A friend with hidden secrets

I was overwhelmed with the thought of where our next meal would come from. The only thing left in my room that could pass through my oesophagus was water. Nothing more.

A few days earlier, I called my parents and informed them that my food was almost finished. My mom sent me some money, but my attempt to withdraw the money proved abortive as the bank network was in comatose. It was examination period, and my last paper was three days away.

"My problem is just to survive the next three days," I told myself.
My plan was to travel home immediately after the examination.

My mind deviated briefly from the pang of hunger, tearing the peace of my stomach apart. A long, endless yawn brought me back to reality.

"A day at a time. I need to survive today, tomorrow, and the day after before traveling home after my examination," I told myself.

I stood up to go and explore my only viable option—meeting Mama Aisha, the raw food seller who had bailed me out several times. In fact, I was owing her the sum of 2000 naira. I planned to pay her the debt from the money sent to me by mom, which unfortunately was hanging in the air due to a bad bank network. I was finding it difficult to go and meet her to collect more food stuffs without paying her immediately.

I decided to go ahead with meeting mama Aisha instead of starving. I barely stood up when my phone rang. It was Julius, my roommate, calling.

"Hello, Julius," I picked up my call. "Are you back in the room?"

"Not yet," he responded. "Were you able to withdraw the money today?" He asked me.

"The bank server is still down. I was there for almost two hours before returning to the hostel disappointedly."

Julius was silent for a few minutes before asking me how we were going to survive that evening without food.

"We will be fine. Julius. I am on my way to Mama Aisha's shop. I pray she will agree to give me some food stuffs on credit," I responded to him.

"Alright, Ojo. I will join you in a few minutes," Julius said in a breaking voice.

---

Julius is older than me, and he always felt embarrassed for not measuring up to my level of contribution to our feeding.

"I lost my parents the same day to an accident. I enrolled for this degree trusting God to help me navigate through," he told me the first day we met in the hostel room as freshmen.

"Who will be paying your school fees?" I asked him.

"My maternal aunt volunteered to sponsor me. But she is a struggling housewife whose husband is out of work presently. She may not be able to take charge of my running stipends after paying the fee." Tears built up in his eyes.

I drew him closer to give him words of encouragement.

"Don't worry, Julius. Providence has brought us together to be roommates. We are not just roommates but brothers from now on. Feel free to make use of whatever I have that you need. My parents are not rich but are trying their best for me to be fine. We will both be fine."

I kept to my words. I brought loads of provisions from home when returning. Whoever was available to cook would cook, eat, and keep the remaining for the other person. Whenever he felt bad about his situation, I would cheer him up.

"Don't be hard on yourself. It is not in your making to lose your parents. God knows why everything happened the way they did.

A few days to the end of the semester, things became hard from my end too, but I was ready to go out of my way to make both of us good.

---

I arrived at Mama Aisha's shop.

"Good evening, Ma. Please, I am still having problems accessing the money sent to me. The bank network is bad. I wish to buy a few things and pay for them in addition to the previous bill as soon as the bank server improves."

"Feel free to buy anything that you want to buy," she responded with her characteristic smile.

"Give me one mudu of rice, fish, oil, vegetables, and seasoning cubes," I responded.

She packaged all that I ordered into a polythene bag and handed it to me.

"Thank you very much, Ma," I appreciated her.

As I turned back to go to my room, I walked into Godwin, Julius' close friend. I knew Godwin courtesy of Julius, and we became casual friends.

"I want to report Julius to you," said Godwin.

"What's happened?" I asked. "I am on my way to the room to cook. Can we proceed?"

Godwin presented his case as we walked to the room slowly.

"Julius is stingy and deceitful," he began. "Julius and I do visit restaurants to eat almost every day. Whenever I am to pay for the meal, we will both order our favorite food. But when it is his turn to pay, he would order the cheapest snack on the menu for us."

I stopped walking because the information being related to me was shocking. I didn't want us to get to the room and meet Julius. That would hinder the conversation.

"That is not even what provoked me," he continued as he halted his steps too to continue with the conversation. "Yesterday, I was with Julius' phone when a message of credit alert came into the phone. I wouldn't have opened the message, but the title of 'August salary' prompted me to open it and read further details. To my surprise, Julius is a staff member of the Ekiti state government who is on study leave. I confronted him with what I saw. He was short on explanation. Julius is so deceitful. I am disappointed in him for presenting himself as a penniless orphan, whereas he earns a decent salary."

"Are you sure of what you are saying?" I asked him.

"I want you to do your investigation. Julius is a state government staffer."

I was in disbelief and at the same time dumbfounded. There was no immediate opportunity for me to find out the truth. I didn't want to confront Julius with what Godwin had told me.

While waiting for the best time to confront him with the revelation, Julius called me on a fateful evening for a talk.

"I have offended you, and I want to plead with you for forgiveness."

"I don't understand what you are saying. What have you done?"

"I have lied to you and Godwin for a long time. Godwin found out the truth last week and he confronted me. It was yesterday that he told me that he had reported the case to you. I am surprised that you didn't ask me."

"Well, he told me about what you did to him regarding being a salary earner and refusing to spend the money in the restaurant with him. I didn't believe him, and that's why I didn't ask you. However, is it true?"

Julius bowed his head with his eyes to the ground.

"It is true," he responded. "Please forgive me."

I was so disappointed that I lacked what to say to best express my feelings.

"Life is a journey with everyday lessons. I met you, and I learned better about another pattern of human behavior. Don't worry, let's move on."

He was shocked that I waved the issue aside with those simple words.

I didn't change in my relationship towards him for the few days that we spent together before going on holiday.

I secured another accommodation and packed out of the room upon resumption of the holiday. For the remaining four years that we spent at the university, I cut off my friendship with Julius. We only exchanged greetings whenever we met on campus.