The next day, I went to a bookshop in town to purchase some relevant textbooks for the courses I'd be offering in 400 Level. I returned almost two hours later, and was relaxing inside a sitting room adjacent the main throne room when it began to happen. On the walls in the room were a massive family portrait, and other smaller individual pictures. In the family portrait, Inikpi was wearing a traditional turquoise print, with a silvery veil over her shoulders and the upper part of her body. I was staring at Inikpi's enchanting smile when her face 'transformed' into Ghan's face.

I was immediately rattled on the Italian sofa I was relaxing on. The only sound inside the room emanated from the LG split unit air conditioner. I was the only one inside this particular room, why Gahn was taking over my senses. I rose to my feet, shut my eyes and and opened them again. I stared at the painting again and opened my mouth in shock.

All the girls and women in the family portrait now had Gahn's face, and were smiling back at me. I quickly gathered my books and hurried out of the sitting room. There was no doubt that Elo's abrupt exit form my life had created a vacuum. Elo's actions notwithstanding, I felt it was too early to get emotionally attached to any girl. I believed it was still 'early' and 'risky' to an extent. Later, after a heavy meal I went into the palace study to take a look at the various books, magazines, journals and newspapers in there. Inside the study, there was a massive brown circular table with twelve comfortable swivel chairs. The table and chairs were surrounded by steel shelves, which contained books in several subjects and human endeavours.

I inhaled the sweet smell of jasmine from the air freshener, and sat comfortably in one of the chairs. I pulled the curtains aside to see Inikpi playing with two of the ostriches in the garden. She was looking happy, and I wondered if she had anything in common with Gahn. The next moment, I picked up a recent edition of Ebony magazine from one of the steel shelves and flung it onto the large brown circular table. Instead of seeing a female Caucasian-cum-North American politician (who had a black American father), Pre's face was on the magazine's cover smiling back at me.

On the magazine's cover, Pre's face was milky white with a perfect smile, and pink lip stick. The lipstick was moderate, while her hair was expertly packed behind her head. I looked around the room for a second, while avoiding the Ebony magazine. I picked up some sweets from a ceramic bowl on the large circular table. I tore the wrappers open and threw them into my mouth. The minty, cola and fruity taste helped me feel better. I walked to the window, spread the curtain and peered through the glass, but couldn't see Inikpi or any of the ostriches. They must've gone to another part of the vast compound. I stared at the Ebony magazine again and saw the smiling female Caucasian-cum-North American politician.

I switched off the lights and walked out of the palace study before shutting the door. I smiled at the thought of being a polygamist like my dad. I knew it would be over my mum's dead body. The thought of the two girls from the same place, tugging at my emotions and torturing my fantasies, made me uneasy. Pre was now a vanilla babe, while Gahn was the new chocolate Queen. The 'uncomfortable' thing about the situation was that both girls were connected to Patt in one way or the other. Pre, Gahn and Patt notwithstanding, I couldn't wait to return to school.

The endless routine of books, lectures, term papers, individual and group presentations would definitely expunge these unsolicited fantasies out of my mind. Gahn possessed a unique set of cheeks and a killer smile. Pre on the other hand had a flawless and flawless face, with naturally pink lips, and a well-shaped nose that would leave a rhinoplast surgeon awe-struck. Later that night, I called my mum and chatted with her for quarter of an hour. I felt better afterwards, and ate a sumptuous dinner before retiring to bed. I wasn't surprised when I dreamt about white lacy brassieres and panty around bars of chocolates in a lush green garden.

Few weeks later, I found myself in a 'convoy' again, heading back to Igbinedion University Okada ro commence my fourth session. I remembered how my mum prayed for me over the phone, to the hearing of some of my siblings who were present. There were few chiefs, alongside my two step-mothers. When I saw my two step-mothers, I suddenly remembered Aurelia and Asha. At that moment, I also remembered that Asha was going to be leaving the school after the second semester. Her course (Economics) was a four year course, and I knew she couldn't wait to graduate.

In less than a week after I resumed, I had gotten a hostel accommodation, completed my registration for the session and all other procedures and processes at my college. As usual, I was without a car, and continued to keep a low profile. Whenever I went for a stroll around the estate, and saw two or three girls walking together, their faces immediately 'transformed' to Pre and Gahn's faces. I couldn't wait for lectures and academic activities to commence, so I'd get over the two girls and their faces. Hours later, I thought of A. J. Baby and the Art of Seduction by Robert Greene. I made a photocopy of my full tuition fees receipt it to Patt. What he did with it and how he did it, was never revealed to me. He managed to get hostel accommodation few weeks after I did, and I forgot about him for a while.

The academic activities went on smoothly, and I maintained a platonic relationship with my female course mates In the third week of my arrival, I went to a barbing saloon for a haircut and a shave, and suddenly decided to leave a moustache and a beard. I decided to leave the sides of my face clean shaven, while the hair on my head was kept a little below a crew cut. Whenever I sat inside one of the university transit buses, and it made a detour or stop at the New Girls hostel, there was always something to remind me of either Bussy or Elo. On a particular day, it was the taxi cab driver who had transported Elo to my hostel last semester, I saw. He was chatting with other taxi drivers, and biting into a piece of bitter kola at intervals. He didn't see me, but I saw him and shook my head at the thought of Elo's deceit and treachery.

I and my course mates had new set of lecturers for our law courses, and a different lecture hall. The only thing that remained unchanged was the scorching weather. I and my course mates had an average of three lectures every day, excluding Saturdays and Sundays. We were also obligated to offer another 'version' of Political Science, which the entire class loathed. After each lecture, there was usually an interval of some few minutes. During this interval, the students chatted, wooed the opposite sex, listened to announcements, familiarized with each other and played music tracks from their mobile phones.

It was during such intervals that a female course mate of mine known as Halee attempted to 'woo' me. Hale was average in height and a year younger than myself. What Halee lacked in height, she possessed on every part of her milky-chocolate skinned body. She was form the South-Southern part of Nigeria, and a muslim. Two enchanting things about Halee were the way she tied her scarf or turban, and her unique voice. Halee never shouted, and whenever she spoke, she sounded like the air transported and transmitted it directly to the listener's senses.

Halee had a spotless face, and also played music tracks from her mobile phone during a lecture interval. There was a particular song, whose title and artiste I'd been looking for, so I could download it. One fateful day, after returning from the convenience, I stepped into the 400 Level lecture hall and soon stopped in my tracks when I heard that particular music track playing. It happened to be playing from Halee's mobile phone, and I immediately approached her to get the title of the music track, and the name of the artiste who'd sang it.

"Hello, what's up, Halee?"

"Hi Pierre… I'm great. How's the front row?" Halee snickered, while her supple cheeks shone.

"The front row is great. Would you like to sit there sometimes?"

"No way. I'm okay here."

I sat beside her and greeted her friends who did not seem too concerned or interested with my presence.

"Anything for me, Pierre? Or you just wanna see how the back chicks and boys are doing?"

"That song that was playing on your mobile phone just now… please, what's the name? I asked her in an earnest tone.

"Oh, that? It's Bumpy Ride by Mohombi."

"Thank you so much. I'll download it once I return to the hostel."

I was about to leave, when Halee's right hand landed on my left thigh and held me down.

"Please, I need a little favour… regarding a particular topic in the law of evidence."

"Okay… maybe, after lectures, I'll would explain."

"No… after lectures wouldn't be convenient, Pierre darling. I would be going to pray, cook and freshen up. I was thinking and hoping the coming weekend would be fine…"

"This weekend… what time?" I asked Halee, anxious to return to my seat in the front row of the lecture hall.

"4pm on Saturday will be fine, my dear." Halee whispered and took my mobile phone tenderly form my right hand. She dialled her own phone number on my mobile phone and soon saved our phone numbers on both mobile phones, before handing mine to me.

"You don't study with anyone, like a group, do you?" Halee asked in a spicy tone.

"No, I don't. I study myself." I noticed a brief seductive smile on Halee's face as I rose to my feet.

"Thank you for the information about the music track. I'll download it later."

"Music is food for the soul, Pierre. It's not every time you read, read and study. There's time for everything, I believe."

"Sure, you're very correct, Halee…."

"Saturday then, please don't forget."

I returned Halee's smile and went back to my seat without looking back. Aurelia was seating at the other extreme part of the lecture hall, with some of her clique members. I knew they'd be staring at me but I cared less. Few minutes later, our law of evidence lecturer arrived, and we all settled down for the day's lecture.

It was barely noon on Saturday when I called Halee, to know where the venue of our meeting would be. We agreed to meet at the fourth hut, before I ended the phone call. While I wondered what particular area of the law of evidence seemed ambiguous to Halee, I picked up my mobile phone and began to play Bumpy Ride by Mohombi. I sat in the fourth hut, at exactly 4.00pm and waited for Halee to arrive. Right from our first year, I never saw her outside her hostel walking alone. She was always in the company of her girlfriends. This was the major reason I felt something was amiss when she eventually arrived at 4.30pm.

Although her black upper underwear was firma and adequate, her white blouse was tight and, and seemed to push out their breasts. She wore a pair of blue jean and brown flip flop. Her hair was wrapped in a white scarf and her milky-chocolate skin glowed in the scorching weather. The entire environment around the hut reminded me of Bussy and he past machinations.

"Hello Pierre Abutu. I'm so grateful to you for agreeing to indulge me this weekend, when you could be resting, or doing something else."

"Don't worry, it's alright. Let's just say that I'm showing appreciation for the song info."

Halee's supple cheeks flashed a smile as she took off her sunglasses. I looked away from her hips and buttocks, as she placed her mobile phone and sunglasses on the sitting surface. She picked up her law of evidence lecture note, and soon began to yawn.

"What are or topic do you find ambiguous?"

"Pierre…. Relax a bit. Let me see… let me check."

This story stops here because Webnovel LOVE AFFAIRS is not up to its standard.

Bye