The First Time

Chapter 19

CHAPTER 19

  Moments later she was standing before him. She glanced up to him at the end of the four-stepped elevation. She was smiling and he too caught the infection without delay. Their eyes held each other for that precious moment they were meeting for the first time in daylight. With eyes hungry for each other, they search for themselves. That morning was a blessed morning indeed.

     There was a mutual silence as she got to where he was with his colleagues. As she took to climb the stairs, she looked up to him for support. There he was, his hands were already out for her grabs. She took his held-out hands to help her make it up the staircase. He gently pulled her up to where he was standing. She glanced up into his face with gracious gratitude. Those starry eyes of hers poured into him at that moment. Her face was beaming with smiles. The looks were the only spoken words from her that made much more meaning than any other words she uttered in pleasantries. Having acknowledged his greetings she shied away into the lecture hall. He was lost for words to express the way he had felt that Monday morning. His heart was gladdened. He could not help but admit it. He had been caught off guard. Was that easy to win the heart of a pretty girl? Wow, he felt like he had won a gold medal in a highly contested event. It was also painful to feel that way too though a cherished pain.

      Minutes later, he left his friend Kristor with the other boys and walked into the lecture hall. He found her already engrossed in conversation with some of her female friends.

     The moment she saw him, she excused her friends for his attention.

     “Hi,” he greeted her.

     “Hello,” she replied with those beautiful sparkly eyes. 

     “I was still wondering if you were the girl I met the other night on Saturday,” he was trying to find something to spark off a conversation though shyly.

     “I knew you’re the guy that enchanted me and out my boredom that night,” she said straight to the point. 

     "O C'mon," he waved his hands. 

     "Thanks for saving the day between me and the other girl," 

     "I was glad both of you shielded your swords,"

     “So how was the weekend with you?”

     “Quite fine, only that you never allowed me to sleep well all night,” he could not help but let her know all the same.

     She smiled, pleased at that. "I really hope it is worth it," she said still looking that way he meet her. It will definitely disarm any man. 

     "You're beautiful. Haven't this beauty in a while," 

     " Thanks. I knew where you’re heading to but it won’t be too easy for you,” 

     "Nothing good is easy, you know that," he kept saying not minding her words. "I couldn't wait to set my eyes on you once again,"

     “Well, I hoped you did enjoy my disturbances,” she added with a smile.

     “Well, I had never felt that way before maybe that was why I felt a bit sick,” he said warmed by her easiness.

     “So we had caught the same cold. What was that supposed to mean?” she asked.

     “I don’t know, maybe you seemed to know better,” he answered doggedly.

She looked at him intently for some appreciable moment, as if to discern if his soul were truly pure by peering into his eyes. She studied his face or rather his looks.

     “You don’t wanna tell me why all these seemed to be happening,” he said reminding her.

She smiled broadly, this time dimples formed on her chicks. She was more happy but shy to open up. “Well, I don’t fancy boys’ company... But you look interesting and irresistible to me,” she later admitted avoiding his searching eyes glancing up and about her. "I think I will like you too,"

Saying those simple but powerful words melted his heart away. It made him feel important in his heart. It was the first time a girl ever came to the open and told him that. Truly, it was the first time he was paying such words any serious attention. He was indeed interesting and irresistible confirming his earlier admissions. Maybe, it was the first time he had made a girl comfortable to express her feelings to him.

     “What made you say that, I don’t think I am all that handsome or ugly,”

     “Well, your gentle infectious look is enough to help anyone make a good judgment. Your eyes are another important factor,” she said looking straight into his eyes for a brief moment.

     “I feel flattered. You’re the first person ever to confirm that though I am happy to hear that from a genuine source,”

     “You’re aware of that and you never wanted to use it effectively,” she sounds rather amused.

     “I hope you’re not teasing me?”

     “No, I am just pleased to air my views,” 

     “What’re you hinting at?”

     “I am wondering how many girls would have been jostling for your attention though shyly and probably you never cared to notice. I know your type too well,”

     “Well, you might be right but I don’t like being made someone’s exclusive property. I prefer to be free of any emotional entanglements,” he announced without carefully thinking it out.

     “You mean, you cared not for the person who would like to desert everything in her life just because of you?” She said in a searching way as though she will get hurt.

     “Oh no, that’s not what I meant. As a matter of factly, I hate being a possession of any girl... No... To anybody to the extent that he or she feels too jealous…you know that’s not healthy,”

     “Well, you’re right. It’s unhealthy for any relationship but you don’t have to dwell on such perceptive even though it does happen. It will deny you the joy of a warm relationship,” she had started giving him some lectures on relationships.

     “If I have about thirty female admires jostling for my attention, I should jump into their arms to make them happy that I cared?”

     “No, but you have the one that suits you, and then sticks to the person,”

     “What then happens to the rest?”

     “Well you can’t please everyone or you stand to displease yourself. The rest would understand…mutual friends of course,”

      “What if you were among the rest, while I had made my choice with another girl? How will you look at me? Are you not going to be heartbroken at that?” he said trying to be honest with his feelings. He felt he was telling her his true feelings. It was the first time he was expressing his feeling like that to anyone who cared. He noted her reaction. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat looking shyly at him. He noted he had hit the point rather straight and she had not expected such a direct response from him.

     He felt that too but felt no regret with what he had said because that was him. He had to say his mind as sincerely as he could, black and white. It’s now left for anyone to decide within his or her mind whether they can stick with him or not. That was blunt of him. He saw no reason why he should not be frank with people even at the onset of any relationship. He believed it saves one lot of pain when you make the other party know exactly what’s on your mind. How you viewed things in your own perspective rather than pretending it.

     She looked fixated at him and then smiled generously back at him.

     “I have never mistaken you. When I said I knew your type of person well,” she responded, ignoring the question.

     “What’s special about my type of person?”

     “Your type of person tries to be straight with people not minding if the other party appreciates it or not. They prefer being blunt. They don’t like pretending for any reason, and that’s a plus,” she remarked.

     “Thanks for the compliment. You know we could make good friends,” he didn't expect himself to say that. He was moving too fast.

     She regarded him for a moment, looked away, and glanced back at him. “I don’t like sharp proposals,” she said now looking sophisticated.

     “Well, I’m not proposing anything to you, but expressing how you had made me feel in my heart. I hope I have got a right to that?” he asked humorously.

     “I was happy. I was learning the game well and fast at that,” She too was catching the feeling but she made clever efforts to disguise her feelings. “I can’t believe it that I had been talking to someone who had no name, a total stranger,” she quickly changed the topic.

     “Anything special with my name?” he asked.

     “Why? You must have got a name or were you born nameless?”

     “But you never cared to know or even asked,”

     “Oh, I’m sorry. I cared to know but it slipped my mind,"

Kelvin was trying to sound malleable and at the same time, he tried to keep the conversation interesting.

     “Until you ask, I won’t tell you my name,” he said smiling.

     “Oh, come on, I have just hinted at it. Do I need to ask you using the exact words?” she reached for his hand on the desk and squeezed it and that did the magic, “Come on, don’t take it personaL. I cared to know dear,” she added looking pleadingly at him. The way she called him "dear" was something else to him. It was like it was specially carved out for him.

     “Well, I’m called Kelvin,” he replied.

     “That’s great and I’m Chidera least you had forgotten,” she said smiling with her face close to his face.  they had about three other colleagues now sitting with them on the seat. That made the sitting too tight for them to have spaces between. A thin air separated their lips from touching each other.  They were constantly looking at each other while speaking. This makes them face each other. He could feel her soft breath on his face. He had ceased his breath. She squeezed his palm gently without removing her gaze. The soft hands on his had already left some tingling sensation on him.

     He braved his mind to return the gaze. She blushed at his gaze.

     She was dark and beautiful, he reminded himself once again. She smelt good too. It wasn't the smell of perfume. It was this smell of refreshing morning breeze that greets and hits one on the face the moment you step out early in the morning. It was that smell of young flesh inviting you to touch it.

     Moments later, the Physics lecturer walked in ending abruptly their conversations.

     As he made for his seat, she winked at him pleasantly.

     He winked back at her and got back to his seat.

     He had taken his seat as the lecturer announced her lecture topic. He felt someone’s eye was burrowing through him from his right side. He made a slight swing with his head to his right. Their eyes caught each other briefly. The pleading eye of a gentle coy girl starring at him with her two folded palms supporting her chins. She must have been lost in her fixed gaze. She couldn't look away when their eyes met each other. It took her a moment to withdraw her eyes. She was having those “I want you so badly,” look on her face. Those alluring dovelike eyes made him feel guilty for what he had not yet known he had committed.