“…The voice on the other side of the phone was that of Damzy sobbing and muttering some incomprehensible words.
I have never heard nor seen her cry before. This must be a serious issue. In all her muttering, I heard Jeff. My heart skipped.
“Is Jeff dead? What happened to Jeff? Was he involved in accident? What happened? Where are you?”
All the questions came in quick succession before her roommate took the phone from her and nonchalantly told me that nothing happened to Jeff, that Jeff is hale and hearty then banged the phone before I could say anything.
I was perplexed. What’s going on? What’s wrong?
I could have rushed to meet her at her hostel but that would mean missing the philosophy class that must’ve gone half by then.
One of the negative effects of studying combined social sciences was that psychology lecture could start by 9am while philosophy lecture would be fixed for 9:30am.
So by default, you have to come in late in one of them.
As a fresher, missing lectures was a taboo, especially since I wanted to move to law in my second year. Dey play.
So, after the philosophy class which was taken by an effeminate Rev. Father, I called Damzy to know what’s wrong.
She told me that it’s because of Jeff. That Jeff is getting married.
My confusion doubled. What’s wrong with marriage? Isn’t marriage supposed to be a beautiful thing that calls for celebration? Why crying then?
She said Jeff was getting married to another girl. “And so?”
Wait, what? My brain started functioning again. “Another girl?” Meaning she was expecting him to marry her? Wow!
“But I thought he’s your school father? What’s wrong with your school father getting married to another girl?” I quizzed.
“You won’t understand”, she said, still trying to wipe her tears.
Apparently, Jeff was more than a school father to her. She had fallen in love with Jeff the moment she met him.
However, Jeff had a principle of not dating students, but told her that he liked her.
One thing happened and that thing led to the next and before they could know what was going on, he took her innocence in his office one fateful evening.
They both acknowledged that it was a mistake that they won’t allow to repeat itself again.
So Damzy, my Damzy, Ijeọma nke m, was hoping that she would graduate quickly then she can be free to date Jeff or even marry him, before that morning when Jeff gave her his invitation card.
These I would later find out several months later when Damzy and I finally broke up.
But for that day, I remained confused and she refused to tell me what was really going on. She allowed me to pet her and that afforded me the opportunity to hold her tight more than I have ever done before, so all questions could be suspended.
I left Damz’s hostel and headed for my lodge where I was squatting with my friend and secondary school classmate, Ike, who was in 3rd year as at then.
I was close to the lodge when someone hurried up to me and touched me. It was Amaka. Surprisingly, she lived in the lodge nearby.
She seemed excited to see me. Then she reminded me that I never got to tell her my name.
We truly had a lively relieving conversation about school stress, being in year one and all what nots. It relieved me off all the things the day was about.
We parted ways at my gate and she asked whether she could come around in the evening.
Haaa! Is this a dream or hallucination? Hia, you can always come around.
That evening, I cleaned the room in and out and I told Ike that he has to find somewhere else to squat as many things might happen.
Around 6pm, Amaka called me that she was at the gate. I hurriedly dressed up, put on perfume, sprayed perfume across the whole room to give it the best smell.
As I was going downstairs, I got a call from Damzy, telling me she was still down and can’t stay alone, as her roommate had gone off to her boyfriends house.
She then asked if she could come over and stay with me for that night.
I stood transfixed on the staircase.
What will I do now?
Let’s find out in the next episode.
DUKE THE NIGERIAN
(CAMPUS LIFE, Season 2; Episode 4) was brought to you by Ugwuagbo Emmanuel Chizoba Daniel (Zoba De Great)