CHAPTER TWENTY-TWOThe next day, I went to a bookshop in town to purchase some relevant textbooks for the courses I’d be offering in 400 Level. I returned almost two hours later, and was relaxing inside a sitting room adjacent the main throne room when it began to happen. On the walls in the room were a massive family portrait, and other smaller individual pictures. In the family portrait, Inikpi was wearing a traditional turquoise print, with a silvery veil over her shoulders and the upper part of her body. I was staring at Inikpi’s enchanting smile when her face ‘transformed’ into Ghan’s face.I was immediately rattled on the Italian sofa I was relaxing on. The only sound inside the room emanated from the LG split unit air conditioner. I was the only one inside this particular room, why Gahn was taking over my senses. I rose to my feet, shut my eyes and and opened them again. I stared at the painting again and opened my mouth in shock.All the girls and women in the family portrait

I could hear my mum laughing heartily over the phone. Maybe I sounded funny, but I was not going to mention anything about Bussy, Elo or even Pre.“Well, in that case, I’ll give Inikpi my blessings to find a suitable damsel for my beloved son at the right time.”I breathed deeply and fixed my gaze on a busty girl who was wearing a pair of jean bum shorts, and a yellow top.“That won’t be necessary mum… when he time is right, my heart would know and find what it wants, and love who it wants to llove. So, kindly drop the matchmaking ideas.”“Are you sure, baby?”“Yes, I’m sure… and I’m not angry with you over your suggestion.”“Okay… but you should know it’s because I love you, and that you’re my only son… that’s why I’m thinking in that direction.”“I know mum, I certainly do.”The next second, I received seven kisses from my mum through my mobile phone before she ended the phone call. I called Patt a afterwards, and his phone rang without any response. When I sent a text message to hi

One particular Thursday afternoon, while we waited for our Political Science lecturer - Mr Lekun, I received an SOS message from Laurie. When I looked around the noisy lecture hall, no one paid me any attention while I got to my feet and went outside.“What is it Laurie?” I asked after she answered the call.“It’s Patt… he has started his craziness and madness again.”“What do you mean by madness and craziness?”“He beat me up this morning after demanding to know who my other boyfriend is.”“You went to his hostel this morning?”“Yes… because he claimed there was an emergency, and he needed to ask me something urgently...”“It’s alright, I’ll talk to him.”“Please, you better do… and tell him to replace my pant.”“Your pant? Did you forget your pant in his room?”“He tore my pant this morning, and forced himself on me.”“I’ll talk to him, and make sure he replaces your torn pant with three new ones. Did he he see you in any uncompromising position, anywhere?”“No, that’s why I said he

My heart almost jumped out of my mouth as I heard Gahn’s last statement. I thought of Bussy, Elo, A. J. Baby and Pre.“I’m fine Gahn. It’s just that Patt must’ve done something bad which I do not know yet, but might involve a girl.”“Anyways, I’ll need your razor-sharp brilliance to quickly edit something at the business centre.”We took a short cut through a green field and headed for the business centre. Students weren’t much, as several of them had travelled that morning to several destinations. Gahn soon settled down to a desktop computer and plugged in a flash drive into the USB slot of the computer’s CPU. Within seconds, I stared a at a Pharmacology paper on the screen.“Kindly help me edit… for grammatical errors and anything that should or shouldn’t be there.”“I knew I couldn’t refuse Gahn’s request even if I tried to. Her eyes, cheeks, lips and smile paralyzed any form of resistanceI might have possessed. Twenty-five minutes later, I rose to my feet to stretch my body, as s

I pocketed my mobile phone and headed to a nearby sandwich and noodle joint to get dinner. In less than twenty minutes, I’d arrived at the joint and placed my order, while several cars sped behind me.I thought about Patt, Laurie and her panty incident. Although it was weird and funny to think that Laurie still saw Patt after that particular incident, I simply concluded that Laurie had very poor taste in her choice of male companions.So Some minutes later, I carried my packaged noodles back to my hostel room when my mobile phone began to ring. Initially, I thought it was A. J. Baby, but was surprised when I eventually brought my mobile phone to my face to check the caller Id. It was an MTN number that wasn’t saved in my contact list. I answered the call and discovered it was Pre’s younger sister – Tee.“Hello Pierre, this is Tee speaking.”“Hello Tee, how’s the evening going?”“The evening is cool. Listen, I need to get some clarifications from you about my sister…”“What are you dri