December 23, 2029 | 11:32 AM
Present Day
Paul just finished his ten reps of squats, completing his workout drenched in sweat, every muscle on his body was burning.
The pain helped him vent, clearing his mind of all thought, for him everything is now peaceful.
He reached out to the treadmill he placed his phone on and checked his phone for any notifications from Precious yet.
Unfortunately there was nothing. "She'd probably just gotten to the Medical Center." He thought as he fought the urge not to call and check.
Very soon, he will be meeting up with Chika and Abuchi. He needed to clean up first, change into something presentable and try to look like a normal human being.
Four years.
They'd survived four years of university together,finals, bad food, worse professors, family dramas, personal crises,name them. They'd been there for each other through everything.
Which meant Chika would notice if Paul showed up looking as wrecked as he felt. And Abuchi would crack jokes to try to make him feel better. And Paul would have to pretend everything was fine because his brothers had enough problems without adding his paranoia to the list.
He started walking back to Hilltop. The sun was brutal overhead.December heat that made you wonder why Nigeria had seasons at all, that made you ponder about the creditability of the existence of the ozone layer.
His phone started buzzing, before he even checked the notifications, he heaved a sigh of relief while wiping the sweat rolling down his jawline.
Precious: Darling,we are now in the medical center waiting for the doctor.
Paul replied immediately: Good, call me immediately if you need anything okay? Stay safe and avoid any trouble at any cost.
Three dots appeared... Then: Awwwnnnnn,of course we will. We are fine stop worrying too much.
He replied with an emoji : 🤧
He put his phone away and kept walking. The Philosophy building would be where Chika's lecture was ending. That's where they always met. That's where they'd go today.
Brothers...Blud.
The word meant something different for them after four years. It meant more than just tags.
Paul hoped he'd get to tell them that.
He wished there'd be time for the conversation about how much they meant to him, how they'd saved him in ways they didn't even know about.
He had a feeling there wouldn't be time. Not that he can explain why, it's just this tightness in his chest that felt like a warning.
11:33 AM.
Twelve minutes until the world ended.
But Paul didn't know that. So he just kept walking, thinking about his brothers and his family and hoping everyone would be okay.
He just wish he was strong enough to protect them all.
Knowing he probably wasn't....
....
December 23, 2029 | 11:33 AM.
Abuchi had been walking in circles for the past ten minutes.
Not literally,he'd covered actual ground, moved from his hostel toward the Philosophy building where they always met.
But his brain was stuck in a loop, replaying the same thoughts over and over until they started to blur together.
Talk to Chimdi today. Don't be a coward. Just walk up and say something, anything. Stop overthinking. Adjust that smile it's looking unnatural...
Except overthinking was all he knew how to do anymore. Ever since the fuel station, every decision feels massive. Every choice feels like life or death.
Even something as simple as talking to a girl became this impossible task his brain couldn't solve.
The pathway to the Philosophy building cut through Franco pitch. During the day, it was just empty football field. At night, it was different. It becomes evil,a place where bad things happened.
Abuchi's steps slowed as he crossed it. His skin reddening ,his heart rate picking up for no reason.
"Stop it.
You're fine. It's daytime. Nothing's going to happen, besides there are students playing in the field, you are safe.."
But his hands were shaking anyway, and the metallic smell of blood was back even though nothing was actually bleeding, and somewhere in his head he could hear the gunshot that had killed his manager.
"Bros!" (Bro!)
Abuchi jumped, with the ferocity of a kid when you take their favorite toy.
A student he vaguely recognized was waving at him from across the pitch. Just being friendly, a normal campus interaction.
Abuchi forced his signature smile.
"Yoo! How far?" (How are you?)
"I dey." (I'm good.) The guy replied as he kept walking, probably he didn't even notice anything was wrong.
Because nothing looked wrong. Abuchi had gotten very good at making sure nothing looked wrong, to be blunt, he have perfected his art of masking.
He checked his phone. 11:43 AM. Chika's lecture should be ending soon and Paul is probably already waiting.
His brothers. The only people who'd seen him completely fall apart and hadn't left.
The memory hit him hard. Three months ago. After the fuel station. When he'd locked himself in his room for two weeks and ignored everyone.
Paul and Chika had shown up on day fifteen. They'd just stood outside his door.
"We're not leaving," Paul had said while banging at his door.
A very simple statement, matter of fact. Like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
And they really did not leave. They'd sat there for three hours until Abuchi finally opened the door because the guilt of making them wait was worse than the shame of them seeing him cry.
He'd told them everything. The robbery, the manager, the way he'd hidden in the dark and done nothing, the way he feel his is a coward who let people die.
Paul had looked at him with those steady eyes and said, in a gentle tone almost impossible for him to use "You're alive. and that's what matters."
And Chika, anxious and awkward had somehow added exactly what Abuchi needed to hear, "We're not going anywhere. You're stuck with us."
Stuck with us.
Like being stuck with them was a bad thing, like they didn't know they were the only reason he was still functioning.
Abuchi reached the Philosophy building at 11:39 AM. A few students were starting to trickle out from morning lectures. He didn't see Paul yet, but that was fine. They'd find each other, as usual.
He leaned against the wall in the most casual and cool way possible in the shade and tried to breathe normally. He keeps telling himself that he was safe, that it was daytime, that nothing bad was going to happen. He scanned around the building block and there he is... Paul.
....
October 2026
Three Years Earlier
The tradition started by accident.
Abuchi had been complaining about being hungry after a particularly brutal exam. Chika mentioned Mama Ngozi's place near the General studies building had cheap food. Paul had shrugged and said he could eat.
Just like that, they'd ended up at Mama Ngozi's Food is Ready on a Friday evening, squeezing into a corner table while the owner yelled at someone in the kitchen.
The food was good. More importantly, it was cheap. And somehow, sitting there with his friends, Abuchi had felt something he hadn't felt since leaving his village.
Peace.
"We should do this again," he'd said. "Make it a thing, like we eat here every Friday."
Chika had looked uncertain. "I don't know if I can commit to ...."
"We're committing for you," Paul had interrupted. "Every Friday, six PM. We should always come eat here."
And that had been that. For three years, through everything, they'd kept that tradition.
Even when Chika was spiraling, out of normal, or when Paul's girlfriend got pregnant and his life fell apart, when Abuchi couldn't leave his room.
Every Friday, there must be three plates at Mama Ngozi's.
Sometimes all three of them will be there. Sometimes only two. Sometimes Paul and Abuchi sat alone, ordering three plates anyway, leaving one for Chika even though he wasn't coming.
Because that's what brothers did. They always show up.
April 2026
Chika got mugged on a Tuesday.
He was simply at the wrong place and at the wrong time. He was hit by three guys, drunk or high or just mean or maybe cultists (gang members) .They'd taken his phone, his wallet, the watch his father had given him.
They'd pushed him around like a ball, laughed at him, left him with a split lip,and some touches of good looking bumps at his head, adding new angles for his head and a humiliation that hurts more than his round bumps.
He didn't tell anyone, he have to spend a few days to recover, using his monthly allowance to buy a fifth or sixth - hand phone.
Paul and Abuchi figured it out anyway. How they did, he don't really know but they found him at his hostel two days later with a new phone that was definitely not cheap.
"We pooled up some of our savings," Paul said, handing it over. "It's not the latest model, but at least it works."
Chika stared at the phone. Then at his friends. Then back at the phone. His throat tightening and his eyes burning and he was absolutely not going to cry in front of them.
Yup...He cried anyway.
"You're our brother," Paul said while Chika tried to pull himself together. "We protect our own." He said nothing, he could only look at the two of them, if university have ever been kind to him, it was through linking them up.
And that word, brother, meant more than any blood relation ever had.
December 2026
Paul admitted he was lonely during their Friday dinner right before Christmas break.
It came out of nowhere. They'd been talking about holiday plans when Paul said, in a quiet and serious tone, "Do you ever feel like you're surrounded by people but completely alone?"
Abuchi stopped mid-bite. Chika set down his fork.
"Uh..Yeah all the time," Chika replied while looking at him trying to figure out why the sudden question.
Paul nodded slowly. "People think I'm intimidating. My professors, classmates, everyone. They keep their distance, like am some kind of weirdo.
Before you two, I'd go days without actually talking to anyone. I just exist next to people, you know somethings I used to wonder who will attend my burial if things happen."
"You're stuck with us now," Abuchi grinning. His voice was lighter than usual, but there was something raw underneath. "You no fit freestyle us ...(Can't get rid of us even if you wanted.")
He completed his statement with his hand locked in a firm handshake with Paul.
"I don't want to."
Simple, direct...a pure Paul.
They sat in silence comfortable silence that only happened with people who really knew you.
"I'm glad we sat in those seats," Chika said eventually breaking the delicate moment,his eyes looking into the distance.
"At matriculation. I'm really glad."
"Na de best counter balance of my life be dark "("Best accident of my life,") Abuchi agreed.
Paul just nodded, but something in his expression softened. That was as close to emotional as Paul can get.
And it was enough.
July 2027
The fuel station robbery happened on a Wednesday night.
Abuchi didn't talk about it he did not to his village, or even to his classmates. He went to class the next day like nothing had happened, cracked the same jokes, wore his signature sunny smile.
But Paul and Chika saw through it. They noticed the minor shivering his body shook when he thinks no one was looking, the way he flinch at loud noises, they figured out hissomething was wrong.
Two weeks later, when Abuchi stopped coming to class entirely, they showed up at his door.
"We don't know what's wrong with you but Abuchi to be honest with you, we know that you are really seriously scared of something," Chika said through the wood. "Whatever happened, we know something's wrong."
"Yoo!! I'm fine,nothing sup at all ,how can mighty Abuchi like me be scared,"( Am fine, nothing is wrong at all) Abuchi lied from inside. "I just dey sick, man go bounce back by next tomorrow."(am just sick,by the day after tomorrow I will recover )
"We're not leaving," Paul's firm voice.
And they didn't. They sat outside his door for three hours. Other students walked past, looking at them strangely,
" where they shut out of their room??"
"Shush they can hear you, lower your voice "
"But seriously e be like say dem provoke the one inside.."( But seriously, it's like they provoked the person inside ).
Paul and Chika just sat there in the hallway like they had all the time in the world.
Eventually, Abuchi opened the door.
His eyes were red. His room was a mess. He looked like he hadn't slept in days,with the panda pattern under his eyes... luckily his roommate have traveled home, otherwise there will be a banter.
"I'm a.... coward," he said. The words came out broken and slurry. "My manager died. They shot him !! And all did was to hide. I just hid and did nothing...." He narrated the whole event to them.
They didn't tell him it was okay,they did not blame him too.
Paul sat down on the floor. Chika followed sitting crossed legged.
And they just stayed like that while Abuchi cried. While he told them everything, while falling apart in a way he'd never let anyone see.
Hours later, when he finally ran out of words, Abuchi said while practically sobbing with snot nose, "you guys should leave. I'm pathetic. You won't want to be around this."
"Too bad," Chika said with a slight smile on his face. "You're stuck with us."
"Always," Paul added his eyes gleaming with a strong conviction.
And that was the thing about brothers. They stayed. Even when staying was hard, when there are every reason to leave.
They will stay.
March 2028
Something happened to Chika in March.
He wouldn't say what.He just disappeared for a month.
He stopped attending lectures,went offline and stopped showing up to their Friday dinners.
Paul and Abuchi kept the tradition anyway.
Every Friday,they order three plates at Mama Ngozi's. One for Paul, one for Abuchi, one for Chika who wasn't there.
Week four, Mama Ngozi asked, "Your friend, he no dey come again?" (Your friend isn't coming anymore?), her middle aged face filled with curiousity.
"He'll come," Paul said with absolute certainty, while looking far into a distance like he can see Chika on his way.
And on week five, Chika showed up.
He looked terrible, he had lost weight, with panda darker circles under his eyes.
His expression was the most shocking change, he was looking like a wooden puppet...
He sat down at their table and stared at his plate. The one they'd ordered that day even though he hadn't been there in a month.
"You guys waited," Chika said. His hoarse.. voice, made Abuchi shift uncomfortably in his sit.
"Always," Paul said, his eye litting up with promises that doesn't need words.
And that was all they needed to say.
March 2029
Paul's crisis started with a pregnancy test and ended with him seriously considering dropping out of university.
Precious is pregnant. An unplanned and a very terrifying and dreaded experience since they are yet to marry.
The average Nigerian youths reaction is to reject having anything to do with the pregnant lady, but Paul didn't. Although he barely had enough money to feed himself and now there was going to be a baby.
"I can't do this," Paul, for the first time,his voice was tinged with panic as he told them at Mama Ngozi's, his voice barely above a whisper.
"I can't afford this seriously... My parents will kill me. I should just drop out, get a job, figure something out." clenching his fists as that was his final decision
"No," Chika shouted immediately. "You're not dropping out."
"I don't have a choice "
"Yes, you do." Abuchi's voice was firm, no jokes this time around. "We can help you. That's the choice."
Paul shook his head. "I can't ask you to "
"You're not asking," Chika interrupted. "We're telling you, whatever you need, we've got you."
And they did. They picked up extra work. Chika did tutoring, Abuchi focused on campus jobs. Whatever they could find. The money went straight to Paul. He tried to refuse, but they wouldn't let him.
When Hope was born in November, Paul held his daughter and cried for the first time since any of them had known him.
Chika and Abuchi waited outside the delivery room. It was three AM in the midnight. Neither of them said they'd been terrified Precious wouldn't make it.
Neither mentioned how Paul had looked like he was dying when the nurse told them there were complications.
They were just there waiting.
When Paul finally emerged, holding his phone with a picture of Hope, he looked at them and said, "Thank you."
Two words,few as usual ,but they meant everything.
.....
December 23, 2029 | 11:38 AM
Present Day
Paul reached the Philosophy building first. He leaned against the wall in the shade maintaining a combat - ready posture.
Ding!
His phone buzzed.
Precious again : Darling, the doctor says it's respiratory infection. It's not serious.We just need antibiotics prescribed by him and we are okay.
Hew.....the relief was physical. Paul let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding, As he begins to type.
Good news, great news. I'll be home soon....
Precious: No you won't my dear she replied. You have your friends. Spend time with them. We'll see you later....
Paul smiled despite his stoic face. She knew him too well. She has always been like that, watching him silently.
Abuchi appeared a minute later, looking like he'd been running. Or maybe he is just anxious. With Abuchi, it was hard to tell since he hid everything behind that performative smile.
"Bros!" Abuchi's voice was too bright. "Paul. You don early." (You're early.)
"You're late."
"woke up late."
There is no waking up late, Abuchi is always up early,a habit he boasts of. They both knew it, but Paul didn't push.
They stood together in comfortable silence. Four years of friendship meant they didn't need to fill every gap with words.
"Chika go soon comot?" Abuchi asked. (Will Chika be out soon?)
"His lecture ends now."
Right on cue, students started emerging from the Philosophy building. End of morning classes. The campus would empty fast now as everyone dispersed for lunch or afternoon plans.
"Three musketeers," Abuchi said quietly. "it's been four years."
"Still standing," Paul agreed.
"Think we'll make it to graduation?"
Paul looked at his friend. He really did looked, he can see fear he is hiding behind his smile.
"Yeah," he said. "We'll make it."
Abuchi nodded, and for a second his smile was real. "Good. Because I'm not doing this without you guys."
"You won't have to."
They fell silent again, waiting for Chika. The sun beat down overhead. Students moved around them in familiar patterns. Everything was normal and ordinary and exactly like every other day.
Except Paul couldn't shake the feeling that something is wrong. Something that would test everything they'd built, that will force them to make good on all those promises they'd made each other.
He checked his watch. 11:40 and thirty seconds.
5 minutes until everything changed.
Paul didn't know that. So he just stood there with his brother, waiting for their third, thinking about how lucky he was to have found them.
Thinking about how he'd do anything to protect them.
Not knowing he was about to get the chance to prove it...