Close To Giving Up

It was on a dark Thursday evening which I can still remember vividly because of how I had pinned the day in my brain and how the scene played out. I was sitting on the only long cushion chair in the sitting room whose clothes were torn around and the plywood that was used to make it had gone bad and broken. Whoever sat on the chair would go low, so we were always careful for it not to get damaged completely, and the minimum it could hold was two people. I was the only one sitting on it on that very day and I wasn't in a happy state. Dad was getting dressed up to go out but the weather was holding him down as the rain was drizzling, a minute, the drizzling would be much and the next minute, it would go down.

He sat down for a while watching the sky through the window and contemplating if he should suspend his outing for the next day as he was busy talking to himself and complaining about the weather especially being one that wanted to be a delay to him, I pretended not to listen to his rantings but was focused on my phone.

I had just found out a big mistake that was made from the cafe where I went to register for my direct entry examination. The registration would end in a few hours and I was frustrated by the whole thing. That would be my third attempt to register for direct entry into the university to further my degree studies and was always rejected, then here comes this last one and the cafe guys made a mistake. I got pissed off by the whole thing and was crying silently, having different thoughts in my mind.

"Busayo, could you please help me fix this on my phone?" My Dad raised his head after battling with his phone and gnashing his teeth in frustration, dragging his fingers and swiping left and right on the phone. I was watching the whole thing but was engrossed in my emotions not to understand what he was battling with as I was busy nursing the disappointment that didn't come from me. I just couldn't control it.

With my frown face and heavy heart, I forcefully took the phone from his hand and just wanted to help fix whatever it was. "What do you want me to do here?" I silently said because I didn't want to transfer my aggression to him since he wasn't the cause of my dilemma. After some minutes, I fixed the issue and returned the phone to him.

---

The weather was now good and he saw a hope of going out. Then I raised my head as he was already on his feet trying to pick some things on the table. "Daddy, these cafe people made a mistake in my form and I can't register again," I managed to say something at least to speak to someone.

At that moment, he knew something was wrong with me. All the while, he didn't pay attention to my problem until I told him about it and he tried to cheer me up, consoling me and asking if there would be a remedy to it. "What remedy?" I asked with my face up trying to fake a smile.

"I don't think I would try anything again. After all, they are forcing me to further my education which I wasn't interested in", I uttered despairingly. When he saw there was nothing for him to say to change my mind, he then asked, "What about your friend...I mean the one you are close to?"

"What about her?" I surprisingly asked.

"Maybe she could help you", he replied as he was now moving towards the door.

"Dad, don't worry. She can't do anything. I will forget about it", I said gloomily. A few minutes after he had left, I heard a knock and it was my friend. She entered when I told her to.

"Hey, friend. What's up?" She greeted me with a smile on her face.

"I'm good", I said reluctantly.

"What's wrong with you? You look sober. What happened? I saw your dad now and he told me to check on you. What's the matter?" She kept throwing many questions at me and I immediately cut her while I only replied with "See, forget about it. My mind is out of it already. I am not going to school again."

"Why?" She asked in astonishment. "I thought you already registered for the programme. What are you now saying?"

By this time, she was sitting close to me on a different chair that could only contain just one person, she sat on the edge of the chair and was closer to me like two love birds starting their relationship.

I explained everything to her and could not control my emotions at a point and I burst into tears. She wrapped her hand around my shoulder and began to give me encouraging words trying to change my mind to redo the process.

"The registration is closing in a few hours already. Don't worry, J.K." I chipped in the latest update.

"No, I don't think so. You can still do something before the deadline", she said with her both hands on my shoulder, making me feel hopeful about the situation. While we were at it, I got a call from another friend who we were both registering and had to inform me that they had shifted the deadline for the next 5 days. I asked if it was true and she said yes. As I dropped the call, I said to my friend who was smiling as she saw my face lit up, "J.K, please you will accompany me to a different cafe and not this one that caused the issue at first. The registration has been extended", I giggled as I told her.

"You see? Now, you should be happy and let's go and do the needful." She gently touched my cheeks and we both laughed.

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