LOVE SCANDAL : My Professor's Secret

Chapter 1: The Picture I have never been this nervous in my entire life. My hand was sweating badly. My white shirt was already sticking to my back because of the sun. I was standing in front of Block C, holding my JUPEB file tightly like my whole life depended on it. Because it did depend on it. Aisha shouted from the notice board. Amara. Come and check your name on the list. Your name is here. I ran. I pushed through the crowd of girls in white shirts and black skirts. And then I saw it. Number 47. ADEYEMI AMARA J. MLS. 9 points. Nine points. I almost screamed right there. Other people scored sixteen, fifteen, fourteen. Me, I scored nine. And yet I still got Medical Laboratory Science. God really did this for me. My mother will be so happy in Ilorin. I was happy for maybe five minutes. Just five minutes of pure joy. Then my phone vibrated in my skirt pocket. It was an unknown number. The message said: Come to Professor Damola office now. Your file has an issue. Block C, Room 12. My heart dropped inside my chest. Everybody in Unilorin knows Professor Damola. Young, tall, always wearing a fine suit even in this heat. All the 300 level girls like him. And he is very strict. If he says your file has an issue, that means your admission can just disappear like that. I quickly adjusted my long skirt and tried to arrange my hair and I ran to his office. I knocked softly. Come in. His office was so cold. Full AC. Books everywhere. Certificates on the wall. He did not even look at me at first. He was just typing fast on his silver laptop. You are Adeyemi Amara. JUPEB nine points. Yes sir, my voice was shaking seriously. He finally looked up from his laptop. And to be honest, he is finer in real life than in pictures. Sit. I sat on the edge of the chair. He opened my brown file. He shifted his chair closer to me so I could see the paper. He was so close I could smell his perfume. Expensive perfume. Your JUPEB practical score is missing from the system. I need to confirm something from this sheet, he said, pointing at a column. That was when it happened. Flash. Like a camera flash from the window behind us. Bright and quick. I turned sharply. Nobody was there outside. But I swear I saw a phone quickly disappear behind the wall. Professor Damola frowned deeply. Did you see that. Before I could even answer, my phone started vibrating nonstop in my hand. Gbot gbot gbot. My roommate Aisha: Amara you don blow o. You and the professor inside the office. My course mate: Girl, you and Professor inside the office. Hmm. So fast. My boyfriend, Tunde: So na this you dey do for school. So you have already started sleeping with professors. It is okay. Then someone forwarded the actual picture to me. My legs became weak. It was me and Professor Damola. Head to head inside his office. Because of the angle and how close he was to show me the paper, it looked exactly like we were kissing. Deep kissing. And under it, someone typed: UNILORIN JUPEB girls don start. She scores 9 points but she gets a professor to help her. MLS girls use what they have to get what they want. My chest tightened. I could not breathe. The professor, my admission, my name, I could not complete the sentence. Tears were already gathering in my eyes. He looked at his own phone too. Someone had already posted it on the MLS general w******p group. One hundred and twenty seven members have seen it. People were already commenting. See her. Runs girl. She thinks she's fine. He locked his laptop slowly. His face changed. That soft fine boy face became hard like stone. Whoever did this will regret it, he said quietly, but his voice was full of anger. But first, we need to clear your name. And I need your help. What kind of help, sir. I was still shaking. He looked at me straight. His eyes were dark and serious. Be my girlfriend for seven days. I thought I did not hear him well. My mouth opened. Sir. Fake girlfriend. He explained quickly. My mother is doing her sixtieth birthday award night in Lagos on Saturday. She thinks I am dating someone. If I do not come with a girl, she will force me to marry her friend's daughter that just came from Canada. Follow me there, act like my girlfriend for seven days, and I promise you. I will find who posted this picture, I will find your missing practical score, and I will make sure nobody in this school ever calls you runs girl again. I wanted to say no. I wanted to run out of that office and go home to Ilorin. But my file was still in his hand. And my shameful picture was already in three different w******p groups. And Tunde already thinks I am cheating. No touching. No s*x. Just acting. Seven days. After that, you will never see me again if you want. I looked at him. That fine, strict, rich professor that every girl wants. And he was asking me, a JUPEB girl with nine points, for help. And against all my senses, against all the warning bells inside my head, I heard myself say, Okay.