Morning in Bingham University always had the same vibe — cool breeze, sleepy faces, people dragging themselves to class like life was forcing them. Philip wasn't dragging though. He just walked slowly like someone that had all the time in the world.
Earphones in.
No music playing.
Classic Philip behavior.
He was thinking about absolutely nothing important… maybe how dry the cafeteria rice always was, or how his wallet had been empty since last week. He wasn't paying attention to where he was going — big mistake.
At the same time, a girl stepped out of the cafeteria, holding a tall cup of bright red zobo. White top. Fresh makeup. Proper "I'm having a good day" look.
Then life happened.
Philip turned the corner.
She stepped forward.
Nobody saw anybody.
And the collision was brutal.
PRAA!!
The zobo did a full stunt in the air and landed straight on her white top like it was aiming for her.
She froze.
He froze.
People around stopped like movie extras waiting for their line.
The girl looked down slowly at her shirt, then raised her head with that "God punish whoever did this" expression.
"ARE YOU OKAY AT ALL?!" she snapped.
Philip opened his mouth but the apology refused to come out on time.
"I—I didn't see you," he finally managed.
She gave him one long, annoyed stare. "Of course you didn't. People like you don't see anything."
"It was an accident," he muttered, already embarrassed because the onlookers were enjoying the show.
"Accident?" She scoffed. "Do I look like a laboratory experiment to you?"
Philip honestly didn't know the correct answer to that question.
"I'm really sorry," he tried again. "Let me buy another—"
"Buy what?" she fired back. "Is it the top or my whole mood? Because my day is already useless."
He rubbed the back of his neck helplessly. He hated scenes like this, especially in front of strangers.
"Please… just go," she said, clearly done with the conversation. She turned and walked off like someone going to report him to an authority.
As she left, her ID card flipped a little.
Adanna.
100 level.
Mass Comm.
Philip sighed. "Great. A fresher. By 4pm, her whole department will hear that I zobo-bathed somebody."
He stood there for a moment, replaying the whole thing in his head. The embarrassment was bad, no doubt. But what surprised him was that… the girl actually looked nice.
Very nice.
He shook his head quickly. "Abeg shift. That one no concern me."
He walked away, pretending it didn't bother him.
Meanwhile, Adanna was stomping to her hostel, still wiping her shirt. She was angry — loudly angry — but deep down, she kept remembering his confused face and the way he kept stammering "I'm sorry."
And even though she would never admit it…
She didn't completely hate the guy.