Hope fell heavily on her bed, the soft and comfy mattress soothing her tiredness a little. Her head was pounding, courtesy of the recurring sleepless nights she had been keeping due to exams. It didn't help that she hadn't eaten anything all day and the sun on her way back home had been extremely harsh. All she wanted to do was curl into bed, take a peaceful nap and preferably never wake up for the next year. She was well on her way to achieving her dreams, until she was distracted by the sound of a door opening and closing.
"How far? How was your paper?" An eager voice asked a moment before she felt the bed dip under the weight of her roommate.
"Go away jare. I want to sleep," Hope groaned, her voice coming out as tired as she felt.
Hope didn't need to look to know her roommate was currently rolling her eyes at her. Their relationship was such that they could predict easily what each other's reaction to any situation would be.
They had met on their first day of resumption. Jane had been new like her and they had run into each other in the course of searching for their respective departments. They'd both been lost and had decided stick together and help each other find their ways. They soon became fast friends and later roommates.
"I'm just going to assume your paper was fine since you still have the energy to sleep," Jane concluded.
That caught her attention as Hope raised her head to glare at Jane. "On the contrary olodo, it's my lack of energy that makes me want to sleep."
"Same thing," Jane insisted with a dismissive wave of her hand. That indicated she was done with the topic. "At least you're done with your exams. I still have three papers to go. I don't even like thinking about it. I can't believe you're going to go home before me!"
Hope rolled her eyes at her friend. To think people often referred to her as the dramatic one. "Calm down, aunty. You'll be done in less than a week anyway. It's not as if I'm going back home right away."
"I still don't want you to go home before me," Jane persisted.
Hope knew that was her roommate's version of a plea for her to stay back so they could leave the hostel at the same time but decided to ignore her comment all the same. "My head is pounding, abeg. I get back, ordinary food you can not offer me. You're not letting me sleep either. What did I do to you exactly?"
"There's food in the kitchen. If you're hungry, you'll stand up and get it yourself," Jane grumbled, pissed that her friend wasn't biting the bait.
Hope's ears perked at that and in a split second, her expression had changed from tired to excited. She sat up on the bed, grinning from ear to ear. "You should have started with that."
Jane scoffed, lying back on the bed. "At the mention of food, you're shining teeth. I just hope they won't use food to cart you away one day."
Hope ignored her friend's comment as she climbed off the bed and made her way over to the kitchen. She loved food, so what? It was an essential of life and no one could fault her for that.
Their room was an off campus self contained so they had their own kitchen and bathroom. It was spacious and very convenient. It was painted bright pink -- courtesy of Jane -- and white. Hope didn't care much about the interior of the room but Jane had taken on the responsibility of making it look -- in her own words -- fabulous and most people who came into their room often attested that she'd indeed done a good job of that. Hope however felt the room was a tad too girly but whatever.
Hope opened the pot to find that Jane had cooked white rice and stew with fried fish. Hope's grin grew even wider and her mouth watered. Jane was the better cook of the both of them and it was even better that she enjoyed cooking. Hope could cook, but most of the time she preferred not to, which Jane often found amusing considering how much Hope loved to eat.
"I love you baby!" Hope called out as she dished out food for herself.
"There's no need to shout, I'm not hard of hearing," Jane called back but Hope could bet she was smiling. "Are you going to work today?"
Hope nodded as she made her way back into the room with her fully stacked plate of food. She was chewing even as she replied, "Yes. I have to get my pay today."
"You know you won't have to work if you'll just--"
Hope shut her up before she could go any further, "Seriously Jane, I thought we'd already agreed to drop this issue."
"No, you made that decision on your own. I'm your friend and I'll continue to tell you the truth till you decide to listen," Jane insisted stubbornly, crossing her hands for emphasis.
"I'm not having this conversation," Hope stated calmly and with finality. She could feel her friend stewing, she obviously had a lot to say but she was also aware of how stubborn Hope could be.
"Fine. Whatever. Suit yourself," Jane gritted out. She grabbed her phone and began typing furiously. That was a sure sign that she was planning to ignore Hope's existence for the next few hours.
"Seriously Jane, we both know you're not pressing anything on that phone," Hope teased in a weak attempt at lightening up the tensed atmosphere that had formed between them. Not surprisingly though, her roommate ignored her.
Letting out a frustrated sigh, Hope decided to just focus on her food.
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"Well, well, well. Look who's finally done with exams."
Hope laughed as she made her way into Paul's place, her part time workplace. It was a small sized restaurant which never seemed to never run out of customers. Maybe it was the ambience of the place or the quality of the food, whatever it was definitely had people coming back for more. It didn't hurt that the owner of the place was almost always around and he was quite a palatable sight for the eyes. Some of Hope's friends had admitted to her that they often came over just to feast their eyes.
"Yes oo. You're looking at the newest 200 level graduate in town," Hope teased, stopping right in front of Paul, her friend and employer with only the counter separating them. He liked manning the counter a lot, a habit Hope kind of found unusual for the owner of the restaurant.
"200 level graduate indeed. Be careful what you say so you won't end up cursing yourself," Paul replied, laughing as well. "How was exams?"
Hope shrugged in response. Some had been good and some not so good. "What I know is that I tried my best and the rest is on God."
"Hey, Paul," A girl called as she walked over to them, stopping next to Hope. She had on a flirtatious smile that made it very obvious she hadn't come for the food. She was a regular Hope recognized and didn't like.
"Hi, Sandra," Paul replied, returning her smile. "How are you doing today? How was your paper? You did have one today, right?"
"Yes, yes, I did and it was so good!" She exclaimed excitedly, probably thrilled that he'd remembered.
"That's really nice. Good for you," he replied before turning to beckon on one of his waiters to get his attention. "Attend to her, please." He turned back to Sandra, "Whatever you want, it's on the house, okay?"
"Really? Thank you so much Paul!" She exclaimed, reaching out to squeeze his hand with hers.
"You're welcome," he replied, retracting his hand from hers with a wink.
He turned back to Hope, dismissing Sandra who was grinning like a love struck teenager and continuing their conversation like they'd never been interrupted.
"I'm sure you did very well," Paul encouraged. He was already walking around the counter so he was almost standing beside her. "So when are you going home?"
"Left to me, I'd like to spend a week or two before going but I'm not so sure it'll go well with mummy. You probably remember how she is."
"It's been long but I do remember her as the sweet woman I'm sure she is. You're the one with the wahala," Paul replied, deliberately taunting her.
Hope raised both brows at him, "Sweet what? It's either I'm having problems with my ears or you definitely have an issue with your memory."
Paul burst into another round of laughter which called quite a few attention to them, most of which were customers who were probably wondering what could be so funny. Hope's eyes caught one of her coworkers, Mary who threw her a wink. She rolled her eyes in response.
Mary had gotten it into her head that there was something going on between them and was not willing to let go of the notion no matter how much Hope tried to dissuade her.
She also knew some of her co workers were jealous of the closeness between her and Paul especially because she was the most recently employed of them. What most of them didn't know however was that she'd known Paul way longer than them.
Hope, Tayo and Paul had grown up in the same neighborhood and had been inseparable growing up although Paul was three years older than them. After a while, he'd drifted apart from them when he got with another group of friends. His family had relocated soon after and they'd lost contact with him until she had met him again when she had been searching for a part time job. He had offered her one in his restaurant even though he hadn't really needed the help and they'd reconnected. He also spoke with Tayo on a regular.
"Whatever you say, Hope," he said. "I'm sure you're here for your pay?"
Hope nodded in agreement. Paul usually paid them on a weekly basis. He had made an exception for her though when she'd admitted to him that she'd rather be paid monthly. That was one advantage that came with having a boss who was also a friend. "Yes, I--"
She was interrupted by the sound of her phone ringing. She poised her hand in a signal for him to hold on as she brought her phone out of her purse. Not surprisingly, it was her mum calling. Picking up, she greeted, "Good afternoon, mummy."
"Oluwakemisola mi, bawo ni?" (My child, how are you?"
"I'm fine, mummy. How are you?"
"I'm fine and everyone is doing very well." Hope could detect a certain joy in her mum's voice but she didn't know what to attribute it to. "How was your paper today?"
"Very fine mummy, we thank God." Hope replied. "I'm done with exams now, I should be back home soon."
"A dupe lowo oloun,"(We thank God,) her mum replied. "But that's not even the reason I'm calling you."
"What is it? Hope all is well, mum?" Hope asked, sudden concern lacing her words.
"Yes, yes. Ayo ni oo. Your sister has put to bed."
Hope couldn't conceal the piercing screech that came out of her as she began hopping from one leg to another in excitement. She could barely register the concerned look Paul was throwing her and the judgemental ones from many other people present.
"Yes oo," her mother continued and anyone who heard her could tell she was as ecstatic as could be. "Omotilewa has given birth to a bouncing baby girl."
"Oh my God!" Hope shrieked, her heart filling with happiness. "I'm an aunty officially. I'm an aunty! Oh my God, mummy! I'm coming home first thing tomorrow. No, no, what am I even saying? Today! I'm coming immediately."
She could hear her mum's laughter over the phone. "No, my darling. Tomorrow is too early, not even talk of today. The baby is not going to run away before you come. You'll meet us all here when you get back so take your time. I just wanted to share you the good news. My airtime is about to finish. I'll call you later, okay?"
"Yes, mummy," Hope replied through the big grin on her face. "I'll call Alex now and congratulate them."
"You do that, my child."
"Alright, mummy. Talk to you later," Hope replied as she ended the call. By the look on Paul's face, Hope could only guess he already had a fair idea about what her excitement was all about. Still feeling giddy, she regarded him, "It looks like I'll be going back home earlier than expected after all."
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Olodo - a person that's not brilliant book wise.
Wahala - trouble.
Ayo ni oo - It's a thing of joy.
So . . . thoughts on the first chapter?
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