NCITY FORUM

 samlak The Painful Pleasure (By TPP)
*
Episode 11
*
I gently placed my hands oh her shoulder, and
slowly
pushed her away. “I’m sorry, I can’t do this.”
She looked at me for a while. “Are you the last
born? Why
are you making a big deal out of this? Seriously
it’s no big
deal.” She began to raise her voice. “You don’t
have to shout.
You are a very wonderful lady and I respect
that. You are
funny, outspoken and I like that fact. But
don’t you think that
by doing this, you are going overboard? We
haven’t even
known each other for up to three months. And
as a matter
of fact, this is the second time I’m seeing you
in my whole
life. . .” I explained so she could understand me,
but she
replied sharply. “Wait dude, what is the whole
speech all
about, I didn’t ask you to date me, neither did
ask you to
have s-x with me, it was just a kind gesture,
it’s all fine, we
are cool, I’m serious.” She started talking as if
nothing had
happened. “Are you sure you are not mad at
me?” I asked.
“Why would I be? I should be the one asking
that question.”
She replied.
Since it was all settled, I thought it was time
to go, then
Sandra looked at me and said “I don’t have to
beg you to ask
for my number, do I?” I had totally forgotten
to ask for her
number, the whole drama that just happened
between us
has really destabilized me, that I didn’t even
remember to
do that. “My bad!!! I’m sorry I totally forgot.”
I brought out
my ‘palasa’ and gave it to her, she looked at
the phone, then
she smiled, collected the phone and pressed in
two
numbers, and saved them as ‘Sandra 1’ and
‘Sandra 2’
respectively.
“I don’t have to beg you to ask for my number,
do I.” I
repeated the same thing she had said earlier.
So she
brought out her PHONE. Yes! It has to be
stressed, because
that was what should be referred to as phone,
and not my
BB Tour. It was a Samsung ‘touch-screen’
phone, well I don’t
know about now, but then, Samsung phones
were
considered to be one of the most expensive
phones. I held
the phone carefully to avoid stories that touch
the heart, and
pressed on the screen with my middle finger,
my one and
only phone number. It was then it occurred to
me that she
was a ‘rich kid’.
We said good night to each other, and I gave
her a hug, then
we departed. That was around 3am, so I headed
straight to
my room. As I was going, I was wondering “this
girl must be
really rich o”. I got to my room, everyone had
slept, Mayowa
was on his bed sleeping too. I just climbed my
bunk and
slept.

 samlak samlak The Painful Pleasure (By TPP)
*
Episode 12
*
It was 10am already, and I was still on my bed,
sleeping. As
the guys were laughing so loud, I had to wake
up. Mayowa
had been giving them the ‘party gist’. I
pretended I was still
sleeping as I listened to the conversation. . .
Mayowa: That girl for slap my face true true o,
as d blackout
happen, omo na so I tear race o.
Olu: It fit be say na you she go kiss na,
anything fit happen o
Emeka: If I hear say dat girl kiss am, make
God con help you
make that girl hand strong well well, your face
for tear reach
back. . .
Emeka is a very funny guy, so when I heard
what he said, I
laughed loud, and they all knew I had been
pretending all
the while. Mayowa told the guys how scared he
was when he
thought he would be slapped. Then I narrated
the part
Mayowa didn’t get to see; how she tried to kiss
me, and how
I refused. When Emeka heard this, matters
took another
turn, as he took the issue personal. “Guy, you
dey craze o,
how girl go wan kiss you, you come dey form
holy holy, your
father well well, your father yaga yaga. Girl
wey you for do
strong thing, make she know say you be man,
you con dey
do like p---y. Guy, you don fall my hand. If to
say na me, I
for show her say Jesus no get tribal marks”.
Emeka made me
feel I did something bad, and he really
succeeded with the
help of Olu and Mayowa. I told them more about
Sandra,
how we met and how she was just behaving.
“Abeg, shey u
go gimme dat girl?” Olu asked, and Emeka
replied him “Guy
free that part 1 girl for our guy o, make him
flex, make him
dey alright”.
Seriously, the whole conversation we had that
day made me
regret just rejecting Sandra that day, I
wished I had done
more. “There will surely be another chance, and
if the
chance is not forth-coming, I will create it.” I
said to myself. I
had gotten her number already, so things
won’t be difficult.
That day, there was an orientation programme
for freshers,
but Mayowa and I didn’t bother to go, since
Emeka and Olu
told us it wasn’t really important. They told us
they were
always saying ‘ase’ (irrelevant stuffs).
We continued our registration, going from
library to the
health center to the department to the faculty
submitting
one document or the other. It was really
stressful. We were
asked to pay dues to the faculty and
departments and we
did. After like 2 weeks, lectures were going to
start. So many
materials were introduced to us, and we bought
the ones we
could. Lectures were going to commence, my
university life
was about to start in full.

 samlak samlak The Painful Pleasure (By TPP)
*
Episode 13
*
It was a Sunday, lectures were going to start
the following
day, and since I came to school, I had not gone
to church,
two Sundays had passed already. My mum is a
very devoted
Christian, thank God money is not the criteria
for being a
deaconess in my church, she wouldn’t have had
the chance.
She had taught me not to miss any Sunday
service, as it is
written “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it
holy.” My
mother had taught me to go to church 52
Sundays a year, 53
if possible, but what exactly was wrong with
me, I couldn’t
figure out what was going on with me.
I decided to go to church, I talked Mayowa into
going with
me and he agreed. So we decided to go to
‘Church of Christ’.
It was a popular church then, known for quick
and short
services. The day ‘holy spirit takes control’,
and they have to
stay longer than usual, that is when they use
up to two
hours. Since most students do not like long
services, this
church had so many members.
The service was meant to start by 10am and
end latest by
12pm. Mayowa and I got to church around 10:30,
as a
protocol member gently led us to our seat. The
sitting was
strictly on a ‘sit as you come’ basis. It was a
praise and
worship session, the lady leading was so
blessed. As at the
time we entered, she was singing the song: “We
give you all
the glory. . . We worship you our lord . . . you are
worthy to
be praised. . . You are alpha, and omega”. The
song really
touched me, as I lifted my hands to reference
God as the
beginning and the end of my life.
There was a lady just there beside me with a
pair of glasses
on, whose ‘part’ was very correct and loud. I
know about
music, as I can play the keyboard, the drum set
quite well,
and I can also sing. The lady caught my
attention, she had a
pair of glasses on, and she lifted up both
hands, singing
from the depth of her hearth. “Well, that
shouldn’t distract
my worship.” I said to myself. I continued, as I
was thinking
back on what God has done for me, success,
provision, and
grace. All I could do was to thank him. It was
time to dance, I
danced like there was no tomorrow, I was so
happy to be in
the presence of God, I knew I had done what’s
right.
Then the lady leading the praises said “hold a
person beside
you and say (singing) we are going higher, we
are going
higher. . . ” I held the lady with glasses I had
been admiring
all the while. Well, she didn’t see any thing
wrong with it as
we both sang the song.
The sermon came on, the pastor preached on
the topic “he’s
able”. The pastor showed us the power of God,
and the
ability of God to do all things for us, and
through us. He
used Ephesians 3:20 as his anchor text. It was a
wonderful
message. I can never forget it.
The pastor concluded the message, and the
‘first-timers’
were asked to stand up for recognition.
Mayowa and i stood
up, and to my surprise, the lady beside me
stood up too.

 samlak samlak The Painful Pleasure
*
Episode 14
*
So many other first timers stood up, we were
celebrated,
and we were asked to follow a guy who gave us
a form to fill.
The form has a part asking whether or not we
would like to
Join the church, if we would like to Join the
work force, and
what unit we would like to Join. Mayowa filled
No/Nil all
through, he never liked church anyways. I filled
yes all
through, and I answered that I wanted to join
the choir. The
girl did the same, so I was forced to talk to
her. “You sing
pretty well.” I said to her. She looked at me,
trying to be sure
that I was talking to her. “You mean me?” She
asked. “Yes,
you.” I answered.
Mayowa was already getting angry with the
whole situation,
because he doesn’t like ‘church-girls’,so he
didn’t really like
the fact that I was talking to her. Since he
filled ‘No’, that he
didn’t want to join the church, he didn’t have
to wait for any
extra meeting. He told me he was going
already, then I said
bye to him. So the girl answered me. “that I
chose to join the
choir, doesn’t mean I can sing. Wait! Were you
peeping into
my form? I denied briskly. ” No, it was when
you were
singing beside me that I heard your voice, and
discovered
that you sing so well.” She looked at me
suprisingly and said
“during that awesome worship, you were
noticing someone’s
voice?” I answered immediately. “No, it’s not
like that, I’m
just so sensitive to sound”. . .
We continued the conversation. . .
Me: So what part do you take exactly?
The girl: I take all parts, but I mainly take alto
Me: Wow that’s just like me, but the difference
is that I’m
more comfortable taking tenor.
The girl: That’s really great. I’m Aramide,
what’s your name?
Me: Please pardon my manners, I’m Dapo. It’s
really nice
meeting you.
Aramide: The pleasure is all mine. You are in
what
department?
Me: MCB, what about you?
Aramide: English Language. . .
We were going to continue the conversation, but
some guys
came to address us, to tell us about becoming a
member, a
‘worker’ and other things like that.
Immediately after the meeting, we prayed, and
when I
opened my eyes, I didn’t see Aramide. Where
she went, I
didn’t know. I just took my bible, and started
going to my
hostel. Right there and then, I knew I had
fallen in love.
Aramide is so beautiful, she speaks softly. She
isn’t like
Sandra who talks like a parrot. She’s God
fearing, and she is
nice too. I knew it was too early to conclude,
but that was my
conclusion.
I took a bus and headed straight to my hostel,
since I was
going to start lectures the following day.
Now I have Sandra, my lousy, saucy friend,
Moji my FDF,
then Aramide whom I really love

 samlak samlak Painful Pleasure
*
Episode 15
*
I got to my room, and I met Mayowa,
already sleeping. I just
went straight into preparing for the
next day’s work. Mayowa
had cooked ‘condition rice’ before
sleeping. So I ate, then I
tried sleeping too. It was then my
phone rang, it was my
mum. That was the second time she
was calling me since I
resumed school. I was so happy to
hear from her. I
apologized to her for not calling her
earlier, I told her I have
been busy with registration
activities.
She told me a lot of things, and
repeated the ‘Ranti Omo Eni
Ti o n Se’ speech. But what surprised
me the most was that
this time around, more emphasis was
laid on ‘No 3’ of the
list. She kept on telling me to be
careful with girls, maybe
she had seen some things in the
realm of the spirit
concerning me. I thanked her, and
told her, I won’t let her
down, then she ended the call.
Lectures were going to start the
following day, it was going to
start with an ‘8 o’ clock’ chemistry
class which would last for
an hour. Abdul told us (Mayowa and
I) to get to the venue as
early as 6:30, or else, we won’t get a
sit. We considered it as
an exaggerated fact, how can we go
for a class, 1 hour, 30
minutes earlier.
Mayowa started the ‘church-gist’ in
the evening around 8pm.
He told Emeka and Olu how I was
behaving like a ‘church-
freak’. Those ones, blamed me too,
they said I should have
followed him when he said he was
coming to the hostel,
after all we went together. Mayowa
started talking about
Aramide, how I was talking to her,
about music, and he had
to leave, since he didn’t like music
talks. Emeka was
surprised that I was talking to a girl
again. “Guy, you be
woman rapper o, you never even
finish Sandra patrol, you
don dey start another one.” Emeka
said to me. “Watin be the
girl name self?” He asked.
“Aramide” I answered. I didn’t tell
them I have fallen in love. We talked
till around 12am, and
slept.
We woke up around 7am, we rushed
up and by 7:45am, we
left the hostel for the Chemistry
class.

 samlak samlak Painful Pleasure
*
Episode 15
*
I got to my room, and I met Mayowa,
already sleeping. I just
went straight into preparing for the
next day’s work. Mayowa
had cooked ‘condition rice’ before
sleeping. So I ate, then I
tried sleeping too. It was then my
phone rang, it was my
mum. That was the second time she
was calling me since I
resumed school. I was so happy to
hear from her. I
apologized to her for not calling her
earlier, I told her I have
been busy with registration
activities.
She told me a lot of things, and
repeated the ‘Ranti Omo Eni
Ti o n Se’ speech. But what surprised
me the most was that
this time around, more emphasis was
laid on ‘No 3’ of the
list. She kept on telling me to be
careful with girls, maybe
she had seen some things in the
realm of the spirit
concerning me. I thanked her, and
told her, I won’t let her
down, then she ended the call.
Lectures were going to start the
following day, it was going to
start with an ‘8 o’ clock’ chemistry
class which would last for
an hour. Abdul told us (Mayowa and
I) to get to the venue as
early as 6:30, or else, we won’t get a
sit. We considered it as
an exaggerated fact, how can we go
for a class, 1 hour, 30
minutes earlier.
Mayowa started the ‘church-gist’ in
the evening around 8pm.
He told Emeka and Olu how I was
behaving like a ‘church-
freak’. Those ones, blamed me too,
they said I should have
followed him when he said he was
coming to the hostel,
after all we went together. Mayowa
started talking about
Aramide, how I was talking to her,
about music, and he had
to leave, since he didn’t like music
talks. Emeka was
surprised that I was talking to a girl
again. “Guy, you be
woman rapper o, you never even
finish Sandra patrol, you
don dey start another one.” Emeka
said to me. “Watin be the
girl name self?” He asked.
“Aramide” I answered. I didn’t tell
them I have fallen in love. We talked
till around 12am, and
slept.
We woke up around 7am, we rushed
up and by 7:45am, we
left the hostel for the Chemistry
class.

 samlak samlak Painful Pleasure (By TPP)
*
Episode 17
*
“So what have you been eating, all
the while? Do you cook?”
Moji asked me. “I cook a lot, but my
foodstuffs have finished
already, I only have small garri left.
I don’t even know what
to eat tonight.” I answered. “Wow,
that’s serious. Please,
flash me with your number.” I was
surprised at what she
said, I was telling her, I didn’t know
what to eat that night,
and all she could do was to talk
about something else. “She
is not my mother anyway.” I said to
myself, and flashed her
as she said, and she saved my
number.
“Have you gotten your practical
manuals?” She asked. “No I
haven’t, I will get it from the class
rep probably tomorrow”. I
answered. We talked about lot’s of
stuffs, and before we
knew it I had gotten to my hostel,
but we went through
anglomoz and entered my hostel
through the annex. So that
we (Mayowa and I) walked her to her
hostel. She really
appreciated it, as we shook hands
and went our separate
ways.
As we were going into the room,
Mayowa and I stated a
conversation. . .
Mayowa: Dapo, I swear, that girl like
you die.
Me: (laughing) why did you say
that?
Mayowa: didn’t you see the way she
was looking at you,
even when the lecture was on going?
Me: I didn’t notice o. But guy wait,
why you wan spoil my life,
you say make I follow Sandra up, I
dey try follow am, now
this one again. What exactly do you
want me to do, even if
she really likes me?
Mayowa: don’t talk like that now,
Sandra is just a street girl
wey you go chop clean mouth, but this
one na very good girl
o.
Me: And Aramide?
Mayowa: Those church girls aren’t
really what they claim to
be, most of them are pretenders.
Me: Well, if there is any good girl
among the three of them, I
think it us Aramide and not Moji.
Mayowa: You fit no see girl wey go
like you like this again o,
I don talk my own o. . .
We got to the room, and Mayowa and
I had minutes of
argument, just because he said Moji
is more beautiful than
Aramide. Sandra is the most
beautiful, no doubt about that.
But Aramide is more beautiful than
Moji. Well, beauty they
say, is in the eyes of the beholder,
and Mayowa isn’t
certainly that beholder. I told him
most of these things and
he was just laughing.
I was running out of cash, and didn’t
even know what to eat
that night. I called my mum, and all
she did was to complain
to me about how ‘hard’ things were
at home, how her fruit
business was almost crumbling.
I sat on my bed, I was so depressed.
I didn’t tell anyone
what I was going through. In fact,
only Mayowa knew I had
lost my father. I was deep in
thought, then my phone rang.
Guess who it was!

 samlak samlak The Painful Pleasure (By TPP)
*
Episode 18
*
The next day was a Tuesday, and
that day was bible study in
my church. I didn’t want to go, as I
could have just stayed in
the room to read. Because that was
a chance to see Aramide
again. I wore my only and best pair
of shoes, a white shirt
with a black pant, and a red tie. I
looked at myself in the
mirror, and I looked really good. So I
headed straight for
church.
I got to church early, and I had to
seat in front. The 2nd row
precisely. In a service of about 800
people, how exactly was I
going to see Aramide? The pastor
really preached, as I could
remember that he was going up, and
coming down. My
mind wasn’t in the service. I was
just surveying the whole
congregation. But I couldn’t find
her. “Maybe she didn’t
come at all.” I thought to myself.
Aramide to me didn’t look
like someone who would miss
weekdays’ service unless she
has to be unavoidably absent.
After about 1 hour 30 minutes, the
whole programme ended
and we shared the grace. I looked
around, but couldn’t see
any ‘lookalike’ of her. Well, I had to
give up, as I was trying to
show a strong resolve, though I was
very sad on the inside.
As I was on the main road looking
for a bus, someone called
my name. “Dapo!” I knew it was her,
or let me say I wished it
was her. But you know, wishes do
come true. Indeed, it was
Aramide.
Aramide: I looked around and didn’t
see you, I thought you
didn’t come.
Me: Really? I sat at the second row
in front. (The reply
should have been; same here, but I
didn’t want to be
forward)
Aramide: Hope you enjoyed the
message?
Me: Definitely, I did. The man of
God is just so blessed and
anointed.
Aramide: Did you hear when he
talked about the health
center?
Me: Yeah, it was really profound. (I
didn’t listen to anything, I
just didn’t want to look like a bad
Christian).
The buses were coming, but so many
people were there,
also trying to get a bus. Which means
that one would have to
struggle to enter the bus, since it
was just some minutes to
7pm, I just continued my
conversation with Aramide, and
didn’t bother rushing for the bus.
Aramide did same.
Me: So what church to you attend at
hone?
Aramide: RCC
Me: Redeem?
Aramide: Yeah sure.
Me: So you are a redeemer?
Aramide: (Laughing) Jesus is the
redeemer, and I’m just the
redeemed.
Me: Wow, nice analysis.
We continued discussing, and it was
getting really
interesting. We just continued. . .
Aramide: Actually, to be sincere, I’ve
been looking for you
since I entered church. Because
there is something I want to
ask you, and something I want to tell
you.
Me: (My heart beat became ten
times faster, because the girl
in question is a girl I liked since the
first time I saw her. “Is
she going to ask me to date her? or
tell me she liked me? Or.
. .” I kept wondering what she
wanted to say as I prepared
my big YES for the big question. I
was keeping mute for too
long, so I had to say something) You
said you want to tell me
something, and ask me a question.
Which one do you want
to do exactly?
Aramide: (Laughing) Both.
Me: (Now it seems like it’s what I
was thinking, but I just kept
calm) So let’s hear the question.
Aramide: The question is: DO YOU. . .
What was the question?

 samlak samlak Sorry for the mistake
Painful Pleasure
*
Episode 16
*
When we got to the class, what Abdul
told us turned out to
be true. We got to the class 7:55am,
and the whole ‘lecture
theatre’ was filled to the brim. Some
people sat on the floor,
while others were standing, holding
their notes.
The lecturer was not around yet, so
the place was so rowdy.
People were walking up and down,
looking for empty,
unnoticed seats. Mayowa and I joined
in the quest. This
quest was for people who didn’t want
to sit on the floor, or
stand all through. As we were going
to the front, looking
around, someone was waving at me, it
was my FDF (Moji).
I went to her, and she offered me a
seat, right in the third
row. I managed to ‘enter’, managing
the space with mayowa
“You kept the sit for me?” I asked
her. “No, not exactly, I kept
it for my roommate, who later
decided to sit at the back with
her friends, she said she doesn’t
like sitting in front. When I
just saw you, I decided to give my
FDF the seat.” She
answered. “That was thoughtful of
you.” I said. “Yeah right!”
She answered.
The lecturer came around 8:05am,
and when he entered,
everywhere became as a grave yard.
You could literarily
hear the sound of a falling pin. The
man started by
welcoming us to the university
system, as he laughed at
those sitting down on the floor. He
told us he is also a
graduate of OAU, and during his
time it wasn’t that bad.
He welcomed us to the course
‘CHM101’, he was successful
in planting the seeds of fear in our
hearts after telling us the
high percentage of people that do
fail the course, and cases
of people who had extra sessions just
because of this
course. He discovered that he had
only succeeded in causing
panic, he told us that it’s not that
difficult, all we had to do
was to study well, and everything
was going to be fine. Now,
everyone became a bit relieved, then
he started taking the
course.
Since it was the first class, he just
gave us the course outline
and recommended some texts. He
talked about ‘readings’
and ‘errors’, and before we knew it,
it was 9:00am already,
and we had to end the lecture, as
some students of ‘arts and
humanities’ were already waiting
outside to use the same
venue for their lecture.
The lecturer ended the class, and
everywhere was conjested,
about 1500 people were trying to exit
the hall, while about
750 were trying to come in. “You
didn’t even call me at all,
after I fixed your phone.” Moji said
to me as we were slowly
moving to the exit. “Why didn’t you
call me too?” I shifted the
blame briskly, I had forgotten that I
didn’t give her my
number. “You didn’t give me your
number, it was your
phone I fixed, you didn’t get to fix
mine”. She said to me.
Now it occurred to me that I didn’t
give her my number.
“Oya ma binu, I totally forgot.” . .
This time, we had gotten to
the exit. We continued the
conversation, as we were going to
the hostel. Mayowa wasn’t angry with
the whole thing in
anyway. in fact, he was joining in the
conversation the little
way he could. . .
*
What next? Find out in EPISODE 17