My Beautiful Beast

I wasn't sure I heard him correctly. Twin brother? They kind of looked alike but they weren't identical. I didn't know what to do with that information. Stanley was still smiling as Philip spoke up

'Nice meeting you Jennifer. I hope to see you around.'

I blushed and Stanley stopped smiling. That was ok with me. Tonight wasn't entirely a success, but it wasn't a failure. I had gotten Philip to not only see me, but talk to me. And although he didn't ask for my number, he said he hoped to see me around. He would definitely see me around. I would make sure of that.

I got to my hostel thirty minutes later. Amaka and Mary were waiting in my room. As soon as I got in, their faces lit up. If there was anything these duo loved more than food, it was definitely gist. We could gist for hours and not break a sweat. I looked around the room, my two other roommates were asleep. It meant I could talk freely without being bothered.

'Baby oku, how was it?' Amaka asked, reaching up to collect the suya I had purchased on my way back.

'Mehn, Philip looked more handsome tonight.'

'I know, he's always like that at night.' Mary added.

'Well, nothing much happened. He talked to me and then held my hand for about 10 minutes.'

They screamed loudly, grabbing both my hands simultaneously and examining it. Their loud voices woke my senior roommate. She looked at us for a minute and changed her sleeping position to face the wall. I looked at Mary and Amaka and asked them to lower their voices. I was bound to receive a lecture from Uche, my senior roommate, when they left. But that couldn't derail them, they were still holding on to my hands. I pulled away my left hand and told them it was the right one.

'Baby oku you fuck up o. Why didn't you hold both hands?' Mary asked.

'No nah, I would have held his legs too. Even if we were praying.' I hissed

'Chai Jenny, I wish I was in your position o. Before you know it now, you guys will start hold holding private parts.' Amaka said, eating the suya.

Amaka knew how to spew nasty things but I still smiled. Holding each others private parts was part of the larger picture. But first, I needed him to see me and date me. I told them about meeting Stanley and how he almost spoiled my evening. But I also let them know that Philip probably approached the table because of Stanley.

'I know that Stanley,' Amaka said 'He's in BCH. He is Chinedu's class mate.'

Chinedu was Amaka's boyfriend and they had been dating since 1st year. They were planning to get married sometime in the future.

'I didn't know they were twins o. But I knew Philip had a less popular brother in BCH.' Mary added. She was drinking water now.

'Anyways, the guy is cute sha. But he is quite annoying. Asking me why campus girls were dying for Philip. I'm sure he is jealous because he got the shorter end of the stick in the womb. Abeg he should leave me and go and ask God why.'

We all laughed out loud and Uche, my roommate turned around to stare at us. It was obvious she had overheard all that was said. She dramatically got up from her bed and pulled out her wristwatch.

'It's almost past midnight. Won't you girls go to bed?' She asked, pointing to the door.

Amaka stretched while Mary yawned. I was also tired and I had a lot of planning to do the next day. She was right. It was quite late and we could continue our discussion in the morning. They got up said their goodnight before exiting the room. I got up from my bed and locked the door. I stepped out from my clothes and put on a night shirt.

'Won't you go and shower?' Uche asked

I turned to look at her. She was still standing. When I found out she was to be my roommate, I was appalled. I had heard rumours from other girls of how much of a neat freak and trouble maker she was. I had vowed to show her pepper if she as much as said an offensive word to me. But when she moved in, she was different from what was expected. She was nice, helpful and was quite friendly. She would also cook and offer my other roommate and I. As a matter of fact, that endeared her to me most especially. She could also dish advice both solicited and unsolicited and I could bet she was about to offer the latter.

'If I go and shower by 1am, is it night or morning shower?'

She smiled and shook her head. I had previously told her to stop doing that. It made her seem older than her age. Not that she was that young, but since we've already assigned her the mother figure, there was no need to make it grand mother.

'I overheard what you said about Philip and his brother. That Philip is bad news, Jenny stay away from him.'

If there was one thing I hated most in my life, it was this. Pre-judgement. She had never met Philip but she could swear he was bad news. If only she knew the kind of news she was, yet we gave her the benefit of doubt. Now here she was, labelling a kind and beautiful soul, bad news. I decided to indulge her, to know if I could obtain any useful information that could help me in my quest.

'How is he bad news pls?'

'He has a bad reputation that precedes him, he is a cultist and a thief.'

I was shocked. There was no way the guy that held my hand this evening was all that. Cultists were short and ugly and kids with rich folks did not steal. She definitely had the wrong information.

'Uche, you are also fuelling the rumours. Philip is not like that.'

'He's all that and more. He is also a chronic womaniser, a chain smoker and a raging alcoholic.'

'All for one person? Uche, kuku call him the devil na!'

'Jennifer, I'm not telling you this to upset or derail you, I'm telling you this because I care about you. Stay away from him.'

I was getting sadder by the seconds. He wasn't a womaniser. He was going after them girls because he hadn't found a keeper like me. We've all had to kiss frogs before one turned into prince charming. He was simply in his frog moments. As for the drinking and smoking, it wasn't as dramatic as she had put it. And I was sure he could stop if I wanted him to. I stopped to look at myself in the mirror. Yes, I could change him. I wanted to sleep now, but Uche wasn't done.

'You said he was with his brother?'

'Yea,' I answered weakly. I didn't want to talk about Stanley.

'Well that's surprising. Because they had the largest fall out last semester.' Uche was now applying powder on her neck.

I sat up, now this was getting interesting. I wondered what Stanley had done to upset my Philip.

'Really? What happened?'

'Apparently, Philip stole a girl from Stanley. I wonder what kind of person steals a girl from his brother.'

This was news to me. I needed more information.

'Stole ke? How do you steal a girl abeg?'

'Well from what I could gather, these days, the easiest way to get Philip's attention is to date Stanley. So much for a brother.'

Uche was done talking. She walked to wall switch and turned the light off. She said goodnight and got on her bed. I had gotten the information I needed. I got on my bed, smiling as my head hit the pillow. There was now a way to Philip.

'Goodnight dear.' I replied before shutting my eyes.