Chapter Four

Everyone now was on their feet, saying something to someone or listening to someone saying something as they headed in different directions. Some in pairs some in groups and some loners like myself, that was the usual site.

"Hey man!" Adam slaps the back of my head.

"What the hell man!" I scream out as the impact startles me; I had zoned off again.

We caught up on some things as we walked outside.

"What happened to you today? He quizzingly asked.

"What do you mean? I was just late "

"No, you were more than just late, you were not in class. I noticed you day dreaming bro"

I was shocked that anyone could easily figure me out when I was not in my element.

"Really? I guess I was just tired considering that I slept at dawn". I answered.

"Yeah man last night was fun as usual"

"Morons!"

From a far distance in front, Beauty screamed out to us as she abruptly headed for us leaving the group of girls she was with.

"What's up dough face" I asked, as she got nearer.

"Am hungry, let's go eat "

"Let's get the gang together and go get some chips. I feel very generous today so am paying for the whole thing"

Fifteen minutes later the whole squad except for Dave had assembled. Borne arrived arm in arms with Lily. "What took you guys so long?" I shouted at them for being the last ones to make it there.

And before they could manage a response Adam interjected

"I bet they stopped somewhere to smooch it out"

"Hahaha" we all burst out in a laugh at his remark.

And then Lili manages to reply to Adam

"whatever we stopped to do is narnia"

"Ah ha!, so you are admitting that you guys did stop somewhere for something nasty"

With that remark, I realized if I was to let the catfight go on, we were all going starve to death before they both finally came to their senses.

"Hey! You guys you can settle this after we are all full"

"Yeah you guys am dying right now let us go before they run out of food" said Bee.

We therefore made our way to our favourite food place. It was a small eatery a distance outside our school campus.

On the way over, had a few laughs about my ordeal in class that morning. But never did I bring up the Elephant in the room. The divine encounter I just had on my way to class that morning.

I had promised myself not to tell anyone until I was sure about it.

We made fun of each other all the way, shared heart-warming stories and pulled a few pranks on each other as we waited for our order. This had been our group dynamic.

It felt like any other day except for the light I had seen. Thinking about her made me feel like I was slowly being drawn closer and close to her.

Moments before our order arrived, Dave joined us. He had got caught up in a discussion group in the Library and did not notice my 12 missed calls.

We had our food several moments later and were back at on campus by 2pm. I had a two-hour business ethics class and after that I was done for the day, till 10 the following morning. Basically, it was about to be another late night for me.

I figured I would hide out in the library. I needed some work done with all the piling assignment papers. I needed to finish up some of them at least that would ease my mind.

Soon after my ethics class was over, I went straight to my room and quickly changed into my beloved hoody and slippers.

On my way out I grabbed a mug of hot coffee. Any form of food or beverage was not allowed in the library but I was somewhat acquainted with the librarian and he just turned a blind eye when I got into the library.

Some hours into my study session, I managed to finish up two of my most urgent assignment and had them printed out in the library.

I decided to go on YouTube and watch some tutorials on business statistics then maybe watch some funny clips afterwards.

I looked up from my computer and there she was the "mystery girl". I had not thought of her all afternoon and now she stood directly in my view at the library counter waiting for Mr. Bamusi the librarian.

I froze over and stared for a moment then suddenly as if feeling my piercing eyes on her back she turned back.

I could have sworn her eyes fell right at me, I was in the reading section on the far side of the library. With the book shelves in the middle and the counter at the other end she must have seen me staring.

I could not get my head to move nor my eyes to look away, then it happened she smiled at me and slowly raised her hand in a wave. Just one stroke, as if trying to confirm that I was real and not just some shadow lurking in library corner.

ok

I still could not move. So, I asked myself "can she see me?"

"She must be had been waving at the person behind me" however, there was nothing but an empty desk behind me.

Suddenly, a surge of energy flooded into my biceps and I raised my hand to give an awkward wave and a frantic smile.

Luckily, before we could get into any more awkward moments Mr. Bamusi emerged from the back room behind the counter with some papers which he handed to her. And soon after she walked out of the library.

My heart was now back to its normal pace. In my head those few voiceless moments had felt like an hour worth of a verbal conversation with her.

I imagined, she first said 'hey you are that guy from this morning' with that first look she gave me.

And to that I had replied.

"Yes, I am that guy" in a very manly calm voice.

In my head we had talked about our hopes, dreams and aspirations but still could not get to each other's identities. The mystery continued, just the way I liked it.

Beep beep! A new text message pops up of my phone screen.

"Where are you?" the text read.

It was from Anna. I hesitate to answer considering the mountain of work I had earlier.

Then, I realized that I was well of out of danger for the time.

"I can spare some time to play around" I reassured myself before sending my reply.

"In the library"

"Alright, do not move" she texts back

I initially type "Like I have anywhere else to go" then decide not send.

"Yeah sure" I reply simply.

A few minutes later she popped up in front of me.

"Hey baby face" she says with a smile.

"Hey you" I replied with a smile "bad day?"

"No, I just missed your silly face. And thought

I should come disturb you" she said as she pulled a chair next to me.

Our sudden hissing and dragging built up a certain level of disturbance in the mortuary state of the library. Book crazed faces looked up to see what the commotion was all about. I shyly smiled back at them and we all went back to our business.

"What are we watching" she intruded at the multiple tabs open in my internet browser.

"Some videos on World Star" I explained

"Oh! Yeah I love those" she pulled my laptop and start playing some of the suggested videos on the site.

As we sat there watching the videos, I could not help but look on in amazement at the breathtaking creature beside me. In that moment my world felt at peace.

We watched a couple of videos. My favourite was one called "Guy moments". It was an animation series tackling all sorts of situation people go though. The scenarios ranged from heartbreaks, going on dates and how to act on first dates. The one that got my attention was the one on how to handle rejection. It made me very unease given my history with Anna. In my head I kept thinking she was just laughing at me. But her face was the exact opposite she left no clues to suggest anything of the sort. In fact, she seemed genuinely intrigued as she watched it.

As we went through some more videos, she would burst out with a soft ha-ha! Being that we were still in the library we had to use my headsets. She took the left one and I had the right-side headset. Our heads were just several breaths away. These were the moments I would always dream of, the moments I would always live to regret at the end of the day as I laid down with my thoughts. I had grown accustomed to moments like these and most importantly, I had made peace with my demise.

As time passed, I noticed that she was getting tired. Slowly she shifted on her chair leaning her head over my shoulder. The smell of her coconut perfume slowly intoxicating my senses.