Novella: Sheepish Wolves (Chapter 6)

“I’m through”. Noticing that she was distracted, Dayo followed her gaze to see that she was staring at the duo walking out of the church. He tapped her. “I’m through”
“Oh sorry” she said.
“What’s so amusing?”
“What did you say?”
“I said, what’s so amusing. You were smiling just now.”
“Oh that. Just admiring the lovely couple.” She straightened up and looked at his book. “How many minutes did this take you?” she asked.
“About 5 minutes”
“You did it right but you still need to work on your speed. You’re really catching up on your Math, and I’m proud of you. Your other subjects are quiet impressive too.”
“Thanks. And, I forgot to tell you something”
“What’s that?” Precious asked.
“I came 5th in my class in the mid-term tests. I moved up twenty places. I was the 25th last term.”
“That’s great, congrats!”
“Thanks. My mum was so happy with me that she bought me another game and gave me #10,000.”
That got Precious’ attention, and she knew it was time to carry on with her plans. “Do you know what?”
“No, I don’t” he said.
“I have wanted to ask you for money for a while. I’m broke and I need to buy some textbooks, so I can read ahead of school.”
“Like how much do you need?” Dayo asked.
“#15,000”
“Fifteen thousand naira for books?”
“Yes, my books are quite expensive. In my department, Electrical-Electronics Engineering, books cost quite a lot.”
“Okay. How soon do you need it?”
“This weekend”
“So soon?” Dayo was perplexed.
“Yes, but don’t bother. I shouldn’t have bothered you in the first place. I guess I was just so overwhelmed with my need”, she said, seriously.
Doubting that she really needed the money for books, Dayo thought it over for a while. He concluded that he would have been destined for a public school come September if not for this girl. Moreover, if he were to pay for the lessons, it would have cost him more. Whether her reasons were genuine or not, he decided to give her.
“I’ll give you on Sunday.”
“That would be great” she said with a pleasant smile.
------------------------------------
In his house, Segun invited Febi to the living room and told her to make herself comfortable on the settee. His house wasn’t as ornate as hers but was okay for an average family. He went to the kitchen and brought back chicken laps, fresh fish and a pack of Five-Alive on a tray.
“You sure you made these yourself?” she said when she saw the contents of the tray.
“Yes! Wait till you taste them”
Febi took a bite and had to finish that bite before talking. “This is really sumptuous. You must spend a lot of time with your mother for your cooking to be this good”
“I used to before she died”
“I’m really sorry about that”, she said.
Segun then told her how close they had been and how she had died. “She left my father with five of us. I’m the first born, so I’ve had many responsibilities since then.” Febi could feel herself weakening emotionally as she empathized with him.
“But something happened lately that comforted me over my mother’s death.”
“What was that?” she asked, curious.
“You!”
Febi was flushed but still managed to ask, “What do you mean?”
“The first day I counseled you, you were so simple, sweet and beautiful that I couldn’t help falling in love with you immediately” Febi was dumbfounded and could only stare at her skirt. Her palms were growing wet again; he was making her shy. She noticed that he moved closer and put his hand on her shoulder. Her heart was hitting hard against her chest. It was so sudden and unexpected that she didn’t know what to think or do.
The next thing she knew was that he lifted her face, and kissed her. She jerked free but not fast enough to have escaped the feeling it aroused in her.
“What was that for? I thought you didn’t believe in kissing?”
“I never told you that” he said, “I told you I would tell you later. Now is the time. I believe you can kiss and do every other thing except have sex with the person you love” he said. He said this knowing very well that because of her naivety, if she gave in to being physically intimate with him, it wouldn’t be a problem to take it to the sex level later.
“Are you sure about this, Segun?”
“Have I lied to you before?”
“No”
“Or don’t you love me too?”
“I think I do, but I just don’t want to hurt God. Remember all the things you’ve taught me?”
“Yes, I know. This is okay” he said and kissed her again. This time, he went further to explore her body. After the whole episode, he took her back home and whispered in her ears, “I love you”.
She had been so starved of love that those words meant the world to her. Getting to her room, she could think of nothing else but what had just happened between Segun and herself. She liked the way he made her feel loved and she felt she could give up anything just to keep his love. ‘He’s the first person who has ever loved me and accepted me for who I am’, she thought to herself. That was the beginning of series of different rendezvous with Segun.