The lecturer 3
………………………….
Ann was shocked to see Chisom in that state.
She rushed to his side and held him in an
embrace. “Baby, what is this? Why are you
crying and killing yourself with alcohol? What
happened?”, she asked in a quick succession.
Chisom didn’t reply her many questions. He
rather held her tightly and cried harder, making
her more confused and worried. “Baby, please
you are scaring me. Say something”, Ann
appealed the second time. Chisom couldn’t still
answer her, tears and hiccups wouldn’t let him
say a word. He only managed to pick up his
android phone which sat right beside him and
gave it to Ann. Ann collected it and keenly
looked at its screen.
“I made my parents a promise. I promised my
mom a first-class. I have dedicated my life to
gunning for it. That is never my result, it can
never be. I was very sure of what I wrote. Those
causes were among the cheapest”, Chisom said
while Ann was still reading the screen of his
phone. When she understood what happened,
she heaved a sigh. Chisom failed two of their
departmental courses and scored a pass in
another. The two failed courses were lectured
by Ben while the third was lectured by Ben’s
friend. That could never have been the result of
the guy who was considered the most brilliant
guy in the class. But there it was, already
uploaded in the school portal. He had had two
‘carryover’ and his GPA had reduced. Ann shut
her eyes tightly and thought of how to proceed.
She wanted to tell Chisom that he was being
victimized because of their relationship. She
wanted to tell him that the lecturer that failed
him was the married man she had told him
about. She wanted to tell him about the threats
Ben made when she broke up with him. But she
couldn’t. Chisom was not in the right state of
mind to hear all of that, and she held back. She
only managed to console him and suggested
that they should meet their head of department
and question the result. But she knew that was
finding a needle in a haystack. Once any result
was uploaded into the school portal, it remained
like that unless the school Senate approved it’s
change. She stayed and soothed Chisom until
he slept off. The alcohol helped deepened his
slumber.
At midday the next day, Ann stormed Ben’s
office. When she came in, Ben was attending to
some students. Immediately he saw her, he
hastily discharged all the students. “So, you
chose to show your strength on an innocent
student that did you no wrong? That is how low
you could go to prove your stupid point? I
thought you were mature and sensible, but now
I know you are just a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
How could you be so mean as to dent the
academic record of one of your best students
just because of carnal pleasure?”, Ann lashed
out angrily. But Ben seemed unperturbed by her
‘ranting’. He sat calmly in his seat with a smirk
on his face.
“I told you there would be consequences. You
insisted and wanted to test my patience. I
assure you, my reach is more than you can
imagine and things will remain like this until
you come back to daddy”, Ben said
satisfactorily. “Oh, and don’t forget that
wh@tëver that boy is going through right now,
you are the one inflicting it on him. You can
also stop it whenever you wish”, Ben added still
enjoying his victory. His response and
nonchalant attitude defeated Ann’s spirit. She
had come to threaten to expose what they had
if Ben didn’t stay clear of Chisom’s academic
records, but hearing Ben boast about his reach
and threatening more attacks on Chisom threw
her off guard. She knew she needed to do
something to salvage the situation.
“If I do your bidding, can something be done
about the already posted results?, Ann asked
defeated. Ben gloated as he told her he could
write the head of department, the exams and
records department, and the school Senate with
some evidences and get the results changed.
“Like I told you, my reach is long and wide”, he
concluded. After he said that, Ann turned and
left his office without saying any other word.
She felt so little and angered for ever
associating herself with such a beast who
couldn’t see past his selfish gains.
Back at Chisom’s apartment, he was still in bed.
He hadn’t got over his agony. He was too
devastated to think of anything. He just lied
there hissing and shedding drops of tears at
intervals. He was in that state when Ann came
in. The sight of the love of her life in such a
pitiable state broke Ann’s heart greatly. She
wanted to soothe him out of his sorrow, but the
words to do so eluded her. She stood fixated as
tears rolled down her cheeks. There and then,
she swore to make Ben pay for the pains he had
caused Chisom. She started making plans.
Three days later, she called Ben and told him
she had accepted to do his bidding on the
condition that they would be having sëx once in
a while and only in hotel rooms. She also made
it clear to him that she was that so he would
effect change in Chisom’s results. Ben gladly
accepted her condition and went ahead to ask
her when next they would have sëx. She told
him she would communicate him when she was
ready. One week after that, she texted Ben and
asked for then to meet. Ben gave her the
location of the hotel they would meet in and
fixed the time.
Immediately they entered the hotel room, Ann
went straight to the bathroom and bathed.
When she came out, she asked Ben to do the
same. Immediately Ben entered the bathroom,
Ann reached for a phone in her handbag, put it
in a video recording mode and hid it beside the
desk directly opposite to the bed. She wanted to
record their sëxual episode and use it to destroy
Ben. She was determined to avenge for the
pains he had caused Chisom.
Immediately Ben came out of the bathroom,
Ann went to him and started touching him. But
Ben pushed him away violently and went
straight to where she hid the phone. He picked
up the phone, squeezed his fingers around it
and stared at Ann frightfully.
What happened next?
Find out!!!
©Anozie Too-chukwu
