Oyi ga'aje (son of the soil)

When Paths Collide

By the time Agaba made his way outside, the sun was climbing over the rooftops. He adjusted his shoes, slung his bag across his shoulder, and -

-collided with someone.

Books hit the ground.

“Arrgh, I did not zip close my bag”, Nnenna mumbled.

“Sorry!”

Agaba blinked

She blinked back.

She bent quickly to gather her books, mumbling something about being late. Her bag was lopsided. Her sandals were half-buckled. Her cheeks, flushed with embarrassment as she finally gets a good look at Agaba.

“You good?”, Agaba asked, looking confused at her stare.

“Y-yeah. Sorry!”They stood awkwardly for a second.

Agaba scratched his neck.“First time seeing you-”

“Yeah, since the clean up, last month… “

“Nah, I meant, seeing you late”

“Oh, my alarm didn’t go off”. she replied

“Same”, he lied.

They began walking, not side by side, but close enough that she felt the tension buzzing between them.

Not long ago Agaba survived an accident, and now he is looking cool, tall and very attractive than the shout tout everyone once bullied in school.

She was in SS1, a year below him. Normally, they wouldn’t even cross paths.

But this day wasn’t normal.

“I didn’t think people from SS2 still came late”, she tried filling the silence.

“What are you saying? We do always come late to school, but today was different, my mum held me hostage with her Akara and Pap”, he replied.

She giggled, surprised.

“Three cups of Pap. And ten Akara balls, but I admit they were nice”, Agaba added.

“Ten?”

“Yeah Ten, she wasn’t negotiating”.

Nnenna laughed, clutching her books tighter.

“Your bag is still open”, Agaba said.

“Ohh!”, She said, as she held her warm eyes, shy and embarrassed, she removed the bag and filled it up with her books.

“Let me help you hold the bag nerd!”, Agaba teased

“No, No, thanks”, she protested.

“give me that, you can’t carry all this by yourself, shh! do you want to read all this textbooks just today?”, Agaba said as he collected the bag, she chuckled softly and they continued on their way to school.

They arrived just as the anthem ended. The school gate was still open, the prefects on duty clearly were uninterested in stopping them.

Agaba nodded at her, then walked off without looking back.

Nnenna stood there for a second, watching his back vanish into the crowd.

“What just happened…?”

Later that morning, Agaba’s focus was a sharp blade. During Physics, he scribbled answers with clean precision. The surprise test didn’t shake him. By the time others had begun question five, he was done.

Mr. Ogwu glanced at his paper, brows lifting.

“Hmph. My boy Agaba Achadu. Again”.He said it like a joke, but Agaba caught the hint of tension in his voice. The teachers had started noticing.

Quietly.

Uneasily.

Last term, he could barely solve basic equations.

This term? He was crushing everything.

At break, Agaba sat at his usual spot in the cafeteria with Ahmed, his best friend - the only person who knew the full extent of his silent growth.

Ahmed, short and sharp like a dagger, never wasted time on gossip or social games. He believed in precision, logic and clean victory.

“You saw the test?” Ahmed asked, biting into his bread.

“yeah”, Agaba replied

“they are getting too easy”, Ahmed said…

Agaba smirked, “Yeah, Mr. Ogwu thought the Optics will shock us”

They chuckled.

Then someone approached.

Nnenna.

She stood at the edge of the table, tray of rice in hand, shifting nervously.

“Can I sit?”

Ahmed looked up, face turns red.

“I…just need somewhere quiet”. She added.

Agaba shifted his bag, motioned toward the seat opposite him.“You can sit there”.

She did.

Quietly.

Uncomfortably.

Ahmed kept eating.

Agaba said nothing.

Nnenna picked at her rice.

The sun rays led a gentle wind through the window, and Nnenna’s beauty was revealed.

“Why did I come here?” She thought “He doesn’t even care”.

“You look red!”, Ahmed said bluntly.

Nnenna blushed. Embarrassed.

“Ignore him”, Agaba said.

But something in his tone was colder than that morning.She forced an awkward smile, but her mind spun…

“Did I do something wrong? Is he annoyed, I knew my hair is to messed up”.

Their lunch ended in silence. Nnenna quietly excused herself. Ahmed watched her go.

“You like her”, Agaba asked.

“Don’t just start” Ahmed scrambled out the words “I’m just saying - she’s different. Quiet. Reads a lot. Like me, but pretty”. Ahmed continued.

“Yeah, I can’t steal your babe, bro”, Agaba said quickly.

“When did I say she’s my babe?”

“Just admit you like her”

“No I don’t”

“your face turns red when you are nervous”

“Hey…”

“You look nervous, let me call her for you”, Agaba added.

“Agabaaaa!!”, Ahmed said.

Brow raised. And face turned red.

The school activity went normal, and by 3:30pm, the closing bell rang loud. Student gush out of each block. Lovers stayed behind. Some dude was kissing his babe at the stairway. And the maths teacher held back SS2B to conclude his class for the day.

Back at the gate after school, Nnenna waited - just for a glance, a word. But Agaba walked forward without turning back, as if he didn’t felt her gaze.

She stood there, heart heavy, watching him vanish behind the bend in the dusty road.

“She likes you”. Ahmed said.

“Don’t push your babe on me”

“No, I mean it”

“you think I didn’t notice her glancing at you, she came there for you alone”, Ahmed said.“and you left her in silence, that’s heartbreaking”

“I’m sorry”, Agaba replied.“I’ve just not get over it. Nneka is her sister, and this school is full of shitbags”, Agaba added.

“I understand”, Ahmed said.

“Did you even see her?”, Agaba asked.

“How can I? there are over a hundred students out here”, Ahmed answered.

“Yeah”, Agaba sighed.“Let’s go home”.He looked back, once again, and he didn’t see her.