CHOCOLATE & MILK 🍫🥛 Episode 5

As the days wore on, life became more stressful in the den. The freshers were finally disillusioned and they saw why it was called the "Den."
Survival of the fittest was the order of the day from the first to the last lecture of each day. There was always a struggle; to be in class before the lecturer, to find seats in class, to sign attendance, to submit assignment, to do literally anything.
Many of them hadn't bargained for it. They made this clear to their class representative. Unfortunately, they did it in a way that made it seem like they didn't know, or care to know, that he was a student like them.
Being an ambitious friendly and kind leader, he struggled even more to serve his coursemates well. He didn't understand that no matter how hard he tried, he would never win all their approvals.

NENE'S JOURNAL
Today was bad.
My trust had been betrayed by the person I admired and respected the most. It was too much to bear. It was even worse than listening to Mmeso's fake accent for twelve hours straight.
Mmeso is a girl in my class that reminds me of what hypocrisy looks like, clearly fake. My problem isn't with Mmeso though. It's with Jude.
We were asked to buy a textbook on Western Languages or forfeit an important test. I got the money for the purchase very late. My family wasn't affluent so life was basically an everyday struggle. I was so glad when my dad was able to send it to me at the last minute. With joy, I ran to the nearest POS to make the transaction. I didn't even look twice at the bank beside my hostel which was crowded with people trying to deposit their hard earned cash before the new naira policy took effect. I would sacrifice three hundred naira (which I could used to buy a nice loaf of meshai) to the POS agent. I would also sacrifice my father's hard earned two thousand naira for the sake of my studies.
I sighed when the lady cut my receipt and gave me my card.
"It's done," I thought. The money was gone. I felt sorry for some reason and reminded myself of my promise to never let my family down. I was not ungrateful or unmindful of their sacrifices.
How is Jude involved in all this? Well, I took the receipt to him the very next day and asked him to confirm the transaction.
"I haven't received it," he replied.
"Huh!" I exclaimed. I was already scared the transaction had failed and the money was lost somewhere in space, like my roomie's five hundred naira transfer. "Check again," I pleaded.
He responded by giving it to me to check it myself. I scrolled through the list of receipts in his bank app and couldn't find my name.
Idiot me! I had forgotten that since I had used a POS, it was the name of the agent, not mine that would reflect in the receipt.
I went back to the lady and confirmed from her that the transaction had gone through. That was when I remembered that it was her name that ought to appear.
I asked Jude the next day. He searched once again and still said he couldn't find it. I begged him for his phone and this time, I looked for the lady's name. I found it alright, but instead of receiving my textbook, Jude told me that the name on the receipt I held and the receipt he had weren't the same.
That was true. The first read, "Elladore's enterprise" while the other read, "Augusta Elladore."
"It's obviously it. Also, no other alerts came into your bank app at 3 o'clock," I said.
"No, it isn't. You have to go back to the person and get me proof that the names belong to the same agent."
That statement by Jude totally angered me. I thought, "Dude! Put two and two together! There's no other Elladore but Elladore!"
I spoke to him but he wouldn't listen.

Back to the lady I went. She gave me a receipt bearing both names as proof and I thanked her. At last, I presented my proof to Jude and he simply told me to meet Dinah to have my name ticked. It's not like I expected an apology from him for assuming I was a fraud. No, it's totally fine. I get that a lot.

To Dinah I went. She marked my name and informed me that they had run out of copies in that tone that reminded me of "that day."
"When will it be available then?" I asked.

"Come for it on... Oluchi, can you please help me with that bag? Thank you. Hi, Natasha."

I cleared my throat (not out loud though; just quietly) and waited for Dinah to remember that I was standing before her. She didn't and I walked away. A confrontation was below my status, or above my ability.

I texted Jude regularly to remind him of my textbook. I would have gotten it sooner if it wasn't for him.

"I will attend to that soon," he replied continuously. At a point, he didn't reply at all. His read receipt wasn't even on so it was hard giving him the excuse that he hadn't seen the message yet.

The climax was when the day for the test arrived and I still hadn't received the textbook. I was sent out of the classroom with some others who hadn't purchased the book. I was so bitter. My eyes welled with tears as I watched Jude take his seat and smile at Dinah who said something before pulling out a foolscap.

The following Saturday, Jude sent a message for those concerned to come for their textbook. I didn't go.

NARRATOR
Jude rarely had free time. He noticed it and resolved to take some time off on Sunday. He spent some of the time reading through his note app. He smiled at what he had written on his first day in the den.
"A friendly reminder. You are a conqueror. Achieve your goals. You've got this, Lion!"

He read through his personal motivations, guides and goals. He could vouch for himself that he had been committed, in spite of the stress of leadership. His father would be proud.

With a few hours to fellowship, he decided to study his books.

"Guy, eh! E no easy," Cheta exclaimed suddenly.

"Dey play. Were you not the one that kept telling the teachers back in secondary school that it was journalism or nothing?" Jude laughed his signature laugh; sarcastic yet joyful. The he teased Cheta with cheers of "Cheta Giwa." Cheta simply hissed and kept writing his new story.

Jude suddenly forgot reading and did something his day would have been incomplete without.

He sent Dinah a text, "Usher! Keep moving mountains."

"Meaning?" Dinah replied.

"Mountains of books. I'm sure you've digested the GS textbook by now."

She laughed. "I get what you mean now. Is monitoring part of your duties as a class rep?"

He sent a sticker then asked about her stuffed monkey.

"How do you know about Momo?" she asked with surprise. Then she sent, "Ohhh! GB Whatsapp user. Mbok, like the monitoring spirit that you are. I didn't even know you viewed my status. Innocent me."

He laughed and sent, "Daddy's princess 🤪😂"

"Jude 😭😂"

Jude grinned. He enjoyed exploring Dinah's personality. He had discovered that she was a beautiful singer. He had seen her lifting souls to God in her church once. That had encouraged him to join CASOR regardless of his tight schedule, and yes, Dinah was a member of CASOR.

Jude found Dinah surprisingly amusing. He had laughed his ribs out the day he watched the video she made of her and her toy monkey, Momoh.
He had grown fond of her and was therefore protective of her whenever she was accused by his coursemates. They didn't know her like he did.

PERKY'S STATUS
UNN has done its worse 😭 I literally don't have time for myself anymore. Anyway, it's been a while and boy, what an update I have for you. View my next post that has Lin 025 asking, "Are Jude and Dinah in love?"
# Junah 2023

NARRATOR
"Okay. Let's read on the history of Chinese mandarin language then," Jenny said.
Dinah looked at her and almost wished they weren't in the same hostel. Ever since they had discovered that their rooms were doors apart, Jenny had formed a habit of visiting her. Dinah appreciated her company except when it came to studying.

"Can't we study later? We need to find out about Seth Rollins and Alexa Bliss," Dinah moaned.

"Dinah, the test is tomorrow," said Jenny with a hand holding her ear.

"I don't feel like reading. Let's leave it. We can study in the group chat. Jude will help us with areas of concentration. My brain feels lazy now," said Dinah with a childish plea.

Jenny sighed and closed the textbook. Dinah clapped and said, "Yay! That's why you're my favourite person."

"Dey play. I see you don't like this course. You did this yesterday," Jenny said.

Dinah sighed and said, "I'm trying to like it but it's hard."

"No. It's interesting."

"That's for you. You're in linguistics by commission but this isn't what I wanted to study. It's law, my dream profession!" Dinah declared passionately.

Jenny giggled at her dramatic gesture. Then she said, "Well, Idong, if you work hard, you will get to study law. You can still switch if you want."

Dinah's face lit up and she hugged Jenny for her encouraging words. "My good friend," she muttered and Jenny smiled.

They had first met on the day Jude had pulled Dinah's hair saying he suspected it was a wig. She had known Jenny as Jude's little friend. Jenny was friendly, humble and nice. She was also understanding and could listen patiently to Dinah's complaint about how stressful her duties were. That was why Dinah felt very happy to call her by that word, friend, and to tell her about her dream to study law, something she had shared with only one other person, Jude.