CHAPTER TWO: WRONG TIMING
445 Words
Damilare Sulaiman was already late.
His phone buzzed again.
“Dami, where are you? The orientation panel starts in 10 minutes!”
He didn’t reply.
Replying wouldn’t change anything at this point.
He was still cutting across the Green Walk instead of taking the longer, proper route to the auditorium. Riverside University rewarded efficiency, not perfection, and Dami had mastered efficiency.
Most of the time.
He adjusted his wristwatch and increased his pace.
Today was supposed to be simple: arrive early, sit through orientation, leave before drama starts.
But Riverside never followed plans.
He turned sharply at the junction
—and stopped.
Because someone else was turning at the exact same time.
They collided.
Not hard, but enough for papers to scatter everywhere.
“Ah!” a familiar voice gasped. “My documents!”
Dami immediately bent down, catching the papers before they spread further across the walkway.
When he looked up…
He froze for half a second.
It was her.
The fresher from earlier.
Teniola.
She looked just as surprised as he felt, but quickly reached out and collected her scattered documents from his hands.
“You again,” she said, narrowing her eyes slightly.
Dami gave a small shrug. “Riverside is small. Or you’re just unlucky.”
“I think it’s you,” she replied.
That made him smile faintly.
“Fair.”
A brief silence followed as students moved around them.
“You still haven’t found clearance?” he asked.
“I did,” she said quickly. “Just almost got lost again.”
“So my directions worked halfway.”
“Halfway is generous.”
“Progress,” he said.
She rolled her eyes. “You talk too much for someone who is almost late.”
“True.”
Another pause.
“I’m Dami,” he said.
“Teniola,” she replied.
He nodded once.
“Try not to get lost again.”
“I wasn’t lost,” she said quickly.
But he was already walking away.
Teniola watched him leave.
“Annoying,” she whispered.
Then after a pause:
“…helpful though.”
She adjusted her bag and followed his direction properly this time.
Damilare sat in the orientation hall minutes later, slightly late as usual.
His friend leaned over. “What happened this time?”
“Nothing,” he said.
But for some reason, his mind kept returning to the fresher he had met twice in one morning.
And that alone was unusual.
Teniola finally reached the clearance office, this time without mistakes.
But even in line, she found herself thinking about the guy again.
“Dami,” she repeated quietly.
Then frowned at herself.
And looked away.
- Writer
