Critical Decision

You met her by pure chance. You were wandering around the hostels one evening and noticed what looked like a fellowship being held in one of the halls. Being the curious fellow that you are, you decided to peek in. You were suprised to discover there was no one playing the keyboard. The choir looked strangely bereft as they sang only to the music of the drums. Before you could stop yourself, you walked up to where the instruments were and you started playing the keyboard. Yes, you felt better then. The music sounded much better. After the meeting, you were surrounded by welcoming faces.
\”Thank you so much, you played so beautifully,\” the president of the small fellowship said. \”We\’d like you to join us whenever you can.\”
You were pondering on that when she walked up to you. She was small and delicate, with a mischevious glint in her eyes. She held out her hand to you. \”Hi, my name is Salewa. I liked hearing you play. I\’d always wanted to know how to play the keyboard. Do you mind giving me a few lessons?\”
You smiled. \”Sure. Why not?\”
You fixed a time that would be most convenient to both parties and the lessons began. Salewa was a bright student and you were amazed at the amount of progress she was making in such a short time. Soon enough, she would be able to take over your playing in the fellowship. During your piano lessons, you discover a few things about Salewa. She was bright, she was talkative and she was playful. Maybe a little too playful. She tended to do some unexpected seemingly harmless things; like ruffle your hair, touch your shoulder ever so often, trace a line on your arm. The first time she did it, you ignored it. The second and third time you chalked it to her playfulness. But she kept doing it and you kept getting more uneasy. One evening, her hand lingered on your arm and you knew you had to say something.
\”Salewa stop it, you are distracting us from the lesson.\”
\”What do you mean?\” she asked, her face the picture of perfect innocence.
\”You know what I mean,\” you say firmly as you remove her hand from her arm.
\”What if I do not mind the distraction?\”she asked as her face inched closer to yours. You gulped and ignored her question and continued the lesson. For three subsequent lessons, she seemed to have gotten the message. However, the day before, she managed to make her arm linger on your shoulder seemingly by accident. She smiled coquettishly as you flinched. You realized this was getting to be a problem. You didn\’t want to stop the lessons because she was making so much progress and you were discovering that she was learning, you were learning along with her. You also didn\’t want her to stop the lessons because it was getting harder for you to meet up with the fellowship\’s activities. You had your own fellowship that you were so commited to. Should you just go on and ignore her mischeif until you get her to the point you can leave? Perhaps, the night before was just a mistake. Or maybe not. Should you just give up on the lessons? Should you threaten to leave? What is the best way to deal with this?
By Ifeoluwa Odedina