Chapter 8:Lisa's Warning
1104 Words
Ada didn’t sleep that night.
Lisa’s text kept glowing on her phone. "Where are you? We need to talk. Tonight. It’s important."
And Samuel’s hoodie was on her chair. She didn’t know which one was more dangerous.
At 9pm, there was a knock. Lisa didn’t wait for Ada to answer. She walked into Room 12 like she owned it.
She wasn’t wearing a bonnet. She wasn’t smiling. She was wearing jeans and a face Ada had never seen before. Cold.
“You went to see him,” Lisa said. It wasn’t a question.
Ada sat up. “I was returning your— his hoodie.”
“Don’t lie to me, Ada.” Lisa closed the door. “I saw you. At the Law faculty. You were eating with him. Laughing with him.”
Ada’s mouth went dry. “You were following me?”
“I’m protecting you.” Lisa’s voice was low. “From yourself.”
She pulled out Ada’s chair and sat down. The room felt smaller with her in it.
“Let me tell you about Samuel,” Lisa said. “Mr. Holy. Mr. Bible in his pocket. Do you know why he’s in final year and still not dating anyone?”
Ada shook her head.
“Because he’s a user.” Lisa leaned forward. “He acts all sweet. All ‘I’ll buy you rice.’ All ‘God will provide.’ But what he really wants is to save you. To be your hero. To make you owe him.”
“He’s not like that,” Ada said. “He was nice to me.”
“Nice?” Lisa laughed. It was an ugly sound. “Ada, wake up. Nice doesn’t pay school fees. Nice doesn’t buy handouts. Nice doesn’t stop hunger.”
She stood up and walked to Ada’s locker. She picked up the empty garri bowl. “This is what nice gets you. An empty bowl. A rumbling stomach.”
She dropped the bowl. It clattered.
“Desmond is bad, yes. But bad is honest. He tells you the price. 150k for one night. No lies. No fake promises about God and scholarships.”
Ada thought of Samuel’s face when he said "It’s not a loan. It’s a meal. Between friends.”
That felt honest too.
“You don’t know him,” Ada whispered.
“I know his type.” Lisa’s eyes were hard. “They preach to you until you’re desperate. Then they watch you drown and say ‘I told you so.’ They feel holy because they didn’t sin. But they let you suffer.”
Ada stood up. “He didn’t let me suffer. He fed me.”
“For how long, Ada? One plate of rice? Two? What about tomorrow? Next week? When BIO 111 gets harder? When your dad can’t send 5k? Will Samuel’s Bible feed you?”
The question hit like a slap. Because Ada didn’t know the answer.
Lisa saw her face and softened. Just a little. “I’m not trying to hurt you. I’m trying to save you. From me.”
She sat on the bed next to Ada. For the first time, she looked tired. Not glamorous. Not dangerous. Just tired.
“When I came to ABSU, I was like you,” Lisa said. “Smart. 268 in JAMB. My parents sold their land for my acceptance fee. I was going to be an accountant. A good girl.”
Ada stared. “What happened?”
“Second semester. My dad had a stroke. No money came for three months. I was eating once every two days. I fainted in class.” Lisa picked at her nails. They were chipped. “A final year student found me. He bought me food. He listened. He prayed with me. He said ‘God will make a way.’”
“Was that… Samuel?”
Lisa laughed again. Bitter this time. “No. His name was Daniel. He was also Law. Also ‘holy.’ He said he liked me. That he wanted to help. For three weeks, he brought me food. He tutored me. He told me I was special.”
She looked up. “Then one day, he said his father was sick. He needed 50k urgently. He said ‘if you love me, you’ll help.’”
Ada’s stomach dropped. “What did you do?”
“I didn’t have 50k, Ada. I had 0k. So I went to a man Daniel introduced me to. ‘Uncle K.’ He said he was a politician. He said he just wanted company.” Lisa’s voice was flat. “He gave me 60k. I gave 50k to Daniel. I used 10k to eat for a month.”
“Did Daniel pay you back?”
Lisa stood up. “Daniel graduated. He blocked me. Last I heard, he’s in Lagos. Married to a pastor’s daughter.”
The room was silent. The fan clicked. Click. Click. Truth.
“Uncle K became my first sponsor,” Lisa said. “Then there was Uncle T. Then Desmond. Now I have my own rent. My own hair. My own food.” She touched Ada’s cheek. “But I lost something, Ada. I lost the girl who believed ‘God will provide’ was enough.”
Ada didn’t know what to say. She wanted to hug Lisa. She wanted to run from her.
“Stay away from Samuel,” Lisa said. “He’ll break you slower than hunger will. At least with Desmond, you know what you’re selling. With Samuel, you sell your hope. And hope is expensive.”
She walked to the door. “Your choice, Ada. Bad boys pay. Good boys watch you starve and call it a test from God.”
She left.
Ada sat there for an hour. She looked at Samuel’s hoodie. She looked at her empty garri bowl. She looked at her phone.
One text from an unknown number: "150k. Offer expires at midnight. D”
One text from Samuel, sent 10 minutes ago: “Hope you got back okay. BIO 111 tutorial tomorrow at Law Library, 4pm. If you want. No pressure.”
Midnight was in 2 hours.
The tutorial was in 18 hours.
Ada picked up Samuel’s hoodie and held it to her face. It still smelled like soap. Like safety. Like a lie?
Then she put it down and picked up her phone.
Her thumb hovered over Desmond’s message.
Bad boys pay.
150k.
No more hunger.
She typed three words.
Then she deleted them.
Then she cried. Because for the first time, she wasn’t sure if God was testing her… or if He had already left ABSU.
- Writer
