CHAPTER 3: exchange numbers?
I got home and freshened
up. I lay on my bed and
stare blankly at the
ceiling. The event of the
day flashed through my mind
and my mood suddenly
changed. I felt bad that I
couldn't answer a question
confidently in class. Even
when joy approached me
nicely, I couldn't even say a
word to her. Why am I always
like this? will I ever be
confident enough to speak
with a lady without feeling
nervous? when will I stop
behaving this way? Am I the
only one in this world with
this kind of personality? what
did I do wrong to be born with
this kind of trait? Am I cursed
or something? It seems like
i'm the only one in the world
with this trait. I have never
come across any shy guy all
my life. where did I get this
kind of trait from?
I was lost in thought.
The vibration of my phone
brought me back to reality. I
stretched my hand to my table
to get my phone. I stared into
the screen and saw that it was
an unknown number. My
heart missed a beat when I
realized I gave Joy my number.
I sat up immediately still
staring at my phone. I quickly
rehearsed a few words I would
say to her when I pick the call.
I took a deep breath and placed
my hand close to the green
button. While I was still
contemplating on whether to
pick the call, it suddenly
stopped ringing. it started
ringing almost immediately.
My phone suddenly became
too heavy for me to hold. I
needed to pick the call. I won't
allow my personality to drive
away someone who seems to
care about me.
I summoned all the courage in
me to pick the call. I placed the
phone on my ear and said "hi"
in the nicest way I could.
"Guy you didn't try at all. you
have forgotten about me. you
can't even call me" the voice at
the other end said.
it wasn't actually a lady's voice. it was a
guy's voice. I felt relieved
when I heard the voice.
"please who am I speaking
with?" I asked
"so you don't recognize my
voice?"
The voice rang a well. I knew I
have heard that voice before. I
thought for a while.
"Daniel" I called
"yes it's Daniel. I thought you
won't recognize my voice." he
said
"wow! so it's you Daniel. long
time" I said happily
"yeah, long time" he
responded
"How are you?" I asked
"I'm fine and you"
"I'm fine too" I responded
"so how is school?" he asked
"school is fine"
"I hope those girls in school
are not giving you problem"
"not at all" I responded
"is this your number"
"yes this is my new number. I
said I should call you, since
you don't want to call me"
"Daniel you know that's not
true. if I had your number, I
would have called you" I said
"okay o, I just said I should
hear from you"
"you did very well. I'm very
grateful. I will save your
number."
"okay then, we will talk later."
Daniel said
"okay, thanks for the call"
I ended the call and stared at
my phone screen with smiles
on my face. it was good to
hear from Daniel. Daniel is my
childhood friend and a very
good adviser. I placed my
phone on the table and lay on
my bed.
Just immediately I placed the
phone on the table, it started
vibrating again. I took the
phone from the table and
picked the call without looking
at the caller.
"hello Daniel" I said into the
phone
"Christian" the caller called
I froze when I heard a lady's
voice. I slowly removed the
phone from my ear and stared
into the screen. The number
was different from Daniel's
number. I slowly placed the
phone back on my ear. I could
feel my heart pounding in my
chest.
"hello" I said calmly
"Christian how are you? This
is Joy"
"Joy. how.... how are you?" I
stammered
"Christian you don't sound too
well. should I come over to
your place?"
"No, no" I cut in immediately
"I'm not at home"
"where did you go to?" she
asked
"I'm in the hospital"
"hospital!" she exclaimed
"is it that serious?"
What did I just say? I couldn't
believe I just told her I was in
the hospital. I quickly took
back those words
"no Joy, I mean I went to get
some drugs from a pharmacy."
"okay, how is your body" she
asked
"I'm fine now. I will call you
back. I'm on a busy road right
now" I said
"okay" she responded
I ended the call and took a
deep breath. I lay on my bed
and didn't know when I slept
off
EPISODE 4
I woke up very late the
next day. I quickly took
my bath and got prepared
for school. I left home
immediately without having
breakfast. I was supposed to
have lecture by 8:am but it
was already 8:15am. I got to
the building the lecture was
holding and peeped through
the window. The lecture was
already going on and the
lecturer could be seen at the
podium impacting knowledge
on the students with
enthusiasm. Every student
focused there attention on the
lecturer standing close to the
door, and that was exactly the
same place I was supposed to
walk in through. I was sure
everyone would focus there
attention on me when I walk
in, because there's no how I
would walk into that class
without being noticed. I stood
at the window for close to
10minutes trying to come up
with an idea of how I would
walk into the class without
being noticed. I felt a hand on
my shoulder, and I turned to
see my coursemate standing
beside me. I was relieved it
was a guy.
"are you not going in?" he
asked
"I was about going in" I
answered
"are you just coming?" I asked
"yes" he answered
"let's go in before we miss the
important part of the lecture."
he said
"okay" I responded
He walked ahead while I
followed behind him. I tried as
much as possible to hide
behind him as we walked into
the class. I never removed my
gaze from the floor until I sat
down at the back seat. I took a
deep breath and silently
thanked the guy who showed
up when i needed him. I'm not
sure I would have been able to
walk into the class alone. I
would have stayed outside
until the end of the lecture.
The lecturer continued with
the lecture. After few minutes
of listening, I was able to
understand what was being
taught. I was quite good in
maths, and the course that was
being taught was actually
'introduction to mathematics
for economist'. Did I
mentioned earlier that I'm an
economics student.
when the class was over, the
lecturer handed a brown
envelope to our course rep,
which I believed contained our
test script we did in the
previous class. To make matter
worse for me, our course rep
happened to be a lady. I had
never approached her to get
any information from her.
Even when I needed an
important information which I
believed only her could
provide, I still didn't approach
her. Her beauty alone is
intimidating. she distributed
the script back to the students.
just as the scripts went round,
I could hear murmur from
every corner of the class
which means the scores were
very bad. She had already
shared all the scripts but I still
didn't get mine. I wanted to
bring to her notice that I had
not received my script but
didn't know how to approach
her. I only sat on my seat
staring at everyone faces as
they stared at their script with
a frown.
My course rep started walking
towards me, immediately she
was done distributing the
script. I tried not to feel
nervous, because she might
not actually be coming to meet
me. she got to me and sat next
to me. I was very nervous but
tried not to show it.
"Christian how did you do it?"
she asked immediately.
"do what" I asked confused.
she brought out a script and
showed to me.
"while everyone was scoring
less than 10, you scored 23.
How did you do it" she asked
I looked at the script in her
hand and realized it was
actually my script and I scored
23 just like she said. but I still
didn't know why she did not
give me my script when she
was sharing it and had to
bring it to me personally.
"you are really brilliant" she
continued when I didn't
respond
"Anyway, I just want to tell
you that you just officially
made yourself my private
tutor. you will be tutoring me
starting from next week."
My eyes widened in shock
when she said that. Me that
cannot even talk to a lady for a
minute will now sit down for
close to an hour to tutor her.
she better rethink was she just
said. what kind of difficult
position did she want to put
me in. I better look for a way
to decline.
"so how will it be comfortable
for you? will I be coming to
your place for the tutorial, or
you will be coming to my
place?" she asked.