MERCY NEATLY folded one of her recently washed cloth and gently put it in her suitcase. She took the only remaining cloth and while folding it, Ada snatched it from her and stood akimbo before her. She shot Ada a look. They were both the only ones in the room. Faith was having an evening class while Brianna hadn't returned from her day out. 

"How long are we not going to be on speaking terms? You accused me wrongly of taking your hairbrush. You should be the one to apologize or are you that prideful, you can't?" Ada cocked a brow. 

"I'm sorry. Can I have my cloth back? You're rumpling it." Mercy extended her hand to get her cloth.

"Really? That's no way to apologize girl. You don't even look remorseful."

Mercy had a huge ego. She was never one to apologize first when not on cordial terms with another, even though she was wrong or at fault. She simply couldn't bring herself to do it. She always expected the other person to speak to her first, even if not to apologize. That way, she felt like she was addictive — like they couldn't do without her. 

Mercy sighed, touching her forehead with one hand. "Look Ada, I was just really pissed off that day and when I couldn't find my hairbrush, there was no other person to blame it on than you. You're the only one that requests for my stuff."

"But you later found out it wasn't me, so I guess I deserve an apology for being accused wrongly." Ada folded her arms around her chest. 

"To be very honest, I didn't expect you'd take it this far."

"You're stalling." Ada rolled her eyes and checked her recently manicured nails. 

"No, wrong word."

"Whatever, just apologize."

"I thought I already did." Mercy shrugged. 

"Do it again."

"Okay, I'm sorry Ada for accusing you wrongly." Mercy's eyes danced around and she smiled, feeling awkward. 

Ada looked at her for a moment, smiling. "You're so proud." Ada tossed her cloth to her which she caught deftly. "Anyway apology accepted. We're cool now. So what's up?"

Mercy folded her cloth, put it in her suitcase and zipped the suitcase closed. "A lot has happened within these past few days." She said and filled Ada in on all the event that had occurred to her, starting with her meeting with Tony, to Lee asking for a hang out and then to the lecturer's case. Ada found it all too surreal just the same way Mercy did. Nevertheless, Ada was in support of her plan to get herself vindicated from the pedophilic lecturer.

"Such animal!" Ada spat. "He should not only be fired from his job, he should be arrested as well."

"Oh well, as long as I'm free, I don't care what happens to him."

"Anyway, let's talk about the more interesting part. Wait so you mean Lee asked you out and you think Tony likes you?"

"Correction, Lee only asked me to hang out with him, not like he asked me out."

"There's no difference my darling." Ada moved towards her and held her cheeks. 

Mercy motioned away, dipping both hands in her Jean short pocket. Her back was now facing Ada. "When you say ask out, you make it sound like a romantic date and it's not. It's just us spending time together in a place as friends do."

"Hmm, that's how guys put it: let's hang out and when that happens, it ends with a kiss."

"Mine wouldn't. Lee is not your average guy. He's a nerd. Besides, I don't think he likes me — Like, likes me. You get what I mean." She wasn't exactly sure about what she had just said. For one, she noticed Lee liked to spend time with her after lectures, so that could mean he had feelings for her. Or it could also mean he just simply liked her company. But if the former was true, Mercy didn't want that. She didn't like Lee that way. She liked him only as a friend and she was okay with that. It was Tony she was sexually attracted to and if she discovered Lee had feelings for her, that would definitely make her feel awkward around him which could in turn ruin their good friendship. She didn't want that. She brushed the possibilities of Lee liking her as more than a friend off her mind. 

"You never can tell, you know?" Ada shrugged. "So about Tony, have you both spoken since the last time you both met?"

It was then Mercy phone rang. It was a call from the person in question. Mercy chuckled at the coincidence. "Speaking of Tony, he's the one calling."

Ada widened her eyes with astonishment and gestured for Mercy to pick up the call, which she did. 

"Hey Tony." Her voice always sounded softer when she spoke to him. 

"My Model." came Tony's response. His voice sounded deeper over the phone. It sent shivers down her spine. The effect he had on her was great. 

Mercy, at a loss for words, giggled. 

"Missed me?" Tony asked. 

Mercy smiled. She had definitely missed his gorgeous face but she wasn't going to admit it. "We just saw yesterday so I wouldn't say I missed you."

"Aww, I'm hurt." He said and Mercy didn't know how to feel about that. She didn't even know if he was sincere. But at the same time, she wished to take back her words, to tell him she actually missed him. "Thought you were missing me just as much as I'm actually missing you right now."

His words melted her heart. She took the phone away from her ear so he couldn't hear her and placed her hand on her chest. "Aww." She returned it to her ear once she was done gushing. "I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings."

"It's okay. At least I have your picture to stare at before I go to bed tonight."

Mercy blushed. He was sentimental and mushy, she thought. But boy, she liked it. It was obvious to her that Tony had a crush on her just the way she did him.

When Tony noticed Mercy wasn't saying anything, he broke the silence. "So when are we seeing again? I'd be at the mango tree on campus tomorrow. What do you say we meet there?"

Mercy's heart skipped a beat. She was meeting with Lee tomorrow. "Uh..."

Just then Brianna entered the room, rather stridently. "Wetin dey sup for here?" Her voice was loud. Too loud. Ada hushed her, but she was too tipsy to even mind. "I say wetin dey sup for here?"

"Who's that?" Tony asked. 

Mercy moved a little farther away from Brianna. "It's Brianna. She just got in. I guess she's drunk." She could hear Tony sniggering. When Brianna's noise persisted, Mercy walked out of the room to continue her conversation with Tony. 

"So what do you say?" Tony asked. 

"Uh, I'm kind of gonna’  be busy tomorrow, I'm sorry. But we could always—"

"I'm not going to take so much of your time.” Tony cut in. "I just really want to see you again. I've missed you."

Mercy didn't want to break his heart. Plus, she wanted to see him too, so she said, "Alright, I'd see what I can do."

"Don't stand me up this time around. Good night, my model." Tony said and hang up the call. He had just referred to her as my model for the second time. She felt on top of the world — like she was floating on cloud nine. She had had several crushes on guys in time past but none had seemed to notice her or even reciprocate her feelings. This was the first time, so the feeling was novel to her and she relished it. She didn't know she had been thinking about him until a huge smile formed on her face. She walked back into the room with that smile on. 

"How far, what did he say?" Ada asked as soon as Mercy walked in. Brianna was lying sprawled on her bunk bed. Faith had already returned from her evening class and she was arranging her bed space when Mercy walked in. 

"What did who say?" "Ah Faith you're back?" Faith and Mercy said simultaneously. 

"Yes o." Faith responded, turning around to look at Mercy. 

"Welcome." Mercy said. 

"So gist me, what did you and Tony talk about?" Ada asked, curiously and Mercy found it weird. 

"Why are you so eager to know?" Mercy cocked a brow. 

"Just want to know." Ada shrugged. "No specific reason."

"Well, Tony asked me to meet him tomorrow and I'm supposed to meet with Lee, what do you think I should do?"

This got Faith attention. She looked at Mercy. "Wait, is it the same Tony that sells suya?"

"Yes, that one." Ada answered immediately. The last thing she wanted was for Faith to be a part of the conversation. "So this is actually very interesting. I'd say you go for Tony since you obviously like him more."

"I like Lee too, besides he asked first."

"Who's Lee again?" Faith asked. She was ignored. 

"You were the one that said you see Lee as only a friend and you don't think he likes you as more than that. So since you and Tony seem to like each other as more than just friends and you both have a potential chemistry going on, I'd advise you go for him tomorrow. You can easily apologize to Lee and go out with him some other time." Ada suggested. 

"Mercy, you're in a relationship with Tony?" Faith asked. 

Ada rolled her eyes. 

"No." Mercy answered. 

"I don't know so much but from what I've heard so far, I'd say you go out with your friend Lee or what did you call his name? The Tony guy is not your boyfriend and so you can easily postpone your outing with him. Besides, I know that Tony guy, maybe not personally, but I've seen him before and I don't just really trust him. Why will a mature looking guy like that want to have a romantic relationship with a young girl like you Mercy?"

"But hold on Faith, you make it look like he's in his thirties and I'm still a toddler. I'm a teenager and Tony can't be more than twenty five years old, so cut me some slack. Besides how old were out parents when they got married to each other. I'm sure the age gap was wide. You might say that was in the old times. Who says it can't happen in our generation. I just feel like the heart wants what it wants and my heart desires Tony. I like him and I think it's him I want to go out with tomorrow."

Ada had a happy and satisfied look on her face. "Aww, great speech. Have you heard Faith? The heart wants what it wants."

"Oh alright, Mercy. Be careful anyway." Faith said, ignoring Ada. 

***

"How do I look?" Mercy asked her three roommates once done applying her lips gloss. It was Saturday — lecture free day. She was dressed in an orange oversized tee top, skin tight black trousers and an orange bandana was tied around her head. Very casual yet stylish, that was how she wanted to look and from the approving look on the faces of her roommates, she believed she achieved that. 

"Where are you going?"Brianna asked. 

Mercy smiled. "I'm going to see Tony."

A smile tugged at Brianna's face. "You guys are now a thing?"

"No, not yet." Mercy wanted so badly to stop grinning but she couldn't. 

"Look who's catching feelings for Tony now." Brianna eyed her. "When I gave him your number, you wanted to kill me. Now you're asking us how you look for the first time because you want to see Tony."

"Whatever." Mercy said, snagging her small shoulder bag. Brianna hit her butt and she laughed out of the room and hollered "bye".

***

Lee had donned his favorite hoodie top and had even worn a cologne for his outing with his best friend Mercy but when he called her to ask if he could come over to her hostel to take her to the cinema he had in mind, her words were, "I'm so sorry that I didn't inform earlier, but I won't be able to go to the cinema with you today. I have an important appointment with someone."

"But—"

"I'm sorry Lee, maybe some other day." She hung up the phone, feeling some sense of guilt. Lee would understand; she had convinced herself.

***

Tony had made up his mind that he wasn't going to call Mercy, although he had waited for her under the mango tree for long. She was going to come, he believed so. He waited patiently. There was no way she was going to stand him up again like the first time. She couldn't be that mean. But then, he had waited for too long and when it was getting excruciating and he was running out of patience, he swallowed his pride and eventually decided to place a call on her. She picked up immediately. 

"Hello, you're still coming over right?"

"Look behind you." He didn't just hear Mercy's voice over the phone; he heard it close to him. She was there. He turned around and he was graced with her beautiful face. 

As Mercy moved closer to Tony, he had his eyes riveted on her. She was a little sheepish but at the same time, she liked the way he looked at her — like he was enamored. Spellbound. No guy had ever looked at her that way. She enjoyed it. 

"You came." Tony said when she was few inches close to him. 

Standing right in front of Tony made her realize how tall he was or rather how short she was. She shrugged with both hands in her pocket and not meeting his eyes. "Yeah, I'm here."

"I'm glad. How are you?" Tony smiled at her. When he did, his eyes sparkled, or maybe it was just her.

"I'm fine. I'm sorry if I kept you waiting."

"It's okay. It's cool; as long as you're here now."

"I wanna ask a question though." Mercy asked after a brief silence.

"Oh alright, pose."

Mercy scrunched her brows, chuckling. "Pose? Too much of photo shoot."

It was Tony's turn to chuckle. "It's actually a word that means to ask a question. I like to use it because no one uses it."

"Oh, cool. I guess I'd start to use it so you'd not be the only one using it."

This time, Tony laughed and when he did, the corner of his outer eyes squeezed. His laughter was like music to Mercy's ears. 

"You're very funny." Tony said as his laughter peter out.

"I like to think I'm not. Anyway, I wanted to ask if you attend Unilag."

"No, I don't."

"Oh." Mercy was surprised. 

"Yeah, but I stay around."

"On campus?"

"No, I squat with a friend in an apartment off campus."

"Oh you squat, why?"

"I'm still looking for a place of my own and until then, I gats squat with my friend. Do you have a problem with that?"

Mercy admired the fact that he had the confidence to tell her that. Some guys, in their bid to impress a girl, would have lied that the place they squatted was theirs and the actual owner was the squatter. But Tony didn't and that pleased her. However she didn't like the fact that he had no house of his own. She wished he did.

"No, no, I have no problem with that. I actually like the fact you're not only handsome, but you're also honest. That's great." Mercy commended. 

"You think I'm handsome?" Tony asked, smirking.

Mercy snorted in a chuckle. 

***

Jaja hostel was in a tumultuous state so Lee grabbed his glasses, walked out of his dormitory and out of the hostel. He was taking a walk to one of his favourite haunt — the library. He was going there to study. No farther had he gotten from his hostel when he saw Mercy and a guy chatting animatedly under the mango tree close to his hostel. He was surprised. This was the important appointment she had that she had to postpone their outing? To see a dude! And even worse, close to his hostel. Didn't she care if he saw her with the dude or not? This got Lee upset and jealous. Mercy wasn't his girlfriend, but she was his friend so he felt disappointed that she did this to him. There was no way he could study now and concentrate. With his feelings badly hurt, he walked back to his hostel to rid his mind off what he had just seen by frolicking with the rambunctious boys in jaja hostel.

____________________________

This has been my favorite chapter so far. What's yours?