Chapter 8, Episode 5

Last updated on January 27th, 2024 at 01:47 pm

I had been home for a month and got bored after two weeks so I started following my dad to work every day. It made me remember my internship period, I was almost always on the phone with Joe whenever I was at my dad’s. I had been seeing his status update but we were just friends and I was glad I did not pursue anything with him. Tochi and I had been speaking daily as well, we have not missed a day and it made me so happy.

His birthday was also in about a month, we still had no idea when the Convocation would be held, but I would most likely be in Camp during his birthday. I didn’t know what to send him for his birthday. He told me not to worry but I just wanted to give him a gift. We always had issues around his birthday, so I wanted to make this different. He might get his gift after camp.

***

“Corper we!” 

“Daddy, what’s that?” I answered, laughing.

“How’s my baby enjoying the experience?” My dad replied. I had been here for a week and I disliked camp with all of me. I was not too fond of the waking hours, the shared toilets, the boring seminars, the bunk beds… I just wanted to be done.

“It’s rubbish, daddy.”

“That’s the same thing you said three days ago. Angel baby, try to enjoy it. It’s just once in a lifetime.”

“Okayyyy.” I responded. My dad laughed. Tochi and I had not spoken in two days—the network here was crappy and he was experiencing the same. It contributed to my sore mood. Our relationship did not need this type of challenge, but I reassured myself. We had spoken every single day for the past month, two days was nothing.

***

“How’s Tochi?” Zabby asked. I rubbed my hands on my eyes. We hadn’t spoken in over two weeks. Even on his birthday, he was not reachable. I didn’t think it was the network again but I had to console myself with that. Zabby had just picked me up from the park, I was back in Enugu and would be returning to Abuja to commence service soon fully. Right now though, I was thankful to be away from that place. People enjoyed their stay there but not me. I tried but it was not for me.

“We have not talked in two weeks, first it was the bad network but I am no longer sure.”

“Wow. Okay. I hope he is fine.” Zabby replied. I was concerned about him too, I couldn’t even be angry because it seemed selfish.

“I hope so too. Anyway, I am glad to be done with that place.” We both started laughing.

“Camp is the ghetto, babe,” Zabby replied. “I guess there’s nothing to worry about since you both have spoken about it.”

“Yeah yeah,” I answered.

***

I ran into my room as soon as I heard my phone ringing, it was the tone I assigned to Tochi so I knew it was him calling.

“Tochi.”

“Angela.”

“Where have you been?”

“I am sorry, babe. The network was bad, then I fell ill in the camp…it was just horrible.”

“My God, I was so concerned about you.”

“I know.”

“How’s your health now?”

“I’m better. I had to leave the camp early.”

“Oh my God! I am so sorry.”

“Thanks, baby. I just got better. How are you?”

“I am good now, I am good, baby. Now I can breathe easy.”

“I’m sorry I got you worried.” 

“You don’t have to be sorry.” Hearing his voice made me feel better, I had missed him even as I worried about what went wrong. It’d been three days since I got home and after resting for the first twenty-four hours, my anxiety kicked in fully. I got restless and really worked up, I had to call Zabby and we had to do different things to get me distracted. I tried his number with Zabby’s phone and it went through but he didn’t pick up the call. This got me extra worried because his line wasn’t even connecting when I called him, almost like he blocked me.

Anyway, it was all cleared and I could now sleep well tonight.

…

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