A DATE TO REMEMBER

It was few minutes past 5:00pm when Kelechi wiped the spec of dirt that had found its way to the lower part of his black jeans. He was strutting the lone road that led outside the campus on his way to see a friend he'd met just eight days back on a social platform.

Her name was Pearl as she'd told him though he suspected it wasn't her popular appellation. It was the normal routine with ladies to use far more appealing names online, at least until they become familiar with their chatter. "Hey, where are you off to handsome?" He looked up to see who had cut into his thoughts and quickly put on a broad smile on realizing it was Sarah, one of his numerous crush.

He remembered the short moment of pleasure they had shared back in their first year when he was sick and she had visited him. She had liked it but had feigned anger and he had apologized blaming the drugs he was on. They were now in their third year and had had other fleeting moments of fun despite her being in a serious relationship.

Kelechi himself wasn't the faithful type, he hated being stuck with one person and his unending list of admirers helped his cause.
At 6'3" he looked quite the imposing figure. He was fair with broad shoulders and side beards that extended down both sides of his face to settle under his chin. His dental features were also enviable, sparkling white teeth with a little space in-between the incisors.

Many times in public when he had smiled, he hadn't failed to notice the admirable glances he attracted. "I'm off to Ugbioko to see a friend. Should be back before it's dark." He replied while rubbing her palm after they had separated from their intimate hug. "Can't you see it's about to rain already? Can't you go sometime later?" She asked with sincere concern. "I'll be back before it starts," he replied as he looked up to see the hazy clouds and wondered again if it was worth taking the risk to see Pearl.

He had sacrificed his last lecture scheduled for 4:00pm. He had also had to forgo his religious commitments slated for that day and now was daring a torrid evening if he eventually got beaten by the rain. Still, he shrugged his shoulders and sighed. Pearl was worth it, he reasoned.
Pearl was quite fair, tall and classy. She was his perfect type, one that ticked all the boxes.

She stayed with her parents in Benin although they were of Yoruba descent. According to her, her family had to relocate to Benin from Lagos when her dad died and her mother remarried.

She was the only child of her mother just like him and was very ambitious, she had even won the award for the most enterprising student in the whole of Benin. She also spoke fluent English and French, was the Deputy Commandant of the Edo Red Cross Society and was a computer geek.

All these were what she had told him that had pushed him to insist on their physical meeting so he could personally appraise her and probably, explore other parts of her. Who knows he might finally have found someone who would tie him down.

He smiled again, remembering how he had sent a picture of his hairy chest on her request and how she had reciprocated by calling him to talk for three straight hours. They had simply had this spontaneously enviable chemistry between them that had been missing in his other relationships and he was willing to explore this one, wherever it led him to.

He had unusually waited outside the campus gate for almost twenty minutes for a bus when he found one that had obviously seen better days. The front wore the insignia, Fear God while the sides were disproportionately arranged with scratches indiscriminately plastered all over obviously due to near crashes with other cars.

As he struggled to fit his burly self into the back seat, the rain began in torrents, the initially bright atmosphere turning blustery in mere seconds. He groaned inside realizing he would after all be facing extreme difficulty getting a bus back. Thoughts of his days as a freshman in the University of Benin came rushing in.

He had gotten admitted to study Law as the candidate with the second highest score and candidly he wasn't surprised when he was made aware of the feat. Throughout high school he had never missed the first or second position. He was a regular contestant at various competitions, and had won individual and collective awards both at local and national level.

The most notable was the Lagos State Governor's Award for Intelligence. He had beaten 27 other contestants to emerge winner of a really tricky debate and that was why the management of his school didn't hesitate to make him senior prefect by the time he was in senior class three.

To be continued

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