Until You

EUNICE ANSAH-AGYEMAN

UNTIL YOU

EPISODE 12

The lecture hall was packed when Naa walked in. She had been late for lectures the whole week.

This particular lecturer was strict on time and as she made her way to the empty chair in the middle session, Naa hoped she wouldn’t pick on her lateness.

The lecturer stopped talking when she was halfway to the empty chair, her rage mirrored on her face. But Naa felt it was her lucky day when she made it to the chair without any interruptions.

Naa breathed a sigh of relief when she took the chair without any drama and suddenly felt tired.

The week had been very hectic for her.

She had driven to and from school every day and the gap between her and Nii widened.

She had been busy with other male friends she had made and thus spent little time with him. Naa had done her best and wiggled out of evening hangouts with him and by Thursday, Nii was convinced she was avoiding him.

He had come to see her unannounced on two occasions but she had not been home, and when he called she had not answered on both occasions.

Naa did not even bother to give any explanation when he mentioned the stopover except for the usual apologies.

She was surprised Nii was still with her after all her spate of obviously annoying and frustrating behaviour. It was her little test of love and it seemed so far, he had scored some good points.

She had expected him to leave her when she had blatantly disrespected him, and that was complicating issues for her.

She knew her love for him was real but she was not sure if he was her soul mate, the one person that would complete her, and she got confused by the day by his patience even though it was obvious he was not happy about the turn of events.

The easiest way out was to sit down as two young adults and thrash things out and move on because it was obvious whatever Nii felt for her was just skin deep.

She wanted the long roll, the real deal at love and she would not compromise on that no matter how bad walking away might seem. But before she closed that door permanently, she needed to be sure.

As the lecturer went on about her delivery for the day, Naa looked around for Nii but it was a task that could not be completed because the lecturer spoke up right then.

“Did you lose something, Miss Martey?” her mean voice echoed.

Naa looked at her for a while deciding whether to answer or not since she did not want to offer her an opportunity to lash out at her.

“Miss Martey, I asked if you are looking for something!”

There were giggles mostly from the ladies as the lecturer fixed Naa with a cold stare.

“No, ma’am. Sorry.”

“Do I look like your mother?”

“No, madam. I’m sorry if I offended you. It was not intended, please.”

And so, for the rest of the lecture, Naa sat like a statue as her thoughts raced through uninhibited. She needed to see the head of the department about a possible transfer to another city or even out of the country. She had been having that thought lately and wanted to explore that option and see where that would lead her.

Seeing Korkor constantly and the way she carried herself was not helping much. If anything, it was making Naa feel the pain more and getting reasons to hate Nii for giving in to his fleshly desires after giving him her all.

She had held nothing back from him and whenever that fact came into play she found herself getting angry. The way things were going was not healthy and if care was not taken, she was going to end up loathing him.

The lecturer finally ended her session and left them with group assignments. That was another hurdle to cross since Korkor was in her group.

Naa got out of the lecture hall and knowing Nii would exchange some pleasantries with his buddies and some ladies, she decided to quickly go up to the HOD’s office and save them some time.

Fridays were their fun days and they had stuck to it even in the eye of the storm. They would usually ride together because their lectures ended quite late and do something fun afterwards to usher in the weekend.

They would just step into a night club and dance their hearts out or something better. Other times, they just grabbed a bite, watched a movie or just hanged out. Then, the day would be crowned with lovemaking.

***

Naa Shika took the stairs to the HOD’s office two at a time. When she was about to knock on the door, she stopped as she heard the man’s harsh words.

“As I’ve said already, there’s nothing I can do, young lady. Your scholarship came with terms and since you failed to get the required scores in two core subjects, I’m afraid that seals it. The way I see it, you have only two options; to find a financier as quickly as possible to support you through the rest of your stay here in the university or just go pack your belongings and kiss your university education goodbye,” Mr. Ntiamoah said in a harsh tone.

“Sir, I’m pleading with you to help me, please. I will put in more efforts and redeem myself, please!”

There was silence for a while and then Naa heard the HOD chuckling.

“Thinking about it, I think I can do something for you but you’ll also have to give me something in return. I can allow you to take those tests and replace them with the previous ones and that should wrap it all up without any further trouble. It’s a risk, you’ll have to pay me handsomely for that.”

“How much do I need to pay, please? My parents are not well to do but for the scholarship, I would never have stepped into any university. This scholarship means the world to me and my family, please, help me.”

“Don’t worry. What I need from you has nothing to do with money, I hope you get my drift, right?”

“I’m confused, sir. Can you spell it out, please?”

Getting the drift, an angry Naa knocked heavily on the door. She had gotten another reason to be mad at men in general.

Her fury was intense as questions flooded through her mind.

Was that all they saw in women?

Was that all they thought a woman could offer?

All men thought about, it seemed, was sex, sex and sex even when they had it in abundance!

How did that notion of women being good only for sex come into play?

She kept knocking until an angry Mr. Ntiamoah shouted for whoever it was to come in.

When Naa entered, she feigned surprise that there was another occupant and made to get out but the young lady, a mate, seized the opportunity and made for the door.

“Hey, Celine, can you wait for me outside? I need a favour from you and what I need to do here won’t take that long,” Naa shouted over her shoulders as the young lady went out the door.

She greeted and took the visitor’s chair as the HOD just stared in perplexity. Naa went very straight to the point and in less than twenty minutes she was ready to head out.

Naa found the weepy young lady downstairs and gave her contact details to her to contact Naa the next day. It was quite late and she was driving.

She hurried to her car and was surprised to find Nii leaning against the driver side as he went through his phone.

Naa gave him a brief hug and a kiss and expressed her shock finding him there.

“I thought you would take the lead and then I’ll follow. I left you a message to that effect.”

“Yeah, I read the message but I wanted to wait. I miss you, Naa.”

Naa melted, at least for a minute or two.

There was something about the way he said it and it tumbled some of her walls. She could feel his pain and frustration. She had been cold towards him the whole week.

“Ok, so what are we doing today?” she asked when the moment passed and reminded herself that he was probably only interested in getting between her thighs.

“I don’t have anything planned yet, do you?”

“No, maybe we can just stay in and watch a movie or something like that,” she supplied, suddenly feeling that she had to compensate him a little bit for still sticking around.

“I think that would be great! Your place or mine?”

Naa tossed the idea in her head for a while and realized she had not been to his place since the day she found him and Korkor. She had received a call from Nii’s mom that week enquiring about her and the elderly woman did not fail to hint that she was worried she had not seen Naa passing through in a while. Obviously, Nii had kept their failing relationship from his mother.

“Your place, of course. You have the biggest screen of them all. Besides, it’s been a while since I went by your place,” Naa said finally.

“It’s settled then. Should I find a garage for my car? It’s kind of late and I know you don’t fancy driving at night.”

Naa was touched again by his good manners. He was a cool guy. He sure knew how to make her happy except on the one most important score.

“I think I’ll do just fine on the road especially when you are right behind me. I’ll just go and park in the house and join you. Then, I will be all yours.”

“Alright, let’s do this,” he stepped aside for her to get in the car.

“And, thanks,” he added.

“Thanks? For what?”

“Hanging out with me. Love you.”

“Love you too,” she said with a smile, but there was a jangling note in her heart as the iron bars vibrate slightly as if mocking her.

Until You, Eunice A, Until You, Eunice A. Eunice A, Until You, Eunice A, Until You . Until You, Eunice A, Until You, Eunice A. Eunice A, Until You, Eunice A, Until You. Until You, Eunice A, Until You, Eunice A. Eunice A, Until You, Eunice A.