Replaced Treasure

Tolu had never believed in love at first sight until the day she entered the 300 level common room in Unilag to submit her assignment and saw him. Dare. He was standing by the window in his final year Faculty of Law shirt, sleeves folded, arguing about a moot court case with his friends. He was tall, dark, with a low-cut and a smile that made the whole noisy common room go quiet. “Excuse me, are you Tolu from Jurisprudence class?” He had called after her. She froze. “How did you know my name?” He grinned. “I’ve been marking your attendance for three weeks. You always sit in front, you chew your pen when you’re confused, and you scored the highest in Dr. Adebayo’s test.” Tolu blushed. Everyone knew Dare Ajayi. Son of the Ajayi Group. Finalist. The most wanted boy in faculty. And he knew HER name? From that day, everything changed. He started waiting for her after her 8am lectures with two Gala and a cold Coke. He would carry her heavy textbooks even though his own final year project was killing him. During exam season, he tutored her in Law of Contract inside the empty library, and when she got tired, he would allow her to sleep on his shoulder. “I love you, Tolu mi,” he whispered one night after her 300 level dinner party. The school generator had gone off, and they were sitting under the stars behind the Law block. “Wait for me. Let me finish service. Once I’m done with NYSC, I will marry you. No other girl.” Tolu had cried that night. No boy had ever spoken to her like that. Her parents were poor teachers from Ibadan, she was on scholarship, she had no designer bags like other girls in her class. But Dare saw her. For two years, he kept his promise. Even during his NYSC in Abuja, he called every night. He sent her small money for handouts. He came to Lagos every two weeks to see her. When she graduated with a 2:1, he was the first person she called, screaming with joy. And on the night of her graduation, inside his father’s big house in Ikoyi, with his mother and his younger brother Akin watching, Dare went on one knee. “Tolulope Adenike, you have been my treasure since 300 level. Will you be my wife?” She said yes, tears running down her face. She didn’t know that at the back of the living room, her own elder sister Ronke, who had come for her graduation, was also staring at Dare — not with happiness, but with envy. She didn’t know that her treasure was about to be replaced.