I am Shade, a young undergraduate student trying to find her way through the craziness of campus Life. “VALENTINE’S DAY IS OVER RATED”!

Believe me when I say this, because I really mean it. It is highly is over rated! Okay, Before you crucify me, hear me out first;

It was January 12 when my roommates reminded me that Valentine was about a month around the corner. For a moment, my heart skipped. Then I wondered how that affected the price of food in the market… you see, no correlation. So also, I had no correlation with Valentine. Little did I know I was about to begin a Marathon “30 days search for a Val”.

Few days later, things began to get a little tensed. I was reminded as often as I remembered my name that I must bring a Valentine gift home. I am the most senior student in the hostel room shared by six of us and they expected me to celebrate it for them. So I decided to take them all out to an eatery or probably buy the food and bring it home, it’s that easy right? So I thought.

Now, things got more tensed when I was given a condition. They wanted the gift to be from a Guy, I mean ‘My Guy’. Okay now that’s the height. Where on earth was my hustling single self supposed to get a ‘Guy’ before Valentine? This has to be a joke. Unfortunately, it was no joke. So the search began… don’t even laugh at me, I mean, my ‘dignity’ in the room depended on it.

From sending a ‘hi’ broadcast to every male on my contact list, to having long boring conversations all day, to uploading the most flattering (rolls eyes) pictures of myself, to showing unusual courtesy, to wearing a smile even in my dream… good Lord! I tried it all.

All they had to say was: ‘you’re such a good girl’, ‘I never knew you had this side to you’, ‘you’re so much fun’.  So much for all my efforts! At this point I decided to educate my roommates about who Saint Valentine was and the purpose of the day. Guess what? They were more than ready for it, so it didn’t work.

Long story short, it was 6:30 am on February 14, I woke up on the right side of the bed, lol. We exchanged greetings and all, and then I set out for school. I had lectures from 8 am to 4 pm. I had a very long hectic day. I hesitated going back to my room because I really didn’t have the strength to argue. I summoned courage and returned.

“Sorry, wrong room” I said at first on getting to my room. Then I re-checked the room number and entered again. “Whaaaat? Is this really our room?” The room was decorated with red ribbons beautifully tied from corner to corner. Hand crafted cards with the sweetest words ever were dangling from the ribbons. There were candles on the floor. It was like a movie. Everything was perfect. I could perceive fried chicken amidst other foods. My roommates were grinning from ear to ear.

I forgot I was tired, I even forgot the stress of searching for Val. “you guys are the best” I shouted. Then one of them said “so it wasn’t you?” Now I became seriously confused. I made about seventy six facial expressions within three seconds.

Apparently, a friend to my roommate joined my roommate’s boyfriend and they carried out that surprise plan for her. I found out the next day, because I was too ashamed to sleep in the room that night. I pretended I had books to read and headed back to class in hunger.

But my room mates were kind enough to keep a huge piece of chicken for me. Long story short, the chicken was sweet, as I am here finishing up the chicken as I am also finishing this article, I am wondering, Valentine’s day is truly over rated! These girls were almost ready to break my neck if they did not have a memorable day. Thank God for the boyfriend of the roommate that bailed me out indirectly.

This is a fictional piece from Edema Ebunoluwa, my one and only! So what do you think? Do you think it is truly over rated? Is Valentine’s day the only time to show love for special people? Let us know in the comments section. Merci beaucoup!