Equal Exchange

"Excuse me sir, could I leave this here until I return?" He turned to the security guard of the hostel gates.

"No problem, but you go do fast oh." The middle-aged man answered dismissively in pidgin, his sentence heavy with a Yoruba accent.

Barely assured, Daniel carried his traveling bag and walked the pathway leading to the hostel. Inside, he found the lobby, scanning the board where keys were hanged for his room's own. Its space was empty.

'Someone must already be there.'

He asked for directions, and after half a minute of fumbling around, he finally found his room.

B110.

He stood in front of the door for a few more seconds, memorising the number of the room. When he got it, he picked up his luggage.

As Daniel pushed the door open, he came face to face with his new roomie, a dark-skinned guy who was a nearly as tall as him, but a bit more built.

"How far G?" He greeted, setting down his stuff.

"I'm good." The other guy answered in slight confusion.

"I'm your new roommate. This is my room." Daniel explained.

The other guy finally understood.

"Oh. Welcome to B110. I'm Tayo. What's your name?" He gestured for a handshake.

Daniel smiled slightly, and shook hands with him.

"Just call me Dan."

The next events were a blur.

Daniel brought in his luggage, swept his cupboard, arranged his bed space.

Stuff like that.

By the time he had finished arranging his bedspace, It was already night, and he was a bit tired. But perhaps the best part of this hostel was the fact that there were going to be no new roommates, which means more personal space.

Bisi Balogun was the most expensive hostel in campus, costing as much as one hundred and fifty thousand naira. Naturally, the facilities were in pristine condition. Instead of four, only two people stayed in a room of 15 square meters, and the electronics were working properly.

There was also 24-hour water supply, along with a light schedule that allowed for at least 18 hours of light. There was a bathroom and toilet for every two rooms, interconnected to each other.

On top of all this is free wi-fi for each floor with a daily limit of up to 20 GB. Though, for those able to afford this hostel, wi-fi was most likely not an issue.

There were a total of 150 rooms in the three-storied building, with a study of 30 square meters on each floor, along with a heavily stocked kiosk on each floor. This ensured that the school would still continue to earn profit from the students.

Daniel lay down on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. He had insisted on going to a government university. If not, his father was ready to send him off to a private university, probably Veritas.

As his thoughts wandered, he took out a Samsung A55, the one he bought with his own money.

Daniel was actually a fairly successful freelance Web Designer, earning upwards for half a million Naira every month, so buying himself a phone worth almost ₦600k wasn't exaggerated.

As he switched it on, he went to the app that most teenagers can't deny being addicted to...

'Let's watch some TikTok.'

...

Classes were beginning tomorrow.

As a newly admitted student, Daniel had resumed school the weekend before first week of resumption, arriving FUTA on Saturday.

Today was Sunday, but Daniel had already gotten everything he needed ready. He was currently on his laptop, working on a client's project - an AI oriented website.

"You design websites?"

He heard a voice, jolting him out of his flow state.

"Yeah. I'm a freelancer."

Solomon nodded and sipped his drink, sitting on his own bed.

"I'm also a freelancer. But I'm into graphics designing."

Daniel became more interested in the conversation, taking off his airpod.

"You have a portfolio?"

"Yeah, on Fiverr. You?"

"I'm on Behance, since it's more suitable for Web Designing work. I been dey learn Graphics Designing oh, but I didn't really go in depth. Are you good?" Daniel asked.

"Umm, I would say I'm okay. I'm rated at least 4 stars by close to twenty clients so, I would say mid-tier." Solomon answered casually, but the pride in his voice was unmistakable.

"So you've been into it for some time?" Daniel closed his PC.

"Yeah, for two years now, though I learned for close to a year online before that, and my big bro is a salary-earning graphics designer. So I guess you could say he taught me some tricks."

He pulled pulled out his own laptop, and Daniel came over as he showed him some samples.

The guy was actually quite good, engaged in a wide range of projects from logos to banners to book coverings and so on. His dashboard showed that he had already earned up to a total of $568 on this account.

His iPhone 13 already showed that he was doing well for himself, though his parents could have bought it for him.That was nothing compared to Daniel though, whose total earnings on Behance within a similar timeframe was almost $3000. There was no need to brag anyways, so he didn't say anything.

After all, he had something he wanted to obtain.

"So, would you be able to teach me?" He asked.

Solomon paused."You want to learn graphics designing from me?"

"Yeah. I could even pay you."

Solomon still appeared hesitant."The problem isn't money. I'm just not sure if the schedule would allow it."

"Don't worry. You can teach me an hour a day."

"But that would take you more than a year to reach a semi-professional level, not to mention that you wouldn't have much time to practice." Solomon explained.

"No worries, there's plenty of time, and besides…" Daniel smirked. "I learn fast."

Solomon sighed and nodded.

"So about the fee…" Daniel began.

"No need for a fee. If anything, I would like to learn Web Designing too."

Daniel nodded. They both shook their hand, finalizing the 'transaction'.

*** *** ****

The setting of the story is in Nigeria, so some of you might not be familiar with some concepts, but please, try your best to enjoy.

The story won't devolve into a harem, but there may be different love interest at DIFFERENT points in time.

That's all for now. Peace ✌️