LOVE SCANDAL : My Professor's Secret

LOVE SCANDAL : My Professor's Secret

Chapter 6: The Panel.

We did not even go to the market that day.

We did not buy any gold jewelry at all.

Damola drove us back to Ilorin that same Sunday afternoon immediately after church service. His mother was standing at the gate crying with her wrapper.

Damola, why are you leaving now. Your birthday party celebration is still tomorrow. And Amara, my daughter, you have not even collected your gold set. I already called my gold seller.

Mum, emergency in school. Very serious emergency. We will come back next week, he said, putting our small Ghana must go bag inside the boot.

She hugged me tight like her own child. My daughter, take care of my son for me o. Do not leave him alone. He does not eat well when he is alone. Watch over him.

I wanted to tell her the truth right there at the gate. Ma, I am not your daughter in law. I am fake. We signed papers for seven days only. But I could not say it. She was too sweet and too kind to me. Nobody has hugged me like that since my own mother died.

Inside the car, nobody talked for two hours straight. From Lagos to Ibadan, complete silence. Only car AC and road noise.

Finally I could not hold it again and I asked for a small voice, Sir, will they expel me from school. Will they cancel my admission.

He was driving very fast, his jaw tight, his eyes fixed on the road. He looked angry but not at me.

No. They cannot expel you without hearing your own side. It is just a panel hearing. But Amara, if they ask you what is really between us, what will you tell them. What will you say.

Truth. Or lie.

I will say a fake relationship agreement. I will show them paper. I will tell them it was for seven days only, I said quickly.

He looked at me very quickly, almost losing control of steering.

No. You will never say that. Never. If you say that in front of the panel, we are both finished. That agreement is illegal in university law. A professor cannot sign an agreement with a student to act as a girlfriend for any reason. They will sack me immediately without a pension. And they will still expel you for fraud and impersonation.

So what should I say then. What lie should I say.

He parked a car at a filling station near Ibadan. He turned fully to face me. His eyes were serious.

Say we are dating. Real dating. Say we started dating after your JUPEB result came out and after you got admission. Say we kept it private because you were scared of what people will say and because of the ethics code. Say the picture was taken when you came to ask me about your file and I was helping you check it. That we were never hiding anything, we were just private.

Dating. Real dating.

But sir, student and lecturer dating is not allowed in UNILORIN code. It is against ethics.

I know. I will take full blame. I will say I pursued you. That you said no at first but I insisted because I liked you. That is better than saying we faked relationships for seven days. One is a love mistake that can be forgiven. The other is fraud that cannot be forgiven. Do you understand.

Love mistake versus fraud.

I understood immediately.

We reached Ilorin by 8 pm. The hostel main gate was already locked for night. My roommate opened a small side gate for me and was looking at me like I was a ghost.

Amara. Where have you been since. Everybody is looking for you. HOD posted in the department group that you and Professor Damola must report to the departmental panel tomorrow at 9 am sharp. Your picture and church video is everywhere on status. People are saying you are already engaged to the professor. Is it true.

I entered room B12. My bed was scattered, my clothes thrown down. Someone used a big black marker and wrote on my wall directly above my bed: PROFESSOR WIFE - NINE POINTS MLS - RUNS GIRL.

I tried to clean it with my hand and water. The marker did not clean. It remained there.

I did not sleep again. Second night with no sleep. My eyes were red like I smoked.

Morning, 9 am. MLS Departmental Board Room. Cold room with a long table.

I wore my best white shirt and black skirt again. File in hand, hands shaking.

Inside room: Dr Bisi sitting in middle, Dean of Faculty sitting by her side, two other senior professors, and Professor Damola. He was standing in one corner, not sitting with them. He was not wearing a suit, just a simple shirt and trousers. His face was tired, like he also did not sleep at all.

Amara Okafor, JUPEB nine points, matric number MLS s***h 2024 s***h 009, Dr Bisi read from paper, looking at me over glasses. You are accused of having an inappropriate relationship with your lecturer, Prof A Damola, to gain admission advantage and to manipulate your score. There is photographic evidence from Block C office and video evidence from church engagement in Lagos. What do you have to say for yourself.

My mouth was very dry. My tongue stuck.

I looked at Damola from the corner of my eye. He nodded small, almost invisible. Like saying say it.

Ma, sir, we are dating, I said. Voice shaking.

The whole room went silent. You could hear AC.

Repeat what you said, Dean said, leaning forward.

We are dating, sir. He asked me out after the JUPEB exam. I said no at first because he is my professor and I was scared. But he kept coming, he kept checking on me. And I liked him. So we started dating privately. The picture in the office was when I went to check my file about missing a practical score. He was just helping me. And Lagos church was his mother's sixtieth birthday. She invited me as his girlfriend. That is all.

Dean looked at Damola, his face hard.

Professor Damola, is this true. You are dating your own direct student. You know this is against university ethics code Section twelve, subsection four. You are a senior lecturer. You should know better.

Damola stood straight, hands behind back.

Yes sir. It is true. It is completely my fault. I pursued her. She is an adult, twenty one years old. She did not use me for admission. Her nine points are genuine. In fact, her practical score was missing from the system, that is why it showed seven points initially. I was correcting it when that picture was taken from the window. I take full responsibility for everything. If anyone should be punished here, it should be me, not her. She did nothing wrong.

He said twenty one years old. I am nineteen but okay, I will take twenty one. It sounds more mature.

Dr Bisi sighed loudly and dropped pen.

So you both openly admit to relationship in this university.

Yes ma, we said together at same time.

Dean wrote something down in file for long time. Then he looked up.

Amara, you will be queried for misconduct for dating your lecturer but your admission stands because your score has been verified as genuine nine points. Professor Damola, you will be suspended from teaching for one semester without pay and you will be removed as JUPEB coordinator immediately. And you both must end this relationship immediately until she graduates, if you both want to continue in this university. No contact. That is the condition.

End relationship. But we were not even in a real relationship at all. We were fake.

Do you agree with this condition, Dean asked, looking at both of us.

I wanted to say yes quickly so I can keep my admission and go back to the hostel. Yes sir, we will end it.

But Damola said before me, No sir.

No.

Everybody looked at him shocked. Dr Bisi removed glasses.

Sir, I cannot end what is real. If you want to suspend me, suspend me for one year. If you want to sack me, sack me. But do not tell me who to love and who not to love. Amara did nothing wrong. She is innocent in this.

He cannot end what is real. But it was fake. It was seven days fake.

I looked at him, my heart doing gbim gbim. His eyes were red, maybe from no sleep, maybe from tears.

Dr Bisi banged the table hard.

Damola. Are you mad. You want to lose your job for a JUPEB girl. For a nineteen year old girl you just met. Are you okay.

She is not a JUPEB girl, he said, voice calm but firm. She is my girlfriend.

My girlfriend.

The whole panel room was quiet. You could hear the wall clock ticking.

And in that moment, looking at him standing there risking his job for me, I did not know if he was still acting his role as a fake boyfriend, or if Rule Five had been broken completely beyond repair.