Ayomide, a once brilliant and studious girl, unconsciously drifted away from her dreams into the realms of nonchalant attitude towards her academics. This was due to the loss of her father to the painful hands on death, leaving only her single mother, who tried painstakingly to be the best for her daughter. But her best wasn't enough. She stumbled upon an unserious act who made the whole affair about her dead father bearable and she liked it there; in comfort.However, the cheerfulness didn't last long, before reality struck her and she was made to represent her supposed "class of dullards" in a Mathematics only competition.This story sees young Ayo, as she struggles with life's imbalance at the early stage of her life, to restore the once shining light in her; her hope.
もっと見る“Ayo! Ayo!! Ayo!!!"
A furious but caring mother called from the kitchen. She kept calling until she couldn’t hold her patience anymore. Now muttering to herself ‘it's past six in the morning and this girl still finds pleasure in sleeping when she’s supposed to be preparing for school’.
Esther Cole left what she was doing in the kitchen and headed straight to the bedroom. She took a look at the sleeping figure on the bed and displeasure was written all over her face. She, however, could not blame the 10 year old girl. Instead, she blamed the untimely death of her husband, the girl’s father. She tapped the sleeping figure on the bed thrice before the girl yawned loudly and replied ‘Yes’ amidst sleepy eyes.
As soon as the girl answered, she prepared to continue her sleep but was interrupted by her mother who was visibly angry.
“Come on! Get up and get dressed for school,” the woman yelled at her daughter. “What kind of daughter still sleeps by this time of the day when her mates are getting ready for school?”
The little girl sprang up at once. She is no other person than Ayomide Cole, the daughter of late Mr. Jeffery Cole and Mrs. Esther Cole. She headed straight for the bathroom just across the bedroom. Having seen that the girl was fully awake, the woman hurriedly went back to the kitchen to check the boiling rice on the stove.
Mrs. Cole lives happily with her only child and daughter in a room and parlour self-contain. The apartment though large enough to accommodate both mother and daughter is smaller compared to the mansion they previously lived in. Mr. Cole, her late husband, was a very wealthy businessman. He has numerous mansions all over the city but all this was inherited by his brothers leaving nothing for the innocent wife.
Mrs. Cole has come to accept the change since the death of her husband, Jeffery but her daughter doesn’t seem to flow with the tide. Her husband’s family had sent them out of the house claiming she was responsible for the death of Jeffrey and also since she has no male child for the late man, she has no right whatsoever to his properties. Having no one to defend her, she quietly left with her daughter whom they presumed to be a bastard child. It’s been three months now since they moved into this new apartment and four months since the death of her husband.
“I can’t allow myself to continue dwelling in the past,” Mrs. Cole thought out loud. Just then Ayo jumped into the kitchen and announced that she had just finished taking her bath. This jolted Mrs. Cole back to reality. She was having one of her numerous episodes where she laments on her predicament.
“Which past?” Ayo queried.
“Is this how to greet?” an alarmed mother queried.
“Good morning ma,” Ayo greeted kneeling down with both legs.
“Morning, how are you?”
“I’m fine ma.”
“Mom! What’s this smell I’m …” Before Ayo could complete her sentence, Mrs. Cole sprang up from her sitting position remembering the food on the cooking stove. She hurriedly turned down the heat from the stove and opened the lid of the pot. Luckily, the rice wasn’t burnt but the water in it was completely dried.
“Mom, is it burnt?” a curious Ayo demanded.
“Almost.” She took a spoon from the kitchen table. “Let me dish out your food so you can eat and leave for school. You are running late.”
“Don’t forget to pack my food for lunch in school.” She pointed at the top shelf in the kitchen corner. “My lunch bag is right there.”
“I won’t FFO,” Mrs. Cole said jokingly. She served Ayo her breakfast and the girl left for the sitting room to eat.
Ten minutes later, Ayo finished eating. She joined her mom in the kitchen. This time, she was fully dressed and ready to go, with her backpack hung on her shoulder. What remained was her launch bag which her mom had safely packed her lunch in. She took the bag and stood for a minute, hoping her mom would say something but the woman wasn’t even aware Ayo was back with her.
“Mom!” Ayo called for the second time before her mom turned to look in her direction with a sigh. “Are you thinking again?”
“No, my dear.”
“Thinking her mom was only worried about her, she wrapped her arms around her. “I’ll be fine, mum. Have a nice day.”
Saying this, Ayomide headed towards the exit. However, she stopped while at the door. “Love you!” – and waited for a response.
“Love you, dear” her mother said with affection. “I would be in” –
After hearing this, Ayo smiled and ran out, not waiting to hear the rest of what her mother has to say.
– “your school soon,” Mrs. Cole completed, even though she knew Ayo was beyond earshot. She sighed again, while she journeyed back to the day of her husband’s death.
Mr. Cole had travelled out of the country on a business meeting and had called her a day before he met his death, that he would be arriving the next day. The day of his said arrival was a Sunday and as usual, she had dressed her daughter in the fanciest of dress in her closet. She herself doesn't look so bad in her beautiful Sunday dress. They'd gone to church first and planned on driving to the airport after service to pick up her husband, and then head home together. But God’s plan had been different that day. She and her daughter were still making their way through the crowd in front of the church, trying to avoid frivolous talks from members and colleagues, when her phone rang. She'd picked on the first ring and that was all it took for her to collapse. Not only had she fallen but she had known at that moment that her life would soon be dust. The people she had tried to avoid were the ones that came to her aid and put her daughter to safety, while they rushed her to the hospital. On return from the hospital, two days later, she met her belongings outside with her husband’s brother now in possession of the house. They'd immediately sent her packing, not after accusing her of witchcraft and calling her daughter, a bastard. She’d left quietly without exchanging words with them. With the savings she had on her as at the time, she had acquired the place, she and daughter now called home, and started their lives afresh and from people who knew them.
It’s Saturday evening, a week after the misunderstanding between Ayo and Bukky. Ayo along with Funmi and Oreoluwa just arrived at the Heart City Shopping Mall, where Anu had promised to meet with them. She dialed Anu’s number after a few minutes of waiting, with no sign of her.“Go into the restaurant section. I will meet you there in five minutes.” – Anu had told her over the phone.They walked into the restaurant and found a table near the glass wall that served as a demarcation from the outside. Ayo picked that spot because it would enable her to see everything going on outside. They settled on the seats around the table, leaving an empty for Anu. Before Anu’s arrival, they had ordered chicken fries and began enjoying the meal.True to Anu’s word. Less than five minutes after they had settled, she strolled in, flaunting a pink one hand bag. She had previously seen them while entering the restaurant, so she headed towards them immediately and soon took her seat.
The following day was a Sunday. Ayo was alone in the study room in their home. She and her family had just returned from church service. Her mom was resting as her pregnancy is now very much visible. Bayo had returned to school after church service that afternoon and her step-dad, who had driven him to the car park, was yet to return.Ayo went over her ordeal of the previous day; qualifying for the Olympiad finals, which was a dream come true for her but not totally fulfilled as she still had a gold medal to win. Meeting Anu, her childhood friend, was another thing she had been excited about. Thinking of Anu, She dashed to her room and ransacked her school uniform where she found the paper Anu had given her. It was just where she left it, in her breast pocket.She brought out her smartphone, which her step-dad gave her as a gift on her last birthday. She had rarely used the phone since then. But today, she was going to use it.“Hello,” –
As soon as Oreoluwa exited the room, Funmi wiped her tears and faced Ayo squarely.“I’m listening,” Ayo urged.“At first” – Funmi sighed and rested her back on the wall behind. She used her palm to cover her face in frustration – “Oh! My God! I don’t know how to begin.”“Just tell me the important details.”“Okay, I think I can do that!” She sat up and rested each elbow on her thighs, using one hand to support her head. “I helped you because I wanted to… I mean I really picked interest in you on your first day in school and I wanted to get to know you. But…” Her voice trailed off again but she picked up almost immediately. “But when you won the annual math quiz ahead of me. I...” She buried her face in her palms and it took a pat from Ayo for her to regain her confidence. Staring at Ayo, she said, “I began to dislike you an
“See you later. I want to speak to Ore.” That was the last statement Funmi uttered to the duo of Ayo and Anu before she left them in the middle of the backstage room where she met them. She walked up to Oreoluwa as she’d said she would but not because she actually wanted to talk to him or have a conversation of any sort. She had said so to excuse herself from the conversation Ayo and her friend were having. Here, she was behind Oreoluwa and unable to say anything.“I guess she is from your school.” Damilola pointed behind Oreoluwa to alert him of the intruder that had joined.Oreoluwa looked behind and found a depressed Funmi. “Yes, she is.”“I guess I would leave you two to talk then.” Damilola left them there by cutting her conversation with Oreoluwa short.“What’s wrong with you?” Oreoluwa demanded from Funmi.“I’m… fine,” she said. Her arms folded a
“Congratulations Ayo,” Oreoluwa said and extended a hand for a shake as Ayo walked into the backstage room of Ace studios, the venue of the Mathematics Olympiad.Ayo refused the hand and hugged him instead. “Thanks for those kind words, Ore. I will never forget.”“Oh! So sweet,” Perfect said as she walked past them to the stage. It was her turn in the senior category semifinals.“Good luck!” Ayo and Oreoluwa said after her. She waved at them without turning back.“Oreoluwa!” Damilola called. She had been watching the duo for a while and didn’t want to interrupt the moment.“Yes!” Oreoluwa turned to identify the owner of the voice that called.“Nice speech out there,” Damilola said, moving towards them. She extended her left hand and hurriedly changed it to her right. “Oh! Sorry. I’m a left-hander.”He took the hand gladly. &ldqu
“Wow! Unbelievable,” the quiz master said. Ayo’s Olympiad 60 seconds of fame had just ended. “Those last 45 seconds were awesome!” He heaved a sigh to ease the pressure he had felt while reading the questions to Ayo.“Thank you, sir,” Ayo muttered. Her palms were sweaty, so was her forehead. She wiped some off but they seem to be stuck. She regretted not coming with her handkerchief. The applause the audience gave her after, were deafening and sort of eased the tension she felt as she smiled back at them. However, all she hoped was that her awful first 15 seconds doesn’t hinder her qualification. Without a tie break, she thought.“I would say I’ve never seen such before.” The quiz master wiped sweat off his forehead with his handkerchief. “I need to ask. Ayo, what happened in the first fifteen seconds?”Ayo hadn’t expected that question and she wished she could avoid it but she couldn’t. She looked down as she always does and the ‘Just do it’ inscription on her Nik
Ayo listened as the quiz master told Damilola that she had qualified and Francis, disqualified. She and Lateefah were the only ones left and she isn’t so sure if she was faster than the other girl, who seems bright under the cotton she used to cover her hair. It however made her look beautiful. Ayo was anxiously waiting for the quiz master’s next statement, so she could let out the tears that welled up in her eyes, either for joy or sorrow. Then, she heard the quiz master say something she wasn’t expecting to hear. She looked down at her feet and let out a soft smile. As she did this, a tear dropped from her eyes.“You ought to be happy!” the quiz master said. “Given that you were able to remove two of the boys.” He smiled.She smiled back as the audience applauded.“Congratulations to you! Your average response time is 0.83 seconds,” the quiz master said.Ayomide looked in Lateefah’s direction a
“Audience, what do you think?” the quiz master asked rhetorically. The first round had just come to an end and everyone awaited the result. “It’s been an interesting and amazing first round,” he said to the contestants.The contestants couldn’t hold their anxiety, as they all stood on the toes awaiting the quiz master’s next words. He smiled before he continued, “I would have loved to see all of your faces in the semifinals but” – he sighed – “that’s not possible.”“Which three among them won’t proceed to the second round?” the quiz master asked yet another rhetorical question, which further puts the anxiety of the contestants on edge. They stole glances of one another as they waited.“Wow!” He looked down on the digital screen and up at the audience. “The scores are really close. I mean really… really close and definitely th
“I really liked it as Ore and Ayo are placed together in the semifinals,” Funmi said as they settled in their seats, ready to witness the first semifinal stage of the mathematics Olympiad.It’s been quite an interesting Olympiad, which has seen 54 contestants against one another in 9 different stages, in each of the categories; Junior and Senior. In each category, each week had always featured 6 contestants and at the end, 2 contestants would emerge as winners to progress to the semifinals. At the end of the preliminaries, there were only 18 contestants left who were further divided into 3 groups; each group having 6 contestants to battle for the top 2 again, who will then advance to the finals.Here it was, the first semifinals! The first six contestants stood as usual behind each of the pulpits while the quiz master was at his. The stage lights had already been lit and each of them seemed anxious as to what the first round held.“I wish both of them good lu
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