Mother Nature hates me.
Seriously. What kind of twisted turn is this?
I have to work with the angry, beastly beauty himself. And who knows what might happen? It's not like we're on good terms.
Actually… what terms are we even on?
We're not friends.
We're not lovers.
We're not even enemies.
Wait… are we frenemies?
Ah, great. So now Daræy is my destiny, right? If this is some kind of love story, I wouldn't mind—I mean, let's be real, I like his face. But if this is just life playing games with my heart, then please, Lord, I beg you, stop.
I don't think I can handle it.
Joshua gave me his number, and I wasted no time calling.
Declined.
I tried again.
Declined.
Before it even rang properly.
What the hell?
I clenched my jaw, frustration bubbling up. I don't have time for this. I hit redial.
Declined.
"Why won't this idiot pick up?!" I growled, aggressively jabbing at my phone like it personally offended me.
Joshua, obviously amused, pulled the phone out of my hand before I cracked the screen.
"Relax. We have a match tomorrow evening with Year One, and Daræy will be there. Just come to the field."
With that, he placed my phone down and headed for the door.
"Biancus, my love, come and escort me," he called dramatically.
We all got up to see him off.
At the roadside, where he was about to board a cab, he gave us all side hugs—the 'Deeper Life' style hug, as we called it. But when he got to Biancus?
A full proper hug.
Hmmm.
There's definitely a love story there that we haven't been told.
Joshua has liked Biancus since the first day I met him.
Flashback: Matriculation Day
The first time I ever saw Joshua, he was massaging Biancus's leg while making fun of people.
We were at the back of Lecture Hall Two—some random classroom. It was Matriculation Day.
I had gone there because someone told me "someone is waiting for you."
Great.
It turned out to be a guy who had been chasing me at the time. Story for another day.
But that's how I met Joshua.
I greeted him, and he greeted me back with the warmest smile.
And immediately, I liked him.
Not for myself, though. I barely knew Biancus at the time, but I was so happy for her because I assumed they were already dating. Wrong.
Joshua was tall, dark, and handsome—full package. I actually blushed on her behalf.
Then, out of nowhere, Joshua turned to me and said, "It's matriculation today, let me gift our new friend."
He handed me his phone. "Put any amount of airtime you want."
Excuse me?
It was the first time in my life that a guy was just giving me something without expecting anything in return.
I had always believed guys wouldn't give you sh*t unless they were getting something from you.
But Joshua? He just proved me wrong.
Handsome and generous? A+ material.
Not that my opinion mattered. At the time, I still saw Biancus as a hook-up girl. Deep inside, I was already praying she would stop hooking up with random guys because she had the real deal right in front of her.
I hesitated, wondering if he was joking.
I didn't want to overdo it, so I just input ₦500 worth of airtime.
At the time, everyone looked poor to me.
I assumed Joshua was broke too.
Wrong again.
Roommates Turned Sisters
After that day, my roommates and I grew closer. We told each other everything—deepest secrets included.
We became each other's shields.
And that's when I realized… Biancus wasn't a hook-up girl.
She wasn't even close.
She got everything from her parents. Just like me.
Wow.
Once again, I was wrong.
But that wasn't my fault—I blamed it on her choice of clothes.
Biancus was a hot chick. The kind of girl guys liked to flock around. They would take her out, buy things for her, spoil her.
And of course, she would bring everything back to us.
We ate to our fill.
So naturally, we started rating the guys.
The Biancus Love Triangle (Or Square?)
There was Theophilus, a.k.a. Theo.
Loaded.
Very consistent.
If you asked Sinivie at the time, she would say Theo was her 001—her number one pick for Biancus.
But for me?
It was always Joshua.
He had all the qualities she needed.
He also calmed her down sometimes.
But… not as much as Kachi.
Kachi was another guy I would recommend for Biancus.
I had never actually met him, but his character was top-tier.
Except for the anger issues.
Other than that, his flow with our friend group gave him a big score.
Plus, whenever Biancus was feeling down, she would call Kachi and—boom—she was back to being happy.
The only problem?
Both of them had quick tempers.
And two hot-tempered people?
They naturally don't rhyme.
We finished Year One with a pending love story.
And to this day, Biancus still hasn't told us who she's choosing.
Will it be Theo?
Will it be Joshua?
Or will it be Kachi?
I can't lie—Kachi was growing on me.
But Joshua?
Forever my 001.
Back to Reality: Teasing and Running
As we walked back home, we teased Biancus.
"Joshua hugged us differently from you!"
She rolled her eyes. "That's how he's always been since I met him."
And then, we said it—the same thing she always said whenever we asked who she liked.
"I like Joshua, but I like Theo," we mimicked in a baby voice.
"Stooop!" she whined, covering her face before taking off running.
Blushing.
We laughed and chased after her.