Blooming in adversity
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Obanma often checked her phone while the lecture went on in her scantily filled lecture hall. It was often said that the actual number of a class was always discovered on an exam day. Students were scattered across the room in different attires with a prominent look of fatigue. lectures had begun almost at first light and the students had been voraciously absorbing knowledge from different lectures and periods which they knew would by 6pm.

The last lecture was unfortunately handled by a man the students loathed because of his sluggish manner of speech. His nicknames ranged from sloth, tortoise to diverse names in the students native dialects. The lecturer stood in front the podium, his notes secured in his hands while he occasionally scribbled important things on their whiteboard.

The black public address system which was situated a distance from where the man stood, seemed utterly useless as the plethora of sounds that emanated from it rather induced sleep rather than inculcate knowledge despite how many times he supposedly yelled into the microphone . Obanma was seated amongst other students who paid little attention to the lecturer while he sluggishly taught them.

The students had renamed his class as sleeping pill owing to the fact that half of the class was always thrown into slumber before his period was over. While some students prepared properly for this improper slumber by wearing shades and caps for the sole purpose of keeping the act covert, others shamelessly drooled over the desks were they slept. It was a reoccurring event mapped out on Thursdays.

Mr Emenike Ogu most students argued should have become a kindergarten teacher, with specialty in reading bed time stories. Most of his lectures rarely excited the students except for few resilient ones who had an immunity against sleep.

Obanma was occasionally among the few who learnt from him but the day had strangely diminished her resilience and she found herself nodding unconsciously to the things said. Her notes were filled with points written in haphazard manner. Some appeared meaningless because she had begun them awake and happened to finish them unconsciously while her hands adamantly decided to complete the task  getting no commands from her brain cells.

She believed this to have come as a result of the unusually high number of students sleeping peacefully in close proximity to her. Sleep was often infectious .

The lecturer seemed quite unperturbed by the gross level of inattentiveness by the students, the smart ones knew retribution for such mistakes always came during the examinations.

Obanma's last resort was her phone which she swiped rapidly playing random games just to keep sleep at bay.

A text from Onyedikachi popped into her phone and it sent her heart rate over the edge as she read the words over and over again. It drove sleep to the depths of her mind and she wondered if a text like Onyedikachi's was what most students needed.

"My day would end better because I'd get a kiss from an angel 😋"

She believed her heart somersaulted more than twice and she helplessly grinned to the words, reminiscing on how his lips had felt on hers the last time they kissed.

"In as much as low levels of Serotonin could be an indicator for low libido, there are other vital roles it plays!"

The words came almost immediately her tongue slowly swiped across her lips in remembrance of her encounter with the man that suddenly sent her receptive nerves and hormones on overdrive and she quickly looked up to see if Mr Emenike had read her thoughts.

"Tryptophan is a major constituent of Serotonin which I believe is not new to you. In fact I will not be discussing how serotonin is formed.

I'm assuming we all know that serotonin is a neurotransmitter which plays an important role in bringing effects to sedatives. I will not be discussing this again as we have learnt about serotonin in our previous classes

Lastly the melatonin which is also known as sleep hormone. The melatonin  release from the pineal gland is governed by light. This gland is mostly active at night releasing melatonin into the blood stream. I don't think we need to imagine much about the effects as most of your friends are already showing us the after deal of such release. "The laughter of few students who were awake echoed in the hall, bringing to attention some light sleepers.

I will need a detailed research on the mechanism of action of melatonin by Monday, course representatives take note. Wake your friends and tell them, that will be the end of the class"

The sudden buzz as the man slowly gaited out of the classroom alerted Obanma of his exit. Students were rather too noisy in the absence of their teachers.

A sudden alarm was raised as a young lady began to search for her phone. Most students laughed while others showed empathy and helped her in search of the item.

Most people knew it was a fruitless effort  as the phone must have left with whoever had extracted it from the owner while she slept. It was one of the dangers of sleeping beside thieving course mates or even sleeping at all in classrooms.

"Something wey don reach house na wetin this babe just dey here dey cry anyhow for. Make this people just clear road make men dey commot abeg" A voice bellowed loudly behind Obanma.

She had arranged most of her books and placed them into her bag, scarcely paying attention to the announcements the course rep yelled on the podium.

"The practicals would commence by 8am, endeavor to appear properly dressed with your protective gears as well"

She almost giggled when she saw another versace logo on his yellow shirt. It was amusing how he managed to wear his fake clothes with so much confidence and still had the audacity to lie about their prices. Kelechi would always taunt him by calling him "Na wash".

"No mind that boy, im go dey claim say im papa get money shishi e no get. Walking around in faded jeans and gold rolex wey Don wash, wey no dey work on top!

Why can't people be real?" It was one of the nights where he had tried wooing kelechi.

"Hey! you forgot your Pen" A boy who appeared much more younger than Obanma tapped her as he relinquished the object to her. He didn't look familiar and she almost asked if he was studying the same course as she was but he jumped into introductions with gaiety. The boy certainly looked 16, she was almost certain of his age.

She had introduced herself as well, noting how strangely their hair texture seemed to be alike.

"Don't tell me your great grandmother is also white" He teased as he caught her staring at his hair.

"Chukwumeka she's older than you are, they usually go for older men. But if you don't mind, I can snag you up before my brother does" A voice came right behind her and she turned to see an exact replica of the boy standing beside her.

They were twins! Identical twins.

The first boy reached out and playfully punched his brother who retreated almost immediately.

"Meet my arch nemesis and twin brother Chukwuebuka Joseph Ukaegbu."

She smiled at the already grinning boy who made his way to her side as well.

"We're not your course mates, we're just two young boys that love to lurk around lecture halls looking for pretty girls like you" Chukwuebuka continued as they made their way out of the classroom. She found them quite too confident for Sixteen year olds.

"Ignore the fool, almost everything he says he has copied from our dad's books. I bet one character did the same thing he's doing now"

Slaps were exchanged behind her and she broke into laughter.

"Now she thinks we're clowns Ebuka." Chukwuemeka feigned a scowl, his brother did the same and Obanma was drawn to speaking.

"I also had a twin, it's funny because you remind me of him" The boys grew somber and offered a quick apology while they continued their discourse. Both parties revealing information about themselves.

"That's not a full house... We have six younger siblings. A quadruplet and twins, if you ever crave commotion mixed with a deluge of emotions, old people romance and a plehthora of yelling, then our home is the right place." Chukwuemeka sighed in sync with his brother and they laughed at their gesture.

" If you ever want to go to prison please feel free to look for me" The three laughed together, Obanma laughed mostly because she was certain they didn't know why she spoke the words.

They got her to release her number after they confessed to being Sixteen and medical students. She had been so engrossed in their conversations that she almost missed Onyedikachi's car.

He had been waving at her, till one of the twins directed her attention to him.

She smiled broadly waving aggressively like a love struck girl in a romantic comedy movie.

"Older men" Chukwuebuka whispered feigning heartbreak. She quickly bade the twins goodbye and strutted to her lover.

He pulled her into his embrace and they shared a lingering hug. Each drinking in each other's presence and warmth.

"I missed you so much Mma" He whispered in a somewhat low and seductive tone that sent her hormones spiraling into activeness.

"I missed you too Onyi.." she sighed as she delivered the words then wittingly added "More than achịcha"

It drew a rich laughter from his throat and he continued laughing as he guided her into the car before they drove off.

Onyi had taken her to a restaurant where they ate. She had ordered vegetable soup with pounded yam because she argued that it was the only food that could pacify the sort of hunger she felt.

Onyedikachi only watched with amusement as she dissected the food.

She gave him a small smile, chewing on the goat meat that was used to garnish her soup.

"Onyi I ga eri?"

Onyedikachi shook his head amidst short chortles. The Obanma he loved as a boy was resurfacing little by little. She managed to coax him into eating with her but withdrew her meat causing him to order for more.

They spoke at length about his work and how studies had been. Onyedikachi advised that they wait for digestion before moving to her house and she concurred.

He often played with the hair beside her ear and she found herself reaching out to touch him more times than she could remember.

"Oh please! They all knew I was talking to a man"

"And whose fault was that? I bet you were blushing like you are doing right now when we spoke" Onyedikachi rendered in his defense

"You have a point sha, but wait... I wouldn't have blushed if you weren't telling me all those sweet things. So who is to blame here mister?"

"Definitely me!" He threw his hands in the air in surrender as she glared at him

"Men are always to blame my baby. How can I not tell you the sweetest of things when you're constantly causing this sugar rush in my system"

They laughed to his words and swiftly got up to take their leave.

"One more thing enters this stomach and puff! It explodes" Obanma's hands were resting on her tummy as if to hold all the food in.

Onyedikachi only stared at her while delaying to move his vehicle.

She turned to face him as her comment brought no response from him.

"ọ gini?" She asked with concern staring at him with almost the same intensity as his gaze.

Onyedikachi slowly reached out to caress her cheek pulling her close to meet his face.

"Obanma you are so beautiful. I don't know if I can ever get tired of saying this. How did God let an angel like you escape heaven ? You make me say things I never truly knew I could say. Things that sounded so stupid in my head before. I almost ran crazy thinking about you... Your lips, your touch... Your smile... Your scent.... . "

The feel of her lips on his made him swallow every other outpouring of his heart felt confessions.

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Chijioke arrived umuechem later in the day to meet Arinze restoring signs that were uprooted from the land. One of his spies had passed the information to him and he quickly made his way to the land

" Bia nwoke m stop that rubbish and leave my land immediately!" Chijioke beckoned from a distance racing towards Arinze with rage.

"You mean my land anụ ofia!" Arinze retorted with equal anger, standing his ground as Chijioke approached.

They barely spouted insults at each other for two minutes before going at it like two rams fighting over a female.

Punches were exchanged, each jabbing the other either in the face or on the body as caresses were spontaneously being reciprocated by their siblings in the vehicle , hands seeking to arouse emotions and love from the other.

Their fight brought them to the ground, the muddy soil welcoming them by drawing  dirt on their bodies. The kisses which were intoxicating drove the lovebirds to the back of the car, when it seemed their position limited their exploration.

Chijioke got the upper hand and sat on Arinze delivering punches to his face. And Obanma sat on Onyedikachi's laps who's hands were in her shirt inciting sighs of pleasure by feeling her love mounds, encouraging her to deliver sensual kisses that drew moans from his lips

While Chijioke and Arinze struggled to breathe with their unwarranted exercise, the tongues of their siblings danced rhythmically in a romantic way, draining them of momentary oxygen yet filling them with so much love and want.

There was so much adversity that evening , yet love bloomed .

Author's note!

Hey everyone!

How are we doing? An update as promised. Hope you did enjoy!

So I brought my twins from AAO into this story lol. It's something I've been trying to do for a while. Imagining how the characters grew and the likelihood of them meeting with characters from other stories.

What do you think about the lovebirds and their brothers? 😂😂😂

Are you team preacher of love or war?