded.
Angel froze at the mention of Dr.
Femi. That was the same lecturer
that gave them an impromptu test
just because the class was noisy
when he entered.
“why is he looking for me?” Angel
asked.
“I don’t know. when you get to his
office, you will find out yourself”
Daniel responded.
Angel stared at Daniel suspiciously
for a while, before speaking.
“okay, I will go and see him”she
responded and stood up.
“you guys should wait for me. I will
be right back” she said to the other
ladies and left the restuarant.
*****************************************
**
Few minutes later, Angel was
standing at Dr. Femi’s door. she
seemed nervous. several thought
were running through her mind.
could it be that Daniel had told the
lecturer that she caused the
commotion in class today, and the
lecturer wants to punish her for it.
she pray silently for that not to be
the case. she took a deep breath and
knock softly on the door.
“come in” Dr. Femi voice sounded
from inside.
she opened the door and slowly
entered his office. she locked the
door behind her and stood beside it.
“good afternoon sir” she greeted.
Dr. Femi didn’t respond. he only
focused his attention on the phone
he was holding. Angel stood there
like a log of wood, without saying
anything. After a while, Dr. Femi
looked up to face Angel.
“Are you Angel?” Dr. Femi asked.
“ye…. yes sir” she stammered.
“please have a seat” Dr. Femi said.
“sir” she said, not sure if she heard
what the lecturer said. she wasn’t
expecting him to offer her a seat, if
he wants to punish her.
“have your seat” Dr Femi repeated.
“thank you sir” she responded and
sat down.
“I just marked your test scripts, and I
must say that I’m really impressed
by what you wrote. Even though I set
the test from topic I haven’t taught
you in class, you still did very well.
That showed you are very serious
with you study and always reading
ahead of the class. I called you here
to encourage you to keep it up. if
you continue this way, you will surely
graduate with a first class degree.
make sure you don’t allow friends to
mislead you. always keep doing the
right thing” Dr. Femi advised
“thank you sir. I really appreciate
your advice.” Angel said.
“okay, you can leave now. that’s why
I called you here.” Dr. Femi said.
Angel stood up to leave.
“please wait” Dr. Femi said.
Angel turned to face Dr. Femi.
“please call me Jewel when you go
out” Dr. Femi said.
“Jewel!” Angel said in shock. the
same Jewel she is quarreling with.
“yes Jewel. he is another student that
did really great in the test. I also
what to say some few words to him.
you both are really great. you should
not relent. you should keep such
people as friend. they will surely
drive you to success. he knows his
reason in this school and is working
hard towards achieving it. you both
should be close to each other,
because you are very serious with
your studies.” Dr. Femi said.
“thank you sir. let me go and look for
him.” Angel said.
“okay, you can go now” Dr. Femi
responded.
Angel walked out of Dr.
Femi’s office and locked the door
behind her. she rested her back on
the wall and sighed.
“why will Dr. Femi asked me to go
and call that jerk, of all people.” she
said.
She left Dr. Femi’s office to look for
Jewel.
After searching round the faculty for
up to ten minutes, she still couldn’t
find jewel. She decided to go look for
him at the faculty garden.
*****************************************
***
Jewel sat alone at the faculty
garden. he didn’t return to the hostel
with Henry. he wanted to be alone, so
that he could think properly. The first
thought that clouded his mind was
what Henry said to him in class
today. The fact that Henry plans to
date Angel kept troubling his mind.
He wouldn’t want to keep having
problem with someone his friend
plan to date. he will try as much as
possible to avoid her. that will be
better for all of them.
A tap on his shoulder brought him
back to reality. He turned to see
Angel standing beside him. He froze
immediately he saw her. that was the
same Angel he was trying to avoid.
he stared silently at her and she
stared back. After a while of
deafening silence, Angel spoke.
“I have been searching all over the
school for you. I never knew you will
be here” she said.
Jewel didn’t respond. He just kept
staring at her.
“Dr. Femi…………….”
“do you want to apologize for what
you did?” Jewel asked, cutting her
off from completing her sentence.
“apologize” Angel said, surprised.
“you have realized what you did
wrong and want to apologize. you
don’t have to apologize, because it’s
useless apologizing to me. I want to
tell you right now that we should
never come close to each other. let’s
just pretend like we have never met
and forget all that happened between
us. let’s ignore each other whenever
we meet. I have too many problem
already, and I don’t want you to add
to it. please stay away from me.”
Jewel said and walked out of Angel.
Angel stood like a log of wood,
staring at Jewel’s retreating figure.
she couldn’t believe what just
happened. it was not like she was
coming to apologize. she only
wanted to tell him that Dr. Femi
wants to see him. she stood at the
garden for close to 3 minutes
without leaving.

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