“Excuse me, excuse me...” Tokunbo was running after a young girl who was carrying an armful of books and seemed to be in a hurry to enter the hostel.

The young girl turned around and her face seemed displeased and with as much patience as she could muster politely asked, “Can I be of any help sir?”

“I am sorry to bother you, I am just arrived from out of town and I am here to pick up my fiancée Yetunde who is in Room 322, could you please carry a message to her that I am waiting downstairs by the gate?”

“And who should I say is waiting for her?”

“Toks Ajayi”.

And the girl continued on her way in.

By the side of the entrance gate to the female hostel there were several large trees, and he stood under one of the trees, a little off to the side watching as the girls were coming in and out of the hostel.  The pot bellied man standing under the tree had been joined by a happy entourage of three young girls and they were laughing and chatting as they entered the Toyota SUV he came in and then they drove off into the moon light.  The evening was cool, and through the leaves he could see moon light filtering between the leaves and casting shadows on the ground.

And then he was taken by surprise as Yetunde appeared to shake him out of his reverie.

“Yetunde!” he exclaimed with an enthusiasm that was quite obvious. Yetunde smiled and he greeted her with a kiss on her cheek, “:Toks good to see you,” she laughed. “Now tell me what do you have planned for tonight as I think it is late already.” Tokunbo had thought that they could probably get dinner at his hotel.

The Premier Inn in Ife was located some one mile south of the University gate, and although a hotel mostly of local repute it was nevertheless good and had a small restaurant attached to its night club.  The menu was varied and there was western cuisine and Nigerian food available.  They sat themselves by a table off to the side and away from the loud music that was playing on the sound system.

A white clad steward appeared and filled their glasses with water, and lit a candle that sat on the table.

“Good evening sir and Madam, tell me what we can offer you today? I must say that our evening special today is Rice with Beans and Beef Stew,”

Toks looked over at Yetunde, “I want to have the special, but Yetunde Do you want to eat Nigerian food today,or do you want to try the continental menu?”

Yetunde was tired of Nigerian food and opted for a hamburger with French fries.

While they waited for the food they had a lot of catching up to do, he told about his work and his friend Mr Olumide.  Then the conversation turned back to them and as he sat with her hand in his he said, “Have you had a chance these two weeks to think of what I asked you? Or do you still need time to think over everything?”

And this time she smiled and looked him in the eye, “If the last two weeks are anything to judge by, then I can say that I have missed you dreadfully, even more than I thought.”

By the end of the evening he returned her to her hostel and promised to return early the next morning.

A day in Ife:

At ten a.m. sharp Mr. Tokunbo Ajayi was knocking on the door to Yetunde’s room after having been admitted by the gate man. He was told to come in by a voice he did not recognize, and then he walked into a scene that he would find memorable for long there was no Yetunde in the room, instead he met a tall fair skinned girl seated by her desk in a white dress of chiffon; she appeared to be preoccupied looking herself in the mirror and applying eye shadow, clearly she was expecting someone herself and without looking up from the mirror she said, “ Bayo darling…”

Tokunbo paused at the door, “I beg your pardon, I was looking  for Yetunde Solanke,” The girl  who had been backing the door turned around and looked at the guest, “ Oh! I am sorry, I was expecting a visitor myself, and I thought you were him, your step in the corridor sounded just like him.”

 “I think I might have reached the wrong room.”

“No actually you are in the right place; this is Yetunde’s room she will be back any minute.”

Then he looked at the beautiful girl before him and he found his interest piqued at this adorable creature who was like a vision in the light, the white chiffon she wore blew in the air as she moved around the room, and her hair was long and had been styled to flow with each turn of her head. As she walked past him he could smell a perfume that had a scent most mysterious, on her lips there glistened a shine of luscious lip gloss in a beautiful golden tone, and her eyes were lined with a deep black eyeliner.  She looked into his eyes and her look lingered longer than polite and he met her gaze himself full on. Then in the awkwardness of the encounter she introduced herself as Bola the room mate of Yetunde.

He sat him self down on a chair beside the desk which he presumed to belong to Yetunde and waited.  As he waited he could not take his gaze off this seeming wonder of creation who had mesmerized him.

Then the girl who was now fully prepared was bored waiting for her visitor and  came over to where he sat and engaged him in conversation. “ Where do you live?” she asked him, and he not wanting to be rude answered, “ I came all the way from Lagos,that was where I and Yetunde met.” Then she wanted to know how he had met Yetunde, and before she could ask any further questions Yetunde returned to the room. She was fully dressed and had clearly been waiting for him, her dress though tasteful, lacked the luster of the chiffon. Nevertheless, it was a bright red dress and it showed her figure off to her advantage, she rushed into the arms of her lover, and he took her in his arms, quickly forgetting the new girl who stood by and watched. And whilst they were in each others arms Bola left without a word.

For the rest of the day, his mood was affected because he could not get the idea of the other girl out of his mind.  He found himself like a moth attracted to a flame, and he wanted to know more about Bola. And he now found himself asking questions of Yetunde about the girl.

“ So tell me,” he said, “how did it come to be that you became the room mate of Bola?  The two of you seem so different..”

She was sitting on her chair in her dorm room, and as Bola was gone for the weekend, they had the room to themselves, and in fact most of the hostel was unusually quiet as most of the girls had travelled for the weekend.  She looked up puzzled as to the significance of the question, then she answered non committal, “Interesting you should ask, how I got to be the room mate of the most popular girl on campus.”

He raised his eye brows, but then acted as if surprised, even though he was not, as it now made sense, the beautiful girl was probably the most beautiful girl on the campus.