"Kemi! Baby! Hurry up or you'll be late. Get down here for breakfast already."
Angeline, Kemi's mum took a break from flipping the plantains frying in a pan and called out to her daughter.
She had awoken quite early to prepare for this day. Now, she set the table and hurried upstairs to have her bath.
UnsplashIn less than five minutes, she was done bathing, she hurriedly got dressed and went back downstairs to the dining. She was surprised to meet an empty table with the meals looking untouched.
She wanted to call out to her daughter but thought against it. Rather, she went to her room.
Just two taps on the door and she let herself in. Kemi did not look up from where she sat on her bed. Angeline was worried.
"Kem. My darling, what is the matter? I was expecting that you'd be all set by now."
Fumbling with her hands, staing at them, she said, "mum, I don't want to go for that exam."
"Why?" Angeline asked.
"This is what, The third or fourth attempt? I keep trying but never succeed. I'm tired. It's no use trying again. What difference would I make?" she said weakly.
Angeline's hand flew to cover her mouth. Seeing her daughter hurt so much made her sad.
"Baby, I've always told you that you're such a brilliant and unique child. You can't give up hope now. This one might just be the last one. I know it will
What's that thing you used to say as a child again? .....winners never quit, right?"
"But.." Kemi was about to say something.
"No buts. You're going to go write this exam and you're definitely getting in to college."
"You think so?" Kemi asked with a look of plea.
"I know so. And I know you do too, Supergirl,"Angeline teased.
Kemi chuckled, "oh, please ma, don't call me that."
They arrived the exam centre and Kemi kissed her mother goodbye as she walked in solemnly into the Hall.
About two hours later, Angeline was in her car when she sighted her daughter coming out of the hall. She looked at her face for an expression but found nothing. She got out of her car where she had been sitting all the while and immediately Kemi sighted her, she skipped joyfully to meet her mother.
"Hold up, child. What's all the excitement about? How was the examination?" Angeline asked smiling
"Was great, mum. Although I hadn't read so well, because, you know...
I think I performed excellently well," Kemi replied.
"I'm so glad. This calls for a celebration. Want some Nac Donald's?"
Kemi nodded, smiling excitedly.
..........................................................................
Three weeks after, not a message from the school. Kemi was devastated.
"I told you mum. I told you. I knew it was going to turn out like this."
"It's been just three weeks. Don't give up now," her mother chastised
"But this was same thing that happened the last time, and the other time," Kemi said, pain evident in her voice.
"Did you not tell me after you came out of the exam Hall, that you were confident in what you had written and we're sure of getting the admission?" Angeline asked.
"I did, but...," Her mum interjected.
"No. No. No. No buts. You will get into college this time."
Angeline was worried for her child but had to mask it. She knew it'd disorient her child so bad if she didn't get the admission. And so she prayed and hoped that things had a bright angle.
Saturday evening, Kemi had gone to the mall to get some groceries. Angeline went into Kemi's room bearing some clothes she had gotten out from the line. She put them down on her daughter's bed and began folding them nicely.
She suddenly realized that Kemi's laptop was turned on and instinctively she walked to where it was. She found that the email application was open. Her heart sank as she imagined her daughter checking her mails constantly and refreshing by the hour.
Without thinking, she sat down on the chair by the table on which the system sat and began going through the mails. There were some from AliExpress, a couple from friends, two others from the schools she had previously applied to and some others too. But there, she found nothing from Zenith university, the institute her daughter applied to. She felt even worse, she almost teared up.
Still, she kept looking through the system. She could see that there were two messages lying in the "spam box." She opened it and one caught her interest. It was from Zenith. She immediately clicked to open it and the first line of the message which read, "Congratulations, Kemi. You have been granted admission to study..." made her let out a scream.
Kemi who had returned already and heard her mother's scream ran upstairs to find her in her room.
"Mum! Mum, what is ...," she asked as she dashed into the room.
Angeline could say nothing. All she did was point at the laptop's screen.
Kemi walking in to see what her mother was pointing towards said, "what's there that made you scre..." she stopped in between words, peered closely into the screen as if to confirm what she had just seen and then let out a piercing scream.
She fell to floor and began crying and shaking. Angeline watched her daughter for only a moment and her eyes got misty. She went, sat beside her child, enclosing her arms around her and stroking her hair.
Kemi, still shaking and crying with snort all over her face whispered, "it came, mum. You said it. Just when I had lost hope yet again, it came."
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