It would be my first time living with strangers, I lived with my grandma as a kid and my aunt's place in Lagos when I was a teenager. They are my family members and being with them didn't feel like I was far from home.
The news about my admission into the university really made every member of the family happy and it was a dream come true for me but when it was time to leave for school, I couldn't imagine staying away from my family. I have never left their premises since birth and doing it all of a sudden made me very uncomfortable.
A lot of scenery played in my head and I couldn't stop thinking about what my roommates would look like in the hostel.
"Will they be nice? Clean or dirty? Will they be the noisy type?" I asked myself a whole lot of questions and there were no answers for them.
Deep down, I already made up my mind to cope with whatever my roommates turned out to be and so I arrived on campus. As I dragged my bag around trying to locate my hostel, I saw many students dragging their stuff and with the look of things, anyone could tell that they were freshers like me.
After some time, I arrived at my hostel and said my prayers before knocking on the room door. I prayed that my roommates were good people and thinking about it now made me laugh.
"Are you lost?" A student who saw me standing at the door asked while I was praying.
"No, I am not," I replied and finally knocked.
"The door is open," A soft and sweet came from inside the room.
As I gently opened the door, my heart raced.
I stood like a tree staring at the girls and they were also smiling at me.
"Alhaja," One of them broke the silence. I guess she called me that because I was wearing a hijab.
"Hi, my name is Balikis. I guess I am the last occupant of this room," I said since there were three of them in the room already.
They introduced themselves to me and within an hour, we were already relating like we had known each other before and my worries about what kind of people my roommates would be became a thing of the past.
We started on good ground and I love it. We cooked together, walked to classes together and the bonding was smooth. As time passed, I noticed unusual behaviour among the girls and it was troubling.
Whenever I went to the bathroom, I felt like they gossiped about me but I couldn't figure out what exactly they were talking about. All I knew was that whenever I entered the room from the bathroom, they always acted weirdly. The room becomes silent and while at the door I could hear them even though it wasn't audible.
I really wished to talk about it but it wasn't just my style of doing things.
"Could it be because I wash my clothes every morning?" I asked myself one morning while washing the clothes I wore the previous day before having my bath.
"It can't be," I assured myself and just continued what I was doing.
The semester ended and I told my friend at home about this weird behavior of my roommates and she advised that I spoke about it.
"What if they feel offended and decide not to interact with me anymore? I wouldn't be able to cope among them," I expressed my fear but she insisted.
Instead of watching until resumption, I asked the girls on the WhatsApp group we created for interaction.
"Am sorry girl but I feel like you guys don't like something about me and instead of correcting me, you talk about it behind my back. I feel very bothered," I dropped the message and patiently waited for their response which didn't come until the next day.
"It's the first time I have seen someone who washes clothes every morning and it feels like you aren't real to me," Gloria the oldest among us replied.
"You are a clean girl but we feel like you are just trying to impress us," Aishat also replied.
I was shocked to know that my washing habit caused the gossip and honestly, that's me.
I don't like having my dirty clothes kept and no matter how tired I am, I make sure I do my laundry every morning.
"It's not what you guys think and I am not trying to impress anyone. This is just me, I do this even when I am at home." I replied to them and we chatted more.
They apologized to me and when we arrived, I didn't allow anything to affect our relationship.
I was even surprised to see them emulating my every morning washing habit and it made me famous in the hostel. Many students in the hostel don't know my name but when you mention the students that stay longer in the bathroom, they know who I am.
After our final exam, I was reflecting on my journey in the hotel and most especially with the girl when I remembered how my cleaning habit made them think I was trying to impress them meanwhile that's just who I am.
