Somadina could see his roommate, Subomi, be lost again in his constantly recurring reverie. He'd hold his Samsung smart phone and think deeply for an overly long time before he responds to a petite, cute, Igbo girl, Cynthia — a student pharmacist he'd 'fallen for' — on WhatsApp messenger. It was weird because, he liked Chisom — another sweet Igbo girl from the Medical faculty — just as much. For real, he liked them equally and Somadina found nothing unrighteous about it, in fact, Somadina pitied him for the mental strain he experienced trying to joggle the two girls with indecision. Nevertheless, sometimes he'd advise him to pick one, less he lost both and at the same time, he'd tease him that no one could ever get enough of intelligent Igbo girls and so his indecision was understandable.

Somadina chuckled and shook his head. The reverse was the case for him and the irony was something to laugh about.

"Guy, move your ass." He said, shoving Subomi with his heel to roll over on the bed.

"Free me, Ah!" Subomi groaned and rolled still like he had understood exactly what Somadina needed.

He needed to retrieve his navy blue, Nike, tracksuit top from the bed which had been rumpled under Subomi, and he did. It was his comfortable wear. He'd have it on all the time, if the society would let him and he didn't mind too much if it was rumpled or few days overdue for laundering. He tucked it into his backpack and was soon feeling ready for the impromptu journey. On second thought, he was not so sure. He was informed at the last minute that he had been picked to join a group of lecturers and SUG officials on a journey to Ilorin for a Nationwide conference for federal Universities. He was not sure why he was picked, perhaps it had something to do particularly with his recent achievements in the school's sport team, or perhaps he was a random demographic specimen.

The journey did not sit well with him. His stomach rumbled and gave him this false feeling of needing to use the toilet, but he knew it was false alarm for this happened often, and each time it meant something. Sometimes it would mean he was just nervous—as in few moments before exams—other times it indicated that something bad was going to happen, and his instincts was telling him to stay home. Once he had gone to play football despite this ominous warning and he dislocated his ankle. Other times, it indicated benign, like once before a journey that he simply would forget his phone charger and so would suffer of the withdrawal that came with having a dead phone.

He sat on the plastic chair at his reading table and went over everything he had packed, in his head. Tooth brush, extra boxers, phone and headphone chargers, headphones, a small towel, blessed anointing oil in a bottle and even a book on entrepreneurship which Timi had gifted him a week after he had mentioned that he's considering turning his tutoring skills into a business practice. She had laughed and teased his Igbo instincts for money and then two weeks later, boom! She showed up with a tangible symbol of support.

Timi did things like this often, and with the way she did these things, she could be described as sweet and diabolical at the same time. She was confusing, and not in a great way, something about her was analogical with Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. She would be so sweet and tempting, and boy was she cute. She had this smile and eyes that twinkled, connected and lingered. She was extremely sensitive too and kind and treated Somadina even as a mother would treat a son, and then claim she was only grateful for how effectively he'd helped her by tutoring her in calculus, but some of her actions were too extreme for such gratefulness — the hugs, the twinkle in her smile, the bits of compliments, the feeding him with her spoon even in the public, the show of support. It should have been clear what Timi felt for him, but as soon as he ever said or implied that she liked him, she'd freak out, yell at him, warn him never to say such nonsense, remind him that she has a boyfriend in Ibadan and then she'd leave, stomping the earth with tiny legs. Yet, on a day like this, she had yelled at him for not informing her earlier that he would travel and then told him she'd come and see him before he left, cancelling the church program she had to attend and had been pumped about. She had even worryingly asked him if he had enough money for emergency and offered to give him some if he didn't.

His phone buzzed in his Jean pocket and he stopped his thoughts to pull it out of his pocket. On the screen of his gold infinix was a caller ID that read, TIMILEHIN, and for some reason he remained unsure of, his heart beat raced. This was his cue to go.

He rejected the call. He didn't need to pick it to understand that she had arrived at lagoon front, a location somewhat serene, blessed with crannies among shrubs and stone benches that provide enough privacy for students of opposite sexes to meet up right outside the campus and a beautiful view of a gold lake and sunset in the evening — and she was waiting impatiently for him with a cute pout and exaggerated frown.

He got on his feet and prepped for some schooling as he swung his backpack onto his back. "Subomi," he sighed without getting a reply. "I am leaving. Tell the other guys."

Subomi nodded without looking up from his phone. "Go and never return"

"Why?"

"I prefer your..." He trailed off as he smiled and typed some more into his phone. Somadina ambled towards the door before he finished: "...your bed space. I prefer your bed space."

Now at the door, holding the handle, Somadina replied. "You're mad. If I go and not return now, you will miss me pass o."

"I will write you a great eulogy." He laughed and looked up at him for only a second with a mischievous smile. "That's the least I could do in appreciation for inheriting your bed space. At least I won't have to deal with these cheap niggas."

"I hope you get missing." Somadina said, frowning as he exited and slammed the door behind him. "For real, I will pray over it."

-

"Good day o," he greeted Oga Joe, the security officer he spotted passing urine at the lonely bush corner he passed through on his way. More than a greeting, he was passing an I-see-you-o message across and for this he laughed mischievously.

Not more than twenty steps away was where Timi stood by a stone bench with an exaggerated look that was supposed to be intimidating. For his safety, Somadina wiped off his smile quickly and replaced it quickly with a soft, submissive pout. He slumped his shoulders and bowed slightly as he walked with monotonous, reluctant paces.

Timi, in a corporate outfit — a satin, milky blouse with puffed sleeves, over a black fitting plain skirt, finished with a pair of finely polished leather sandals, padded at the heels to help make her taller, perhaps. Somadina fought the urge to make fun of her and her small stature, the jokes were getting old anyway and this was not the time. While he felt nervous, he could also not help but fantasize how perfect the moment was. Seeing her standing there in adequate distance away from public eyes, cute and fine under a canopy shrub, he could not help the thoughts that occupied his head. His sensation heightened, the serenity in the atmosphere seeped into his skin, his fingertips tingled, he wanted to hold and breath in her cashew scent.

She was standing with authority, legs spaced out in a defiant stance, when she saw him. She rolled her eyes, looked away, flipped her hair and twirled one long braid around her index finger.

Somadina could not help the smile that followed. She was too cute, and the lip gloss on her pouted lips glistened in the evening sun. No mortal could frown at her sort.

"You're smiling, baa?" Her reprimand began immediately.

"Good evening to you too." He said and made to hug her, to swallow her small frame in his.

"Better hold it there." She held out her left hand to keep him at the distance. "You can't even distract me." She added.

Somadina pushed closer still, and without much effort, he was overpowering her. She pushed, but only slid backwards as she did, the soil gave way under her feet.

"Crap!" She interjected under her breath and then pushed with both her hands and with double the effort — it didn't quite work either.

Swiftly, Somadina took her hands and shifted them to both sides of his torso. With the forward push she placed on those hands, she fell forward and into him, her head resting perfectly on his chest — perfect.

For seconds they stayed that way as if something had shocked them, then Timi adjusted, placed her toes on his feet, put her arms over his shoulder and around his neck, stood on her tip toes as she drew her body into his. He, in turn, tightened his arms around her waist.

"Why didn't you tell me early that you're traveling?" She whispered softly into his ear.

"'cause I was informed late that I am travelling."

"Oh!"

"Yea, my course rep just called me and told me that Dr. Kalu was looking for me, that I was picked for a travel for one conference like that." He sighed. "It's possible that it's even the course rep that picked. Maybe they asked him to pick anybody."

"Oh." She tightened her grip and swallowed. "Why didn't you say so?"

"Because you started yelling when I told you."

A pause followed and then she said. "I'm sorry I keep doing that."

"It's fine, it's cute...you're cute and I will—"

"How long will it last?" She cut him off and began to loosen her grip around him, creating distance between them.

"I'm not sure, but I think three days." He replied, as they looked into each other's eyes this time, separated by a small, intimate distance, still wrapped closely in each other's arms. "You will miss me?"

She sneered and rolled her eyes. "I just won't see who to tickle again." She claimed and as soon as she did, she began to snake her arms towards his rib cage to tickle him.

He jumped in reflex and their bodies separated. "Stop, please, biko, abeg." He begged, fidgeting.

She laughed out loud, taunting him, reaching out still for his rib cage as he recoiled still and readied for a run. They were laughing, both of them, but it can almost be felt tangibly the emptiness that hung in the atmosphere, the one that slowly began to prick at Somadina's heart, the one that has begun to embitter him — the one that suggested that this tickle was a cunning maneuver to create the distance and emptiness that now existed between them.

Somadina could not help what he did next, he moved with the agility of a cat, took her hands and seized both behind her as he ravished her with a kiss. For a moment, she was still, in shock or in awe, and then she began to struggle to free one arm — she freed her left arm first, and with it she delivered a thundering slap.

Somadina stood, mouth ajar and awakened. He held were his cheek burned and did nothing as she walked away, reached her handbag behind and picked it off the bench. He turned, slowly and stared at her as she walked a little farther, stopped and with adequate bitterness, she turned to him and said, "you know this is more or less a rape, right?"

Somadina did not reply.

"Don't even call me. Have a safe trip. Good bye"

At that, she walked away briskly and a tear dropped from Somadina's eyes. "Good bye." He mumbled with sigh.

-

Not far from the senate building, Somadina stood aside as people filed into the bus. The more prominent of them were the senior lecturers, grey haired professors and doctors who once reveled in passion for the lecturing job, but the students had ruined them, purged them of all passion until there was nothing left. Lecturers who once at their younger ages, dreamt they would influence the world and raise the next generation of academics, the future leaders now dreamt still, but the students were their nightmares this time around and worse, this was a nightmare they can't choose to wake up from until they retire.

This was why they then paid more attention to politics and trips like this. For them, this was like a picnic vacation, a break from this nightmare of dealing with these young monsters. This was also why they frowned at the students as they boarded the bus first and hated that they were required to bring five extra random students with them. Perhaps they had hoped to have all of the moments to themselves, the freedom that came with that included having such gossips that should never leak into the ear of students. This was why they went in first, took the best seats, hoping to fill up every room. They chose strategic positions at the back, the younger more exuberant lecturers took the center and about eight SUG officials managed to squeeze into small spaces remaining at the front.

On the ground stood six students, waiting to be boarded and amongst them was Somadina. The rest were three girls and two boys – one of which was a really tall guy with a bossy mien, or at least Somadina thought so and a girl not far from him had a body he somewhat worried, for a second, could prove distracting to anyone, especially lecturers. Most prominent of her features were her large buttocks, smooth skin and short bob blonde hair. None of them seemed to know themselves and Somadina knew them not either, except for one of the girls with long purple braids, he thought he might have seen her somewhere before. She was fine, just fine, and chuckled a little too loudly, moving as much as she talked. She was the only of them extras that knew someone for she chatted away with a robust standoffish friend that tagged too closely to her and whispered things that must have been gossips, punching her lightly every time she made dramatic emphasis.

She looked up and just before she met Somadina's stare, he looked away quickly. He was afraid she might have caught him and that he was now the topic of discussion. For some reason, he hoped that she was not thinking that he was staring lustfully for these things got complicated quickly – she perhaps would wait for him to make a move for the whole of the three days, she'd think every word he said and actions he took to be about her, as either a brave attempt to get her approval or a coward attempt to avoid the awkwardness that came with being with a crush. He didn't need such drama, he needed only a couple of hours to pass for Timi's anger to subside, then he'd call her and make her choose between all of him or nothing. That confrontation was long overdue anyway.

"Wait o. Is there even need for these extra people to join?" A young lecturer at the door said pulling his attention. He was at the door of the bus and his eyes seemed to roam the interior calculatedly. "If they enter now, the bus will be jam-packed."

At this, Somadina breathed hopefully. Perhaps they'd say there is no need for them to go, perhaps they'd let them go and he'd gladly return to the hostel and think carefully about his life, about Timi.

"It can still enter them." Someone in the bus answered. "We can make space. Eshe kiya."

"What's the need?" The lecturer at the door hissed with a frown. "It's too tight. They can—"

"How about my car?" someone said, and Somadina turned to his voice with a big frown. It was one of them extras, the one with the imposing figure and large brown timberland boots. Somadina decided to dislike him instantly. "It's more plush and comfy, plus—" he turned to face and speak more to those of them waiting on the ground, "—we get the choice of playing loud blasting music in it for the ride? Since traffic could be a b to the i to the c to the t to the itch." He smirked and Somadina sneered disapprovingly. He continued after a shrug: "an itch in the back that you can't scratch. Feel me?"

For a moment there was silence and then the standoffish girl let out a giddy laughter. Somadina decided that he did not like her too. He did not feel him, he was not sure how to feel about putting his life in the hands of someone who talked that way and to go on a journey he did not want in the first place. His stomach churned and a WTF-just-happened question remained on his bewildered expression.

"hmm." The lecturer at the door, slightly amused and serious at the same time, thought this over and Somadina noticed his residing hairline, deciding to dislike him also, first for considering this and second for having such hairline at this young age. Somadina waited impatiently, others waited too, until he finally laughed, shook his head and said, "Oya, you people should make sure you follow up."

Someone screamed, "Yay!" another protested, a small ruckus rose, some laughter too and Somadina stood dumbfounded, to say the least. The lecturer could not care less as he entered the bus and slid the door close, arguing with a lecturer who insisted that they make space. On cue, the engine roared to life.

A lecturer in the bus shouted jokingly, "I hope you have driving license, this one you're talking like you steal cars."

The tall guy smiled in response as he began to walk away, motioning others to come with him. The girl with the purple braids whipped pass Somadina in fast gaits after waving at someone. She seemed exhilarated by this turn out. Reluctantly, Somadina looked in the opposite direction and found her friend leaving—fleeing the scene. She was not one of them, apparently. He wished he could call her and beg her to take his place. He didn't and his stomach churned still.