CHAPTER 23; SOMETHING IMPORTANT TO SAY

I stared at Sharon,

wondering why she

heaved a sigh of relief

when I told her that I'm

not dating Sylvia. she didn't

ask any more questions. she

just stared at me for a while

and spoke.

"okay, you can go and meet

Sylvia now. it seems she has

something important to tell

you" she said

"okay" I said and stood up.

I walked out of the class to

meet Sylvia, but she was no

longer in the faculty premises.

Just when I was about leaving

the faculty premises, I saw

Mustack walking towards me

from a distance. It suddenly

crossed my mind that I was

supposed to start practicing

what I learned from the book

Sylvia gave me. The first

guideline I want to put into

practice was how to approach

ladies. The book highlighted a

step by step guide on how to

approach ladies. I will only

follow the guideline in the

book and see how it goes. I

pray things work out fine.

Mustack got to me and we

shook hands.

"Christian how are you?" he

asked

"I'm good and you"

"I'm good too" he responded

"are you busy?" I asked

"no. any problem?" he asked

"not really. I just want you to

follow me to the faculty of

engineering. there's this

particular lady I saw in that

faculty. she's just too

beautiful. i haven't been

myself since i saw her. I want

to go and woo her" I lied

Mustack laughed out loud

immediately. he looked at me

like I just said something

funny.

"you want to go and woo a

lady from the faculty of

engineering. when you can't

even speak properly with

ladies in your department.

please be serious jor" he said

"so you think I can't woo a

lady. let's go to the faculty of

engineering and I will surprise

you" I said

"you and I know that we will

only be going there to waste

our time, because you can't

even approach a lady." he

responded.

I was annoyed by his

response. I brought out my

phone and gave to him.

"if you can approach and talk

to the first lady we see when

we get there, and I don't do

the same to the next lady we

would see, then you can have

my phone." I challenged him

He stared at me with

seriousness.

"are you serious about this?"

he asked

"I'm very serious" I

responded.

"you mean I can take your

phone if you can't approach

any lady when we get to the

faculty of engineering." he

said.

"yes" I responded.

"wow! that means I won't have

to buy another phone. I will

just replace my old phone with

yours. should I give you your

sim card?" he asked.

"why?" I asked

"because the phone is now

mine" he responded.

"I will shock you. just wait and

see" I said

"you seem so confident. let's

go then. I will be very happy if

you can walk up to a lady and

speak confidently with her" he

said.

The truth is, I'm not as

confident as I made it look. I

just have to believe what I

read from the book Sylvia gave

me. I had already memorized

the steps. I just pray it goes as

planned.

"okay let's go" I responded.

We left our faculty and headed

straight to the faculty of

engineering.

After walking round the

faculty for five minutes and

couldn't find any lady,

Mustack started complaining.

"why will you have to bring

me to this faculty, out of all

the faculties in school. we all

know that ladies don't study

engineering courses. The ratio

of girls to boys in this faculty

is 1:99." he said.

We walked for a while, before

we saw a lady standing beside

a tree at the faculty garden.

Mustack turned to face me.

"I will approach that lady and

speak to her. I might even get

her contact if possible. If you

can't do same to the next lady

we will see, then you won't get

your phone back." he said in

serious tone.

without waiting for my

response, he turned and

walked to the lady. I watched

from a distance as he

approached the lady and stood

beside her. Just after few

minutes of speaking with the

lady, I could see her smiling.

I waited for the next ten

minutes, before Mustack

finally left the lady and walked

back to me.

"what did you say to her?" I

asked immediately he got to

me.

"don't ask me. just know that

you won't be getting your

phone back if you can't do the

same" he said.

"did you get her number?" I

asked.

"no. she said she can't give

her number to stranger. she

seems to be proving difficult

to get. I will get back to her

later. I like ladies that always

prove difficult to get. let's

continue with our reason for

coming here first." he said

"so what's next?" I asked like I

didn't know.

"are you asking me? you

approach the next lady we see

and speak with her. if you

can't do that, you will lose

your phone" he said.

"okay where should we go

next?" I asked

"let's look in those classes to

see if any lady is still in the

class" he said, pointing to the

faculty building.

"okay" I responded

We went into the faculty

building and search from class

to class. we later saw a lady

sitting alone in one of the

empty classes. the lady seemed

to be engrossed in the book

she was reading that she didn't

notice our presence. we

watched her from the door for

a while, before Mustack finally

spoke.

"it's your turn now. walked up

to that lady and engage her in

a conversation." he said

"Mustack please let's look for

someone else. that lady seems

to be busy and won't like to be

disturbed." I pleaded.

"that was not our agreement

bro" he said.

"that lady won't pay attention

to what I have to say, because

she's busy. let's just look for

someone else." I insisted.

"no. we have already agreed

that you will speak to the next

lady we see. you better go and

speak to her, or you won't get

your phone back" he said.

I took a deep breath.

"okay, I will walk up to her

and start a conversation with

her" I said

"good" he responded.

I entered the class and slowly

walked towards her. she didn't

even notice that someone was

in the class with her, because

she was too engrossed in what

she was reading. I got to her

and stood beside her. I wanted

to say 'hi', because I believe

that's the first thing to say

when you approach a lady, but

I just have to remain silent

and follow the guideline in the

book I read. According to what

I read in the book. when you

approach a lady who seems to

be busy and don't want any

disturbance, you don't have to

distract her by saying "hi".

Just sit quietly beside her and

wait until she notice your

presence.

I followed the instruction from

the book and sat quietly beside

her. she looked up from the

book she was reading when

she realized I was sitting

beside her. she stared at me

for a while and turned her

gaze back to the book she was

reading. I didn't stared back at

her when she stared at me. I

just kept staring into air with

an expressionless look on my

face. that was also the

guideline from the book.

she shot me a side glance after

a while, maybe wondering why

I chose to sit beside her out of

all the chairs in the class, but I

pretend I didn't notice. she

seemed to be distracted

already.

I have to proceed to the next

step from the book. According

to the book I read. 'don't try to

distract a lady with words,

when she's busy. let your

presence beside her, act as her

distraction. when she is

distracted, you can now say

hello.'

"hi" I finally said

"hi" she responded

I made sure that I maintained

eye contact with her. that was

also the instruction from the

book I read. A lady can easily

know that you are not

confident speaking to her, if

you can't maintain eye contact.

"I hope I'm not disturbing you.

I saw that this is the only quiet

place I can read without any

disturbance, that was why I

came in" I said

"oh, not at all. you are not

disturbing me" she responded.

"you're an engineering student

right?" I asked

"yes" she responded.

"I always admire ladies that

are studying engineering

courses." I said

" so what course are you

studying?" she asked

"Economics" I answered

"oh, I have a friend in that

department" she said

"what's her name?" I asked

"a guy actually" she said

"oh. I see. what's his name" I

asked

"Frank" she answered

I really couldn't believe that I

could keep a conversation with

a lady for this long. All to

sylvia for the book she gave

me.

"so what engineering course are you

studying actually?" I asked

"computer engineering" she

responded.

"wow! I initially wanted to

study computer engineering

while growing up. I just had to

change my mind because I

realize I don't have passion for

it" I lied

"computer engineering is an

interesting course" she said

"so what made you chose the

course?" I asked.

"I have passion for it" she

responded.

I took a side glance at the door

and saw Mustack peeping from

the door.

I turned back to face the lady

beside me with smiles on my

face.

"I have lecture in the next ten

minutes. let me leave now so

that I will get to the class on

time" I said

"okay" she responded

I stood up, took just two steps

away from her and turned

back to face her.

"sorry, you didn't tell me your

name" I said

"I'm Precious" she responded.

"okay precious, I'm Christian"

I said

"okay Christian" she

responded.

I turned and walked out of the

class with smiles on my face.

the first thing I did when I

came out of the class was to

collect my phone back from

Mustack.

Everything I just said to that

lady in that class was exactly

what I read from the book

Sylvia gave me. I was so happy

that I could approach a lady

and start a conversation with

her.

I left the faculty of engineering

with just one thing on my

mind, and that was to explore

more.