The situation of the country is one which demand every single person to be careful of what he or she does, where he or she go or what he or she say. They said the citizens have the freedom to this and that, but those freedoms can only be enjoy in book and not in reality. In fact,the level of insecurity in the country is already at its peak. The country is already in a state where one could sleep in his house and wake up with his head in the shrine. Why would Mine not think of this?
Victory roam about in the faculty, searching wittingly almost the entire lecture hall. He remembered he had seen a figure in a lecture hall when he was passing but his mind never crossed to check who was in there. He rushed back to the hall and called out loud the name of his beautiful girlfriend. The call was useless. The husky voice of his rushed back at him with an echoed sound. What a day! No one was inside. It was the room where Mary and her friend were sitting just some minutes ago. He was sure to have seen a figure in the hall. He agreed he was foolish enough not to have checked the hall immediately. He was too focus on checking Nine's lecture hall. He hit his fist at the wall and pressed it harder as if to push the fist inside the wall.
He removed his hand from the wall and allowed it to swing gently as it returned to his side. A painful air rushed at his knuckles. He picked it up to his face to see stream of blood streaming out of almost every joints. "This pain can be beared, not that of losing her to those internet fraudsters. A divorced wife is better than a dead one. If i should lose her to them and she's still alive, i will be happy to see her again, but you see those fraudsters, they are not human, every single girl is their prey. They spent lavishly on you just to lure you to the early grave." He dropped the hand again and picked his way out of the room.
"Where on earth could she be?" She asked without expecting answer from anyone. He was already in it. He could speak to himself about his grieve. After all, no one was there to hear him out. As he made to leave, a wandering thought welcome itself in his mind and reminded him of some few halls he haven't visit. At this point, he wouldn't argue with such thought. Any suggestions would be welcome as far as he would find his love. He raised his eyes to look at those halls his mind had told him off. They were on the next floor. He released a sigh, making hut air gushing out of his nostrils. He matched forward as he hurried down to the next floor.
The first hall was fruitful. Before getting to the doorway, he could see a figure or two resting on the desk. He was relieved a bit. He believed if Mine was not one of those figures, those figures might know her whereabouts. He rushed down to the room to be welcome by a cloth and a stack of books on the desk. He was vividly angry. He raised his fist to hit on the desk, but remembered he just did, and the consequence of such action renewed in his memory. He dropped his hand gently and made to leave. Something spark in him. He turned back to check what exactly was under the cloth on the seat. At least, the stacked books and the cloth on the desk must have belong to someone. His instinct made him to want to know more. He went back to the seat and raised the clothes on the table. He startled back. He was very shock to behold Mine snoring under the cloth. His heart pound heavily. He knew not if to be happy or to be angry.
Was it not enough to be angry? He was running up and down for hours for nothing. For some minutes, he was lost in confusion. He knew not the best action to take. He was there immobile, staring at her. On the other hand, his beautiful lover, Mine was there enjoying her beautiful sleep. She raised her hand as if to hold onto someone, drop it at the middle of nothing, then finally dropped it by her side. She turned, facing the opposite direction as if to hide her face away from him, then continued her memorable sleep.
She was enjoying her dream. What a beautiful dream. 'she was about to get married. She and her friends were inside during the bride shower, taking pictures and videos. She had stood still suddenly, gradually becoming unhappy until her eyes was filled with water. Her best friend had took notice immediately and drew everyone's attention to her. The happiness in the room seized. Everyone wondered why she was that sad on a happy day like this. No one knows what had saddened her.
She had called her friends together, sat them down in order for her to explain the source of her agony. "I'm i really getting married today?" She asked. Knowing fully well that she knew what date they were, no one dare to answer her question. They all knew such a question have an hidden meaning. It's just like a riddle, so they were all waiting for her to explain the riddle to them. All they could do was to stare hard at her watery eyes. "I'm afraid, things will never remain the same. I used to be jovial and enthusiast, i wonder if i would remain the same. I used to be free and always advocate for it, but i wonder if i would be able to continue being like that. Every women have two lives. One is that of the single-hood; from birth as a girl till this stage, while the other is that of marriage. These two lives are different. Some find the latter to be similar to the former, while some have it to be totally strange; having no resemblance. When I wondered on what life I'm going to live next, water gathered in my eyes."
They looked at her sniffing pains away from her nostrils. No one could say anything. After all, none of them had been married before apart from Nneka who got pregnant when she was in secondary school. But she was never married. She gave birth, dropped the child and went back to her normal life. So she was the only one who could explain the experience (not in detail anyway) of the married life. It was this Nneka who walked up to her to comfort her. She hold her tight, rubbing her shoulder with on hand, holding her with another.
"I must confess i know how you feel. Though i can't say much, but i won't lie to you that it's easy. But do you know? We can not do without it. We were born for it, we should live for it or maybe die for it. We can't just avoid it, least we become an object of ridicule in the society. You know, I'm also planning my wedding as at this moment. My belief is that; we should all go for it and live it to the fullest." Said Nneka.
She looked at them all and forced a smile. She raised her hand and embraced them all.'
It was at this moment that victory entered the hall and saw her raising her hand. He hit the stacked books hard to startled the girl. She rose up wearily, wondering what had happened. She opened her weary eye and rubbed it with full force. Her eyes were getting clearer when she saw a figure at her front. She was startled. One do not sleep in his house and injure the neck. What was going on was a mystery to her. At first she thought she was in her hostel, but soon, she realized she was not. She looked around, everywhere was already dark. She stood up hastily and her stacked books fell on the floor. She stood still staring at the figure. She could identify the figure now, it was Victory.
"You startled me," said Mine. "What are you doing here?"
"And you? You stressed me. What are you doing here at this hour? I've been to your place, you were not at the hostel. They told me you were at the school. I came searching for you for over an hour, you're nowhere to be found. Now you're here alone and you know how dangerous this country is. What are you doing here?"
"I'm sorry for disturbing and making you to be worried. I came here to read. They were making noise at the hostel and there was a lecturer in my class, that's why I came here instead. I was reading before, i don't know when I lost it to the dream."
"Dream? What dream?"
"Oh, the dream? I will tell you once we're home. It's late already, let's go home."
He turned on his phone torch, as they both bent down to pack the books on the floor.
"I won't be able to cook today anymore." Said Mine.
"No one asked you to cook. Go home and sleep."
He packed the books in his left hand and hold her with the right as they walked out of the hall. They chatted down the hallway.
