forever mine

chapter four

Seventeen years ago

Scott

I can believe I haven't been to this street even though we have lived in this vicinity for over five years, I shook my head in disgust as  i jumped about the street trying to avoid pot hole,it doesn't seem possible that this street is part of fadeyi cause I live here but my street is so much better.I going through this stress cause I want to try out iya uche's canteen,her food is causing a craze in fadeyi and I feel left out being the only one who doesn't know how delicious it is,even my friends in unilag know about her and do not believe me when I say I've never been there but today I'm going canteen hunting.

I finally get there and I took a moment to look at my surrounding,the canteen is a large shop,and a sign with IYA UCHE CANTEEN in front, I walked in and I saw the canteen is arranged in round table certain and most of the tables are occupied I found and empty seat and i sat down to catch my breath.

At least they practice good hygiene I thought as I noted the neatness of the canteen. The canteen buzzed with conversations when I heard some one scream

Ocha! Go and answer customer ooh!

A few minutes later a very very light skinned girl walked towards me and I practically had to hold my jaw to keep it from falling,she's easily the most beautiful I've ever seen,she got to my table and I took a sharp intake of breath. Despite the smudges of charcoal and grease on her face,its flawless! Her eyes are large and very light brown,her nose is small but pointed and her lips? Very kissable

She's as dazed as I am and we stared at each other till we heard ocha,answer customer now!
That broke the spell and she askes do you want to eat here or are you buying take away? I was going to buy and just leave but I instantly decided to eat there

I'll eat here I said

With one eyebrow raised she looked pointedly at the nylon bag I carried which obviously had a plate in it,she lifted her eye back to my face what would you like? She asked

What do you have? I returned

We have jollof rice,fried rice,rice and stew,beans,plantain.....

She went on and on but my eye is simply focused on the movement of her lips.

I'll have jollof rice I said,she nodded and turned to leave. I almost fell off my chair when I saw her backside and I'm not the only one who noticed other guys in the canteen whistled,its large for someone as slim as she is and come to think of it, is the load she's carrying back there not too much for her age? She shouldn't be more than 18.

She came back a few minutes later with the tray of food,and i said thank you. As she turned to leave I said pretty girl,please tell me your name before you go

Why? She asked

Well it will make me the happiest guy today if you tell me your name, I smiled

She raised her eyebrow in an amused way,obviously this girl is used to lines like this from guys I thought.

She gave me a shy smile and said its not necessary for you to know my name and she left before i I had the chance to reply. I could not help but stare at her swaying hips but I was soon distracted by the aroma of the food in front of me

I took the first spoon and closed my eye in ecstasy,I noted lots of other people had the sane expression on their faces,it so nice I almost started eating my plate. She came back and asked do you want something else? Perhaps a soft drink if you will join me I said.

I can't she smiled,what kind you you want?

Pepsi I replied while handing my nylon bag to her I to buy more rice i said its very nice

Really? She smiled

Her smile is so distracting I could only nod.

Fifteen minutes later I was on my way home but I couldn't get the image of her smiling face out of my head

Amanda

Scott is the least person I ever expected to see in our canteen after all he's a unilag boy and his sister Sandra who is my classmate never lets  us forget it,she's always ranting about her handsome brother who is an undergraduate at the university of Lagos,she'll always say say my big bro is a combination of looks and brain,Amanda doesn't know bout the brain part but the looks? Most definitely .

Enough thinking bout him,he won't write your exams for you I said to myself,I have so much reading to do to catch up with,working for mum at the canteen and preparing for my SSCE is not an easy fit.

I went into the house and I started studying when I heard ocha ! Where are you?

I'm in my room reading I replied,I was tempted to throw my books and help her with canteen not because I like the work but because I love my mother iya uche, she's not my real mum but she treats me like she treats her other children and I've been with her all my life,she's the only mother I know and I always feel this overwhelming need to please her ,I picked up my book again but I couldn't concentrate,I'm so restless and I don't understand why. You do a voice said in my head,you just want to smile all day and think about Scott....

And I'm shocked to realise that that's the truth