After secondary school, the twins made three unsuccessful attempts to get into the university. In the fourth year, they gave it all their best and prayed that fortune would smile on them as they were unwilling to spend another year at home. Their University Matriculation Examination (UME) result was released and they scored above the cut-off mark. They were set to move on to write the POST UME. They had chosen two of their dream schools and going for the POST UME was a step closer to their goal. The twins made their way down to the University of Ibadan and then the University of Ife. They didn’t spare any effort, it was going to be the year they entered the campus. Kingsley applied for electrical engineering and Lucinda hoped to study international relations. They prayed, studied and after the POST UME, all that was left was to wait.

Kingsley was the first to break the bank. His name had come up on the admission list into the department of electrical engineering in the University of Ibadan.

His joy was illimitable.

He had work hard and prayed even harder. He had earned a right to be happy. When the final list from the department of International relations came out without having Lucinda’s name on it, he felt like a well without water. He loved his sister so much and knowing that she didn’t get admitted made his joy incomplete. He even contemplated rejecting the admission. They had planned it all out. They would get into school and continue to be there for each other. He couldn’t imagine living her alone in their uncle’s house. The final date for the acceptance of admission was announced and Lucinda was still without admission.

He was going to turn down the admission but Lucinda insisted he accepted it. Uncle Christopher, didn’t support him rejecting the admission either. All his parables about branches of a tree growing in different directions didn’t make much meaning to him at that moment. He wanted to be close to his sister, he wanted her to be happy.

Two days to the final date for the acceptance of admission and Kingsley got a sign from God. The University of Ife started to give out admission. They went straight to the list of student admitted into the department of international relations. Kingsley and Lucinda razed the roof when they saw her name on the list. She screamed, he held her in an embrace. They danced and then calmed down.

The twins were now undergraduates.

… To be continued