2

Preface

For my Mother, Morenikeji Bolaji Falodun.

1968-2022.

3
 1.
The First Meet
“This was the definition of an hourglass shaped
woman, the coca-cola bottle.”

T wo weeks ago my aunt who stays in Ado Ekiti called me

and told me she's sending one of her friend's daughters
over. She had just gotten a job here in Lagos and she needed
a place to stay for the meantime.

I had told my aunt that it wouldn't be a problem since it was for

like max a couple of weeks. Between two to three weeks she
would be gone, I thought to myself.

The thought of having a female stay with me in my self-

contained apartment was weird.
This wasn't someone I was dating, she was just a random
person who I did not know before.

I knew I wasn't going to be comfortable with it, but I had no

choice.

Occasionally my friends visit and stay over but none of them

had stayed more than a few days. I was single also, so there
was no boo to spend endless nights with.

Nonetheless whenever I did feel horny, I wasn't short of girls to

call to quench that sexual urge but I never let them stay more
than three days so they don't get too comfortable.

4
You could call me a hoe all you like, but I cherished my sexual
and emotional profligacy. The last time I fell in love, it ended in
premium tears and I told myself never ever anymore.

As a 27 year old boy, yes a boy as I do not completely see

myself as a man yet. Maybe because I look so much younger
than my age, my folks have been on my neck to come home
with a woman.

"Ola, what else do you want? you are perfectly okay financially
and God has been faithful, bring a wife home for us please."

My mum will always say this whenever I go home. I always

made them understand I just wasn't ready at the moment and
that they should stop pressuring me.

Now back to reality, Friday morning I'm at work and my phone

rings. It was my aunt.

"Ola bawo ni?" she says.

"In okun ma" I greeted back in our Ekiti dialect.

"In okun" and "in ora" were probably the only lines I could
speak in Ekiti because they were basic greetings.

Once she starts to "tule" like this in the dialect, I get lost.

"Okay my dear, the girl I told you about last week is already on
her way to Lagos, I have given her your number and she will
call you."

She had that Ekiti accent but she was learned and I enjoyed
listening to her talk. We spoke for a few more minutes and I

5
promised to be a good host to this mystery guest. In my mind I
was expecting probably one of these village girls with an
intonation and an innate local ideology.

"How was I going to cope?" I thought to myself. Omo, I'll have

to just endure the next few days.

I took permission from my boss to leave early because I had a

visitor and he obliged after he made me confirm from the HR
that I could leave.

Traffic wasn't too much from Ikeja to Ketu and I was home in
less than 30 minutes. This was around 2pm already and I still
hadn't gotten a phone call yet. I took a quick shower and
changed into shorts and a shirt.

I lived in a room and a parlour self-contained apartment which

was a bit spacious though. I sat on the couch, switched on my
Tv and was listening to music. I had taken a bottle of fearless
energy drink from the fridge and was cooling off.

I hadn't done that for like ten minutes when my phone rang. It
was a strange number, I knew it was her.

"Hello," I said.
"Hello, good afternoon," came the soothing calm sweet reply
from the other end.

This could not be her, this voice was too sweet.

"Hi, good afternoon," I replied.

"My name is Olaide, am I speaking with Ola?"
"Yes, you are." I replied again.

6
"Your aunt gave me your number so that I'll be staying with you
for some time here in Lagos,” she answered.

Goodness me, yes it was her, I'll be damned. She was as fluent
as a linguist and she had no trace of local intonation in her
voice. Man, I was humbled.

"Oh yes Olaide, where are you now?" I asked.

"I'm at Ojota park, I just got off the bus."
"Okay, take a bike from there and say you're going to Ketu.
When you get to Ketu bus stop, call me, I'll be waiting for you
there and we will come home together".
"Okay." She said and she hung up.

I switched off the TV with alacrity and set out as I locked my

door.

The bike to Ketu wouldn't take up to 5 minutes. I didn't want to

keep her waiting because I hate being kept waiting too and
God knows how much luggage she was coming with.

I took a bike from my street and within three minutes I was at

the busy bus stop.

Damn it was so noisy. Napeps everywhere, the express was

filled with cars, buses and danfos. People hopping in and
hopping out to catch a bus to their destination or to alight.
Lagos, such a busy stressful sight.

I stood at the feet of the pedestrian bridge waiting for her phone
call. I prayed and hoped this sight wasn't overwhelming for her
as I thought she was a "village girl".

My phone rang and it was her.

7
"Where are you?" She asked.
"I'm at the foot of the pedestrian bridge," I said.

Turns out she was at the other side. I told her to use the bridge
and meet me on the other side. I was putting on a black shirt,
brown shorts, and then I was wearing glasses. I would have
told her to cross but I didn't think she was cut out for it just yet,
she was a JJC.

Standing at the foot of the bridge, I was looking up trying to

picture her coming down. In my mind I was expecting a girl with
probably tribal marks, black in complexion, possibly carrying a
ghana-must-go bag.

I saw an old woman with a bag on her head and I knew God
forbid that's her.

A young lady with heavy make up and a skimpy gown with a

box that looked like that of make up also walked past. As much
as she looked so attractive, I knew it wasn't her.

Seconds later I could see a wonderfully crafted female figure

coming down.

She wore a backpack and held a travelling box in her hand.

As she got closer, her beauty became more lucid. She was in
blue jeans and a purple round neck shirt. Her hair was on
braids and her face was ovally shaped with lips smoothly
carved on a perfectly sculpted body.

This was the definition of an hourglass shaped woman, the

coca-cola bottle.

8
"Damn!" I whispered.
"They don't make them this gorgeous anymore" I thought to
myself.

I kept staring at her till she got down and walked past me. I
knew I was carried away by this goddess but I had to stay
focused on the bridge so as not to miss my guest. I kept
looking and I couldn't see anyone.

I picked my phone to see it was ringing.

Yes it was her.

"Where are you?" I asked.

"I'm at the foot of the bridge," she replied.
"When did you walk past me? I've been standing here all
through!" I calmly asserted.

"I saw a lot of people putting on black shirts but I couldn't see
anyone in glasses" she gently replied.
I could sense tiredness in her voice. I looked at my hand
holding my glasses. I had taken them off my face while I was
admiring the beautiful goddess that just passed me, I wanted to
see her clearly.

It was a busy day and people were walking everywhere. I put

my glasses back on and began to wave so she could see me.

"Yes I can see you now" she said, " walking towards you".

I turned around to try and sight her and then I saw the girl from
before, the goddess, walking towards me.
"Oh, freaking kill me! No fucking way!!!" I thought to myself.
"Hell no! It can't be" I muttered.

9
She kept walking towards me and I was glued to the spot,
fixated on her movement towards me till she got to me.

It was the goddess, it was freaking her! damn! her beauty was
resplendent and grandeur to behold as she got right in my face
and smiled.

Her smile was as gorgeous as her beauty and her curvaceous

body made me floored on the spot.

"Hi, Ola right? I'm Olaide".

I wasn't expecting this.

10
 2.
The Talking stage
“The very first day and we were already
keeping malice?”

I unlocked the door to the house and led her in.

Oh, you guys want to know what happened after she

introduced herself at the bus stop right?

Well apart from my bewilderment at her beauty, I had to

comport myself by being a gentleman and help her carry her
travelling bag.

We took different bikes back home and while she insisted that
we both could take the same bike, I rejected the offer.

"Emi ko lo ma koba" I thought to myself.

So my penis should stand as we are on bike abi? before I know

it, I'll go see myself on twitter. Small followers and prestige that
I've been trying to gather, I go use premium dragging from left,
right and centre to destroy it, no, thank you.

"Okay, you're welcome to my humble abode" I said as we

entered and I locked the door behind us.

There was still light and sharply I switched on the fan and TV.

11
"Please have your seat, let me take your box inside the room.”

I went inside the room and dropped her box by the wardrobe.
I took a deep breath and wondered how the next few weeks of
my life was going to be, living with a female for that long?
I hope I can do this. As I was still soliloquizing, she spoke.

"Woah! Your bedroom is very nice.”

It was Olaide, she had come into the room.

"Oh thank you" I replied.

"Hummm, you can have the bedroom and I'll sleep on the
couch.”

I don't know what made me say that. How could I be thinking of

the sleeping arrangement at that moment?

She laughed.

"Are you serious?" she asked.

I stood timidly and smiled, "hummm, yes I am.”

"Ola, this is your house and you can sleep on the bed, I'll sleep
on the couch," she replied.

"You're a guest here and I need to make you feel at home," I

said.
"If you want me to feel at home, then why don't both of us sleep
on the bed then?"

She said this with a straight face and I was shocked.

12
"Arrgh! What the hell" I thought to myself. "You and who?"

I didn't know what to reply with but still I spoke.

"What would you like to eat?" I asked.

She smiled and looked at me. She knew I evaded her

question and I wasn't ready to argue it again.

When night comes and I leave the room for her, she shouldn't
sleep now.

I was in denial and I knew it.

Olaide was so damn attractive and the fact that she had a
confident bubbly personality that was standing up to me was
making me go mad, albeit in a good way.

"What do you have?" she asked.

The truth was that there was nothing in the house at the
moment.

"Errrm... I was thinking in the direction of ordering you food." I

chuckled.

"Ordering me food?" she responded and smiled as she walked

away.

I followed her because I felt it rude walking out while I was

talking to her only for me to discover she entered the kitchen.

"Omo, disgrace." I thought to myself.

13
My kitchen was a mess.

Different packs of food from the whole week and dirty plates
laid on the sink. I had planned on washing them all by the
weekend.

"Jesus Christ!" she screamed.

"I'm going to wash them all tomorrow morning'" I retorted.

I was embarrassed but still was proud as I knew her reaction

was a tad exaggerated.

"Your kitchen is an eyesore!” she exclaimed.

I have never been so humbled by an insult like this. It wasn't

kuku her fault, it's my aunty that caused all this. Something I
was going to wash by the weekend.

"Are you going to tell me what you want to eat or not?" I asked
as I left the kitchen and sat on the big couch facing the TV. I
looked at the time and it was almost 5pm.

"Rice would be fine," she said.

Initially I wanted to order food but I changed my mind and

decided to go get food from the Chicken Republic at CMD road.
I needed to take the walk to clear my head and prepare for the
next few miserable weeks of my life.

About 30 minutes later I came back to the house with the pack
of food and drinks. I dropped it on the table and walked into the
kitchen to wash my hands and I was stunned at the sight.

14
My kitchen was sparkling neat.

I scoffed and smiled.

Who sent this girl message bayii? Did I say I cannot wash my
kitchen?

As I left the kitchen to walk into the bedroom and tell her food
was here, I could hear water drops from the bathroom.

The bathroom was in the bedroom and it's the first

compartment by the left as you enter. I walked into the
bedroom and I looked to my left obviously hoping the bathroom
door was closed, I froze instantly.

Olaide was all covered in soap sponging her body and I was
staring at her from behind.

I could basically see her naked. Her body was ebony toned and
basically flawless. Her boobs weren't too big but they stood firm
and I could see her nipples stand firm with the lather as I could
see them from her side posture when she turned.

"Oh gosh! See creation!" I muttered in awe and as she poured

water on her body to wash away the Soap, she turned around
fully to see me staring at her.

"What the hell, Ola?!" she screamed.

"Omo, mo tii fuck up" I thought to myself as I walked away

while she closed the bathroom door.

15
This wasn't my fault, She was the one who didn't close the
bathroom door. Yes, I blame myself for staring but this was my
house and I wasn't accustomed to having a plus one yet.

I sat down on the couch and began to eat my food while

watching the TV. I knew when she did come outside, it was
going to be awkward and I might get a backlash.

I was ready for it though, I wasn't going to pretend I was right,

all I needed to do was to apologize.

Few minutes later, she walked in quietly and sat on the sofa
beside me. She didn't say a word as she was dressed in her
pyjamas.

She opened her pack of food from the table and began to eat.
As she ate, she brought out her phone and was
pressing it.

I was done eating and was pressing my own phone too while
still watching the TV.

This was awkward and I didn't want to be the first to break the
ice.

Twenty minutes later, she still had not said anything and I
couldn't take it any longer.

The very first day and we were already keeping malice?

"Ola, l am actually very sorry, I didn't mean to err.." the words

couldn't come out of my mouth.

Olaide was smirking. "Didn't mean to do what?" she asked me.

16
"You know what I mean." I replied.
"No, I don't." she answered.
"Fine! I'm sorry for mistakenly seeing you naked," I speedily
said.
"Mistakenly seeing me naked?" she scoffed.
"It wasn't intentional, the freaking door was opened! How's that
my fault?" I replied.
"The fact that your legs were glued to the spot and you couldn't
walk away was my fault baa?" she asked.

I sighed and replied, "I'm sorry.”

"Very well," she said as she smiled and continued.

“If you want me to accept your apology, we have to be even".

What the hell is this girl saying? I thought to myself as I gave

her a confused look.

“I don't follow?" I replied.

"Tomorrow morning, when you are having your bath, you will
also leave the door open and I will see your nakedness too.
That's the only way we can be even," she said with a straight
face and a smile.

I chortled and turned to look at her well. "Is that it?" I asked.
"Yes." she replied.
"How about I get naked right now in front of you and we call a
truce?" I asked and she laughed.
"That would be delightful" she answered back.

I stood up and was jokingly about to take down my briefs as we

were both laughing when my phone rang.

17
It was my friend Sam.

"Idiot, how far?" he asked.

"I dey, wetin dey sup?" I replied.
"Ehh, your PS4 is still dey? guys dey come your side tomorrow
morning come flex till evening before we go choir practice," he
said.

Hell no! I didn't want them here, not when I just had a guest. I
totally forgot to tell them I might be having a visitor. I know how
they can be around girls and I wasn't ready for taunts and
banters.

"Ehya, I no dey around for now o, I don travel, shey make we

do am next week?" I replied.
"Okay na, no lele, take care." He said.
"Goodnight." I replied as I hung up the call.

"Phew! I just dodged a close one" I thought to myself. I sat

down and apologized once again to Olaide and this time she
said it was fine.

Eventually she was the first to sleep and she went into the
bedroom. I stayed up late to still press my phone and I don't
know when I slept off on the couch till Saturday morning.

I was still enjoying my sleep when I heard knocks on my door. I

ignored thinking it wasn't my door but the knocks kept on and I
was surprised.

"Who could it be this early morning? it's just 7:45am for

goodness sake."

I stood up clearly still dizzy and went to open the door.

18
Oh for fucks sake!!!

It was Samuel, Tony and Tunji, my friends. These three idiots

still came after I told them I had travelled. There was a caught.

I wasn't ready for this.

19
 3.
The Intruders
“Your guest is asking what we want to eat,
meaning she wants to cook. When was the last
time we cooked food in the house?"

“ What are you guys doing here this early?" I asked as

gradually the sleep was beginning to clear from my eye.

"Ọmọ! Samuel talk am sha." Tony spoke.

"Talk wetin?" I asked as they brushed me aside mildy and

entered.
"That you will be at home na." Tony replied.

They walked in and sat on the couch facing the TV. I locked the
door and sat on the sofa on the right hand side.

"Ola, you know say you foolish gan?" Sam began to speak.
"why did you lie that you travelled?".
"I didn't lie, I just ..." Tunji cut me short.
".. didn't say the truth abi? idiot,” he said with a smirk.
"Or is there a woman in this house?" Sam asked.

I stuttered as I tried to speak, "well, yes and then ermmm no.”

"Werey, what do you mean?" Tony asked.

20
I took a deep sigh and narrated to them all how it happened,
from my aunt's phone call right till this very moment.

"What the hell?! Waoh! You have a roommate?!" Sam

screamed.

He was the loud one among us and the funniest.

A Short bearded handsome fellow. He's an accountant and has

never really had much luck with love. Thing with him is that he
falls in love so easily and could do anything for anyone he
loves but most of the girls he's been with always took that for
granted.

"Reduce your voice nau," I beckoned. “She's probably still

sleeping, do you want to wake her up?" I continued.

"Ola, are you sure you can see this through? I mean are you
sure this can work out?" That was Tunji.

He was the smartest among us, a tech guru with keen eyes for
details. He was of average height as myself with a well built
stature because he worked out a lot. Out of us four, he was the
only one with a stable relationship. His girlfriend Tinuke was a
nurse who had been in London for two years. How he coped
with the distance was what I couldn't always phantom. She was
coming home soon in a couple of months.

"Tj, I have no idea. But for now, it doesn't seem so bad" I

replied.

"Just wait till a week and I bet with you, you would know what
hit you!" Tony retorted.

21
Now Tony was the playboy among us. Tall, dark and
handsome. He didn't have small beards like me but he was
good looking. He is a lawyer and a very good speaker. He has
no serious relationship as he completely shut out his heart to
love after a girl he once dated broke his heart five years ago.

"Wait till a week till what will happen?"

That was a feminine voice and as we turned to look at where it

came from, it was Olaide standing at the bedroom entrance in
her pyjamas.

Even her morning face was still so gorgeous.

"Now who do we have here?" Tony said as he stood up and

walked up to her. “Good morning beautiful, you must be the girl
we have heard so much about?" he said with a smile. She
chuckled and replied.

"You've heard so much about me? I've not even spent a whole
day here yet".

He gave a big grin.

"It doesn't matter how many hours you have spent, what
matters is how many more days, weeks and months that we
will spend getting to know each other."

"Oh please come off it you hoe!" Sam retorted and we all
laughed.

"Tony, let the beautiful lady be." said Tunji with a calm smile.

22
I didn't tell them that I mistakenly saw her butt naked. I had to
keep that to myself because I know my friends would pressure
me to give them a detailed description of how her body was.

I stood up and walked in front of the TV. I faced them all and
began to speak.

"Okay guys, humm, let me Introduce you all to Olaide. She's

going to be staying with me for a couple of days. Olaide, these
are my friends, Tony, Tunji and Sam.”

"Nice to meet you Olaide, I do hope you enjoy your stay here in
Lagos with my friend Ola.”

That was Tunji, short and precise.

"Thank you." She said with a smile.

"You're welcome to our humble abode Olaide and into our

crazy wonderful friendship because none of us here is normal,
don't let our gentlemanly looks fool you.”

This was Sam.

She smiled and replied, "Thank you so much, I myself aren't a

normal fellow and believe we will get along just well.”

"Hummm Laide, you are welcome, but do you have a

boyfriend?".

Guess who that was.

"Tony! Are you mad?" I screamed.

23
He was laughing.

"Ola it is fine" Olaide replied as she was chuckling.

"Tony, right? Well I think I should let you know first of all that I
don't like being called "Laide", I would prefer you call my name
in full or you simply call me Ola and no, I do not have a
boyfriend".

She said this with a friendly and casual demeanor with no

negative vibe. I smiled and was proud that my guest, oh sorry
roommate rather, was so damn courteous. Tony apologized
with a laugh and walked by to the couch to sit.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all and I do hope we share lovely

times together".

They all smiled and she excused herself to go back into the
bedroom.

Tunji switched on the TV and Sam began to set up the PS 4

console. I excused myself from them and went into the
bedroom to talk to her.
I met her seated on the bed, pressing her phone. I walked right
in front of her and stood.

"I'm so sorry about this, I was not expecting them this morning
and I …”
"Ola, it's fine." She cut me short alluringly.

"This is your house for goodness sake, you don't have to

explain anything to me. I am a guest here, so it's fine. I'm not
bothered about that at all."

24
I felt a little relieved.

"Hmmm ... Okay then. I better go brush my teeth and get back
to the room with them before they think we're doing something
here," I said with a grin and walked away.

I went into the bathroom, picked up my brush, put some paste

and began to brush my teeth.

By the time I was done after like three minutes, I turned and
was about to leave the bathroom only for me to see her
standing at the door with a towel on her body.

My heart began to race fast. This girl was flawless.

I just stood there and looked at her and by the time l wanted to
leave, she spoke.

"Not so fast Mister."

"What again bayii?" I thought to myself.
"You know you owe me something?" she said.
"And what's that?" l asked.
"You were about to drop your briefs down last night so I could
see you naked but you didn't." I cut her short with a laugh.
"Ola please, that was a joke, I ain't showing you nothing" and I
walked out.

My skin brushed her smooth ebony bare skin as I walked past

and in my mind, I hoped that her towel would fall and I would
get to see her naked again, but it didn't happen.

Call me a pervert all you want.

I went back into the room and me and the boys were playing
FIFA.

25
It was a loser drop console game and we kept on playing at
turns. Tunji was the one trashing everyone. Since he took the
console during his turn for almost six games now, he had not
dropped it.

Olaide walked in and stood at the kitchen entrance. This was

around 10 am now.

"So what are you guys going to eat?"

We all paused to look at the pulchritudinous and dazzling

creature in front of us. She was a beauty.

We all had spoken about her looks and beauty while we were
playing the game and Tony had said he was going to chop her.
I told him to keep his “hoefull” dick away from my roommate.

Sam asked if I had plans for her and I said I can't be dating my
roommate. Tunji was of the opinion that nothing amorous
should happen between us.

"Are you guys just going to keep staring at me or tell me what

you want to eat?!"

I looked at her and replied, "I was thinking we were going to

order food from..."

"Werey shut the fuck up!" Sam interjected me.

"Every time it is order, order, order. You suppose don get

shares from Jumia food sef ..."

26
They were all laughing. It wasn't like I didn't like cooking, but I
just didn't like the stress.

"Your guest is asking what we want to eat, meaning she wants

to cook. When was the last time we cooked food in the house?"
he asked.

"Humm, let me see, Tony cooked us some watery beans that

was equivalent to a sacrifice two weeks ago, we were purging
for days.”

Tunji was the one speaking now as Tony quickly interjected,

"You guys know I cook good beans o, I don't know what

happened that day, the beans no just wan soft so I had to keep
adding water."

"Alaye shut up!" Sam retorted and we all laughed except Tony.

"..and last week Ola made spaghetti jollof and I have to say it
was nice but our tongues burnt from too much pepper. Kilode,
you want to kill us?” Tunji continued.

"Shey it's you guys that said you wanted pepper?" I tried to
defend myself.

"Oshey, Pepperito!" Tony chipped in and they all laughed. He

was happy he wasn't the center of the joke this time around.

"Okay guys, enough of the blame throws. How about I make

you guys jollof rice and Chicken?" Olaide said to calm and
soothe the ambiance.

Sam stood and spoke with gusto and excitement.

27
"Olaide, God bless you! The Lord will bless you again! Like He
will super bless you my dear.”

We all were laughing. I just sat on the sofa and was looking
with a smile on my face.

"Okay then, where is the nearest market? so l could go get stuff

and ingredients for the meal" she asked.

"See ehn, don't worry, I will follow you there" Samuel said as he
excused himself from us walked towards Olaide.

"Let me go get money so you can buy what you will need" I
said also. I stood and wanted to go to the room to go get
money as she stopped me.

"Ola, don't worry. I have enough money with me. This is on me"
she said with a chortle.

"Hell no!" I said, "I'm giving you money.”

I had to insist, I wouldn't let her pay for this the very first time
she decided to cook.

"Fine then!" she said with a smile.

I walked past them and went into the room to get some money
from my wardrobe. I counted like Five thousand naira and
came back to the parlour to give it to her.

I was shocked and dumbfounded to find only Tunji and Tony in

the room playing the game. I checked the kitchen and no one
was there.

28
"Ode! they've already gone" Tony said to me with a chuckle.

"I just went to get money to give her, how could she leave?!" I
spoke as if I was angry and surprised at the same time.

"Ola, you have a very feisty and clever one here. You both fit
each other,” Tunji said with a chuckle.

I shook my head and sat down where I sat before smiling.

"If it makes you feel any better, we fit use the money bet
sharply now, me and you." Tony said as he licked his tongue.
"Make I quickly chop your money.”

"It's like you're mad” I replied to him and we all laughed.

Tunji was trashing him 4-0 still in the first half and the idiot had
the audacity to still challenge me.

"On second thought, oya set your 1k, make we bet, e be like
say you dey craze," I said with a chuckle.

Tunji humbly left the game for us and we began to select teams.
"This should be fun" he said as he went to the fridge to get a
bottle of water.

29
 4.
The Contest
“When the game was finally over, Samuel was
just screaming and hailing Olaide.”

A bout an hour later, Olaide and Sam entered with nylon

bags filled with foodstuffs.

The bags were big and full and something in me told me this
wasn't just ingredients for jollof rice.

The shock on my face when Sam dropped what he carried in

the kitchen and went back to carry yams. Tunji and Tony were
playing the PS 4 while I sat down and was pressing my phone.

"Ah egbami!" I thought to myself.

This girl was already stocking up the house. Inasmuch as it

was a good gesture, I wasn't expecting it.

"Ahan, una wan do party ni?" Tony asked with a chuckle.

He had actually beaten me black and blue and won all my 5k.

Gambling wasn't for me because I knew I could beat him on a

normal day.

30
Shamefully I had dropped the console and given it back to Tunji
who I knew could handle him.

"Oga wetin be your own na?" Sam retorted. "Face your game,
cos if I enter now, I go come beat you!"

"Beat who? you no see as your Oga (he pointed to me) dey
gentle ni? I don flog am chop all him money" Tony replied with
an evil laughter.

I wasn't in any mood for banter so I stood up to go meet Olaide

in the kitchen.

I walked into the kitchen to meet her already at work set to

cook.

On the kitchen table were fish, meat, ponmo, crayfish and

every assorted sort of ingredients.

"Olaide," I called out to her gently.

"Yes ola" she replied without even looking at me.

Slowly I began to speak;

"I don't understand. Everything I am seeing here seems to be

too much for jollof rice, why this much foodstuffs?" I asked.

She kept on doing what she was doing for some seconds
before replying to me.

"And after today, won't we eat again in the house?" she replied
still without looking back at me.

31
"Oh! So let me get it, you bought foodstuffs for the house
without telling me about it?" I asked.

This time around she paused, turned around and looked at me

with a serious quizzed look.

As resplendent as she looked, it was also equally intimidating.

"Olaoluwa" she called my name.

"Yes,” I replied as we both looked at ourselves.

"Have I done something wrong in buying food that we both

might eat together for the next couple of weeks?" she asked.

"No actually, you haven't." I replied.

"But..." she interjected.

"No, wait Ola, let me finish. You let me into your home, a total
stranger and I want to repay that gesture by making my stay
here very palatable for you and I am starting with this,” she
continued.

I took a deep breath.

"I am sorry and I understand Ola, I just felt you should have told
me before you did it as a proper roommate would," I said as I
chortled just to change the tone and ambiance.

She smiled and replied, "well if there's something you're going

to learn about me in the next couple of weeks, it is that I do
things by impulse".

32
"At least tell me how much you spent on this so l can at least
reimburse you" I asked.

"Oga, forget it. If I want money from you, I'll ask".

"Omo see audacity" I thought to myself.

This girl was giving it to me hot but instead of being angry, I

was loving her persona.

I laughed and told her it was fine. I proceeded to try to help her
do some work with the food. As I tried to touch the fish to wash
it, she tapped my hands.

"Ouch! what's that for ?" I asked.

"What are you trying to do?" She asked back.

"What does it look like l am doing, of course l am trying to help

you," I replied.

"I don't need help Sir, oya leave my kitchen. I'll let you know
when food is ready"

I scoffed and laughed.

“This girl eh,” I thought to myself. My own kitchen was already

her kitchen and she just bounced me out.

Lmao, "we shall see" I muttered.

It wasn't as if I wanted to help before, I was just trying to be a

gentleman. I looked at her for a couple of seconds cooking,
smiled and left.

33
About 30 minutes later, she came into the room and met all
four of us.

Tunji and Sam were playing this time around and sat on the
long three seater couch facing the TV. I was on the sofa on the
left hand side. Those were the only furniture in the room as the
fridge was on the other side.

"Where am I going to sit like this?" she said as she entered

and our attention was diverted towards her.

"You could come sit on my lap right here" Tony said with a sexy
smirk.

That hoe, very shameless.

And with confidence she replied with a chortle.

"Are you sure if I sit on your lap, you won't pour in seconds?"

"Oh my god!" I muttered with a smile.

She just threw a sexual jibe at Tony. Tunji and Sam were
laughing. Tony knew he needed to clap back and fast.

"Why don't you come sit first and we find out how long I can
last?" He said with a grin.

"Would you keep qwayeet!" Sam retorted. "ashewo!".

"Ola, why don't you stand up and let the lady sit," Tunji chipped
in.

34
I looked at him and the three of them. I wanted so badly to ask
them "why me?" but I knew if I did, they would insult my life.

They were going to choose her side over mine. I stood from the
couch and she walked there and sat.

"Food would be ready soon guys" she said.

I went to where the fridge was and leaned on it as I kept

watching my friends play and still was pressing my phone. She
enjoyed watching us talk, insult each other and throw jibes.

After a couple of minutes, Tony began to rant about how he just

won my 5k. The 5k that I wanted to give her before to get
foodstuffs.

He brought out the money and said he was going to use the 5k
to buy suya and put plenty of onions in it.

Everybody knows I hate onions and they all laughed at it

except Olaide.

They were still laughing when she spoke.

"Tony, can we play together?" She asked, staring at Tony's

direction with a smile.

There was a pause. We all looked at her.

"You want to do what?" Tunji asked.

"I think she's joking," Sammy added.

She smiled and spoke.

35
"I want to play soccer with Tony. He won Ola's money right?"
"Yes I did" he replied proudly and with a smirk.
"Then let's play together then, me and you. And we will bet that
same 5k".

She was sounding very confident and we all were surprised.

"You want to play FIFA with me and bet on top?" Tony asked
with a scoff and laugh.

"Ola, where did you get this girl from?" he asked me.

I didn't talk, I was just looking and smiling.

"Are you sure about this?" Tunji asked her.

"Affirmative, except of course Tony here is scared like a

chicken" she replied and we all laughed, albeit Tony.
"That's it!" he screamed.
"Give us the consoles, let's play".

Tunji and Sam handed over the consoles. Tony checked his
wallet and counted an additional 5k.

“This is 10k, you don't have to place a bet, if you beat me, you
can have it all!" he said with gusto and confidence.
"Alright then" she said.
"But wait, .." he said again.

"On second thoughts, If I beat you, you have to go on a date

with me.”

"Ashewo!" Sam shouted and we smiled.

36
Olaide also smiled and told him she was game.

No girl had ever challenged him this way before and I'm so sure
his condition was a way to make her pay for challenging him.

He was used to getting his way with women and we all knew
that. We all just wanted to enjoy this sight. It was obvious he
was going to beat her because there was no way she could
know how to play sef.

She asked Tunji to help her select "Manchester City" and do

formation.

Tony used "PSG" and was even taunting her that she couldn't
do her own settings herself. She just smiled and took her
console back to start the game.

Then it was time, the game began.

Not even three minutes into the game and Tony scored the first
goal.

This was going to be a massacre and I knew it. I was pressed

immediately and I went to the toilet to ease myself. As I was
easing, I felt my tummy rumble and I knew l needed to defecate.

"What kinda shit was this?" I thought to myself.

But as much as I wanted to watch the game, I took solace in

the fact that Tony would still trash her and I wouldn't be missing
much. I sat down and began to take my dump.

Shortly after I began to hear shouts. I didn't know what was

happening but I was so sure Tony had started scoring again.

37
A few minutes later again, I heard more shouts. It was mainly
Sam's voice I was hearing as he was hailing maybe Tony I
guess.

"Who sent this girl to go and humiliate herself bayii?"

Tony was probably enjoying trashing her because I knew he

wouldn't go easy on her at all because he wanted that date so
badly.

I stood and cleaned up as I felt I had done justice to my bowels.

As I was about to come out, I heard another shout again.

I smiled and thought to myself what humiliation my roommate

was getting.

"Ola ooo, come and see o!!" I heard Sam shout as l entered the
parlour and as I looked at the screen to see the scores, I was
shocked to the bone marrow.

"What the fuck?!" I said out loud.

"You see ehn, it's that what the fuck gan gan o." Samuel replied
to me loudly while laughing. I was stunned, flabbergasted and
bamboozled.

"Ola this girl is something else," Tunji said to me as he

chuckled.

The game was almost over and Olaide was leading Tony 5-3.

38
"Who the hell are you?" I muttered as I looked at her playing
and smiling while the look on Tony's face was like he wanted to
die.

Werey!

When the game was finally over, Samuel was just screaming
and hailing Olaide.

"See your life outside!” Tunji said to Tony as he packed the

money from the table and was counting it to spite Tony.

"You sure say this money is complete like this?" He said with
laughter and we all laughed.

He was about to hand over the money to Olaide when he

paused and held it back. He dipped his hands into his pockets
and counted an extra 5K totalling 15k and gave it to Olaide.

"You deserve this," he said with a smile.

She took the money and stood up to go check the food in the
kitchen.

"Where did you learn how to play like this?" Tony asked with a
defeated quizzed look.

His voice was very low and he felt like an idiot. Werey was
humble.

"It's not important," she replied.

"Let me go get you guys your food, it should be almost ready

now," she added as she walked away.

39
As she passed me, she handed me the money and smiled.

"Would you keep this safe for us roomie?"

She winked at me with a chuckle and went into the Kitchen.

Tony burst out of the room and said he needed some air as
Tunji and Sam were taunting him. l just smiled and was
wondering in my mind, what the coming weeks had in store for
me with this beautiful amazon.

40
 5.
The Ten Commandments
“All I'm saying is that we set ground rules that
would guide us for the duration."

O laide's jollof rice was very delicious.

I have never had a home made jollof rice that was so

sumptuous. Even the boys enjoyed the meal and showered her
encomiums.

By the time we were done eating, they decided to do the dishes

and let her rest a bit as a show of gratitude. Even Tony became
more receptive after his loss to her and we had a great time.

We argued about different things, threw jibes and jokes. Her

responses and takes on certain issues were spot on and it
showed she had good reasoning.

Soon it was time to leave for rehearsals.

"Guy, how far? make we dey go rehearsals,” Sam said as they

all stood up.

This was around 3:30pm and rehearsal was at 4pm. I was

reluctant and didn't want to go because of my guest.

41
"Humm, I don't think it is proper for me to leave Olaide here
alone you know," I replied and they all laughed.

"What's funny?" I asked them.

"You know we have our 40th anniversary next year, and Mr

Ogunniyi wants all hands on deck. Ode, aren't you even the
part leader of bass?" Tunji replied.

We all were choristers actually, we had been for years since we

were kids. Myself and Sam were in the bass part while Tunji
and Tony were tenors. Mr Ogunniyi was our choir master, a
very feared and respected old man whose ears for music were
unmatched.

"Me missing one rehearsal would not affect anything nau, I trust
Sam and the men in my part,” I replied.

"Shut up Olosho! we are going together werey,” Sam screamed.

"I'm so sure Olaide would be fine alone in the house but if

you're really bothered, I can stay back to keep her company,"
Tony said.

He had been quiet for a while and just spoke. We all laughed
again. Olaide was seated and watching us talk. She didn't
bother to get involved.

"It's like you want her to give you more trashing abi?" I asked.

"You leave us together and when you come back, you'll know
who has trashed who. She got lucky ..." he replied with a smile,
"... and she knows it".

42
I wanted to reply and before l could say a word, she interjected.

"Ola...it's fine, you guys should go to your rehearsals. I'll be fine

alone, don't worry," she replied.

"Are you sure?" I said as I looked at her.

"I'll be fine," she replied again.

"I will use the time to clean the house and put it in order".

"Oya, goan wear cloth Mr Part Leader." Sam jibed with a

chuckle and I went in to get dressed while we all set for
rehearsal.

They all hugged her goodbye and said they looked forward to
seeing her in church the next day. I smiled at her and told her I
would be back before 8pm.

Before 8pm, I was back to the house and as I entered, the

whole room looked different. It was sparkling clean and well
arranged. Not that I didn't clean my room regularly, but I guess
her female touch was what made it different.

I didn't know where she got the particular air freshener from,
but my room was scented so differently.

"Olaide!" I called out and I got no response.

I dropped the cold stone ice cream and pizza I had bought for
us on the table and walked into the bedroom.

43
Before I got there, I could hear sounds of water splashing from
the bathroom and my heart began to beat fast.

The devil in me was praying "lord please, let the door be

opened again," while the angelic voice in me was saying "that
door had better be closed".

I didn't have time to allow any of the thoughts to settle as I

walked past and noticed the door was closed.

"Dammit!" the devilish thought said. "Oh, thank God!” my

angelic side retorted. I knocked on the door.

"Ola, I'm home" I said through the door.

"Okay, welcome, how was rehearsal?" she asked.
"It was fine, thank you," I replied
"I will be out in a minute, okay".

I walked to my bed and lay on it. I knew I might not get to sleep
on it in a long time. I was so tired and drained from the
rehearsal and before I knew it, I was already about to doze.

I was so sure I hadn't been asleep for up to five minutes when I

felt a wet tap on my legs. It was Olaide.

"Hey, are you tired? won't you go shower?" she asked.

"It's fine" I replied, "I will have my bath later".

She was already dressed in her pyjamas.

"Food is ready" she said and my eyes widened.

"Food is what?" I asked.

She had made dinner.

44
"There is semo and efo riro. I had wanted to pound but I totally
forgot you didn't have mortar and pestle,” she replied.

I had never had that particular delicacy in my house.

I hated making semo, I was never good at it because it always

had koko. I was a fufu and eba guy. Fufu was easy to buy and
eba was easy to make.

Before I could even respond, she dragged me up and told me

to follow her. I sat on the couch and switched on the TV.

Minutes later, she came with the food.

"Goodness lord!" I exclaimed.

I had never seen a more garnished vegetable soup in my life.

Stockfish, ponmo, crayfish and diced meat were in abundance.
I began to picture how fat and fresh I would be in the next one
month.

As we ate, we began to converse.

"What should we do with our 15k?" she asked. I smiled before

responding.

"Technically it's your money, not mine,” I replied.

"Well," she paused.

"It is our money, I won it for us".

"Wait I don't get it, how did you know how to play PlayStation?"
I asked with utmost curiosity.

45
She laughed.

"There's a whole lot of me you don't know actually, but humm,

let's talk about it tomorrow okay?" she requested.

"Why not tonight?" I inquired.

"Because l am very tired and I just want to enjoy tonight with

you," she replied.

I was done with my food now and washed my hands.

"How long do you think you'll be staying here for?" I asked her.
I really was curious and I needed to hear from her.

"Well, I am to resume on Wednesday. I really apologise for

invading your privacy but I literally have no one reasonable to
stay with here in Lagos. So l hope to stay till I can get on my
feet to get my own apartment. I have some money saved up
though, so when I have enough, I will be out".

"Houses in Lagos are damn expensive, I do hope you know

that?" I asked.
"That's why I need to have enough," she replied.

I stood up, packed our plates from the table as she was done
also and took it to the kitchen. I brought fresh water for her to
wash her hands.

After returning it, I came back to the room and sat with her. She
was already scooping her own ice cream and took a slice of
pizza.

46
"Okay let's say you probably might be here with me for a
minimum of three months then right?" I asked as I sat.

"Hopefully it shouldn't be more than that," she replied.

"Alright. Having a girl as a roommate is not something I have

ever done before and I'm sure probably you haven't either,
right?" I asked.

"No, I haven't,” she responded.

"It's incredible right?" she smiled as she was chewing her pizza.

I chuckled at her sarcasm and I took my ice cream.

"All I'm saying is that we set ground rules that would guide us
for the duration."

"Yes! I was thinking in exactly the same direction" she replied.

"Okay, we are agreeing on this and it's a good step," I posited.

"Chill Ola! get a pen and paper, we are putting this in black and
white" she smirked.

I smiled and reached for a piece of paper and pen in the drawer
where the TV sat.

"Okay you go first" she said.

I thought for a while before speaking.

"You're not allowed to date any of my friends or anyone I know

in particular.”

47
She looked at me for a moment, with a straight face and smiled.

"you want to put that there, in the rule book?" she asked me.

"I already did actually, it's number one on the list" I replied with
a smile.

"You cheeky son of a bitch!" she muttered with a giggle.

"Which of your friends do you think is my type?" she asked.

"I don't know, I don't care, I just don't want conflict of interests,"
I replied.

"Wait, are you talking about just the three of them or the other
of your friends I may meet in the future?" she asked.

"These ones are even the good ones, the rest are worse, the
same rules apply to everybody," I replied.

"Fine, and you aren't allowed to date any of my friends too,

right?" she asked.

"Do you have female friends in Lagos?" I asked.

She smiled and told me not to worry. We kept on going about

some other rules and all and by the time we were done, we had
nine rules already set.

"Let's add one more rule to make it ten so we can call it the ten
commandments.” she said with a wink.

"That's very smart," I replied with a chuckle.

48
I was already trying to rack my brain to think of something while
she hit me with it.

"Oya write it down,” then I bent to write, "rule number ten of

these commandments..."

I was eagerly awaiting;

"We are not to have feelings for each other".

"Oh no!" I thought to myself as I paused and looked at her.

This was very very awkward.

49
 6.
Commandment Number Ten
“This was no escapism, this was reality. We
were actually kissing.”

“ You're kidding right?"

I asked as I dropped the pen and turned to her. She smiled and
chuckled.

"Is that a problem?" she asked.

"No it's not,” I vehemently denied but deep down inside me I

didn't like Commandment number 10.

"Then insert it there," she said.

I chortled and laughed a bit.

"Why exactly would you want a clause like that?" I asked.

"You just said it's not a problem," she argued.

"Yes I did, but I'm permitted to ask why, aren't I?" I asked again.

50
"Yes you are, but it's my prerogative to answer it or not," she
replied.

"But it's imperative I know before this becomes binding," I put to

her.

She chuckled, dropped her almost finished Ice cream on the

table and leaned over to me slowly. As she approached me
gently, my heart was racing.

What the hell was she doing? I thought as I could smell her
alluring scent.

In my mind we were going to kiss and I felt like I was going to

melt. I closed my eyes and waited.

I was like "shebi it wasn't me that made the first move" and I
planned to just let her kiss me while l just stayed still.

As I was still fantasizing, I could feel her breath on my face.

"What was taking too long? why hasn't she kissed me yet?"

"You already have feelings for me don't you?"

I jolted back to my senses and I opened my eyes to see her still

sitting where she sat. She actually didn't try to kiss me, I had
wandered into an escapism.

"Fuck!" I muttered.
"Ola!" she called.
"Yes, what did you say?" I asked.

51
"What have you been thinking about since?" she asked with a
smile.
"Hum, nothing. I remembered something and I was calculating"
I replied.

"I know you're lying but it's fine. I asked if you already have
feelings for me because I don't see why you're probing for a
why," she said.

"Feelings for you?" I said with a scoff and smirk. “Not at all, but
I just feel something like that shouldn't be a rule.”

"Why not?" she asked.

"Well, we are going to be roomies for a long while and to be

quite honest and pragmatic, who knows what might happen?" I
replied.

"I do," she responded back.

"It's either one of two things, I fall for you or you fall for me,
either way it ends in tears.”

"What makes you think it'll end in tears?" I interjected with a

smile.

She was a smart and ingenious lady and was slightly above me
in wits.

"See Ola, I know what I'm saying, put it there joor," she replied
with a laugh and I knew I had to give in.

"Stupid commandment 10," I thought to myself.

52
The rule had to stay for now but deep down inside me, I knew it
would have to be broken.

Sunday morning came and I had to wake up so early to meet

the 7am service.

As an Anglican chorister, I wanted to robe and I told Olaide last

night.

I gave her the description of the church and she promised she
was going to come. I left the house early while she was still
sleeping.

All through the service and from my Choir pew, I kept perusing
through the congregation trying to find her but I couldn't see her.

I had totally given up and was already planning on how I would

verbally scold her when I got home.

But to my surprise, during communion, while we were singing

hymns, l saw her coming to the altar to receive communion.

Now this was weird because it wasn't proper for someone who
wasn't confirmed to come take communion in an Anglican
Church.

She was dressed in a white long native gown and looked so

radiantly beautiful and stunning. I could see older men staring
at her as she proceeded to take the body and blood of christ.

I wandered away to some erotic thoughts of me eating her

body and she drinking my humm..

53
"For goodness sake Ola! you're in the Choir stall!" I said to
myself and I focused back on singing my hymn.

First service was meant to end by 10am but we finished by

9am which was very early.

The second service was to start by 10am and I still was going
to robe for it.

Myself, Tunji and Sam all robed except Tony.

It was weird because we all agreed to robe and we never sly

each other except when something came up.

As the Choristers and the priests recessed and were outside. I

stayed to see her come out from the church building.

People were coming out and it was rowdy and noisy. A lot of
greetings and conversations were going on everywhere.

"Have you guys seen Olaide yet?" I asked them both as we

stood at the entrance.
"No we haven't" Samuel replied. We were all looking around
trying to find her.
"I was actually trying to locate where she sat, but I couldn't,"
Tunji said.

It would have been hard because the church auditorium was

extremely big.

"That Tony boy eh, he deceived us by not robing and only God
knows why," Sam said.

54
I wasn't even in the mood to think about Tony's sly at the
moment just then Tunji spoke.

"I think I know why.”

He dragged us both and pointed in the direction he was facing

and from afar, we could see Olaide walking towards us but this
time she was walking with another guy.

I began to wonder how she had made friends with someone so

fast but my wonder began to have a distaste when I noticed the
native attire the guy was putting on was familiar.

Goodness me, it was fucking Tony!

I was boiling mildly where I was.

How the hell did they jam each other?
Was this planned?
So this was why Tony didn't robe?

I kept thinking in my head things and questions.

They got to where we were and Olaide greeted Sam and Tunji
with a hug. She smiled at me and I smiled back to hide my
disgust at Tony.

He was smiling and he knew he had messed up.

"Guys, I am so so sorry, I swear, I overslept.”

"You did what?" Sam retorted, "werey ni e.”

"I'm finding it difficult to believe you though," Tunji said calmly.

55
"He’s a fool na, I know he meticulously planned this" I added.

"Why don't you guys believe me? you think I would deliberately
sly you?" he asked with a smirk, "why would I do that?" he
added.

"Why else won't you?" I replied, "so you could have spare time
with Olaide while we are in the second service".

"Oh common Ola, I don't like your tone," he said.

He was trying to change it for me and I wasn't going to let him.

"And what are you going to do about it? In fact ľ'm disrobing
right now, I ain't doing the second service again, Olaide let's go
home," I said as I turned to leave angrily.

I had walked a few steps but Tunji caught up with me and held
me back.

Goodness lord!
Why was I angry?

I had no idea.

I was being overprotective of Olaide as if she was mine and

she wasn't.

Knowing the kind of person Tony was, I was scared Olaide was
going to fall into his trap and I didn't want that.

My jealousy was getting the better of me.

56
"Ola calm down, you know you are the one leading praises for
the second service,” he said.

I took deep breaths and calmed down.

"Olaide is here, and how do you think she would feel watching
us all fight like this?"

I totally forgot about her. She was quiet all through as she
watched us perform. I walked back to where we were and Sam
was already talking to her to calm the ambiance.

I met Olaide speaking.

"... oh, I enjoyed the hymns. I am also an Anglican from Ekiti so

the service was delightful and even more modern.”

"That's wonderful and I hope you decide to make our church

your abode of worship," Sam replied.

"Certainly," she said and as she noticed me, she smiled.

"Anthony Joshua, kaabo," She was taunting me.

"I'm sorry about that,” I chuckled as I replied.

"Well, I guess I'll see you guys later, I need to go home to

prepare what me and my roommate would eat,” she said with a
big grin.

"Alright then, I'll escort you," Tony said and I blatantly

interjected.

"You will do no such thing!" I sternly said.

57
"Ola!" Tunji said and Sam pulled me away.

Clearly I hadn't calmed down.

"Tony, please make sure she gets home safe," Tunji said.

Tony smiled and obliged by nodding his head.

They walked to the gate and left the church premises.

All through the second service, I wasn't myself.

I was wondering what was happening if Tony had followed her

home or they went out together or whatever.

It was killing that I didn't know.

As soon as the service finished by 1pm, I removed my robes,

greeted Sam and Tunji goodbye and headed home
immediately.

If l didn't meet them at home, Tony was going to get it from me.
If l met Tony in the house, he was going to get it from me also.

I didn't take my key so I knocked on the door and patiently

waited. I didn't know what to expect. Seconds later she opened
the door.

She was putting on a bum short and a crop top. Her nipples
were poking through and I knew my fears were coming to
fruition.

58
I entered inside and as I checked the table, it was just as I met
it. Nobody had been here. But probably Tony was hiding in the
bathroom.

I was about to walk away and go check when she pulled me by

hand and drew me to her. I was surprised and was wondering
what was happening and before I could say "Jack Robinson",
she kissed me.

This was no escapism, this was reality. We were actually

kissing.

Oh damn!.

59
 7.
To Hell with Commandment Number Ten
"Fuck rule 10 o!" She replied to me with a
smile and kissed me again.”

T his was no joke.

Our lips were locked in a melismatic melody.

She wrapped her hands around me and I could feel her

reaching for my tongue with hers and I let her.

Oh fuck!

This was damn good.

Her lips tasted so sweet.

I still was doubting what was happening and scared to hold her
from behind. I wanted to portray myself as a proper gentleman.
Yes I wanted this, but it all felt so surreal.

I was contemplating locking my hands around her perfectly

curved buttocks when she took my hands from behind and
placed them on her ass herself.

Omg!!

60
"Jisos! What manner of soft bum is this?" I thought in my mind.

Now I knew there was no going back, this was consent in its full
authority and I could go full throttle.

I was ready and for the past three days, I had waited for this
moment.

I gently squeezed her ass with my right hand and used the left
to brush through her hair. I slowly began to kiss the nape of her
neck and she began to moan.

"Olaaaaa,” she moaned.

I loved how she called my name as it aroused me more.

As I kissed her neck, I wanted to go down to her already

pointed boobs but I decided to enjoy this.

I kissed her cheeks and moved to her ears and that was where
she went crazy. She shrieked and I knew that was her spot.

"Olaaa, nooo… stoppp," she whispered in her moans but hell

no! I wasn't going to stop.

I had her right where l wanted and I continued.

I put my tongue into her earlobes and began to lick it

thoroughly. I scooped her ear skin and got all of it in my mouth.

She was madly enjoying this and I kept tongue fucking her ears.

I was luxuriating in this so much until I felt her hand go down

my trousers and touched my already hardened manhood.

61
Omo I shook and shifted back a little.

That was so unexpected and before I knew it she was

unbuckling my belt.

She dipped her hands into my boxers and picked up "Jon

Thomas".

I went crazy at her touch and I moaned in masculinity.

Her hand was soft and smooth and she kept wanking me
backwards and forwards. She was in charge now as I left her
ears and stood while she fondled me.

My “Jon Thomas” was hard and it wanted to be harder than it

was if it could.

Before I knew it, my trouser was down my legs and she bent
down. I was about to tell her not to, that I am not a fan of oral
sex but before I could get to talk, it was too late.

"What in the actual fuck!!" I screamed muffledly.

She had gobbled down my manhood with her sexy lips and
was mouth fucking me.

Her celerity was perfect as she wasn't too fast or too slow. She
made sure the cap of my cock was perfectly and adequately
dealt with as she licked me like a lollipop.

This was mad. Never have I ever had a blow job this good.

Olaide was a sexual dragon!

62
After a couple of minutes of being in the zenith of ecstasy. I told
her to get up and she smiled at me. She was enjoying this. We
were still both on our feets and I decided that I wanted to be in
charge. I wanted to show her my hoe side.

I took off her crop top and stared at her gorgeously made
boobs.

"Dammit!" I muttered.

They were perfect. I cupped them with both my hands and

gently squeezed them. They were so soft and I bent over to
suckle on her already hardened nipples.

They tasted so good and I fondled them, teasing her with the
flow. I nibbled on them as I played with the nips with my tongue.

I created circles with it and slapped it with a suckle.

She was moaning and held my head with both hands.

I made sure both boobs got equal servicing because I was an
advocate for sexual equality.

What surprised me in all of these was that she was silent. All
she did was moan and threw me sexy glances and stares. I
knew what I needed to do and asking questions wasn't part of it.

Slowly I undressed her bum short and pulled it down. She was
on a thong and I squeezed her ass again.

"Come, follow me," I said as I held her hand and led her to my
bedroom, our bedroom.

63
We stood at the edge of the bed and continued to kiss again for
a while. Now this time around, we had taken off all our clothes.
She turned me over and pushed me on the bed.

I knew what this meant as she was ready for action.

"Don't you want me to..”

She shushed me.

I was going to ask if she didn't want me to suck and eat her
pussy too but I guess she knew and didn't care.

She climbed over me and kissed me. I was curious as to how

wet she was, so I traced my hand down her and massaged her
honeypot.

It was dripping.

I continued to massage for a while as we were still kissing and

gently I slid in a finger to prepare the way for my penis.

I played with her clit and she moaned in my mouth. I could

sense she was in ecstasy and I was also at my apogee of
sexual pleasure.

I doubled my fingers and dipped it in, throbbing her deeply back

and forth till she couldn't take it anymore and she held my hand
to stop.

She adjusted herself forward, slowly grabbed my manhood,

gave me a sexy smirk and sat her pussy down on my dick.

64
"alakoskilakukalomodabalabadooooooo!” I screamed in my
thoughts.

Do not ask me what it means because I do not know.

She was so sweet and tight down there.

Languidly she began to ride me at a slow pace and l grabbed

the sheets as I looked at her.

I felt like a King watching an Amazonian beauty give me her

essence.

Her sex face was splendiferous and her looks were alluringly
refulgent.

She gradually began to pick up the pace as she bounced on

my ambrosial manhood like a horse rider with the reins in her
hands, only but I was the reins and the horse at the same time.

My nerves were tingling in sensations and I was enjoying this

as her loud moans filled the bedroom. I could feel I was going
to Cum and this was just barely 5 minutes.

"Hell no! abomination!" I screamed to myself as I leaned up and

turned her over.

She yielded to my movements and arched her back to me. I

looked at her ass and it was so smooth and beautiful.

I wanted to tap it, but I was scared she would change it for me
so I behaved myself so as not to ruin this moment.

65
I slid into her sweet cunt from behind and began to fuck her
slowly, gently holding her ass with both hands and thrusting
with authority.

At this moment, yes! I owned this ass.

"Faster!" she screamed gently but I could hear her and I knew
what she meant.

I rammed in with precision and speed and fucked her hard. Her
moans were loud as each thrust of mine was hitting the right
spots in her hole.

"Olaaaaa!" she moaned again and my head was sparking.

I loved my name being screamed during sex. It gave me more

power and energy and unknowingly she was doing this.

I continued ramming for close to fifteen minutes and I could feel

I was going to pour. I didn't know when I lost control and
slapped her ass loudly.

"Omo, mo ti fuck up!" I thought but she screamed "Yes! spank

me harder!"

I didn't waste time as I did it a couple of times more before I felt

I wanted to cum and withdrew my dick, cumming on my hands.

I was panting and breathing so hard.

Even with the air conditioning in the bedroom, I was in a pool of

sweat. I walked to the bathroom and washed it off my hands in
the sink.

66
By the time I came back in, she laid on the bed naked smiling
at me. I sat on the bed and looked at her with a smile also. I felt
somewhat shy and still couldn't believe that we had done all
these.

"That was good," she said and I chuckled.

"I am good, and I know it," I proudly replied.

She laughed out and leaned towards me, kissed me on the lips
and said,

"But I am better.”

I kissed her back and said "'you wish.”

The ambiance was nice and resplendent and I was curious so I

asked.

"Olaide, what made you kiss me? like how did all this happen?"
I asked with a low pitched voice, the bedroom voice.

She smiled before responding.

"I don't know, I guess I loved the way you were so

overprotective of me with your friends. You were willing to fight
him for me and it turned me on. I love my men being fierce.”

"Waoh," I replied with a chuckle.

"I'm an icon, you know, awa fierce gan.”

"Ode!” she called me as she laughed, "I guess the rule about
me not dating any of your friends stands then and is solid?"

67
"Yes, of course," I replied, "not even Tony can come close," I
added.

She smiled and looked at me. She was so beautiful and I

wanted all of her to myself, myself alone.

"I like you Ola, a whole lot. I never knew it would happen this
fast, but I do," she said gently.

"What about commandment 10?" I asked.

She giggled.

“You and I both know it was just a ploy to get you to not
misbehave".

"So fuck commandment 10 right?" I asked with a big grin.

"Fuck rule 10 o!" She replied to me with a smile and kissed me

again.

"Talking about fucking, why don't you fuck me again?".

Omo, my head sparked.

She wanted more of me and I was ready to give. I kissed her

and in seconds I was already on top of her, set to begin when I
heard a knock on the door.

I ignored and we kept on romancing but the knocks continued

and it began to piss me off.

"Who the hell could be at the door?" I thought to myself.

68
"I don't want to get it" I said to her fake crying.

She smiled and told me to go get it.

"I'II be here waiting. I'm not going anywhere.”

l opened my wardrobe and wore shorts. I walked to the parlour

and saw our clothes on the floor and smiled.

"It was probably one of my neighbours coming to ask me for

something," I thought to myself.

They had a flair so disturbing my precious time, especially Mrs

Anjorin.

I knew it had to be her, she was back from church.

I unlocked the door and opened it and I was shocked at whom I

saw.

My heart began to beat fast and I couldn't think straight.

I couldn't say a word as I was utterly dumbfounded and

flabbergasted.

It was my girlfriend Peju.

"Fuck!"

69
 8.
The Unwanted Guest
“I thought to myself that I wouldn't think about
this today, I needed to enjoy this moment with
Olaide and nothing would ruin it, not even Peju.
I would deal with her matter later.”

“ Oh goodness" I said out loud.

"Ola baby" she said as she wrapped her hands around me.

Now who is Peju?

Peju is a 22 year old student model.

She is beautiful, slim and curvaceous.

With a dazzling body structure, she was always the cynosure of

all eyes. She wasn't so busty but she had an ass that was
perfectly fitted for her size.

She was fair and possessed a well arranged dentition. Her

smile was a killer.

I met her about a year ago during my visit to the Obafemi

Awolowo University, Ife in Osun state.

70
I was invited by a friend who was a lecturer there to give a talk
about writing in the English department there during the
seminar.

She walked up to me after my lecture and told me she enjoyed

how I spoke and would want to learn more and perfect her
writing skills. She was in 200 level then and yet, had the mind
and reasoning faculty of an adult.

l obliged and before I left, we met like three times for drinks and
discussions. I had about a week after my lecture to flex and we
practically spent most of those moments together.

Two days before I left, she told me how she felt about me and
to be quite honest, I did feel something for her. I told her I felt
the same way and there in my hotel room we kissed and had
sex.

Oh yes, she was so damn good at it and I wanted more.

She had a test the following day and the lecturer was my friend.
I called him to please let her personally write her own test later
that she was helping me on some papers. He smiled and
agreed as he already knew what was going on.

"Olaa sha be careful, no problem," he replied.

The last day I had to spend there, which was a Saturday, I took
her to the Erin ljesha waterfalls in Osun state. We had so much
fun there and when we got back to my hotel room in Ife, we had
sex like three more times before daybreak.

71
She kept confessing how much she loved me and wanted to be
with me forever. I told her I loved her back but I needed us to
go slowly and see where this would lead.

She said she didn't care, that all she wanted was to be with me.
I told her I was hers already and that she shouldn't worry.

On getting to Lagos, I deliberately did not tell any of my friends

this, because I felt this was an ephemeral fling that would die
down soon on its own.

"She is a student and then she would have students toasting

and disturbing to keep her mind off me and all," I thought to
myself.

But I was wrong.

We were already dating and she took it so seriously.

Overtime she became very clingy.

Her phone calls were becoming so perpetual and frequent that

if I didn't pick up, she would flare up and start nagging.

As the mature one, I kept telling her to calm down, that work
could be so stressful and time consuming and that I would
make amends.

She didn't make things easy for me, nor was she ready to
understand.

I liked her a whole lot, so I couldn't break up with her, at least

not yet.

72
Whenever she came to Lagos to spend the weekend with me,
she would make sure I didn't pick any calls or go out alone.

In fact, there have been times when Sam and Tunji would call if
they could come over and I would tell them I'm not around or
that I have a woman around.

Whenever they heard I had a girl over, they assumed it was a

pussy appointment and they don't disturb till we see during the
week.

I never dared to tell them about her because I wanted it to be

discreet.

This had been going in for two years now and still nobody knew.

One thing that was in my favour was that she was based in
Abuja. Apart from her visits to me here in Lagos occasionally
during the weekends, whenever she had long breaks, she had
to go home.

I always maintained the relationship and did all I could to keep

her happy.

Three months ago, we had a huge fight.

I was working remotely that day and Tony was at work.

He called me to let me know that one of his girls would be

coming around and he's running late as he is in traffic. He
begged me to let the girl come around and wait at my place so
that he would pick her up soon. I told him no problem and the
girl came over.

73
This was around 7pm.

Tony would not reach my place till around 9pm.

The girl was dressed in "ashawo" clothes and looked so hot. I

made her feel so comfortable and got her something to eat and
drink before my friend came.

Eventually I got to know she was a hooker.

One thing led to another and before I knew it, we had a quickie
right there on the couch.

"Since she's a call girl, Tony shouldn't be angry" I thought.

I paid the girl extra and told her not to tell my friend about it.

"This is my job, no problem," she replied with a smile as she

had made enough money tonight while not even starting her
own appointment yet.

We exchanged numbers as she told me to call her whenever I

wanted to do this again.

Minutes later, I got a knock at the door.

I thought it was Tony, only for it to be Peju.

She waltzed inside without even greeting me well.

"Babe, what are you doing here?" I asked.

74
"Can’t I come visit my boyfriend again?" she asked as she put
her bag on the table and sat down.

Her eyes perused and saw the other bag already there and I
knew she was about to burst into anger.

"Ola, whose bag is this?" she asked.

"Oh, it's for a friend of my friend, she's waiting for him” I replied
in a calm manner as I knew I had nothing to hide.

"Your friend brought his female friend here and he's not here?
Listen to yourself Ola, does it make sense?" she said with a
scoff and I was beginning to get pissed.

"Are you seriously talking to me in this manner?" l asked sternly

as I was angry.

Just then the girl came in from the toilet, looking so hot and
damn sexy.

"Good evening," she said as she greeted Peju and sat down at
the couch on the other end. I wanted to introduce them to each
other but I didn't wanna make it all awkward.

Eventually I tried to speak, "Peju this is …”

Before I could say anything, Peju stood up, walked to where I

stood and slapped me. Not just any kind of slap, a very hot one.
I was dumbfounded and as I shook it off to look at her, she
walked away and out of the door.

I didn’t say a word, neither did I go after her.

75
The girl seated on her seat was surprised and tried to
apologise to me as she felt this was her fault.

She stood up and wanted to touch my cheeks but I told her not
to bother, that the only favour she could do for me right now
was not to tell my friend Tony what just happened.

She swore to it and that was the last time I saw Peju. I had tried
calling her for weeks after, I sent texts but she didn't reply.

Days later, I gave up as l assumed the relationship was over. I

didn't bother telling my guys because I wanted to put it all
behind me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked her as I closed the door
behind me to meet her outside. I didn’t let her come in.

"I came here to see you now Ola, I'm so so sorry about what
happened, let us go inside to talk,” she said with a teary voice
and melancholic face.

I wasn't buying it, but I needed her away from here this instant.

"Errrr, you can't come in now, my mother and my aunty are

around. They will be here for like a week,” I replied.

I had thought that was a good excuse to get her going back to
school.

"Okay it's fine Ola, but we need to talk okay? I am in Lagos for
now for my I.T programme,” she responded back, "so I’ll be
here for a couple of months.”

76
"Son of a bitch" I muttered.

"Okay then, we will see soon, maybe the weekend.”

She held my hand and spoke calmly.

"I'm staying with my uncle at Ojodu Berger, I just wanted to say

hi and to tell you that I miss you. Also to say I'm very very sorry
for what happened the last time I came. There is so much I
want to tell you baby, but just know that I love you so much.”

She kissed me on my lips and I just stood there and did nothing,
I didn't even kiss her back but deep down I knew I still cared,
even just a little.

"I'll call you," she said as she walked away.

"Wahala o,” I said to myself as I took a deep breath.

I thought to myself that I wouldn't think about this today, I

needed to enjoy this moment with Olaide and nothing would
ruin it, not even Peju. I would deal with her matter later.

I got back into the house to meet Olaide in the bedroom.

"Who was that? you took so long?" she asked.

"Oh, nothing important, just nosy neighbours,” I replied.

And with a sexy smirk she spoke to me.

"Take off your shorts and bury that big fat rod into my hole".

77
Oh yes, with that erotic kickstarter in my ears, I began to get
pumped up down below as I took off my shorts and joined her
on the bed.

78
 9.
Drama Queen
“Peju getting mixed up in my life right now was
something I did not want and she was a drama
queen. A very beautiful one at that.”

B y morning of the next day, Olaide woke me up around 6

a.m.

I had actually slept on my bed after a couple of days' absence

and I sure missed its comfort.

"Ola, wake up!" she said as she gave me a slight nudge.

"Hey, what time is it?" I asked as I was still so sleepy.

"It's almost 6am," she replied.
"Alright then" I said as I yawned, "I still have time".

I closed my eyes and tried to sleep back. My resumption time in

the office was 9am and I usually wake by 7am and still reach
the office at a good time. I liked avoiding the morning rush.

"Ola, I want to talk to you," She said as she nudged me slightly

again.

I was so sleepy but I didn't want to refuse her.

79
"Okay, what is it?" I responded as I sat up straight to listen to
her.
"Oh wait, aren't you resuming today?" I asked.
"No, it's till Wednesday," she replied.
"Okay, what is it then?" I asked.

She took a deep breath and looked into my eyes. It felt

awkward but I loved it.

"Ola, this can't happen again”.

The dizziness cleared from my eyes when I heard her.

"Come again, I don't get it," I replied with a dazzled look.

"I mean, we can't do this anymore. This must never repeat
itself," she reiterated.

I knew what she meant and all but I just wasn't expecting this.

"How can we have sex for the first time and then you tell me we
can't anymore the next day? what's wrong?" I asked.

"Olaoluwa, we're going to be living together for the next couple

of months as roommates, it is not a good idea. Besides, we set
up rules for this knowing fully well this might happen and it isn't
even up to a week yet and we've broken the rule," she replied.

"We didn't break any rule," I responded slowly with a slight

stutter.

I tried to play smart because I didn't want this to end, I really

liked her.

80
"Rule 10 of the roommate agreement states that we're not
allowed to fall in love with each other, it doesn't talk about sex
explicitly," I added.

“Oh, I see you're trying to play smart here right?" she asked
with a straight face.
"Of course not," I replied.
"So you're actually only seeing me as a sex object? a sex relief
right?" she said.

I knew I had messed up and what I really wanted to say didn't

come out right.

"Hey, don't twist my words," I said as I adjusted my position on

the bed.

"I didn't mean it that way, I just meant we actually didn't really
technically break any rules and until that happens, we don't
have to make decisions..”

She interjected me before I could say anything.

"Just forget it Ola! this isn't happening again period!" and with
that she stormed off angrily into the bathroom.

I sat there on the bed and called her as she was leaving.

"Olaide! Olaide! Ola!" I called out.

"Don’t call me!" faintly she replied from the bathroom.

I took a deep breath and sighed.

"Goodness me, what is all this, in just the fourth day?" I

muttered as I lay on the bed and covered myself up.

81
For the next couple of days, things went back to the way they
were at the beginning.

To avoid any sort of sexual happenstance between me and

Olaide, I started to sleep on the couch again. We began to
relate well as friends.

She started her work at Yaba. l asked her how much she was
going to be earning, but she never told me. She said it wasn't
important and I let it go.

Well, there was this time once while we were watching a movie
together in the living room at around 11pm, there was an erotic
scene and instantly we looked at each other. It was so
awkward, I cleared my throat and coughed while she smiled.

"Do you like humm, errr, yunno, wanna ..." I tried to say albeit
jocularly as she cut me short with a chuckle.

"Wanna do kinni?! oniranu ni e Ola, I'm going to bed," she

responded clearly laughing while she stood up and went into
the bedroom.

I laughed also and shook my head.

She really meant this. But deep down I knew if I was persistent
and could show her that I really cared for her, we could work
out.

I stared at the movie I was watching and the sex scene was
getting intense with the moans filling the whole room. I
switched it off in annoyance.

82
"Eyin werey, emi ko le ma koba, a o ni ri ogun masturbation.”

That night, I dreamt and saw Peju in my dreams. The content

of the dream was vague, but I knew she was there. My mind
began to draw towards her and I knew l'lI had to call her just to
check up on her. She had been calling and texting me for a
while now and I wasn't responding.

Most of her texts were apology texts, telling me how she was
sorry for what she did and that she truly loves me and misses
me. Inasmuch as I was angry at her for what she did, I still felt I
needed to see her and at least talk to her. I had proposed in my
heart that eventually I was going to end it with her before
Olaide ever found out.

Nobody should even find out.

Peju getting mixed up in my life right now was something I did

not want and she was a drama queen. A very beautiful one at
that.

So on one Friday evening, I decided to return her calls. I had

been so busy at work that I was a bit delayed.
I stared at the time and it was past 8pm. I didn't want to make
the call when I got home so I swirled on my seat and dialled her
number.

"Hello, Peju" I said as she picked.

"Ola, oh thank God you called me," she replied with
enthusiasm and in a fiesty manner.
"Yeah, how are you?" I asked.
“This is even nice, I'm actually at your door right now, I just
knocked, come and open the door," she said.

83
As I heard this, I jumped up from my seat.

"You are where?!" I asked again.

"At your place nau" she answered.

I was uneasy, perplexed and shocked. I began to pray that

Olaide wasn't home yet, but this was past 8pm, except there
was traffic, she was going to be home. I decided to keep it cool.

"Oh, I'm actually not at home right now, I'm at the office, how
about we meet up somewhere?" I asked.

Just before she could reply, I heard someone greet her and she
greeted the person back.

Oh shit, it was Olaide.

"Olaa, I thought you said there was no one at home?" she

asked me.
"Well, humm, that's my err sister who is ....” she hung up.
"What the hell?" I muttered.

Peju just hung up on me, I dialled her number back like thrice
and she didn't pick up, I knew there was trouble.
I didn't want to call Olaide so as not to raise suspicions but I
hoped that Peju actually walked away and didn't cause a scene.

I closed my system, packed up, left the office and set off for the
house. There was less traffic and all I could think of while in
transit was what had happened between Peju and Olaide. I
kept praying and hoping that Peju didn't cause any trouble.

84
I got to the house and knocked on the door with my heart in my
mouth. Seconds later, Olaide opened the door and I was
relieved.

"Ola, welcome. How was work?" she asked as I entered.

I was so happy she was alone and that her countenance was
lively which meant nothing had happened. Just as I was about
to reply to her, I looked at my couch and imagine the shock on
my face.

Peju was seated there, all smiles, waiting for me.

85
 10.
Tag Team
“If I was going to die, this was the perfect time,
particularly if both of them had decided to
poison me for my deceitfulness.”

“ Hey baby" she said with a smile as she stood up to meet

me and kissed me right in front of Olaide.

I was perplexed and just stood still. I turned to look at Olaide

who walked past us and went into the kitchen.
I knew something fishy was going on already.

"Peju, what the hell are you doing here?" I asked her in a low
tone.

"What's wrong?" she replied, "can't I come spend the weekend

with my boyfriend?"

"Now is not a good time," I said to her as I was running mad but
did everything possible to conceal it. "Why didn't you tell me
before you came?" I asked again.

“Ola, I have been calling you for weeks now and you weren't
picking up. How is that my fault? Besides, check your texts, I
told you.”

86
I picked my phone to check her pile of messages which I had
been ignoring and saw that she actually did tell me.

Fuck!

"Okay l'm sorry I didn't see this, but this weekend isn't a good
time, I have a guest..."

As I tried to reply, the weirdest of things happened as Olaide

shouted mildly and sweetly from the kitchen.

"Peejay!"

My head began to pound, what the hell was happening?!

"Yes Olaide!" she replied with a smile on her face.

"Could you please come help me with the amala!"

"Coming!" Peju replied with a laugh.

"See Ola, I need to go help your sister out. I convinced her to

make amala instead of semo for our dinner tonight, I'm
coming.”

With that she kissed me on the cheek and went to the kitchen.

I was bamboozled, I knew I was fucked but I was more

concerned about what Olaide knew already about Peju.

I looked at the time I had called Peju and the time right now.

What could they have possibly discussed together in like 45

minutes?!

87
Peju called Olaide my sister, was that what Olaide told her?
How did Peju introduce herself to Olaide, was it as my girlfriend?
Does Peju know Olaide is my roommate?

All these thoughts kept popping up and I began to have a

migraine. I sat on my couch and buried my head in my hands.

"Ola, you're fucked," I said to myself.

I stood up, walked into the kitchen and they were both laughing
and gisting while cooking like they've known each other for a
while now.

I opened my mouth in amazement but still I walked in the

bedroom to change and freshen up. As I walked in, I saw a
small travelling bag on the bed and I became more tense. Peju
really was here to stay for the weekend.

"Wahala" I muttered as I scoffed.

Eventually, I took off my clothes, had a quick shower and

changed into a shirt and shorts.

The aroma of the vegetable soup which they had made filled
the whole house. I was so hungry but yet I was equally scared.

They asked me to sit down and Peju brought my food to me.

The sight of the amala with the vegetable soup was magnificent.
The taste was even better.

Olaide made the soup, Peju made the amala.

88
If I was going to die, this was the perfect time, particularly if
both of them had decided to poison me for my deceitfulness.

The three of us were eating separately. I kept my food on the

table in different plates and ate.

Olaide and Peju had theirs in the different plates too, not
together obviously.

None of us said a word as we began to eat and I was hoping

no one would so as not to ruin my appetite.

Five minutes later, someone spoke. I was finished.

"Olaoluwa, why didn't you ever tell me about Peejay?"

Olaide was ready for my interrogation and she wanted it to be

right now, in front of Peju.

I was even more concerned as to why she was calling Peju

"Peejay". I don't even call her that.

Probably they had talked and bonded fast before we came.

If there was anything I have known about Olaide after these

few weeks, it was that she was really charming and easily
anyone could like her.

I began to stutter.

"Errr, hummm, we never really spoke in that direction and I

didn't think it was so important as at then because..”

89
Peju interjected to help me out. In fact, I needed that because I
didn't even know what to say next.

"Olaide I told you earlier nau," she was so gracious while

speaking.

"...we got into a fight some months back and I slapped him.
Ever since then we have not spoken. Probably that was why he
didn't tell you about me..."

"I sure wish I could slap him right now," Olaide muttered with a
smile and a smirk.

"Baby I am so sorry, I promise I won't ever do that to you again.

I will always trust you and hold you to your words," and she
kissed me on my cheeks.

I didn't know what to say, I looked at Olaide and she was

looking at me also chuckling wickedly as if she had a sinister
plan for me and that I should be scared.

I really was scared.

I just hoped that she would see through all these that I wasn't
really into Peju anymore and if Peju had truly told her the story
of what happened, then she wouldn't really blame me for not
telling her about Peju.

"Peju, it's fine" I managed to say with a fake smile after my

thoughts.

"But damn Ola, you never told me your cousin was this
beautiful. Olaide is so pretty, I was already telling her that we

90
were going to go for a model shoot one of these days. She is
built to be a model," Peju added.

Olaide began to laugh before saying "please stop it, you're

making me blush, i'm not as fine as you.”

"Olaide you are gorgeous! trust me if it wasn't that you were

related to my boyfriend, I would be so scared that you both
would have had sex or something.”

Instantly I began to cough. Like seriously coughing to be

honest, "ata ti sapa mi lori", pepper entered my head.

"Oh baby sorry, take water, pele oko mii, olowo ori mi,
Akanni...” Peju began to render panegyrics as if she was my
wife or mother.

As I was getting myself, I looked sideways to look at Olaide and

I could see her grinning and shaking her head.

"Ah! modaran!" I said in my mind.

When it was time to sleep, I wondered what was going to

happen. I sat on the couch watching TV and trying to see how I
could shake off this impending disaster about to happen when
Olaide walked in with a pillow and a blanket.

"Could you please excuse me, I need to sleep," she said with a
straight face.

I looked to the direction of the room and I remembered Peju

had entered the bathroom minutes ago. She had even asked
me to come bath with her but I refused.

91
Olaide was clearly angry and I didn't know what to say to her at
that moment. I sighed and tried to say something.

"Olaide, I'm so sorry, I can explain, it's not what you ..”

"Ola please!" she interjected me swiftly. "I don't want to have

this conversation with you right now, Ola please, not just
today.”

Inasmuch as I sensed her anger, I could see she was tearing

up and hurt.

I knew it was better I didn't say anything else, at least not

tonight. I stood from the couch and sat on the other sofa beside
me.

She put the pillow down, laid on it and covered herself with the
blanket. I stared at her and was thinking of all the possible
ways I could do something to make this better.

"Ola, it's late, come to bed already," Peju said to me as she

came out of the bathroom with just a towel.
"Is Olaide asleep?" she asked.
"Yes she is" I replied as I stood up to go meet her.

I knew I had to get rid of her but let her enjoy this weekend. I
walked into the bedroom before her, took off my shirt and I
jumped on the bed instantly.

I was so tired and I needed this night to be over. Just when I

was beginning to doze off, Peju laid on me from behind with her
naked body.

"Holy shit!" I muttered. This was dejavu.

92
"You remember this scent right?" she whispered to my ears.

There was this perfume I bought for her like a year ago.
Whenever I perceived the scent of it, it drove me crazy and
wildly horny. She had sprayed it just now and I was going crazy.
I had hoped to have overgrown it.

"Peju, I don't think this is a good idea," I said slowly but she
didn't care.

She began to gently massage me from my shoulders down to

my back and it felt so good. She was always good at
massaging me and I missed it so much. I couldn't tell her to
stop.
Before I knew what was happening, I was already rolled over
and she climbed onto me.

"Oh gosh, I have missed those boobs," I thought to myself.

Her nipples were pointy and her boobs, although small, were
firm and solidly soft. She ran her hands through my chest and
onto my belly button for a while and before I knew it, she drew
my shorts down and brought out my dick.

As she began to massage them gently and slowly, I knew I was

hers already and couldn't resist. I had missed her so much and
I wanted this also. I sat upright and began to kiss her.

"Atta boy!" she said as she kissed me back while we had mind-
blowing sex.

I'm a hoe, I know.

93
 11.
The Revelation
“Aha! woah, this is interesting, guys meet Peju,
Ola's girlfriend.”

M orning came and I was the first to wake up.

This was around 7:30 am. Peju and I had close to four rounds
of sex till day break.

She was a sexual dragon and a pro at it. I had cummed all the
semen in my tank all out that the last round I had to just stop
after like 30 minutes of pounding.

"It is not me that you will kill," I told her with a chuckle while still
trying to catch my breath and she called me lazy.

"It is your father that is lazy. After four rounds?" I thought to

myself.

I looked at the bed and saw Peju fast asleep like a log of wood.

I imagined how fiesty and exuberant she was all night as if she
was a machine. I knew she was feeling all my pounding and
thrusts right now and probably won't be awake till 10am.

"Omo ale" I said to myself with a chuckle as I stood up and

headed for the door.

94
"Good lord!" I thought out loud.

Olaide was right outside in the living room.

Thank goodness Peju was not a loud moaner, and there was
light all through, there was no way Olaide would have heard us
having sex.

She might suspect it, but I could easily deny anything

happening. l opened the door which Peju had locked last night
and entered the living room.

Olaide was seated on the couch setting the playstation 4

console. I was surprised because she hadn't played this game
since the last time my friends were over.

I walked over and sat on the sofa.

"Good morning," I said to her.

"Oko iyawo, how are you?" she responded without even
looking at me. I let out a smile at her sarcasm.

"You don't have to do that?" I replied.

"Do what?" she asked.
"This! whatever it is you're doing right now," I replied to her.

"Oh o, I see you and your girlfriend had sex over night?" she
asked.

How she managed to bring that out of nowhere was surprising.

"What the hell?" I muttered, "who told you we had sex? nothing
happened between..."

95
"Oh shut it Ola!" she cut me short.
"I know you guys did, don't fucking lie to me!"

I kept quiet and looked at her. I didn't know what to say or what
to do to get myself out of this mess.

"Olaide, I swear I was going to tell you all about her but she just
wasn't important."

"Are you kidding me?!" she retorted, "like for real?! we had sex
for goodness sake and you couldn't even let me know that you
had a girlfriend before then. I was so stupid.”

"Olaide you're not stupid, it's just .." I was saying as she cut me
short again.

"Do your friends know about her? Does Sammy, Tunji and
Tony know her?" she asked.

Oh goodness, she was entering a territory I didn't want her to. I

kept quiet and didn't reply.

"Oh my god! they don't know about her at all, woah! you have
got to be the best player on the planet Olaoluwa," she
continued.

"It is my personal business and I decide what to let out or not,” I

defended myself.

"Oh really? well let's see what they make of your personal
business when they get here very soon" she replied.

My head sparked again.

96
"Wait, what! what did you just say?" I asked in disbelief.

"Tony called your phone early this morning and asked if we

were home and they could come around,” she replied.

I was wondering where my phone was and I looked at the table

and saw it. I had left it there last night when I went to bed.

"I told them they were more than welcome and that they
should buy edibles and be prepared to meet someone very
special," she continued.

I stood up and picked up my phone. I searched through my call

logs to look for the details and be sure Olaide wasn't telling the
truth.

My shock and chagrin when I saw it really was true.

"Olaide, why the hell would you do this?!" I screamed muffledly.

"Fuck you Ola! and I honestly don't care anymore..." She stood
up.
"Please I need to freshen up, we're having guests soon,
roomie.”

And with that she walked into the bedroom and left me standing.

This was going to be a fucked up inhouse hangout.

I wasn't ready or prepared for this. My friends would practically

roast me when they find out about Peju.

I dialled Tunji's number and tried telling them to cancel, that l

was not home.

97
"It is like you're mad abi?" Sammy said as I could hear his
voice from the other end.

"Ola, Olaide told us you might call us and try to cancel but we
should not listen to you. Is something wrong?" Tunji asked.

"No, nothing is wrong, I'm just not feeling too well," I replied.

"Well, we are in your street already, just go get some rest, we

will chill and take care of you, in fact we will buy you drugs on
our way,” he laughed and ended the call.

"Fuck!" I screamed.

About five minutes later, they were in the house. I opened the
door for them and they came in.

"Werey, how is your life?" Sammy said as he entered.

Tunji greeted me and I greeted him. Tony was the last to enter
and it was awkward because we had not actually spoken since
we almost fought over Olaide weeks ago. We had both been
avoiding each other.

"Tony," I said as he stood at the door.

"Ola," he replied back with a smile.

We both burst into laughter as we hugged and made up right

there on the spot, no hard feelings. No girl was worth us
fighting over.

As they got seated, they dropped nylon bags from the

supermarket filled with drinks and snacks on the table.

98
It was like we were having a party.

"Where is that Olaide girl?" Tony said as he grabbed the game

console, "I need to teach her a lesson this time around.”

"Or you mean she needs to chop all your money again abi?"
Tunji retorted and we all laughed.

"Will you shut up! She was just lucky," Tony tried to defend
himself with a chuckle.

"Let's see who will be lucky today again?!" We turned towards

who spoke.

It was Olaide already dressed up in shorts and a big vest. I

looked closely at what she wore and I realised that they were
actually mine.

I smiled as I wondered what her game plan was.

She walked to where we were and hugged every one of them,

except me though. Then she sat comfortably in the middle and
grabbed the game console.

"Tony, what do you say we go again?" she said to him with a

smile.
"Oya nau, but the stake remains the same. I win, you go on a
date with me officially, I lose, I pay 5k," he replied.

"You and this date sha, na by force ni?" Sammy said and we
laughed.

Well, I didn't laugh. I was slightly angry that Tony would still
bring this up.

99
"I think it's hard to judge this by just one game." Tunji said as
the laugh simmered down.

"What do you mean?" Olaide asked.

"Okay, I don't want anyone complaining about luck and since

the stakes are high again, let's make it more fun, or at least
let's give Tony a fair chance."

"You no rate me at all, Tunji," Tony replied with a chuckle.

"No vex padi mi,” Tunji answered with a smile before continuing.

"What I'm saying is, it should be the best of three games, not
just a game. You both should play three games and decide the
winner from there, so no one would say it's luck.”

"I feel after the first two games, we would already know the
winner," Tony said with confidence.

"Yes, who else but Olaide, you're her bitch!" Sammy replied
and the room erupted with laughter again.

"Well I'm game," Olaide said with excitement.

It was almost 9am and I was wondering why Peju wasn’t awake
yet despite the whole noise.

She really must be tired.

As soon as they started their game. I went into the room to

check on her.

100
As I opened the door, I found her still sleeping, all covered up
with the duvet. I sighed with relief and hoped she would sleep
all day till my friends left.

Olaide and Tony began their game and Olaide won the first
game 4-1.

Tony won the second game 5-3.

So it was all down to the tie breaker, the final game.

The aura and ambiance in the room was ecstatic, we were all
making noise and everyone was rooting for Olaide to win.

As the game went on, we were eating and drinking the junk
they brought. We were also throwing jibes at Tony but he didn't
seem to mind, he was just doing his thing, being focused.

The final game ended in Olaide's favour as she won 6-5.

It was a very close game, interesting and bubbly.

I was happy Olaide won, not because of the money, but

because Tony wasn't going to have his way and try to sway her
to fall for him.

"Waoh, what a game" he said as they both stood up and

hugged each other.

"Mehn, this was fun!" Tunji screamed.

"I swear,” Sam replied with a laugh. "Ola, oya pick gamepad,
make I flog you".

I looked at Sammy and smiled, "make we bet?"

101
"Oya nau, what should we use to stake?" I asked.

"Make we use our girlfriends nau, oh! we're both single

pringles!" he replied jocularly and they all laughed, except for
me and Olaide.

I looked at her instantly and I could see her scoff. She shook
her head at me and looked at Tony beside her. I knew
something was up but I wasn't so sure till she spoke.

"Hum, Tony, fuck the bet we just had, I mean you're not getting
your money back though,” she laughed.
“…But what do you say you take me out on that date next
weekend?"

I was shocked, even Sammy and Tunji were dumbfounded.

What did she just do? she handed herself over to Tony on a
platter of gold and there was absolutely nothing I could do
about it.

Tony was equally as surprised as all of us were and he didn't

even know what to say.

He was stuttering.

"Why are you stammering?" she asked him with a chortle.

He took a deep breath as he chuckled also.

"I'm sorry actually, this came from nowhere so please allow me

to process it but yes! yes!" he said out loud with a smile. "It

102
would be my pleasure. I promise you, you won't regret it Olaide,
thank you.”

"I better not," she replied as she went into the kitchen.

"This one Ola is not objecting to this this morning, I am

beginning to think something is happening, don't you think
Tunji?" Sammy said with a low tone which I heard.

"Ola, what's up na?" Tunji asked with a smile.

"I'm fine, let's just play our game!" I vehemently yet mildly
retorted.

"Bro, hope you're cool with it?" Tony asked me gently.

I wanted to lash out at him, but I had no cause this time around.

"It's fine Tony," I responded.

Samuel stood up and took a sip of his drink.

"This is why we need to get our own girlfriends eh Ola.”

He walked from the table to go to the toilet to ease himself. He

hadn't taken a few steps while he paused.

He was facing the direction of the bedroom and we were

surprised as to why he froze.

Everyone turned over to look at what he was facing and lo and

behold it was Peju in a towel.

103
She was equally as surprised to see this many people in the
house. Tony and Tunji were so confused while Sammy just
opened his mouth.

"Ola!" Sammy called me.

"Who's this beautiful elven creature I'm staring at, or am I
drunk?"

I was casted already and there was no way out. Before I could
even get a chance to reply, Olaide came out of the kitchen.

"Aha! woah, this is interesting, guys meet Peju, Ola's girlfriend.”

She smirked and smiled.

I was so sure that she had planned this well so she would be
the one to do the introductions.

My friends turned to look at me and there right there, I had to

come clean. I looked at all their faces, turned again to look at
Peju who, in her shyness, walked into the bathroom.

Tunji took the remote and switched off the TV.

"Oya! explain now.”

104
 12.
The Induction
“There we stood at the gate, Myself, Peju and
Olaide. The tenseness began.”

S o there I stood, looking at them all. They were all

expecting me to begin and to tell them who Peju was.

At that point, I was verklempt. I didn’t even know what to say.

“Humm, guys! This is Peju,” I began to stutter. “I’ve mentioned

her before during one of our discussions, you all have probably
forgotten,” I added.

“It is thunder that will fire that your mouth’” Sam exclaimed from
where he stood, mildly laughing and at the same time angry.

Tunji turned to look at me before speaking.

“Ola, calm down. There is no way you would have mentioned

about a girl that the three of us would have forgotten. If I do,
Tony would remember, that’s his strong point. So just tell us the
truth”.

“So you actually have a babe all these while?” Tony smiled and
shook his head.

105
Olaide walked to where she was seated before and sat with an
evil grin on her face beside Tony.

“Ogbeni, start talking jare,” Sam said from where he stood.

This was game over for me. I was caught red handed and there
was no escape whatsoever for me.

Right there I began to tell them everything. I told them of how

we met and how long we had been dating and how we had
broken up and then she came back into my life and showed up
here without me inviting her and all.

“Break up?” Tony asked. “I don’t see a break up here, just a

break.”

“I thought as much” Olaide added and I gave her a supercilious

look but she didn't even care.

“So she slapping me and ghosting on me for months doesn't

warrant a break up right?” I asked them all.

“Well to be completely honest and candid, Ola did you guys

make the break up official?” Tunji asked.

“Humm, well, it’s not like we did,” I tried to respond but Sam
interjected.

“You are very very foolish! Even me that’s not a relationship

expert knows that a break up is never official until it is official.”

“My own in all of this is that why keep it a secret from us all?
Like aren’t we your guys?” Tony asked.

106
“Well, I guess I just wanted that particular relationship to be
private. I really hoped you all would never find out, more like an
ephemeral thing,” I replied.

“Ode, you’re still speaking grammar and showing off your

lexicons abi?” Sam interjected.

We all looked at him and smiled.

“Sammy boy!” Tony exclaimed with a laugh, “You don dey sabi
big complex English o”.

“See the way I’m looking at him like a professor already,” Tunji
added with a chortle.

“I guess my gift of the gab is gradually beginning to rub off on

you guys,” I said with a laugh and the room became a little less
tense.

“Will you shut up there! I’m not that dumb nau, besides who is
laughing with you,” Sam replied and we all laughed.

After a while, Tunji spoke.

“Would you go get your girlfriend and do proper introductions to

us, your friends! It doesn’t matter if you guys have issues, so
far you are still dating, she is always welcomed in our midst
and we need to make her feel welcome.”
l
“Exactly Ola, Oko Iyawo, go and bring Peejay for us.”

That was Olaide, She was enjoying this and I knew I was in a
dire scrape.

107
Tunji switched on the Television and they continued the game
while I went inside the room to get “Peejay”.

She was done bathing as she entered the bedroom some

minutes before.

I walked into the room.

I made sure to knock before entering because she might be

dressing and I wanted to be cautious and courteous.

“Who is it?” she asked.

“It’s Ola” I mildly responded as I opened the door and entered.

She was dressing up, still in her undies though.

“Babe can you help me hook my bra?” She requested and I

walked to her and hooked it.
“You know one funny fact?” She asked.
“What?” I replied.
“I’ve never seen a guy unhook a bra as fast as you do. You do
it in 0.09 seconds. I’m sure you’ll hold the world record in that.”

I laughed so hard.

“Well don’t blame me, na konji dey always cause am.”

She opened my wardrobe and picked one of my clothes. She

laid it on the bed and wore a bum short of hers.

“So humm, my guys would love to meet you,” I began to say as

she was dressing. “I hope that’s not going to be an issue?” I
asked.

108
“Ola, you’re funny,” she replied. “I’m even angry at you that you
never introduced me to any of them all these months, despite
the fact that I always ask you.”

She got me there and I knew it.

“It was almost as if you were hiding me from them and maybe
you weren’t proud of me or something” she added.

“No, it’s not like that dear…” I replied. “Honestly I have no

excuse, I guess I just wanted my private life private to an extent
and it just wasn’t the right time to introduce them to you. Those
guys can be so obnoxious at times but you’ll find out for
yourself.”

She was already dressed with my shirt and her bum short. I led
her into the room and took her to where my guys were.

“Now who do we have here?” Sam said with a smile as she

walked to where they were.

I was a tad shy but it seemed Peju was enjoying this attention.
She went and stood in front of the Tv and looked at all of them.

“What guts!” I thought to myself.

“Hi guys, I’m Ola’s girlfriend Peju,” she said with a girlish
somewhat shy and cocky confident smile.

“Oh please, come have your seat while we stand and introduce
ourselves to you,” Said Tony as he stood up and led her to the
seat where he sat.

I stood at the kitchen entrance and watched them all.

109
“Pardon our manners,” Tunji began to enunciate.

He switched off the Tv, stood and continued.

“It’s an honour to finally meet you. Ola has said so much about
you and we have been eagerly awaiting your visit.”

I looked at him in amazement. This was them trying to cover up

for me and to make her feel so welcome.

“Oh really?” She asked.

“Affirmative” Tunji said in a cool manner.

“My name is Tunji, I’ll allow these other fools to introduce

themselves.”

“Hi, I’m Tony. It’s such a pleasure to meet you,” He said as he

walked to where she was and took her hands and kissed it.

“Alaseju”

I thought to myself. I didn’t send him all these.

“…. and might I say, you are parlously beautiful.”

Instantly we all screamed and laughed.

“Where is this grammar coming from? Because you see

woman abi, your life has finished,” Sam said.

“Parlour koor, bedroom ni. So it’s these whack lines you use for
your babes?” Tunji added.

110
“You all should just say you don’t know the meaning and stop
ranting. Myself and the English scholar Ola, would teach you.
Illiterates!” He replied with a chortle.

“He’s actually right,” I interjected with a chuckle. “The word

parlously means extremely or in great quantity in the context he
used it.”

Tony and I were laughing now, we just made Tunji look a bit
dumb.

I saw the look on Peju’s face, she was proud of me.

I looked at Olaide, I knew she was impressed but at the same

time disgusted. Nothing I did was going to make her like me at
the moment.

“Show offs!” she said with a scoot.

I didn’t care. I was going to enjoy my win.

“Thank you very much for making us feel dumb,” Tunji said with
a laugh too.

“Our turn will come too, abi?” Sam added.

“Dream on!” I replied and we all laughed.

After it simmered down a bit, Sam introduced himself.

We all began to gist and the ambiance was pretty okay.

There was no issue at all throughout their stay and by

afternoon my friends set off to leave.

111
We escorted them to the gate.

They had ordered a ride and when they got in, we bade them
goodbye.

There we stood at the gate, Myself, Peju and Olaide. The

tenseness began.

Peju hugged me from behind.

“I love you baby,” she said out loud and I looked at Olaide who
was right in front of me.

She hissed and walked right inside the compound.

At that moment, I knew my troubles were just about to begin.

There was no escape from this.

My dilemma at the moment was how to carefully get rid of Peju

and make Olaide realise that it is her I actually want.

I’m an idiot, yes I know.

112
 13.
The Propitiator
“Shugar, aren’t you going to give it to me?”
She said. I removed the ice cream nylon and
gave it to her slowly.”

T hree days later Peju left my place and I was stuck alone
with Olaide as before.

Before Peju left, I told her that she should always let me know
whenever she wanted to come as I didn’t like surprise visits like
this anymore now that I had a guest.

She was like she and Olaide were cool and all but I let her
know it’s just not done.

As long as Olaide was around, we could always meet up at

other places or lodge, I really needed to make her feel
comfortable.

We argued about this for a while but after I impelled her well,
she gave in and saw reasons in what I said.

She left on a Tuesday. I had already gone to work very early

and I knew by the time I was back it was going to be just me
and Olaide alone.

113
This was the first time in like almost 5 days, this was going to
happen.

We had been avoiding ourselves like plague while Peju was

around.

Yes, she was giving me attitude but occasionally we had to

converse a few times in Peju’s presence so as not to raise
suspicions.

As I closed from work and began the journey home that

evening, I thought to myself what I could do to appease her.

There was absolutely nothing I could say or do that I was sure

she would accept because I knew I had messed up.

Deep down inside me, I knew that I actually loved her. Peju
coming into the picture again out of the blue had flustered my
emotions but still I could boldly say it was Olaide I wanted.

I knew she liked ice cream so before I got home, I branched at

the supermarket to buy the biggest bowl of ice cream I could
find to appease her so at least we could talk.

I got set for the house with the things I bought and as I knocked
the door to go in, hoping it was she who would open the door,
lo and behold, it was Tony.

Instantly I was dazed. This was like 8:30pm.

“Ola, what’s up? Come in,” he said with a smile as he left the
door for me after opening.

114
I walked in slowly, confused though as to what he was doing
here only for me to look at the couch and see Olaide there with
a bowl of ice cream also.

“Idiot” I muttered beneath my breath, “how did he know she

likes ice cream?”.

“How else?” I further thought, she probably told him.

“Hi Ola, welcome, pele, kaabo, se daaada lo de? S’oko o je

epo,” She said as she saw me standing with no soupçon of
emotion.

Inasmuch as how she just greeted me sarcastically was

annoying, I knew I deserved all of what I was getting.

I was in for a whole lot more so I better be prepared to endure it

all.

“I’m okay,” I replied. “Tony what’s up? What are you doing here
this late? You want to see me?” I asked as I still stood at the
door.

I knew why he was there but still I decided to be in denial. I

wanted to hear from him.

“See you ke?” He replied with a chuckle.

“I wonder o” Olaide added with a sarcastically glorified laughter.
“I came here to spend time and chill with Olaide, not you bro.”
“Oh!” I responded back as I stood up to carry what I brought to
the Kitchen.

She sighted the nylon bag and saw the big ice cream bowl.

115
“Ola is that ice cream?” She asked with a smile.

I looked at her with a supercilious expression. I wanted to

ignore her but her face lit up a little and I needed to score
points so I had to be good.

“Yes it is,” I replied childishly and humbly.

“Did you get it for me or yourself?” She asked again, this time
mimicking a small adorable child.

“Humm, yes I actually did,” I replied while stuttering.

She stretched her hands and smiled at me. I looked at her with
a dazzled face. She looked at me and chuckled right back.

“Shugar, aren’t you going to give it to me?” She said.

I removed the ice cream nylon and gave it to her slowly.

“Thank you roomie,” she replied graciously.

“Isn’t sugar bad for females too?” Tony asked with a laugh.
“You’re not even done with the one you’re having at the
moment.”

“See you!” I responded, “this one can drink ice cream as her
breakfast, lunch and dinner.”

“Wo, you people should let me be o,” she laughed as she cut
me short.

“Ola please can you give me and my guest some privacy to

discuss, thank you for the ice cream.”

“Waoh” I muttered.

116
I wasn’t angry at all, but I sure was hurt. This Tony thing was
beginning to get serious. I had thought she was joking about it
when she said so.

Grudgingly, I picked myself and walked to the bedroom giving

them privacy.

The only solace I had was that somehow I trusted Olaide not to
have anything sexual to do with Tony. Not after we had done
something before.

I didn’t know when I slept off on the bed after entering.

I felt a tap on my body and I was brought out of dreamland.

It was Olaide.

“Hey, what’s up? What’s the time?” I asked.

“Past 11pm” she replied.
“Goodness lord!” I thought to myself. “What about Tony?” I
asked as I sat upright.

“He’s inside” she replied, “we both decided that he will spend
the night here…”

I was beginning to get slightly angry, why would Tony decide to

sleep over knowing well that I had a guest over and that it was
Olaide.

“... you will sleep on the couch while me and him will sleep here
on the bed.”

117
At that moment I looked at her face and saw her shaking her
head and smiling. I deduced then that she was only pulling my
legs.

“Why would you joke with something like that?” I asked.

“Uncle, don’t ask me questions, carry your pillow and blanket,
go to the couch and sleep.”

“The couch?” I asked.

“You really just like asking questions, you know,” she replied
with a chuckle.

“Why am I going to the couch?” I asked again.

“I don’t get you Ola, how have we been sleeping before your
girlfriend came?” she asked me.

“Fine, I know but I feel we should be past that by now, we can

both sleep on the bed, it’s big enough,” I answered.

She laughed.

“You’re funny Ola, you banged me on this bed, less than 24

hours you banged your girlfriend with me sleeping in the next
room and yet you want usto sleep together on this same bed
again? No way!”

I sighed. I didn’t even know what to say.

Should I say “I’m sorry” or “it won’t happen again” and that “I
love her so much?”.

118
I knew it was going to take time to salvage this situation so I
needed to be patient.

“I mean what does it matter? We’re both adults and we can

handle it maturely.”

“Dude, get your ass off this bed and to the couch now!”

She said sternly and I knew she wasn’t joking.

I smiled as I obliged grudgingly.

I walked into the room to see Tony on the couch already

sleeping. I looked at him with contempt wondering what his
plan or endgame was.

He had been waiting for the perfect opportunity and I knew as

soon as he saw this opening of me having a girlfriend; he was
going to sweep in.

I couldn’t sleep on the couch as he was there, so I shifted the

table to the side and lay on the ground with my pillow and
blanket over my body.

I felt like waking Tony up to have a conversation with him but I

thought let me act like I wasn’t bothered for now.

But in reality, I was freaking bothered!

“Go to bed Ola!” I said to myself as I slept off.

A couple of hours after falling asleep, I woke up abruptly.

I just had a nightmare.

119
Tony and Olaide were having sex on my bed in my dream and I
just walked in on them.

This couldn’t be happening, I thought to myself as I adjusted

my position on the floor and tried to sleep back.

Tony is right above me on the couch and Olaide is in the room.

I closed my eyes and tried to sleep with the solace of that

thought but something kept pinching me to just confirm.

So I sat upright in the poorly lit room (only the dim lamp was on)
and looked to my left to see my friend Tony sleeping like a
baby.

To my shock and surprise, Tony wasn’t there.

“What the hell!” I muttered.

I looked at the time, it was 3:45am. This couldn’t be happening.

My dream could not come to life.

I have dreamt of being a billionaire or an astronaut, it didn’t

come to pass, it’s now Tony fucking the woman I love that
wants to happen, never!

I stood up immediately as my heart was beating fast and

walked to the bedroom door. I put my ears to the door but I
couldn’t hear anything.

“Did they decide to be silent? Were they having slow silent

mesmerizing sex?” I kept thinking, I was already going mad. I
was going to barge in.

120
“What audacity!”, “In my house and on my bed!” I would not
take this.

As I turned the door knob to go in, I realised it was locked.

“What the hell?!” I was going mad.

Olaide and Tony locked the door of my bedroom to have sex?”

At that moment, I knew I was going to kill Tony. I went into my

kitchen, switched on the lights and looked for something I could
use to hurt him.

I saw knives and I picked one.

As I turned to leave, I thought to myself if I was mad, would I

stab my friend because of a woman? haba!

I dropped the knife and picked up a turning stick. I looked at it

and saw that it would have no effect on him.

Eventually I settled for the frying pan.

“Yes, that should do the trick,” I thought to myself.

I would smack his stupid erect dick with the base of the frying
pan.

How dare he do this to me!.

As I got back to the door, I tried to open it again and still it was
locked. In my mind, I was going to break this door.

121
I moved back a little and I was about to nudge the door open
with a kick when I heard a voice whisper beside me.

“Idiot, what do you think you are doing?”

It was Tony.

Apparently he was in the bathroom all along.

The relief on my face.

“What are you doing with the frying pan Ola?” He asked.

“Humm, I want to fry dodo, so I was looking for oil,” I replied.

“Oh I see, and where is the oil? Because this does not look like
the kitchen Mr. man” he replied.

I changed it for him jokingly.

“Abeg gettat, I no dey even fry again. Oya let us go to bed,” I

retorted as I went to return the frying pan and back to my
sleeping position.

He also just smiled and followed me.

I had a feeling he knew I was suspicious of him, but we never

spoke about it as he also went on his couch to sleep.

122
 14.
The Denial
“My question at first is to Ola and Olaide, Is
there anything amorous or amative going on
between the two of you?”

F or the next couple of days, I tried to see if I could win

Olaide over but it proved to be more difficult than I
expected.

We both were working, so we only had the night time to see but
we barely spoke. She was giving me the silent treatment and I
figured that I had to be patient till she was ready to talk to me.

Occasionally, myself and the guys used to hang out after

working hours and we had planned this particular meet for the
coming Friday.

It was at a lounge along CMD road. I was the last to get there
around 8pm because I had some things to tidy up at work.

I walked in and located them as I had already called and they

told me where they were seated. The ambiance was electric as
the live band were dishing out songs and people were vibing to
it.

I love live bands.

123
I should have been vibing to the music too, but I had not been
in a good mood all week.

The lights in the lounge were dim but still good enough for us to
see each other. I sighted them at a corner and walked towards
them. As I got to their seats, Tunji and Sam were seated but I
did not see Tony at the moment.

“Hi guys, how are you doing?” I asked as I shook both their
hands.

“Ekun, how you dey nau Olly?” Sam said as he greeted me

back.

“I am just pretty tired,” I replied.

“Mr Falodun ….” Tunji said as he smiled at me, “... how was
work today?”

“Stressful. How about you guys?” I asked. They replied that

they were okay.

“Humm, where is Tony?” I asked again.

“I think he went to the other side to make a phone call. The
noise was not allowing him to hear properly over here.” Sam
replied.

“Oya, let us order, I need to get drunk and forget about my

sorrows and woes for a while” I said with a chuckle as we
ordered drinks, pepper soup and some grilled fish.

Tony came later on after the table was full with drinks and
chops.

124
“Where have you been since?” I asked.
“No vex, I was on a business call actually” he replied.
“No wahala” I answered back.
“Ola, how far? How is Olaide? Hope she is getting used to her
new work place?” Tunji asked as we ate and drank.
“Yes she is. I think she is beginning to enjoy the place,” I
replied.

Tony scoffed before replying “You think so?”

I looked at him with a quizzed look. Even Sam and Tunji looked
at him.

“Is there something you know that I do not know?” I asked.

“Not at all o,” he replied as he continued his pepper soup.

We all knew something was up. I was so sure that Sam and
Tunji were even more surprised that Tony could have
information that probably only I should possess.

“Anthony! Spit it out,” Tunji said and Tony sat up to speak.

“Okay, so Olaide has spent like two weeks at this place but she
is not loving it. The workload on her has been too much and the
company is toxic. To cap it all up, two of her bosses are hitting
on her. She has complained to the HR but it seems futile. She
is enduring that organisation and I do not think that she will be
there for long.”

I looked at Tunji and Sam as they looked at me also. How in

the world does Tony have all this information and I had no idea?

“Wait let me understand something,” Sam interjected. “You

know how?”.

125
“Ola, do you know about this?” Tunji asked me and I smiled.
“Absolutely not,” I replied.
“How come Tony knows so much about your roommate and
you don't?” Sam asked me.
“Yes please,” Tony interjected. “How come I know
so much about Olaide and you do not?”
“I don’t know,” I replied reluctantly, “I guess I have been busy.”

“You call Olaide now, tell her to come here so she can chill with
us,” Sam said.
“Call who?” I said with a scoff.

They all looked at me surprised, except for Tony of course who

knew what was going on.

“Alright I would call her,” I replied so as not to raise suspicions.

I picked up my phone to call Olaide and she did not pick up. I
tried her number twice and she kept busying the call.

She did not want to talk to me. I turned and told the guys that
her number was not going through.

“Are you sure?” Tony asked, “I just got off the phone with her
some minutes ago before coming here.”

He really was putting me in the spotlight here.

“Tony, please call Olaide jare. It is like this boy is not serious,”
Tunji said calmly.

“Okay boss” Tony said as he called Olaide and she picked up

immediately.

126
Tunji signalled to him that he should bring the phone, he wants
to talk to her.

Tony handed the phone to him.

“Baby girl, How are you?” he said as he began the

conversation with her.

I watched on in remorse as I should be the one talking to her

and not any of my friends.

The noise from the music playing in the lounge was disturbing
Tunji, so he stood up to make the phone call at a much quieter
place in the lounge.

By the time he came back minutes later, he sat on his seat and
took a sip of his drink and began to eat the chops in front of him.

He handed over the phone back to Tony.

“Ehen what did she say?” I asked eagerly but he did not say
anything. Sam and Tony did not ask, so it looked like I was the
only one bothered.

“And why do you want to know what we discussed, Ola?” Tunji

asked.

“Ehn, no reason, she is my roommate and I just felt concerned”

I replied.

What a shallow excuse, I knew.

“Well when she gets here, you will ask her by yourself,” he said
and stood up to dance to the music playing in the lounge.

127
Olaide was coming to meet us at the club.

My head sparked and my heart began to beat.

The fact that some issues that I had been trying to cover up
would be exposed was not what I was ready to deal with.

Minutes later, Tony’s phone rang and as he picked, he went

outside. It was obvious that Olaide had arrived. I was ready for
what was to come.

“Oh my goodness god!” Sam screamed as he saw Olaide from

afar off.
“What beauty is this?” Tunji echoed in unison.

They were in front of me and could see her from their positions.
I could not see her because I was backing her and yet, I did not
want to look.

“Hi guys!” she said with her beautiful voice as she walked past
my seat to where they were and hugged them both.

“You look so good Olaide,” Tunji said.

“You smell nice even,” Sam added.
“Thank you” she replied to them both with a smile.

To be honest, she looked stupendously stunning in her short

black gown which got to her knees. Extremely sexy and visually
appealing.

“Ola, won't you greet Olaide ni? Sam asked.

“Abi, Ola, you don't want to greet me?” Olaide added jocularly
and I was surprised.

128
This was someone who had not been talking to me for days.

“Sure, why not?” I replied as I stood up to hug her also.

She pulled up her seat beside Tony and sat.

There we were, the five of us, like old times, chilling together
for the first time, outside my house.

They began to make jokes and discuss different things. I was

pretty much very quiet as I listened to them talk and
occasionally was pressing my phone.

“So Ola,how is Peju?”

That question came out of nowhere and it was asked by Tunji.

I looked so discombobulated but they all were looking at me

and I had to reply.

I scoffed and replied.

“Well, she is fine and doing well in Ife.”

“She should come around again, so we all can hang out,” Tony
replied.

“As in eh, any babe of Ola is automatically our friend too,” Tunji
added.

“That is to say ..” Samuel chipped in with a chortle,

“...my friend’s babe is also my babe.”

129
They all laughed.

After the laughter simmered down, Sam beckoned on us all, as

he wanted to ask an important question.

“My question is a very serious one, yet not very serious,” he

began.

“Our elders say, when purpose is not known, abuse is

inevitable…”

“Hmmmmm, wisdom Sam, wisdom! Tunji interjected.

“God bless you Tunji,” Sam replied to him as he continued.

“My question at first is to Ola and Olaide, Is there anything

amorous or amative going on between the two of you?”

I chuckled as I did not know what to say.

The question was a tad off and I did not want Olaide to feel
somehow about it. Just when I was thinking of what to say to
give a suitable reply, Olaide answered.

“Absolutely nothing. There is nothing amorous going on

between me and my roommate. Besides, he has a girlfriend
and we are close friends. I can never put her or Ola in such a
position.”

“Wow,” I muttered.

There was nothing I could say again. I looked at her and she
smiled at me in a manner showing that she did not care.

130
“Ola, is that true?” Sam asked and I nodded my head.

There were no words for me to mutter any more.

“Well now that we have established that there is nothing

between Ola and Ola, Tony, this is to you. What is going on
between you and Olaide? I can sense some chemistry between
the two of you, please shed more light on that.”

Tony and Olaide were smiling. It angered me more.

“You people should answer the question and stop smiling nau,
we are eager to know what is going on,” Tunji added.

“Well ….” Tony began. “For now, there is nothing official going
on at the moment.”

“We are taking things slow and well let's see where or what it
leads to,” Olaide chipped in.

“Have you guys kissed before?”

All eyes were on me right now. I knew I should not have asked
that foolish question. I did not know when it came out of my
mouth.

“That is freaking none of your damn business Igbekele Kristi!”

Olaide replied sharply.

Her tone was expressionless.

I kept quiet as the ambiance became somewhat awkward.

131
Sam and Tunji were just observing.

I hung my head and looked away.

Till we left the Lounge, I did not mutter another word.

132
 15.
Elimination and Substitution
“Eliminate Peju, liquidate Tony and conquer
Olaide.”

T he drive back from the lounge to my house was awkward.

I had ordered a ride back to the house and Olaide had to follow
me.

She did not want to, but I sense she did not want any tension to
build up or be visible to the boys, so she obliged to go home
with me on the ride.

We both sat at the back seat.

“Olaide, I am so …” I tried to say as we moved but she cut me

short instantly.

“Don’t! Please don’t” she replied.

I took a deep breath and decided to keep quiet. I had brought

this on myself and no one else was to blame.

We got home and she went inside the room immediately to

change. I sat on the couch and faced the Tv. I wanted to give
her space so she could change before entering the room also.

133
She walked into the bathroom to go have her bath and I used
that to enter the room so as to change.

I hurriedly took off my clothes and got into my towel. I took my

shorts and a round neck with me so I could change in the living
room and have no reason to go back to the room afterwards
tonight.

She came out of the bathroom and I went in a minute after her.
It was all so weird and awkward.

After I was done with my bath, I came back to the living room
and lay on the couch to sleep.

Hours later, I woke up and it was morning. I checked the time

and it was around 9 am. I really must have been so tired and
stressed. I stood up to go into the room and arrange myself for
the day and just as I was about to enter the room, she was on
her way out.

She was all dressed up.

“Good morning,” she said and walked past me. I looked at her
as she walked to the door.

I didn’t know what to say. If not that she opened her bag and
felt like she forgot something which apparently was her phone,
that was how she would have left without me talking to her.

As she picked her phone from the room and was about to walk
away from me, I called her name.

“Olaide please, can we talk?” I said to her calmly. I was out of

options and she was giving me no chance.

134
She paused and stood. I looked at her behind and prayed that
she would turn around and look at me too because she was
already at the door.

All she needed to do was open the door and leave.

Slowly she turned around and I walked from where the fridge
was to the center of the room.

“Ola, what is it? As you can see I am going out,” she replied
calmly but sternly.
“I know, I just want to talk to you” I replied.
“About what?” she asked.
“Us” I answered.
“Ola, there is no us, at least not anymore,” she replied and I
interjected.
“Please don’t say that. Just give me a chance to explain
everything to you”.
“I don’t think there is a need for that anymore Ola, at least not
now. Tony is waiting for me outside and I don’t want to keep
him …” she was saying as I interjected her again.

“Tony? my friend?” I asked.

I was beginning to boil inside but I didn’t show it.

“Yes! Any problem? we are going to Takwa Bay beach

together,” she replied.
“Oh” I said.
“So let’s just talk when I get back okay?” she said as she
tapped me on my shoulder and left the house.

I took a deep breath and fell to my couch.

135
Tony was milking this.

He was using this opportunity to get to Olaide.

But deep down, I knew Olaide could not be falling for him, it
was not possible, she likes me. Why would she?

I knew that Tony liked her, he had liked her from the moment
he set his eyes on her.

None of my friends knew if anything was going on between me

and Olaide or that we had sex before. The only thing they knew
was that she was living with me and that I have a girlfriend.

What if Olaide had told Tony about us?

I sincerely doubt that though, she wouldn’t do that. I was going

crazy and I needed to talk to someone about all of this.

That afternoon after having my bath, I called Tunji and asked if

I could come to his place at Alapere, the opposite side of Ketu
and he said he was home with Samuel and that I could come.

Perfect, I was going to confess everything to them, their advice

was needed.

I got to his place later that afternoon and met Sam there. After
exchanging pleasantries, I told them to listen and that I had
something bothering me which I needed to let out.

“Guys I have to tell you something” I said to them as they both

sat on the couch and I stood in front of them.
“Okay, we are all ears,” Tunji replied.

136
“Alright guys, it's about me and Olaide,” I began.
“What happened to you and Olaide?” Sam asked.
“Guys, I am in love with her.”

They looked at me, deadpanned, and said no word. I was

confused. Why weren't they replying?

“Sam, Tj, why aren't you guys talking?” I asked.

“You are a foolish man!” Sam said.

“Very very foolish,” Tunji added.
“I don't understand,” I asked.
“Wait Ola, you think we don’t know?” Tunji said calmly.
“We would be the biggest fools if we couldn’t see it, but it turns
out you are the fool here,” Sam added.

I took a deep breath and buried my face in my hands.

“Guys, I messed up, I messed up big time. I love Olaide, like I

really do. This Peju girl just came into the picture to mess with
everything. I had even forgotten about her.”

“Have you told Olaide this?” Tunji asked.

“She doesn’t even want to listen to me or my explanations,” I
replied.
“Well I don’t blame her,” Sam added.
“Have you guys had sex? Tunji asked again.

I scoffed before replying.

“What do you think? It was just once, the very first time and
Peju came that day. Ever since then we haven’t,” I said.

“So what do you intend on doing now?” Sam asked.

137
“I don’t know..” I replied, “I guess I have to break up with Peju
and make my intentions clean and pure to Olaide. No games at
all.”

“Okay, and how do you think Peju would take the break-up?”
Tunji said.

“Omo I don’t know to be honest, that girl is a tad crazy, but I

feel she will be fine eventually.”

“Well it’s not as if she would break a bottle on your head or

something,” Sam added and we all laughed.

“But guys, I think we are forgetting about something else so

important,” Tunji said as the laughter simmered down.

We paused to listen to him.

“The Tony variable,” he said.

“Oh shit!” I muttered.

“Dude how do you and Tony want to do this?” Sam asked,

“because I feel Tony intensified his efforts after we all
discovered that Peju was your girlfriend. That was your own
undoing bro,” he continued.

“Well Sam is right Ola, we all believed her to be your girlfriend

which you already confirmed. I don't blame Tony at all and as it
seems, Olaide likes him right?” Tunji asked.

“At this point in time, I don't know. They went out today
actually,” I replied.

138
“See Ola, here is what I think you should do, because I do not
want us to be caught up in all of these”, Tunji began.

I listened with rapt attention.

“Get across to Peju, tell her your mind and break up with her if
you have to. Then reach out to Tony, talk to him as a friend and
tell him that you have ended things with Peju and that you are
in love with Olaide. After settling with Tony, the whole bulk of
work you need to do right then is to open up to Olaide and let
her know how you feel.”

I took a deep breath as I looked at them both. This was a

serious matter. Sam nodded his head in agreement with what
Tunji had just said.

Deep down in my mind, I knew what needed to be done.

Eliminate Peju, liquidate Tony and conquer Olaide.

After our discussions, we went out to eat and headed for choir
practice later on.

By the time I got back home around 7pm, Olaide still was not
back. I freshened up and proceeded to call Peju.

I told her we needed to see and talk.

She was excited that we were even going to see and told me
she had tickets for a show next weekend and that we should go
together. Later on, we could get something to eat.

139
I wanted to decline but I felt, one last outing would not be bad. I
was going to break up with her after the date.

I took a deep breath as I hung up the phone after we agreed on

this.

I had a whole week to prepare what to say and how to do it.

I had slept off on the couch when I felt someone tap and call
my name. It was Olaide, she had just entered the house.

“Hey, how are you?” I said to her as I sat up.

“I am fine,” she replied.
“Are you just coming?” I asked.

She was still dressed.

“Yes, some minutes ago,” she replied. Have you eaten? She
asked.

I looked up at my phone to check my time and it was 11pm.

“Omo, I have been asleep since 8pm. No I have not eaten,” I

replied.
“Okay would you eat rice? I came back with food for you”.

She dropped it on the table and asked me to eat while she

went inside to freshen up.

I began to wonder why she was nice to me.

We had never been this way for a long while and I wonder what
was the reason for the change of heart. I thought probably it

140
meant that she was ready to finally listen to me and give me a
chance as she ditched Tony.

Probably her date did not go out so well.

By the time she came back after having her bath, she came to
sit with me as I ate. I was surprised at her next words as she
looked at me.

“Ola, I think it's high time we spoke.”

Here we go.

141
 16.
Anger Management
“Peju had just hit my head with her plate of
food. It shattered into pieces on my skull and
her leftovers spilled on my clothes.”

“ Finish your food first,” she said to me as I had dropped it

earlier to listen to her.

She smiled at me as she was having a drink too.

As we sat on the couch together, it felt less awkward.

“How was your outing or date with Tony?” I asked.

This was an opening to get some information about her outing.

“Well, it went pretty good I guess,” she replied with a shrug.

“He is a great guy and I had fun”.

I smiled before speaking.

“So is there any spark or anything going on between you two?”

I asked again.

142
I decided not to beat around the bush.

“I think it is none of your business,” she said with a chuckle.

“Ouch!” I replied as I smiled.

I deserved that. There was a bit of silence before she began to

speak.

“Ola, so here is the thing, I want to thank you for

accommodating me here in your place all these while, it really
means a lot to me.”

I was beginning to wonder where she was leading on with this.

“....I do not want things to be awkward between us onwards so

I want us to put whatever it is that happened between us
behind us and move on. I want us to behave as if nothing ever
happened. The sex, the emotions and the rest. Let us be the
way we were from the beginning and …..”

“Olaide, I am in love with you.”

I hurriedly said as I interjected her speech. I had to let her know

right there as I couldn't bear to listen to anything else she was
going to say.

She paused for a while as she looked at me.

“Olaaaaa, please don't do this, please don't …” she said and I

replied to her almost immediately.

“Do what Olaide? I mean it. With every being and fibre in me, I
love you Olaide.”

143
“You love me or you are in love with me?” she asked calmly.

She was always the smarter one, and I knew what she meant.
A very good question.

“I am in love with you,” I replied confidently.

“And what am I to do with that information Ola?” she said.

I was speechless, I had nothing to say. It should mean

something, at least I thought.

“Ola I appreciate the gesture of your love for me, but that is just
it, what am I to do with it?” she continued.

“I don't know,” I replied. “Don't you love me too?” I asked.

“You are so funny Ola. Please do not ask me that question,

because I am not going to answer that,” she replied.

“Why?” I asked.

“Go and ask your girlfriend,” she replied.

“It is not what you think, and I am breaking up with her just to
prove to you.”

“Ah, dakun makobami, I am not asking you to do anything Ola,”

she said to me.

“I am trying to let you know that she means nothing to me. I

honestly thought we were over, how she crept back into my life,
I do not know but I am ending it once and for all next weekend.”

144
I needed her to see that I was ready and serious to do this, to
make us work. She hung her head and shook it as she looked
at me.

She sighed and I knew she was not buying all I was saying.

“Ola,” she said calmly. “I can't do this with you, I just cannot.”

She stood up and walked into the room to go to sleep.

I did not know if I had messed it up or if I had lost her finally.

All I knew I needed to do was break up with Peju which was the
second thing on my list, after which I would talk to Tony.

Step one of confessing to Olaide was done. I would give her

space for now while I put my relationship with Peju to rest.

As the coming week went by, I and Olaide kept it cool.

I was careful not to mention anything amorous or about my

feelings to her. We got along just fine and I was looking forward
to my breakup date with Peju.

Weekend came and I got myself ready that Saturday evening

to go out with Peju. I took a ride to her house to pick her as we
both went for the concert somewhere on the island.

During the whole event, she was all touchy and mushy with me.
Holding hands, resting on my shoulders and occasionally
kissing me in public, she kept on doing and I was not feeling
comfortable at all.

145
After the concert, we decided to go get something to eat at a
restaurant before heading back home. This was around 8pm.

We walked into the restaurant and ordered our food and drinks.
We sat at a corner close to the window where we could see the
outside via the transparent glass in front of us.

The ambiance was good and cool, very soothing as the music
in the background was slow jazz which hit me right into the soul
as I was a trumpeter too and understood the rhythm.

I shook my head in harmony to the music and almost forgot

that I was probably going to incite violence pretty soon with the
break up.

As I gently jolted back to reality, the waiter had brought our

food.

I ordered spaghetti with chicken and a milkshake while she

ordered jollof rice and chicken with a milkshake too.

Copycat.

We began to eat and discuss.

“Baby I have missed you so much,” she said with a smile. I

smiled at her and kept eating.
“My mother has been asking about you?”

“Your mother?” I asked.

“Yes,” she replied.

I did not understand, none of our discussions ever had gotten

to the point of her family.

146
What was I looking for?

I liked the way our relationship was simply between us both.

“I am surprised, why will your mother ask about me? We have

never spoken about our families, you know,” I said.

“Well, I kind of have started telling them about you babe. And
that’s because I want to be serious with you,” she replied.

I lost appetite at that point as I knew she was already going too
far and I needed to do this right away.

“…I have met someone from your family already, your cousin
Olaide. She is so freaking beautiful and I can’t wait to meet the
rest and …..”

“Olaide is not actually my cousin,” I cut her short with these

words.

There was silence for some seconds as I summoned up

courage to do the needful.

“Peju, I think it is best we put a break to this. It’s not working

out for me. I know you love me so much but I feel this isn’t me,
I don’t want to play you or anything and that is why I am telling
you this.”

She was silent as she watched me talk, only for her to start
laughing.

“Babe! You are such a good actor, you know. Is there like a
camera hidden somewhere because I know this is a joke.”

147
“This is not a joke Peju. I am breaking up with you, this time
around, it’s final and official” I replied to her.

“Don’t you dare!”.

Her voice was so loud that almost everyone in the restaurant

could hear her.

“After all we have been through? You want to break up with me?
Ola why? I already apologized about slapping you. I am
changed now and I love you. Isn’t that all that matters?” she
asked.

“Peju it should be. But one other thing that matters is that I
don’t love you the way you love me. I love someone else.”

“And who is this someone else?” she rebuffed with a question.

I opened my mouth to talk, but closed it. I did not feel she
needed to know that it was Olaide. She looked at me and was
beginning to read my facial expression. I knew she knew
already.

“Wait a minute. Oh my god! It’s Olaide isn’t it? I should have

known.” I

could sense anger and despair in her eyes right now.

“I’m sorry but I have to go, this is over,” I said to her as I

adjusted my seat to move back and take my leave.

148
Just out of nowhere and in the split of a second between me
looking down, shifting the chair to the back and looking up to be
on my feet and take my leave, I heard a sound on my head.

Peju had just hit my head with her plate of food.

It shattered into pieces on my skull and her leftovers spilled on

my clothes.

Just as I was recovering from the shock and pain from the plate,
I began to feel my head being doused by a cold liquid.

It was the milkshake.

She poured it on my head to crown her effort. I sat still and said
nothing till she was done.

I could feel everyone at the restaurant looking at us right now

but I could not see them because my eyes were closed.

I heard murmurs and people gasping and being in awe at what

was happening. In my mind, I was praying that nobody would
pick the phone and record.

I did not want to wake up to see myself on Instablog or

Tundeednut’s page.

“Both of you can rot in hell!” she said as I heard her footsteps
walk away and out of the restaurant.

I stayed for a couple of minutes as I didn’t know what to do.

Clearly I was embarrassed and how to stand up from there and
go clean up myself in the restroom seemed like an herculean
task.

149
“There you go sir,” I heard a female voice say to me as she
handed me a towel. In my blind state, I took it and cleaned my
face to see her.

A tall dark figure with an alluring face.

“Thank you,” I replied.

“I should go clean up in the restroom,” I added as I excused

myself and went to clean myself up.

I tried to wash away as much of the stain on my cloth as

possible but it just was there.

I washed my head and as I scrubbed, I felt a sharp pain. I was

bleeding, the plate had cut me a bit.

I left the restroom and proceeded to go pay for the food.

“Oga sorry o,” one of the waitresses said.

“Women eh! Fear them,” a male waiter added.

“Una nko?” the waitress replied.

“See as person for your gender rough handle that fine

gentleman here,” he said.

“You know wetin this fine brother do before she do wetin she
do?” she replied and I looked at her.

Our eyes collided and I gave a deadpan look.

150
“Sorry sir,” she said to me in cowardice as she bowed her head
while I left.

I went outside and brought out my phone to order a ride back

home.

I looked like a mess.

It was almost 10pm already.

If I could get a place to buy something else I could wear to my

home, I would, but since this was the island and not the
mainland, that would not be possible. I was going to go home
like this.

“Are you sure you want to wear that to your house? I could get
you something from my car if you want though?”

It was the lady who gave me a towel to clean my face earlier in

the restaurant. The next thing I needed right now was another
female problem.

151
 17.
A Beautiful Solace
“… All you need to do is to tell her that you are
now fully available and ready to commit to her
and hear her response before your friend pops
up the question before you do.”

I looked at her and smiled.

“Thank you, but I think I am good,” I replied.

I did not want to bother or stress her.

She seemed nice but I had problems of my own at the moment

so I needed to stay focused.

Besides, it was getting late and I needed to get home.

“Are you sure?” she asked, “I really do not mind,” she

continued as she went into her car and brought out a sweatshirt.

Reluctantly I collected it.

I took off my shirt and threw it in a trash can not too far from
where we stood and wore the sweatshirt. I sniffed it before
putting it on and the smell was mesmerizingly appealing. I was
smelling of jollof rice and the soothing smell of this material was
just the escape I needed.

152
“Are you waiting for someone or something?” she asked.

I looked at her ebony skin which shone as the light from the
restaurant was on her. She was standing beside her car and I
was a few meters apart.

“Actually I am trying to book a ride to the mainland,” I replied.

“Where on the mainland?” she asked.
“Ketu to be precise.”
“Oh, what a coincidence! I'm staying in Magodo,” she said with
a smile.

I was wondering why she told me that, I was still pressing my

phone, trying to order a ride but it was not going through.

“How about we go together?”

“Excuse me,” I replied.

“I am on my way home, I would not mind the company,” she
said.

I chuckled a bit before replying.

“Not to be too forward, but I do not know you and I do not think
it is wise enough to go with you. Besides you saw what just
happened in there, I just broke up with my girlfriend and I got
bathed. I dont think being with someone of your gender is what
I need right now.”

She smiled.

“My name is Oluchi, and I won't mind being your chauffeur

home. It is late and I feel it's best you go with me. We can talk

153
about all that happened with your ex girlfriend on our way if you
feel like sharing, I won't press you for it. I need the company
also, so please would you allow me to do this for you? I want to
get you home safely.”

I chortled as I knew my best bet was to go home with her.

There was no point arguing or proving that my own

stubbornness was from Ekiti.

“My name is Ola, Olaoluwa,” I replied as I walked to the

passenger side of her car.

She dropped me in front of my gate at about 11:30pm.

Olaide had called me like twice during the journey but I did not
pick. I was not in a good mood to talk to her over the phone so I
texted her that I was on my way.

I knocked on the door and she opened for me. She asked how
my outing was and I told her I was fine. I just wanted to sleep at
that moment, I was tired and drained.

How I managed to enter the bathroom and shower was a

mystery to me.

As I lay on the couch, I began to reminisce about my journey

with Oluchi and the brief conversation we had.

“So what happened? How did you end up being bathed with
food by your girlfriend?” she asked.
“Well ex girlfriend” I replied with a scoff.
“Yeah right? What happened?” she asked with a chortle.

154
We were driving at the moment and just about to link to the
third mainland bridge. She deliberately decided not to engage
me in a conversation for about ten minutes till we got to the foot
of the bridge at Adekunle. I felt that it was smart of her to let me
cool off a bit before engaging me.

“You want to know the truth?” I asked.

“Yes sure, please tell the whole truth” she replied.
“Alright, I was never really in love with her and I met someone
else that I was in love with so I decided to end it” I said.

She chuckled before responding.

“Okay, that's good. So you are currently dating this new girl that
you are in love with right? everything has worked out well for
you hasn't it?” she asked.

I chuckled this time around.

“Well, not really. It is kind of complicated” I replied.

“If there is one thing I am pretty sure of, it is that nothing is ever
complicated, we make it complicated ourselves. So what is the
problem?” she asked again.

I coughed and cleared my throat as I stared through the

window and looked at the body of space which was the ocean
in the dark. I turned to my front and replied to her.

“Well you are right. But I think mine is actually complicated.”

“How so?” she asked.

155
“The girl I am in love with is actually my roommate.”

“I did not see that coming” she replied as she chuckled.

“E shock you right?” I asked as I let out a chuckle too.

“Wait, if she is your roommate, then she is your wife then?” she
asked.

“No she is not,” I replied with a laugh. “It is a long story,” I

added.

“We have like 20 minutes before we get to Tollgate so I am

eager to hear.”

I narrated to her my whole ordeal with Olaide, Peju and my

friends including Tony. I told her of the three things I needed to
do and of how I had just one left, which was to get my friend
Tony out of the way.

“Waoh, now this is really complicated to be honest,” she replied.

“But you are on the right path to uncomplicating it,” she

continued. “You have broken up with your ex, and you have
told her how you feel, what is left now is to talk to your friend.
That should not be hard should it?”

I took a deep breath as I looked up and saw that we just

passed Iyana Oworo.

“I think so. But like I said, I already told her how I felt and she
made it clear to me that she doesn't want me,” I replied.

156
“Wait a minute,” she said as if pondering. “You said you told
her that you were in love with her right?”

“Yes I did.”

“And you asked her if she was in love with you too right?” she
continued.

“Yes I did.”

“She did not give you an answer, did she?” she asked finally.

I thought for a while, before answering.

“Actually she did not. I think she kind of evaded the question.”

“Mr Ola, I think that woman likes you with all you have told me
already. All you need to do is to tell her that you are now fully
available and ready to commit to her and hear her response
before your friend pops up the question before you do.”

That might as well be true. She has never said that she did not
love me. Probably she was in denial or she just didn't want to
tell me because I had a girlfriend. Now that I am single and
back on the streets again, this was my opportunity.

I turned over on the couch to adjust my body into a favorable

position, bringing me back to reality.

Tony was the next issue to deal with and I needed to get him
out of the picture. I said to myself that I was not going to let
Olaide know that I have broken up with Peju yet until the coast
was clear.

157
In seconds, I fell asleep.

I would not get to see Tony until like three days after.

I had called him that we needed to see and talk and he asked
where we could meet. I did not want him to come to my place
and I did not want an outdoor meeting either just in case things
get heated.

We eventually agreed that we should meet at his place. I would

drop by after work to see him.

He lived in Ogba and was on a three day leave at that moment

so it was perfect.

On Tuesday evening, I left work and proceeded to his house. I

had called him and he said he was waiting for me already. The
traffic to Ogba was not that much and in minutes I was at his
place.

He offered me a drink as I got in and I told him all I needed was

water. I got a bottle of water and I sat on his couch. He asked
how work was and why I needed to see him.

“What was so important that you needed to come over here for?
We could have discussed it over the phone, you know.”

I cleared my throat before speaking.

“I know bro, but I needed to come in person and speak to you,”

I replied.

“Okay then, hope no problem?” he asked.

158
“Not at all. Alright, I just wanted to apologize for being a jerk in
this Olaide matter and I hope you do forgive me.”

“Oh come on, it's nothing. We are brothers for life, and I
understand you,” he replied.

“I have also come to let you know that I have broken up with
Peju.”

“Waoh, why? Did she do something wrong? What happened?”

he asked.

“Nothing exactly, I just figured out who my heart wants to be

with it” I replied.

“That is great! And who is the lucky girl bro? I am so happy for
you,” he asked.

I looked at him and chuckled.

“Who else?” I asked him.

“How would I know Ola?” he replied with a chuckle too.

“Olaide,” I said to him.

“Which Olaide?” he asked.

“My roommate,” I replied.

He scoffed as he stood up and paced around his living room. I

could see from his face that he was a bit angry but I said

159
nothing. I looked at him as he shook his head and came back
to seat.

“Ola, why are you telling me this?” he asked.

“Because I need you to know before things get serious

between both of you even though I doubt that will ever
happen,” I replied to him.

“Now is not a good time to be cocky!” he said to me with a

smirk.

“Okay, I am sorry,” I replied with a smile.

“Well, I don't know what you want me to say to you, but I am

not backing down from Olaide because I love her too. Let her
be the one to choose who she wants,” he replied.

“Okay then, I am only here out of courtesy because I don't want

you to get your hopes high eventually and it gets dashed,” I
said to him.

He looked at me and laughed.

“I think you should be the one to worry,” he replied.

“And why is that?” I asked curiously.

“Let's just say Olaide and myself have gotten much more
intimate than you would ever imagine.”

I was boiling as he spoke. The thought of his body parts on any

of Olaide’s was making me cringe, yet I kept my cool.

160
“What do you mean?” I asked.

“What do you think I mean?” he replied with an evil grin and I

lost it.

I was angry.

I launched at him and tried to give him a punch.

He dodged it and used my momentum to swing me away and I

hit my head on the wall. The cut I had before was the exact
spot that my head hit the wall this time again and I was
bleeding.

Tony and Peju made me bleed in the exact same spot.

The thought of that made me angrier and I launched at him

again with a right jab and this one caught his jaw.

He staggered.

By the time he looked up at me, he was bleeding from his

mouth.

I could read his body language that he was pissed at me but he

stood where he was and laughed.

“Get out of my house!” he said to me as he used his hands to

wipe up the blood from his mouth which was dripping.

“Just leave Ola! you are irritating me. Olaide would never be
with you because she is mine already, you fool!”

161
I touched my head to feel the blood and as I was panting, I
replied to him.

“She would never be yours bro. Never!”

I opened his door and slammed it hard as I left.

This did not turn out how I expected.

162
 18.
Highlights
“Peju’s plan was a disaster, Tony’s was an
unexpected failure and still I have not been
able to convince Olaide.”

T he battle line was already drawn between myself and

Tony.

I decided not to tell Olaide or any of my other friends about

what just happened. Things were going to get better on their
own.

My focus now was on getting Olaide to know how I truly feel

about her. But what Tony said kept ringing in my head.

“More intimate than you would ever imagine”.

Have they kissed? Did they smooch? Or no please, it cannot

be sex.

Of course she was free to do whatever she wanted with

whomever she wanted to but I just did not want it to be Tony.

I did not see Olaide like that kind of person.

163
There was no way that I could ask her and Tony was not going
to tell me anymore based on what had just transpired between
us.

I got to the house, still bleeding as my shirt was stained already.

I went straight to the bathroom to take a look at the cut through
the mirror.

I forgot to close the door as I was treating the wound, only for
Olaide to walk in.

“Ola is that blood?” she said as she stood at the entrance.

“I am fine,” I replied.
“How did you get that cut?” she asked again.
“Really, it’s nothing” I replied to her.

She looked at me and didn’t leave the door.

I knew she was stubborn, both of us were from Ekiti so that

stubbornness was in us.

“Are you going to stand there till I am done?” I said to her with a
scoff.

Clearly I was making a mess of cleaning the cut.

She walked into the bathroom, pulled my hands and dragged

me mildly back to the sitting room.

She sat me down and told me to wait as she went into the
bedroom. Minutes later she came with a bottle of spirit, cotton
wool and plaster.

164
“Where did you get this from?” I asked as I knew these weren’t
mine.

“I got them a while ago when our neighbour’s child stepped on

a nail,” she replied.

“Oh! which of them?”

“Mrs Anjorin’s last born” she answered back.

“That boy is so playful. Serves him right,” I said and she smiled
before dousing my wound with spirit.

“Ouch!” I screamed.

“Serves you right too” she said with a chortle. “You are so
playful,” she added.

“Well I didn’t get this wound from playing,” I retorted.

“Then how did you get it?” she asked.

“Hum, I hit my head on the wall” I replied.

“Where?” she asked again.

“In the office.”

She could tell that I was lying.

“Was the wall invisible or you stuck chewing gum on your eyes
or were you blindfolded because I am not understanding how a
wall will be so small for you to miss,” she said as she dressed
the wound.

165
I still was not going to spill so I kept on my ruse.

“Wait first, what kind of wall gives two cuts so close to each
other? Ola! spill now!”

I didn’t want her to know and I did not want to lie to her either.

“Olaide, really, it’s the wall ….”

She had had enough and she stood up angrily. I grabbed her
hand and told her to wait.

“I broke up with Peju.”

I didn’t want to say it, but I just had to. She stood, looked at me
before chuckling.

“You say what now?” she said as she sat.

“Yes, you heard me right?” I replied.

“Why?” she asked.

“Well because I should have done that a long time ago” I said.

“What made you do it now? Please don’t say it’s me because I

would be so angry at you right now?” she said.

I chortled as she already knew what my answer would be.

“My dear, you are a major factor. But even if you weren’t in the
picture at all, I still would have.”

166
“Oh my god!” she replied, “poor girl, she must be so hurt right
now.”

I burst into laughter and she looked at me and wondered why.

“She’s perfectly fine actually,” I replied back, “Fine enough to

have broken a ceramic plate on my head before she left.”

Olaide burst into laughter as she replied.

“That serves you right, Omolomo took blood with her. I should
call her to check up on her.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea” I interjected.

“Why?” she asked.

“Humm, I think I kinda told her that you weren’t my cousin and
that I am in love with you,” I replied slowly and semi reluctantly.

“Ola you did what!?” she screamed.

“Yeah, she knows, so please don’t call her because I am sure

as much as she’s angry at me, she’s equally angry at you,” I
replied.

“So I should expect her to break a bottle on my own head when

she sees me, right?” she asked.

I chuckled before replying.

“Well at least, you have been warned so you can guide yourself.
You’re welcome, I wasn’t that lucky.”

167
“It’s like pe you are mad abi,” she replied and we both laughed.

All these while we spoke, she was still trying to patch me up

and before she closed up, she looked at me and asked.

“How about this other cut, the fresh one, the one you claimed to
be the wall, how did you get it? And please tell the truth Ola!”

I felt like telling her. No more lies and deceit.

“I fought with Tony.”

She scoffed.

“Okay why would you do that?”

I sighed before responding, “because of you.”

She paused, stared into space and looked back at me.

“Ola, I don’t get it, why would you and Tony fight because of
me? or better still, why would you go to fight Tony because of
me?”

“I don’t know,” I replied. “I just went to talk to him and then one
thing led to another.”

She sighed.

“Ola why?”

I didn’t know what to say or how to say it. But still I spoke.

168
“I don’t know. I guess I went to talk to him about you. I told him
how I felt about you and that he should not try to come in
between us.”

“And he beat you after you said that?” she asked.

I laughed before I replied.

“No! Beat me ke? We got into a fight after he said something

that got me angry.”

“And what was that?” she asked.

“Well he said that the both of you have ……”

I paused, thought about it and wondered how that would sound.

Definitely doesn’t make sense to tell her that he insinuated that

they had done anything. But what if they had? Would she
confirm or deny it? It was best I kept it to myself.

“Both of us have done what Ola? Out with it already!” she

retorted.

I stuttered for some seconds and managed to come up with

something.

“Err… that you both have been going out often and that I
should stop being jealous,” I replied.

She looked at me and I was so sure that she wasn’t convinced.

She sighed.

169
“The two of you are clearly not okay but you will be fine. I am
going to bed to go and sleep. Oniranu!” she replied as she
stood up and tapped my plastered head while she walked away.

“Yeh!” I shouted in pain but she only smiled and walked away.

“Goodnight Ola!”

I sat on the couch and began to reminisce about what had just
happened today. It wasn’t how I had pictured it had it planned
in my head.

Peju’s plan was a disaster, Tony’s was an unexpected failure

and still I have not been able to convince Olaide.

I began to wonder if I wasn’t going to lose out after all. I looked

at the time and it was almost 11pm.

I was hungry but wasn’t in the mood to eat. What kind of feeling
was this?

I walked to my fridge and brought out a sachet of water to drink

and sat back on the couch. After a while, I lay down to sleep
and just as I was about to sleep, I heard my phone ring and as I
checked it was Oluchi.

I had totally forgotten about her as all that was on my mind was
to settle my issues.

I picked up the call and we spoke for a while. She asked how
everything went and I gave her brief of how it wasn’t going fine.

She asked if I wanted to meet up, maybe she could help out
with some insights and I told her it was fine. We agreed to see

170
that weekend on Saturday evening. She would come pick me
and we would chill out for a while.

Deep down, I was a bit relieved that she came into my

life. She was the only one I was close to now who wasn’t
emotionally invested in all of these dramas. I needed that.

I lay head to sleep and I hit the plastered part while laying. I
moaned in pain as I hissed and spoke before dozing off.

“Ah! Tony, e no go better for you o.”

171
 19.
The Aggravation
“Here I was thinking that my troubles were at
home, instead I had just aggravated it anyway.
Both home and away, I was losing.”

S aturday evening came and I was awaiting Oluchi’s call.

Olaide was with me at the moment. She was in the room

pressing her phone.

She had called Tony during the week, in a bid to try to get us
both to settle but he said he was not in the mood to see me at
the moment and I wasn’t either.

She decided to let us be, till we sorted ourselves out.

She made it known to both of us that neither of us owned her

and that we should act mature.

I did not try to push my luck about my feelings with her because
I felt I should give her time to process all that was going on.

In my mind, I knew she would come around. There was no way

she would pick Tony over me.

Oluchi called around 5pm and said she was on her way. I didn’t
go to choir practice today because of that.

172
Besides my head was plastered and I did not want anyone from
church asking questions.

Sam and Tunji already heard about what happened and I was
to see them tomorrow. I knew that they would also have called
Tony also so the four of us could parley.

Nonetheless, today was for me to calm my mind down and

figure out what to do next with Oluchi as my chief adviser.

She got to my place by 5:30pm and I went to meet her outside.

As we drove off, I asked her where we were going to and she

said I shouldn’t worry, and that I would see.

I was a bit excited and expectant about it.

By the time we got to Iyanaworo, it dawned on me that we were

actually headed to the Island. I still did not ask anything, I only
kept my cool and waited.

We drove into a beautifully adorned building.

The edifice was magnificent and very stunning. After parking,

we entered the building and took the elevator to the 11th floor.

As the door opened, all I could see was opulence.

The ambiance was mellifluously beautiful. The lights, the music,

the setting was majestic.

A waiter walked up to us and led us to our table. He dropped

the menu and told us he will be back to take our order.

173
Only then did I realize why she had told me to dress a bit fancy.

I was in a shirt and trouser, both black and with my brown

shoes while she had opted for a purple gown.

Her luscious boobs were on display in the cleavage she

revealed and occasionally, my eyes went there.

She looked radiantly beautiful from the lights shining on her

face and to be honest, I was swayed.

There and there, I began to feel some certain kind of affinity

towards her but I shrugged it off as I knew my heart was for
Olaide and her only. She caught me staring, smiled and asked
why I was.

“Don’t you look so handsome tonight,” she said, “I caught you

staring though, why?” as she flashed a smile.

I stuttered a bit before replying.

“You look so freaking beautiful. Please pardon my words,” I

replied as I felt I should not have used the word “freaking”.

“Well thank you Ola. You also look dashingly handsome,” she
replied and this time around, it hit me well and I smiled.

I asked her what we were doing here and she told me she
wanted me to have fun and for a couple of hours, forget
whatever issues I have.

“Just relax and have fun. Enjoy the beautiful scenery and
pretend your world isn’t crashing all down on you right now.”

174
“Okay then,” I replied, at least I would try.

I looked at the menu and didn’t see anything worth pronouncing

there to order.

I leaned towards her over the table to whisper.

“Don’t they have jollof rice?” I asked. “I know I am a local man,

don’t laugh at me.”

And that was exactly what she did, laugh at me.

“Ola, you won’t kill me” she replied.

“What?” I asked with a chuckle.
“Well is that you want?” she asked me.
“Yes.”

She called the waiter to come and take our orders.

I didn’t know what she ordered for herself but I heard

something related to pasta while she ordered something with
rice for me and then a bottle of wine to go with.

As we waited for the food to come, we began to converse.

“Oluchi, thank you so much for this, I really appreciate you

taking me out of the house this evening” I said to her.

“Oh come on Ola, it’s nothing,” she replied with a smile.

“I just felt you needed to change the environment for a while

and let your mind be clear, I mean to be free so you can
properly think.”

175
“I think this is helping actually,” I replied with a chuckle.

“So what’s going on now? Have you been able to sort it all out?
Is the girl yours now?” she asked.

I cleared my throat before speaking.

“I actually wish it was that easy. Nothing has worked well. The
girl isn’t mine yet, I fought with my friend also. For now she’s
talking to neither of us.”

“Can I ask what exactly you see in this girl that makes you love
her so much?” she asks.

“Omo, I don’t really know. I think I just like her for no exact
reason. I mean she’s smart, beautiful, funny, can even play
video games and I guess that’s just it.”

She smiled at my response.

“So do you think there is no one else in the world that can do all
these she has and even better?” she asked.

“I really don’t know. I don’t think I have found the person” I

replied.

“Alright, how about me?”

I paused for a while as I stared at her. My mouth slightly wide

open as I was dumbfounded and didn’t know what to say.

“You?” I asked with a chuckle. I picked up the glass of water

which the waiter had poured into our glass cup and drank it.

176
“Yes, me?” she asked as she leaned forward to me, exposing
her ravishing ebony cleavage. I stared into it and my heart
began to beat fast. What was happening? I surely was not
expecting this.

“You don’t like what you see?” she said.

I took my gaze away from her boobs and looked into her eyes.
She caught me and it didn’t bother her a bit.

“I don’t,” I said in a moment of confusion and I quickly corrected

myself. “I mean I do, sorry I do like what I see,” I replied slowly.

She smiled at me before speaking.

“Ola!” she spoke majestically. “I like you, I mean I really do and

I know I should not but I have to tell you.”

I looked on as she spoke and I began to wonder what was

going on.

You like me ke?

“I saw you walk into the restaurant that night with your ex-
girlfriend and you caught my attention. I knew there was no
way we could get to talk but after seeing what happened, I
decided to use that opportunity to talk to you. I think it was fate
what happened.”

“Waoh” I muttered.

“Are you surprised?” she asked.

177
“Well yes I am. I did not see this coming,” I replied.

“Neither did I actually,” she replied.

“But you know what, no pressure. Let us start as friends and

see where it leads okay?”

“But you know I am in love with Olaide and all of these is

actually because of her,” I said to her.

“Yes and I admire that, I admire that you love her so much to
want to do all these for her. It also hurts that she doesn’t see all
of this. I would give anything to be loved genuinely half a
fraction of what you have for her.”

I was speechless.

Here I was thinking that my troubles were at home, instead I

had just aggravated it anyway. Both home and away, I was
losing.

I loved the friendship myself and Oluchi were building, but I

knew this was going to affect it all.

“Ola, aren’t you going to say anything?” she asked.

I looked at her, took a sip of my water again. I stared into the

room looking at people eating, drinking and having fun before
looking back at her. I was confused at what to say.

“Oluchi, what do you want me to say?” I asked.

But before she could answer, the waiter came to our table with
our orders and placed it right in front of us.

178
We began to eat and somehow we avoided that talk till we
were done eating and got set to go home.

The drive back home was pretty quiet too. We barely spoke as
we drove from the Island back to the mainland.

She dropped me right in front of my gate at around 10pm and I

thanked her for a wonderful evening.

“Thank you so much for this Oluchi, I had a very great time”.

“So great that you would want to do this again?” she asked.

I smiled and replied.

“Well, most definitely, I guess”.

As I stood up to get out of the car, she held my hand.

“I meant what I said at the restaurant Ola, I really do mean it.”

I took a deep breath before replying,

“Yes I know you do, and we would figure out something as time
goes on,” I said and got out of the car while she drove off.

“Figure out something as time goes on?” I muttered where I

stood. I had no idea what that meant.

My head was banging and I was going crazy at this

predicament.

179
Why was the universe doing this to me? These female troubles
were way too much for me to handle.

I shook my head and I opened my gate and walked into my

compound.

All I needed right now was a cold shower, and a peaceful sleep.
I didn’t want any drama that involved Oluchi or Peju or even
Olaide at the moment.

Mo ko fe sun ni. (I just wanted to sleep).

I got to my door and found out it was open. It was unlike Olaide
to leave the door open and I was surprised.

Things began to get tense for me as I could hear some scuffle

coming from inside the house. It looked like two people were
fighting, two females fighting.

I hurriedly opened the door to find Peju and Olaide on top of

the couch fighting each other.

“Goodness Lord” I muttered as I stood glued at the door.

180
 20.
The Fiasco

“She took the wig in her hand and threw it at

Peju before angrily leaving the room to go to
the bedroom. It fell on the floor as that one
refused to pick it up.”

I was bewildered.

What was going on?

It took me like ten more seconds to get myself before diving in

to seperate them.

“Girls! What the hell is going on here?” I asked mildly and

furiously at the same time.

“Ola! I’m going to kill her, after which I am going to kill you!”
Peju screamed.

Her wig was off her head and with Olaide who had managed to
rip it off during the fight.

I looked at Olaide who was holding the wig at the moment but
had her pyjamas half torn by Peju.

Her boobs were slightly out and visible and for a moment, I was
about to get a hard on. It was her voice that brought me back to
reality.

181
“Ola, warn your girlfriend! I will teach her a lesson if she’s not
careful I swear!” she hurled back at me.

I had never seen that side of her before.

I stood in between both of them, like a referee who was

oblivious of what to do next.

“Boyfriend snatcher!” Peju shouted, “better go back to where

you came from, idiot! You cannot have Ola because I am not
willing to let him go!”

I looked at her and wondered where that came from.

In my mind I was like “Ọgbẹni, me I am gone o, please,” but I

kept it to myself, else she looks for something to break my
head with again.

Olaide was looking so pissed and I felt so bad that I had

dragged her into all of this mess with me. It was all my fault.

“Both of you must be mad!” she said with vexation.

She took the wig in her hand and threw it at Peju before angrily
leaving the room to go to the bedroom. It fell on the floor as that
one refused to pick it up.

I picked it up and gave it to her but she hissed at me before

sitting on the couch without collecting it from me.

I could hear the sound of Olaide locking the door of the

bedroom. I was perplexed, I had not even changed or
freshened up.

182
Today was meant to be a day of rest, devoid of drama or
anything that could stress me at all.

I just left Oluchi who was meant to be a solace, but added an

emotional baggage to what I already had to meet my two sacks
of relationship and emotional troubles.

“Peju, what are you doing here?” I asked calmly as I stood in

front of her where she sat.

“Heys Mr!” she hurled at me, “don’t freaking talk to me right

now.”

I sighed.

“I am here to carry my makeup box which I left under your bed

that last time I was here. Your foolish whore of a roommate
who you have been knacking had the audacity to tell me to wait
inside while she go check the room for the make up kit for me,”
she continued.

“Peju, what did you do?” I asked as I knew she would have
done something stupid.

“You don’t know the person you have? What do you think I did?
I gave her a slap, since she doesn’t know her place.”

Goodness lord, this girl and violence were 5 & 6.

“Peju why did you do that?” I asked, “all you had to do was let
her go in to check and she would have brought it out for you.”

183
“It’s like you too, you want to collect abi?” she asked with a hot
tempered face. “Better tell her to open that door and get me my
box, if not I am not leaving this house tonight.

I checked the time on my phone and it was 10:45pm. It was

late, and I needed Peju to ”geddifok” away from my house so I
could have a proper night’s rest.

I swayed away gently from her front before she hit me with
something else as I could sense her anger.

I walked to my door and knocked on it gently calling out

Olaide’s name to open but she did not. I was at the door for
more than ten minutes calling her name and pleading for her to
open but she refused.

I knew then that this was going to be a very long night.

I was going to spend the night in the living room with Peju, who
probably was after my life at the moment. I was not safe.

I walked back to her and told her that Olaide was not opening
the door. She looked at me, smiled and rested on the couch
before speaking calmly yet angrily.

“I’m not leaving here without my box. I can sleep here till
morning, it’s already late.”

I knew this was going to happen. Could today have gotten any
worse?

“Are you sure?” I asked, “I could order you a ride, there is still
time.”

184
She turned to look at me with those evil sexy annoying eyes
and I knew instantly that I had to let her be. There was no
running away from this, she was going to spend the night here.

This was going to be a long night.

There was no way I was going to get a good sleep or any sleep
at all. The thought of Peju doing something wicked to me
during my sleep filled my mind. I had to be careful.

In minutes, she was asleep on the couch and the whole room
seemed peaceful.

I looked at her and wondered how a creature so beautiful could

be equally so violent. I could see how and why I fell in love with
her but wondered how I didn’t see her temperament issues.

Now the problem was where I was going to sleep. I needed to

also be wary of her waking up in the middle of the night and
stabbing me.

I sat at the sofa and watched her as she slept.

How did I get myself into this?

I began to reminisce about how I met each of these ladies.

The culmination of events that led to Peju, Olaide and now

Oluchi into my life were mesmerizingly unexpected but I had to
live now with choices that I made.

My eyes were getting heavy and I was fighting and resisting the
urge to doze off but nature was very powerful and in seconds I
closed my eyes.

185
I needed that release of peace and that slumber gave it to me.

“Ola! Ola!”

I heard my name as I woke up to reality. It was morning already.

“Goodness Lord! what is the time?” I muttered as I looked at

Peju who stood in front of me with her box already in hands.

“It’s 7:30 am Sir. I am going home, I already got what I wanted,”

she said.

How did she get her box?

“How come? Where is Olaide?” I asked.

“I don’t know o,” she replied. “I woke up and saw the door to
the bedroom opened. I entered and picked up my box.”

I stood up to go inside the bedroom and check for Olaide but

she wasn’t there. I opened the bathroom door but she wasn’t
there either.

Where could she be?

I walked around the room and saw a note on the bed. I

wondered what it was as I picked it up and read what was in it.
It was from Olaide.

“Gone to stay with a friend for a few days. Don’t call or text me.
I will come home when I am ready.”

186
I was perplexed, Olaide didn’t have friends here in Lagos. Work
Colleagues maybe, but I have never met any of her friends or
know anyone directly.

Something was fishy.

I checked around to see that she had packed one of her boxes
with apparently some of her clothes and shoes. I took a deep
sigh as I dropped the note on the bed to go check on Peju in
the room.

On getting to the living room, Peju was not there anymore. She
had left.

I slapped my forehead as I sat on the bed. I was in a complete

mess. A love triangle, or possibly a love square was something
I was not ready for at the moment.

It was almost 8:30am already and I had decided that I wanted

to go to church. The second service was what I could meet up
with, so I got up to go have my bath and prepare for church.

After service, I was going to call Olaide to apologize and ask

where she was. I felt the need to let her cool off at the moment.

Calling her immediately didn’t feel like the smartest thing to do.

Because I didn’t go for rehearsals the previous day, I was not

eligible to robe so I had to make do with being among the
congregation.

During the communion, I walked to the altar from my seat to go

collect the body and blood of Christ and I could sight Sam and
Tunji among the choristers.

187
I smiled at them both as I walked past, collected the
communion and went back to my seat. I was going to wait for
them after service so we could talk.

By 1:30pm, service came to an end and I stayed in my seat to

wait for my friends to be done. It would take them some
minutes to change and come to where I was seated.

They had seen where I sat and knew that I would wait there for
them.

Fifteen minutes later, they came to where I was and met me

talking to one of my father’s friends. As soon as I saw them, I
excused myself from him, carried my bible and hymn book to
go meet my friends.

“Peace be unto you,” I said to them with a laugh as I walked to

meet them where they stood.

“Terminator!” Tunji hailed me as I burst into more laughter.

“Guys, would you please stop it!” I retorted.

“Machala 1!” Sam added. “See as he carries the bible and

hymn book, you will think that he is the pope.”

Even in the midst of my predicaments, they still managed to

make me laugh.

“How are you guys? I felt your voices during the rendition,” I
said to them.

“Were you not meant to be there with us?” Tunji asked.

188
“Bro, there is so much going on at the moment,” I said to them.

“Oh come on, talk to us,” Sam said. They only had an idea of
what happened but I needed to give them the full details.

We picked a spot and sat on a pew away from prying eyes and
ears. There I began to download the details of everything that
had happened to them.

I started from the date with Peju, how she broke my head after I
broke up with her, to how I met Oluchi. I told them about how I
went to see Tony to sort out things and how that one too broke
my head. I also added how I went on a date with Oluchi to clear
my head and she told me of her feelings for me, only for fme to
get home and meet Peju and Olaide fighting. I ended it with
how Olaide has left the house to go and stay with a friend that I
don’t know about.

“So as it stands, only Oluchi and Olaide have not broken your
head abi?” Sam said with a chortle and Tunji laughed.

Inasmuch as it was funny, I gave him a scornful look mixed with

a smile.

“Ode, this is serious jare” I said with a smirk.

“Alright then,” he said.

“So you have no idea where Olaide is right now?” Tunji asked.
“Not at all,” I replied.
“Okay, we will get to that later, let us just hope that she is safe.”

“But then again, this Oluchi that you describe sounds familiar in
a way. You say she stays in Magodo right?” he asked.

189
“Yes she does,” I replied.

“How does she look?” he asked again.

“Errrr” I muttered as I didn’t know how to describe her.

“Wait, she's slightly tall and busty right?” he asked.

“Yes,” I replied.

“With a clean and smooth accent?”

“Yes, how do you know?” I asked.

Tunji was smiling now and even Sam was confused. I was
wondering where he was driving. It was obvious that we both
were talking about the same person.

He brought out his phone and began to scroll through.

“Tunji, what’s happening? Do you know this Oluchi?” Sam

asked.

“Hold on!” he replied as he turned the phone screen to me and

asked, “is this her?”

Lo and behold, it was indeed her. I was looking at a picture of

Oluchi, albeit dressed in corporate.

“Yes it is, how do you know her?” I asked.

He smiled before replying,

190
“She’s Tony's boss at work.”

“Fantastic!” Sam screamed as he laughed.

191
 21.
The Magnetic Attraction
“What kind of soap are you using? You and all
these beautiful women, how do you attract
them?”

“ You are kidding me right?” I asked and as I looked at his

face, it didn’t seem like he was.

“Goodness me!” I muttered.

“Well is it that bad?” Sam asked with a smile.

“Not at all,'' Tunji replied. “I only just wanted to be sure,” he

added.

“Olaaaaa!!!” Sam screamed mildly.

“What kind of soap are you using? You and all these beautiful
women, how do you attract them?”

I shook my head before replying.

“Dude, this is more like a curse, not a blessing,'' I replied. “But

wait, how did you recognize her from my descriptions?” I asked
Tunji.

He shrugged before replying.

192
“Errr, hummm I don’t know sha….”

“Spill!” I said to him with a straight face.

“Okay! I have met her once when I went to Tony’s office to visit
him. Ever since then, I have had a huge crush on her.”

“Omo na wa o” Sam retorted with a laugh, “so na only me

never see this woman baa?” he asked.

“Well you will see her soon if she and Ola start to date?” Tunji
said.

“Abi you are mad ni?” I said to him with a chuckle and a
scornful look. “Why would I want to add to my troubles?”

“I thought you just told us that she confessed her love for you,”
he asked me.

“Even though regardless, upon still,” I replied to him with a

laugh, “I haven’t decided yet.”

“Alaye, let your decision be positive o, because I want to meet

this Oluchi woman,” Sam interjected with a chuckle and we all
laughed.

Just while we were still talking, my phone rang and as I looked

at the screen, it was Oluchi.

“Shush guys, it’s her!” I whispered to cool them down.

“It’s who?” Sam asked.

“Olaide?” Tunji asked also.

193
I turned my phone screen to them and they could see the name
there. They made funny faces and kept quiet as I picked the
call.

“Hello, good afternoon” I said as I picked.

“Good afternoon Ola, how are you?” she asked.
“I’m fine and you? Did you go to church?” I asked.
“Yes I did, I just got home, how about you?”
“I’m still in church but we are done already. I am with my
friends.”
“Alright, do not let me waste your time, I actually wanted to ask
you something and I would be very glad if you oblige” she said.
“Okay, what is it?” I asked.
“Alright. We have a yearly dinner at my company this Friday
evening at Victoria Island, and I would like you to attend with
me.”

I was completely thrown off as I didn’t know what to say.

My friends were looking at me, oblivious of what I had just been

asked.

I didn’t know what to say.

“Ola, are you there?” she asked from the other end of the line.
“Humm, how about I get back to you on this?” I replied.
“How soon though?” she replied.
“How about I text you tonight, I need to be sure I would be free
that day.”
“Alright, no problem then. I’ll be expecting your reply,” she said
before she hung up after saying “bye”.

I put my phone off my ears and Sam asked,

194
“Ode, how far?”
“She asked you on a date?” Tunji asked.

I could see excitement in his eyes, more like he wanted me and

Oluchi to work out.

“Well, she asked me to accompany her to her company dinner,

this Friday on the Island,” I replied.

“Great, so what did you tell her?” Tunji asked.

“I haven’t given her a reply yet,” I answered back to them.

“Tell her yes na,” he retorted. “What is there that you are
thinking about?” he added.

“Humm, I don’t even know. I just didn’t want to seem too eager
to jump on it,” I replied.

“Ola, she is a very beautiful single lady, this is a getaway from

this Olaide, Tony and Peju drama. Give this a chance and don’t
break her heart, cos I will kill you. She’s my crush.”

“Ọgbẹni Candy crusher! shey you will kuku date her?” Sam
asked sarcastically as he had been watching us do the talking
for a while.

We all laughed.

“But wait o …” Sam added. “If this is a company event, won’t

Tony be there also?”

We all thought for a while.

195
“That’s true o,” Tunji replied.
“And so? what does it matter?” I replied.

“Are you sure Ola?” Sam asked.

“That backstabbing bastard, I could care less about him.”

“Good! This is the content I subscribed for,” Sam interjected. “I

would love to see the look on his face when he sees you with
his boss, kasala!…”

“Ohun ni baba kesekese!” Tunji added and we burst into

laughter again.

“I can’t wait to see the look on his face when he sees you with
his boss,” Sam added.

“You people like violence” I said with a smile.

“Something tells me it won’t be that bad. But you know what will
make it more interesting?” Tunji said with an evil smirk.

I knew that look, he was going to say something crazy.

“Goddamitt! spill it already, Tunji!” Sam interjected as we both

were expectant of what he was going to say.

“Alright, before you people eat me raw, let me talk,” He says as

he clears his throat.

“So guys, what if as Ola goes for the dinner with Oluchi as his
date, Tony comes also with Olaide as his date?”

196
There was a pause as me and Sam looked at each other for a
couple of seconds and he started to laugh.
Tunji joined in with him and I just sat there looking. I couldn’t
laugh, neither could I laugh.

Honestly, I didn’t even know what I felt right then.

It was a mixture of some crazy emotions. Anger, bewilderment,

consternation, trepidation, I could keep on counting.

“You guys, it’s not funny at all,” I managed to muster and they
all continued to tease me.

“What would you do if it happened?” Sam asked.

“Honestly, I don’t know,” I replied.
“You don’t know?” he asked again.

“Yes, what would you expect me to do? We are all adults and
we can do whatever we want?” I replied.

“So you won’t mind if you see Olaide and Tony kissing right?”
Sam asked again.

He was teasing me, gaslighting me, and I was aware. I smiled

before replying.

“Then I will kiss Oluchi also!” I retorted with a grin.

“My guy!!!” Tunji screamed as he leaned up to shake me in

excitement.

All three of us were laughing right now as our voices were loud
in the now scanty auditorium.

197
We looked around as we cautioned ourselves after seeing that
some Clergy wives were having a meeting not too far away.

As we were still laughing, Sam checked his phone as he

probably got a message. He looked into it and smiled.

“What’s the matter Samuel?” Tunji asked and he gave his

phone to him to view. Tunji also began to smile.

Now I became curious as to what was making them smile. It

was mischievous and I wanted to know what it was.

“Give me the phone, let me see!” I said to Tunji sharply and he

didn’t hesitate to give it to me.

I looked into the screen to see a message from Tony to Sam.

Olaide was at his place. That was where she packed her loads
to, to go stay while she cooled off from me.

Tony’s freaking house!!!

198
 22.
Just dey play
”Is this playing? What kind of playing is this?”

A t that moment, I felt total annoyance and utter disgust.

Tunji and Sam could see the look on my face and they
kept quiet.

I returned the phone back to them and picked my phone to dial

a number.

“Ola, what are you doing?” Tunji asked.

“Who are you calling?” Sam added.

I didn’t answer anyone of them as I was quiet and waited for

the person on the receiver end to pick.

When the person did pick, I spoke.

“Hi, yeah I have decided. I’m free on Friday, so we could attend

the dinner together….”

They both looked at me and smiled as they knew who I was on

the phone with. It was obvious that it was Oluchi.

199
Seconds later, I came off the phone, having agreed to going
with her. I looked at Tunji and Sam and they smiled at me,
giving me crazy looks with a sprinkle of smirks.

“It’s like both of you are mad abi!” I retorted with a laugh as I
stood up. “Please let’s go and find something to eat, I am
hungry.”

“Ekun!” Tunji screamed.

“Apatapiti!” Sam joined in and we all were laughing as we stood
up to leave the church auditorium.

I liked the fact that they both respected that I didn’t want to talk
about Olaide being at Tony’s place. It was as if that moment
never happened.

We ended up going to a Chicken Republic restaurant to go eat.

I got back to my place that evening and looked around.

I was alone in the house.

It was the first time in months that I have had the whole
apartment to myself.

The house looked dirty at that moment and I felt the need to
clean it. Olaide had been the one always cleaning the house
and I sure missed doing that chore.

Anything that had to do with soap and water, calms me down. I

love washing clothes, doing the dishes, mopping and cleaning
the house. They were my favourite house chores.

200
I got to work as I got a broom to sweep both rooms, mopped
the floor, cleaned the windows and dusted all electrical
appliances.

I washed and changed the bedsheets and pillow cases,

properly arranged my clothes and Olaide’s own.

There was nothing to be done in the kitchen as it was all clean

and the dishes and pots washed.

By the time I was done, the room looked sparkling clean and
neat.

This was around 7pm.

There had been light all day as our area’s power supply had
been superb.

I could feel my belly rumbling, I was hungry so I went to the

kitchen to cook some noodles.

Just as the noodles was boiling, my phone rang and it was my

aunt from Ado Ekiti. I went into the living room to pick up the
call. I sat as we spoke.

“Hello Ola bawoni omo mi?” she said over the phone.
“Good evening Mummy” I replied.
“In okun o awe,” she greeted me in Ekiti dialect and I replied
her,
“In ora Ma.”

She asked after Olaide and I told her she was fine.

201
She then asked if Olaide had told me anything. I was surprised
as I told her that she had not but I was curious to know what
she was talking about.

She then went on to let me know that she was coming to Lagos
on Friday for a wedding event and that she would stay over for
the weekend before leaving on Sunday morning after church.

She already called Olaide hours ago to tell her, then she was
calling to tell me too.

I laughed and told her that Olaide already sent me a text but I
had not opened it, probably that was what she sent.

She asked if she was not home with me and I told her she went
out with her friends to chill and that she would soon be back.

My aunt even confirmed that it looked like she was at a party

when she called her with loud music in the background.

”So Tony took her out to chill?” I thought to myself.

It dawned on me that I and Olaide had actually never gone out

with each other.

I told my aunt we would be expecting her by Friday evening

and we ended the call after talking about other things, including
when I will get married.

“These old people and marriage eh? I haven’t settled with

relationships wahala, it is now marriage that I would delve
into?” I muttered.

202
Still while I was in thoughts, I remembered my noodles and ran
into the kitchen.

It was almost burning though, so I added little water to it before

properly cooking.

As I sat to eat my noodles and watch TV, it dawned on me that

this Friday when my aunt was coming was also the dinner
event I was to go for with Oluchi.

Who was going to pick my aunt up or stay with her in the house
all night?

My worries were allayed when I realized that Olaide would

probably be home before then and would stay over while I go
for the event and come back at night possibly or the next day.

Olaide would eventually not come back to the house until

Thursday evening. I had expected her sooner and had totally
lost hope of her even coming till I saw her that day.

I came back home from work to find her cooking in the Kitchen.

For the past couple of days, I usually buy dinner outside before
coming home, so I barely cooked.

I was holding a pack of jollof rice and chicken that I had bought
from a restaurant which I was going to eat tonight.

Since the days she was gone, I had tried calling her like twice
but she didn’t pick up my call, neither did she call me back.

203
I knew that she was in Tony’s place but I never mentioned it. I
acted as if I didn’t know.

All I wanted was for her to come back home to me of her own
free will and when she wanted.

I had begun to wonder when she would come back, knowing

fully well that my aunt was coming and would love to see us
both staying together.

I looked at her cooking in the kitchen and with the delicious

aroma I could smell, I knew that I had missed her so much.

She was putting on a jersey and a bum short and as I looked

closely at the customized name at the back of the jersey, my
stomach churned.

It was Tony’s Arsenal’s jersey with his name “TONY” boldly

customized at the back.

I had a feeling that she brought and wore it on purpose.

Did she know that I knew she was at Tony’s place or she
wanted me to figure it out by myself. I smiled.

She looked behind and saw me.

“Oh! you are back? Ola how are you? How was work today?”
she said to me so casually as if nothing had happened.

“How am I?” I replied with a scoff.

“Yes how are you?” she said again as she faced the food on
fire which was spaghetti stir fry.

204
I shook my head as I didn’t want to pour out my mind to her or
on her.

Instead I ignored and walked away.

I dropped my food on the table on the living room and went into
the room to pull off my clothes and to take a shower.

By the time I was done having my shower, I went in to the the

room to change into a top and jogger and walked back to the
living room to eat my jollof rice.

I was determined to avoid anything that would make me talk to

Olaide this night. I was happy to have her back but I just wasn’t
happy with her for leaving me to go to Tony’s.

I walked back to the table in the living room and I was

bewildered, I could not find my plate of food.

What witchery was this?

I was unmitigatedly sure beyond reasonable doubt that I had

dropped the food on the table. There was no way it could have
disappeared into thin air.

I went to open the fridge to check if maybe I kept it there, but it

wasn’t. I went back inside the room to see if maybe I left it on
the bed but it wasn’t there also.

There was only one conclusion after my search, it had to be

Olaide.

205
I had planned not to go into the kitchen to check up on her
before, I would just eat and sleep on the couch but now I had
no choice than to go confront her.

I walked into the kitchen to go ask her if she saw or took my

food only to meet a shocker.

I saw my plate of food in her hands. She was eating my food

and at that moment, tearing a piece of the turkey on the food.

“Is this playing? What kind of playing is this?” I muttered as I

slapped my forehead and looked at her in disbelief.

206
 23.
The Consensus
“Now we had a dilemma, who would stay with
my aunt when she comes.”

“ waoh!” I muttered.

She turned sideways to look at me and smiled.

“Oh Ola, what’s up?” she said graciously as she chewed on the
meat. “This food is good. I’m sorry I could not help it, I was so
hungry and this pasta isn’t done yet, mabinu. I could not wait so
I had to eat this before I died. Food would soon be ready, not to
worry, okay?”

The fact that she said all of these casually as if we were on

good terms was what made it the most annoying.

She was clearly enjoying frustrating me at the moment.

For four good days, I had been in the house alone. It had been
peaceful, no issues at all. I had barely spent an hour with her
and she’s already messing with my sanity.

I looked at her and scoffed.

207
“Still not going to say a word to me huh?” she said with a grin,
trying to make funny faces too.

I still stood at the kitchen door, shook my head and walked

away.

I was so hungry at that moment but there was nothing I could

do.

There was garri and probably cornflakes somewhere in the

kitchen there but if it was still the same Olaide I know, she
would not let me touch any of those as long as she was still
cooking.

I was sure all she was doing was a plight to make me eat the
food she was cooking.

I was certain that she had seen the food I bought on the table,
made calculations that it was what I wanted to eat and decided
to take action.

Well she was right and smart and to be honest. As I sat on the
couch with an hungry stomach, I smiled because I knew I
missed her.

But I wasn’t going to show it. My hard guy and utmost jealousy
was going to get the better of me.

She came back to the room and sat down beside me.

“Oya take, shey you will kukuma finish the food. It still remains
small,” she said as she showed me the plate of food which she
had completely finished.

208
All I could see was defeated bones of the turkey which I was
meant to eat.

Clearly she was teasing me and I looked at her with contempt.

She was smiling and expected me to do so too but I scoffed.

“Olaoluwa, what is wrong with you?” she asked as she dropped

the empty plate on the table and focused fully on me.

I still did not reply. I just kept quiet and looked at her. I wanted
to talk, but didn’t know what to say.

“You’re asking what is wrong with me Olaide?” I asked her with

a calm soothing voice.

“Yes, please tell me,” she replied.

“Where have you been all these days?” I asked.

“I’ve been at Tony’s place. And I’m sure you already know
that.”

The fact that she was confident that I knew, when she didn’t
even tell me was kind of making me angry but I wasn’t going to
show it.

“How would I know if you didn’t tell me?” I asked her.

“I just knew you would know. Besides stop being gloomy, I’m
here right now aren’t I?”

She got up and went into the kitchen as I laid back on the
couch.

209
Minutes later she came back to the room with a plate of jollof
spaghetti with two pieces of chicken and dropped it in front of
me.

She went to the fridge and brought two sachet of water

carefully placed in a bowl and dropped it beside the food.

Later on she went to the fridge and brought out a bottle of fruit
wine.

I guessed she brought that with her because it wasn’t in my

fridge before.

She also dropped the wine on the table and went back to the
kitchen to get her own food and two disposable cups.

I watched as all of these unfolded and wondered to myself what

she was getting at.

Was she messing with me? See her calmly acting as if nothing
had happened and that we were cool.

She sat on the table, crossed her legs and smiled at me. Gosh!
I really missed that smile.

“Eat up Mr. Falodun! you’ve just been served.”

I chuckled as I shook my head and began to eat, I was hungry

and the food tasted delicious.

All through as we ate, we didn’t say a word to each other.

Occasionally we both would stare into our phones and press it.

210
By the time we were done, she cleared the table and I thanked
her for the meal. She asked me to open the wine and pour us
both a drink and that we needed to talk.

Finally.

By the time she came back, I had filled both cups and we
relaxed to talk. I had assumed that we were going to talk about
us but she started off with my Aunt’s talk.

“So Aunty says she’s coming around tomorrow for a wedding

she has this weekend and that she will be staying here. She
said she already spoke to you right?” she asked.

“Yes she has. And I told her that she is welcomed. Although
there is an issue, I might not be around by evening till late at
night or the next day because I have a work function to attend,
so you might have to keep her company till I’m back by
morning …”

She interjected me mildly.

“You won’t be around tomorrow evening?”

“No I won’t, I’m going out,” I replied.

“I also won’t be available by evening, I am going for a function

too,” she said.

It was unconvincing and looked very fishy.

“What function are you going for Olaide?” I asked with a

quizzed look.

211
“Err, actually I have this event to anchor at the office and my
boss has put me in charge. In fact it’s part of my KPI so I can’t
not be there.”

For a moment, I thought it was the same event that I was

attending that probably Tony invited her for and that she
wanted to go.

Now we had a dilemma, who would stay with my aunt when

she comes.

We both agreed that we would have to call her and tell her
about our plans and that if she was good with it, then no
problem.

I picked up my phone to call her at around almost 9:30pm. I’ve

known my aunty to be a late sleeper so I knew she was going
to be still awake.

She picked up the call and after greeting her, I explained to her
our plans for tomorrow evening and if she was okay with
staying alone and that we would be back by morning. She was
okay with it and joked that she’s not a baby.

I asked what time she was leaving Ado Ekiti and she said she
would take the first bus so she could be here on time. I already
took permission from work so I would leave the office to go
meet her at the bus stop and bring her home.

I greeted her goodnight and wished her a safe journey for

tomorrow.

It was all set.

212
Olaide smiled at me.

“Good job Mr. Falodun. I feel so tired right now and I need to go
get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a very busy and long
day for me,” she said.

I was surprised because I really hoped that we had more things

to talk about. Before she stood, I spoke.

“Wait, is that it? are we not going to talk about anything else?”

“Anything else like what?” she asked.

“Like me and you, us?” I replied.

She sighed before replying.

“Olaoluwa, tonight is not the night, trust me. We will talk about
everything you want to talk about after this weekend. Let’s just
go with the flow for now okay?”

I understood her point and I totally agreed with it.

Let us allow this weekend pass.

She went to sleep in the bedroom while I went in to grab a

pillow and a blanket, then returned to the couch to crash.

As I lay on the bed, I began to imagine what the coming

weekend would bring. My aunt being around, the work dinner
with Oluchi and how to mend my broken relationship with
Olaide. Even Peju flashed through my mind, but I knew that
was a lost cause, I didn’t want to think about her.

213
We were done.

By morning, we both got dressed and set for work.

She left before me.

My aunt sent a text message to me around 7:30am that she

was already on her way, the bus had moved. I calculated that
latest by 12 or 1pm, she would have landed in Lagos.

At about 12:45pm, she called me and said she was at Berger. I

gave her directions to get to Ketu and packed my things from
my desk. I told the HR I was leaving and that I’ll see him next
week.

He was surprised as he almost forgot that I had asked for

permission. He apologized and I left the office after greeting
other colleagues.

There was no traffic, so in 15 minutes I was at my bus stop to

meet my aunt and we both took a ride home.

214
 24.
The Shocker
“As I wore my shirt, tie, coat and shoes, all I
could think of was that Olaide had a child.”

W e got to the house and I took her stuff to the room.

I and Olaide had planned that she would sleep in the bedroom
with her while I maintained the couch.

My aunt is actually my father’s half sister. They share the same

father but different mothers.

She was one person I grew an affinity towards because I lived

with her for some months in Ado Ekiti when I had just gained
admission to the university in Oye Ekiti.

She never had a child of her own, instead she took care of her
siblings’ children and raised some of them as hers.

Her husband, Alhaji had one time been a local government

chairman of Ado Ekiti Local government.

They were minimalists and comfortable in their own way.

215
She was neither fat nor slim but just slightly full bodied. She
had a dark complexion with a warm and friendly face that
welcomed anyone right away.

I asked her if she wanted to freshen up before eating and she

affirmed. I showed her where the bathroom was and she went
in to have her bath.

It was around 1:30pm already and I sat down to relax a bit

before looking for what my aunt was going to eat. Minutes later,
my phone rang, it was Oluchi.

She asked how I was and confirmed if I was still game for
tonight’s dinner. I told her I was.

She said she would come pick me up by 5pm. That was totally
fine by me as I would be ready by then.

My aunt came to the room when she was done and I asked her
what should eat.

She asked what was in the house and I told her just left over
spaghetti from yesterday night.

She said she does not eat spaghetti and that she wanted to eat
swallow.

I asked if I could go get for her and she refused and said she
does not eat food outside.

“Wahala” I said to myself.

216
I asked her what she wanted and she said that I should take
her to the nearest market and that she would prepare her food
herself.

I did all my best to try to convince her not to bother but she
didn’t budge.

At about 2:30pm, I took her to Ketu Market to go buy some

things.

Goodness lord! This woman can price.

She was so shrewd and meticulous.

She bought fish, meat and vegetables to make efo riro.

She also bought poundo yam after she asked me if I had

mortar and pestle in the house so she could pound.

I was shocked. I was so sure that if I had, she would have

bought some tuber of yams.

Ekiti people and pounded yam are like 5 and 6.

We spent close to 15k that afternoon and I made sure to pay,

even though she didn’t want me to. We got back to house
around 3:45pm and instantly I went to shower.

She got into the kitchen and began to cook immediately.

When I was done, I cleaned up, put on my suit trousers and my

singlet. I decided not to wear my shirt or suit till Oluchi called.

217
There was light so I sat down in the sitting room and was
pressing my phone. I had gone to greet my aunt while she was
cooking before sitting down.

I checked my phone and the time was 4:15pm.

I was right on time.

Shortly after, she joined me in the room and sat down.

“I’m boiling the meat now, so let us chat briefly before you go,”
she said to me and I smiled.

I was wondering what she wanted us to talk about.

“Is Olaide not coming home first before going out?” she asked.

“Mummy I don’t know. I don’t think she is, because if she was,
she would have called to let me know.”

She sighed.

“So both of you would let me sleep in this house alone during
my first visit?” she asked again.

“Mummy, ko ri be o. If I had known earlier that you were

coming, maybe I might not have gone for this event, but it’s
something that I have committed to for over a week before you
called, that’s why I cannot cancel. E ma binu Ma.”

I had hoped my response and apology would suffice.

“It’s okay then. Ehen, so how has it been accommodating

Olaide for the past few months? hope she’s not troubling you?”

218
I chuckled before responding.

“Olaide has been a fantastic guest in my house, and I’m glad

that you sent her my way. We’ve never even had any issues at
all and my friends all like her.”

My aunt smiled at me.

“That’s good. She’s a good girl. Her late parents were good
friends with myself and my husband ….”

My head sparked as I interjected.

“Mummy what did you say just now? Her parents are late?”

She looked at me quizzed, suprised that I did not know.

“You don’t know? she didn’t tell you?”

It was then that I realized that I actually didn’t know anything

much about Olaide. I was not even so sure about her last name
to be honest.

I had never paid attention to any of the details about her. Her
age, family background, personal and intimate stuff. I was so
blinded by her personality and wonderful aura which had
mesmerized my affection towards her.

Yes, I did have feelings for her, but do I really know her truly?

“I didn’t know Ma. She did not tell me,” I replied.

“Waoh, so you don’t know about her child too?”

219
My heart wanted to come out of my throat when I heard that.

“Olaide has a child?!”

Just then my phone rang and as I checked, it was Oluchi.

I looked at the time and it was already 4:45pm.

She told me she was already outside my gate. I was surprised

she came early so I told her I would join her soon.

She wanted to come inside for a moment but I told her not to,
that I would meet her outside in a minute.

When I dropped the call and looked, my aunt had left and was
in the kitchen already.

I had to rush to dress up and go meet Oluchi outside.

As I wore my shirt, tie, coat and shoes, all I could think of was
that Olaide had a child.

What?!

This was crazy, my whole reasoning was unstable.

I couldn’t stay to ask my aunt more questions because I kept

someone waiting but I was sure going to continue this
conversation when I got back.

I peeped into the kitchen and greeted my aunt.

“Oh, you are already leaving right?”

220
“Yes ma, I am. I would be back by tomorrow morning, hopefully
before you leave for your event,” I replied with a fake grin.

The bombshell she dropped on me was still ringing in my head.

“Okay no problem. Won’t you just stay to eat? I’m already

making the poundo,” she said to me but I refused because I
was already running late.

I hurried out of the house after telling her to lock the door and
ran to meet Oluchi in her car.

I was dressed in a black suit with a purple shit and black tie. My
suade shoe was properly polished and my glasses on. I looked
so good and smelt nice but my heart was still perplexed.

I just hoped that my thoughts won’t ruin my day.

Oluchi was so happy to see me and she pecked me as I

fastened my seatbelt.

“You look so fucking handsome.”

I chuckled as I looked at her. She was still dressed casually as

she told me she was going to do her make up over there. Her
dress was on the back seat so she needed us to get there on
time so we are set before the event.

The event was to start by 7:30pm. We had already agreed that

we would lodge in a nearby hotel afterwards since it would be
too late to go back home.

I wondered what this night held for me, or better still us.

221
 25.
E don cast, Last Last
“Minutes later, he walked back to his seat
accompanied by a female. Her physique was
quite stunning but I could not see her face yet
until she sat down.”

W e got to the event at about 7pm, which was right on

time and on schedule. The hotel which we had planned
to stay in was right beside the event centre.

In fact they shared a fence together and there was an entrance

which linked both places together so we walked right into it to
the hotel.

The whole car park was filled up with people and cars and you
could know that this was a grand event.

So we parked at the event centre and went to the hotel to drop

some of her stuff. I was kind of surprised because I did not
come with anything other than my suit.

I was carrying a small traveling bag while she held her black
gown in her hands.

We got to the reception and Oluchi took the key to the room.
We took the elevator and headed for the last floor on a six
storey building where our VIP suite was.

222
As I entered, my eyes were floored. I have never seen such
exotic room and ambiance in my life.

“What the hell,” I muttered.

A king sized bed, a very big Television, well I don’t know the
inches to be honest but it was very big. There was a very big
couch as the side with some chairs and table to sit and chill.

I went into the bathroom and it was majestic. It had a jacuzzi.

I sat on the bed and wondered what such luxury this was.

“Ola give me a moment, I want to change into my dress,” she

said to me as she walked into the bathroom with her cloth.

I was in awe.

Minutes later she came out all glammed up with a short black
dress. Her cleavage was lustfully revealed and her ass well
carved out in the tight dress. She had done her make up and
glossed her lips.

She looked stunning. I had never seen her that beautiful before.

“How do I look?” she asked with a smile.

“You look freaking gorgeous.”

She walked up to me where I sat, bent over and kissed me.

223
Now I wasn’t expecting this but at that moment, I really wanted
to kiss her back and I did. With the help of the lip gloss, her lips
tasted like strawberry and I plucked them softly and gently.

I wasn’t feeling comfortable so I stood up to hold her tight and

kiss her even better. I used my hands to trace her dress down
to her ass and I grabbed them, they were so soft.

I got more curious as we kissed so I touched her laps and then

traced my hands up so I could caress her butt cheeks from
underneath. I had expected to be met by her panties but to my
suprised, she had none on.

Goodness me.

Her ass was even more softer than I had imagined and I
squeezed and jiggled it to my satisfaction. She knowing I was
doing this. reached for my trousers and began to massage my
penis from my trousers.

In my head. I was thinking, “this isn’t happening”, but it was.

She kept on massaging and my dick grew hard and harder.

Carefully she unbuckled my belt and unzipped my trousers
which came right down to my legs. She dipped her hands
inside my boxers and brought out my erecting dick as she
continued to massage it.

I let out a moan.

I knew I shouldn’t be doing this, but I could not stop.

She kept on fondling with my dick till it could grow no further.

224
“Do you want to fuck me?” she whispered to my ears.

“No I don’t,” I vehemently replied in my mind but what came out

of my mouth was “Yes please.”

With that she adjusted her gown up and got on the bed in a
doggy position.

I removed my shoes and completely got off my trousers and

boxers as I climbed the bed behind her and inserted my penis
into her pussy with a clear view of her big soft fat ass.

The first thrust was warm and she squeezed the bed sheets so
tight while she moaned. I grabbed her ass while I began to
penetrate into her pussy.

With each thrust, I began to feel her wetness increase. I held

one of her butt cheek and used it to balance as I rammed into
her hole with sharp precision.

She was moaning out loud and it made me feel so good.

Minutes later, I told her to turn and lay down as I spread her
legs apart and began to fuck her vigorously.

Fucking her felt so damn good. I was hitting all the right spots
and staring at her beautiful face made it a whole lot more sweet
for me.

“Do you like it?” she said moaned out to me.

“Yes I do,” I replied as I continued to hit her pussy.

“Do you like fucking me Ola!” she screamed again.

225
“Yes I fucking do!” I screamed back my reply.

It was as if her voice and her shouting and moaning again was
turning me on.

“Then fuck me harder! my pussy loves your dick Ola! I love how
you make me feel …..”

She kept on sex hyping me and I closed my eyes to listen to

her voice and focus on it while still thrusting into her with a fast
paced celerity.

Minutes later, I could feel myself about to cum so I withdrew

and came into my hands.

I was panting so much hard and sweating.

We had not even gone for the event and I was already this
worked up.

I got off the bed and stood in front of her, holding my cum in my
hands, while still dressed in my shirt, suit and tie.

How her regalia seemed not do disturb me as I was fucking her

still baffled me.

Immediately I went into the bathroom to wash off and came

back to wear my trousers and shoes.

She went in after to clean up and we both got set to leave for
the event. It was 8pm already, we were 30 minutes late.

226
Before we opened the door to go out, she drew me back to kiss
me passionately for thirty seconds.

Inasmuch as I just enjoyed the sex and the kiss, I didn’t feel
any spark or connection between us.

None of it made me feel the way I felt when I kissed or had sex
with Olaide.

We went out the door and locked it as we headed for the event
center.

Getting to the entrance, we were ushered into our seats by one

of the ushers after Oluchi had shown them her card.

It was a beautiful atmosphere. The live band were actually

playing on the podium and the mood was electric.

The crowd was much as people were seated on round tables

filled with wines, juices, drinks and small chops to eat.

Joromi was the song being played at that moment as I held

Oluchi’s hand while we walked through the aisle.

She was looking radiant as people kept calling her name and
she waved to greet them.

I knew no one there so I was pretty much very confident, not

until we were brought to our table which already had like four
people there.

She greeted the people people on the table while I just sat only
for me to look at the man opposite me whom she had just
greeted, it was Tony.

227
I wasn’t even that bothered because I had expected to see him
there, I just didn’t know that we would be on the same table. He
looked at me and smirked, surprised that I was here and
wondered who I came with, not until he saw Oluchi sit beside
me and I helped adjust her seat.

He was stunned at how I came here with his boss. I could tell
from his look. That felt good for a moment, knowing that I just
shocked him.

But that wasn’t the only shocker.

We kept looking at ourselves across the table occasionally and

I kept talking to Oluchi about the drinks and music to distract
myself from Tony.

I thought the night was for me, only for Tony to leave his seat
and go outside. I had assumed that he wanted to go ease
himself or something. Idiot, what was my own?

Minutes later, he walked back to his seat accompanied by a

female. Her physique was quite stunning but I could not see
her face yet until she sat down.

Even while she sat, there was a bouquet blocking my view of

her.

Tony looked at me after he had helped her to her seat and he

sat on his seat too.

He then smiled at me. In my mind, I thought it was one of his

numerous call girls which he had at his beck and call until one
of the other guests on our table wanted to get ice from the ice

228
bucket on the table and shifted the bouquet to give me a full
view of the girl Tony came with.

Oh my fucking goodness!

It was Olaide.

229
 26.
Tragedy
“All she did was lay her head on my shoulders
and she fell asleep during the ride. I held her
close to me and kept patting her.”

I sat there dumbfounded and completely short of words.

How was Olaide here?

Was this a dream? Like how? Is this playing?

So all along it meant that this was the event she was talking
about.

She lied to me.

In my dumbfounded state, I opened my mouth wide and Oluchi

nudged me.

“Ola what is wrong?” she asked.

“Nothing,” I replied.

Just then Olaide looked at my side of the table and her eyes
widened.

230
She was busted.

She lowered her head in a bow of shame for a couple of

seconds before raising it back up and whispering something to
Tony.

They both laughed and I was curious as to what she said

because it gave her much more confidence and she waved at
me.

Goodness lord, she waved at me!

That’s it, game on!

She was in a short black gown which revealed her voluptuous

cleavages. It’s been so long I had a feel of that and yes I really
did miss her.

All through the event, I kept staring at Olaide and everything

my aunt said kept rushing to my mind.

Olaide’s parents were late and then she had a child? Why
didn’t she tell me?

I could understand her not wanting to talk about her late

parents, but what about the child? I had no idea how to feel.

This was a discussion we were definitely going to have when

we got home. I turned my face to look at her side again and
saw that she kissed Tony’s cheeks.

I was boiling inside.

231
Oluchi was right beside me, already eating. She had tried to
hold my hands while a guest artist was performing but after a
few seconds, I freed my hand as if I needed it to scratch my
hair and never returned it back to her.

As much as I enjoyed her company and all, I did not want it to

be visible to Olaide that myself and her had something going
on.

There was a particular time Oluchi stood up and started to

dance and she held my hands to stand up and join her.

I looked at Olaide and she smiled at me waiting to see what

would happen but I stood up and whispered to Oluchi’s ears
that I suck at dancing and it was better I sat down.

Olaide was getting no show from me tonight.

But much to my chagrin, right just after I sat down, she stood
up and drew Tony up also and they both began to dance
together.

I wanted to go crazy.

I knew this was a deliberate attempt to unsettle me and make

me feel uncomfortable. They held hands and he put his hands
on her waist.

That was it, I stood up and turned to Oluchi. I smiled at her

before I started moving my body to the rhythm of the song. It
was Afro jazz at the moment and it required little movement.

I held her by the waist as we danced. She looked into my eyes,

wondering what just came over me but I turned away and

232
looked at Olaide and Tony who at this point already were
seated, looking at me and smiling.

Olaide was holding her phone and was recording me dancing

with Oluchi. I was dumbfounded.

“What the hell?” I muttered.

This cheeky little devil.

I looked away and turned to face Oluchi. She looked at me and

could sense something was up.

“Ola, are you okay?” she asked.

I grinned and told her that I was fine.

“May I be excused to go use the toilet?” I asked and she

obliged.

By the time I looked back at where they were seated, Olaide

was not on her seat anymore. I wondered where she was but
still I headed for the entrance.

The toilet was outside the auditorium and was on either side of
the entrance. One side was for females and the other for males.

I was feeling so uneasy already and wished I hadn’t come for

this event.

As I got to where I was to turn to the male toilet, I heard

someone call my name.

233
I turned back to look and it was Olaide, looking all radiant and
utterly majestic in her simple short gown.

I still couldn’t believe she had a child.

“So this was the event you were coming to?” she asked me as
we got closer to each other.

“Yes, and this was the work event you also had, right?” I asked
with a smirk.

She smiled before responding.

“Tony had invited me a week ago and I promised him I was

going to go with him. I never imagined that you were going to
be here.”

I sighed. We were speaking calmly and in the midst of all the

noise and numerous people passing us, all I could hear was
her voice.

“I never thought I'd see you here too,” I replied.

“So you and Tony’s boss, are you a thing?” she asked with a
quizzed “aproko” look.

I chuckled.

“Nah, not at all, me and Oluchi are just friends?”

“Okay, so you haven’t had sex with her yet?” she asked and
that question hit me hard.

I was silent for a moment

234
Why did it hit me hard? Because I was guilty. Hours ago we
just did but I definitely was not going to tell Olaide.

“Are you kidding me!?” I scoffed. “Why would you think of

something like that?”

“I don’t know, I was just asking,” she replied.

“How about you?” I counter asked.

“Me how?”

“You’ve been living with Tony for a while, have you had sex
with him?”

She smiled as she looked at me. Was she thinking that I would
not ask? Just as she wanted to speak, my phone rang.

I looked at the time on the phone and it was past 9pm. On the
screen was my aunt calling.

I turned the screen to show Olaide and instantly she opened

her phone to see missed calls too, from my aunt. Her phone
was on silent.

We both were surprised and gently I put the phone in my ears

wondering why she was calling this late.

The first thing I heard was her crying.

“Ola! … Ola! …. My chest! my chest!”

I went crazy immediately.

235
“Aunty, what is wrong?! Talk to me, what happened to your
chest?” I screamed back but still managed to reply her.

“My chest Ola, my chest ….”

The phone hung up immediately.

Olaide was perplexed, she kept asking me what was wrong but
I told her I didn’t know.

“Something is wrong with Aunty, she kept complaining about

her chest.”

“Have you tried calling her back?” she asked worryingly

concerned.

I dialed the number again but she didn’t pick.

We both were worried and unsettled. I had a feeling something

was wrong.

Tears were beginning to come out of Olaide’s eyes now as she

asked what we should do.

“What should we do Ola?”

I looked at her completely clueless. But one thing was sure, we

had to go home.

I thought of calling one of my neighbors to go help me check on

my aunt, the only woman I could call was Mrs. Anjorin, a busy
body woman in the compound but it was late and it would not
be proper.

236
“Olaide, I’m going home.”

Home was about two hours away, but this was an emergency. I
would tell Oluchi that I had to leave. It would hurt her but there
was no bargaining this, I had to go check on my aunt.

I wondered what Olaide would do.

She could decide to still stay and enjoy herself with Tony or ….

“I’m going with you.”

She interjected my thoughts.

“What about Tony?” I asked.

“Ola are you crazy, aunty is at home sick and we don’t even
know what is wrong yet and you are asking me about Tony,
seriously?”

I knew I had messed up with the question, but there was no

time to waste.

We both thought about going into the auditorium to go tell

Oluchi and Tony that we were leaving but then again we felt we
would just send a text to let them know there was an
emergency and we had to rush and leave.

“Oluchi, I just got a call from my aunt whom I left at home and
it’s scary. I fear something must have happened to her and I
need to go home asap. I’m deeply sorry that I have to leave but
this is an emergency. I’ll text you when I get home and assess
the situation.”

237
Olaide ordered a ride after she sent her own text to Tony and in
three minutes it was here. Luckily the driver was completing a
ride to where we were.

9:30pm we were on the move back to Ketu from the Island.

Neither of us said a word to each other during the ride. We both

sat on the back seat.

All she did was lay her head on my shoulders and she fell
asleep during the ride. I held her close to me and kept patting
her.

She was scared and I was to.

My phone buzzed during the ride and it was Oluchi.

“Alright no problem. I’m so sorry. Please keep me posted okay

and be safe.”

238
 27.
Oh Death! Where is thy sting?
“This wasn’t good, my aunt had died.”

“ I’m sorry, she didn’t make it.”

I wanted to go mad as I heard these words. I held the doctor by

his scrubs.

“Doctor No!” I screamed and tears rolled down my eyes.

The doctor had dragged me and Tunji aside into his office,
separating us from Olaide who was already crying at the
reception.

It was 12:30am and I fell to the chair, lay my head on the table
and began to sob. Tunji held me by the shoulder.

This wasn’t good, my aunt had died.

Immediately we got to the house, we knocked on the door but

she didn’t answer. I wasn’t with my key so I called her twice but
she she didn’t pick.

239
The key was still in the door and we could not open it as Olaide
had tried with her own key.

Luckily it was a wooden door and I told her I was going to break
it down.

“Ola, is that okay, can’t we look for another way?”

“Olaide, there is no other way. That woman is inside and yet

she is not responding, something is wrong. I’ll fix the door by
morning.”

With that I nudged the door full force with my body. It wasn’t
until the fourth trial that the lock gave way.

Immediately we rushed in and there we saw my aunt laying on

the couch, lifeless. The Television and the lights were on.

Olaide screamed as she ran to her and tried to get her up.

“Mummy! Mummy!”

Foam was already coming out of her mouth and it was there
that I became terribly petrified.

She didn’t respond. I walked over to her and tapped her, still no
response.

“Ola something is wrong, seriously wrong, she’s not breathing.”

We knew we had to go to the hospital immediately.

240
I ordered a ride and it wasn’t going to be here till 15 minutes
later. Meanwhile I had told Olaide not to shout because I didn’t
want to draw the attention of my neighbours.

I didn’t know who to call, it was 11pm. The first person that
came to my mind was Tunji.

As I explained to him, he asked what hospital we were taking

her to and I told him. It wasn’t far from his area so he said he
will meet us there.

I didn’t want to call my dad or her husband till we got her

treated, and more so, it was late, the old men would be
sleeping.

The ride got to the house and I carried in my hands, the lifeless
body of my aunt from the house into the car. There was light so
the whole compound was illuminated.

The journey to the hospital took about 20 minutes but it was the
hospital we all used so it was best we went there.

Olaide sat in the front seat and was crying while I laid my aunt’s
head on my laps and her body on the seat. She wasn’t
responding to stimulus anymore and her body was getting cold.

In my mind, we could still revive her, probably because she

was in a coma. What exactly was going on, I didn’t know.

I didn’t want to spook the driver so I kept tapping Olaide not to

cry too much before the driver begins to think she’s dead and
begins to ask questions.

241
We got to the hospital and Tunji was already waiting for us
there. Immediately he helped me to carry her from the car and
there was a stretcher brought to us at the entrance as some
nurses were already waiting.

Apparently Tunji had pre informed them.

We were told to wait at the reception as they wheeled her

inside. The three of us sat down and Olaide was still crying.

I bowed my head and began to pray. I prayed that she should

make it out of this. Yes she was old and above 60 years but
she was far too good a person for us to lose her right now and
without any prior warning.

Tunji sat close to Olaide and held her tight, consoling her that
everything was going to be okay.

A nurse came in later to ask me what happened exactly and we

told her that we didn’t know. She just called that her chest, her
chest and we had to rush over to check on her from the Island
as we both were at a function.

I asked how she was and she told me that the doctor would
attend to me shortly.

I raised my head up from the table in the doctor’s office with

“soaked eyeballs”.

“Okay na, let’s go tell Olaide,” I said as I looked at Tunji. This

was going to break her.

“Sorry to ask, are you guys her children?” the doctor asked.

242
“No sir, she’s our aunty. She only came visiting for the
weekend yesterday from Ekiti because she has a wedding
tomorrow, sorry today because it’s already Saturday right. In
fact, she was meant to leave tomorrow.”

“Oh my god! I am so sorry,” the doctor replied.

“Sir if I may ask, what is the cause of death?” Tunji asked.

“Well, we cannot say for sure now except we do a full autopsy

but based on symptoms, our best bet now is a high blood
pressure. As we don’t know her medical history, we cannot fully
ascertain.”

I sighed as I cleaned the tears in my eyes.

“I just hope people would believe and not think that I used her
for rituals or something,” I subconsciously but loud enough for
them to hear.

“Why would anyone think that Ola? stop it!” Tunji admonished.

“She died in my house Tj, my house! She came into Lagos

today and died in my house the next day! How am I going to
explain this to her husband? my other uncles and aunties that I
probably have never spoken to? She died in my house!
Imagine them asking me why we didn’t take her to the hospital
early enough and I tell them that myself and Olaide went for an
event the night she came and left her all alone in the house.
Who leaves their guest and goes for a party on the first night!
You think this is going to die down? Trust me, I’m in for a tough
time.”

243
Before anyone could say another word, I began to get teary
and burst out of the doctor’s office. Tunji followed me.

I needed to find Olaide and tell her.

I got into the reception and didn’t see her there. I got worried
instantly.

Tunji asked the receptionist where she had gone and she said
she just stepped out a few minutes ago.

We walked out of the reception only to see her seating outside

on the floor. Slowly we walked to where she was seated and I
sat down beside her.

Tunji stood behind us, at the railings.

“Where have you been? we’ve been looking all over for you,” I
asked.

She sighed and smiled.

“She’s dead right? Aunty is dead?”

I thought of what to say as she looked at my face.

There was no lie I could tell, neither was there a better way for
me to say it. So I thought to myself to tell her the truth. I held
her hands on mine tightly before speaking gently.

“Yes love, yes she is.”

“Arghh Olaaaaa!!! …”

244
She burst into tears and I held her close to me as we both were
crying.

None of us envisaged this happening and we both were broken.

This was the woman that connected us together, she was the
only tie we had to each other and we just lost her.

It was there we knew that we needed each other right now

more than ever.

245
 28.
Deeply buried secrets
“This hit me hard. I could never have imagined
that this was what she went through and it’s
what she has been suppressing all this while,
all these years.”

T he next couple of days were emotionally and mentally

torturing for me and Olaide.

We had to call her husband, Alahaji and also my father who

informed his siblings about her death.

She was a muslim, so they insisted that she was buried

immediately. We were asked to send her body back home to
Ekiti.

Both of us spoke about it and we asked for permission from

work to which we were given.

Olaide was given the whole week while I was given just three
days.

By Monday, we got an ambulance which would help us

transport the corpse home. Her body was put in a casket.

We also had to rent another car, which took me, Olaide and my
dad to my home town in Isinbode Ekiti, Ekiti state.

246
Funny enough, none of the family members asked questions or
had suspicions over her death. They all took it in good faith and
that it was her time.

Even her husband, the Alhaji, thanked me for trying to take

care of his wife and bringing her body back home to him.

It was then I got to know that Olaide had actually been staying
with them in Ado Ekiti for years.

My Aunt was like a mother to her.

This death was taking a huge toll on her more than it was on
me.

As they lowered her body into the ground, I cried my eyes out.
Olaide was right beside me and it was her own tears that drove
me to cry also.

We held each other’s hands so tight, I didn’t let her leave my

sight as I consoled her all through.

The next day, we got set for Lagos, myself and Olaide.

We both were not used to the town so it was kind of boring for
us. I didn’t know many people there as I barely came home.

My father decided to stay back with his siblings for some extra
days, so I gave him some money for his upkeep and also his
transportation back.

He had jokingly asked if Olaide and myself were dating twice.

247
Once when we were on our way to Ekiti and the second time
after the burial. He could sense our closeness and he wanted
to be sure.

At every point in time that he asked though, I always told him

the truth that there is nothing between us, and so did she, but
the look he always gave us, was as if he knew so much more
and that he understood the situation.

We had to use public transport back to Lagos on Tuesday

morning. I had just one day, which was the next day to rest
while she had the whole week.

Oluchi had called to send in her condolences.

I tried to apologize for leaving her at the event abruptly but she
said it was fine. She sent me a 100k on the day of the burial to
add to whatever needed to be done.

Peju sent a text message though and it made me smile, that at

least she was concerned.

Sam and Tunji called too.

Sam even wanted to come with us to Ekiti but he was not able
to make the journey because of a last minute intervention from
work.

The only person that I hadn’t spoken to was Tony.

All I got was a text from him and I wasn’t even bothered.

I was only surprised.

248
Even though I knew he was still maintaining talks with Olaide
all through, the fact that he didn’t seem fit to call me, his own
friend, on the phone really hurt me.

We got back to Lagos around 3pm that afternoon even after

leaving Ekiti very early.

We encountered traffic at Ibadan and also on the long bridge

before Berger. The road was being constructed at the moment
so it was quite certain that we would be stuck for hours.

Getting home, I went into the bathroom to have a shower first.

Olaide went into the room and laid on the bed.

As I turned off the tap after I was done, I began to hear her cry.

I cleaned myself and hurried out of the bathroom.

The reason for her tears at that moment was what I could not
phantom but I knew it had to do with what we just went through.

This death really hit her hard and I just knew that she needed
me this period and despite our differences and fights over the
past few weeks, I was going to be there for her.

I tied only a towel around my waist and went to her on the bed
where she laid.

“Olaide, what is wrong again? why are you crying?” I said to

her as I sat on the bed and put her head on my lap.

The towel was still wet and I was waiting for her to complain
amidst her tears but she was quiet and I felt that maybe she
was a little comfortable with it.

249
“Ola, I don’t know,” she sobbed. “This woman was everything
to me Olaa…”

I rubbed her hair as I listened to her. I decided not to talk, but

just listen.

She was wearing shorts and a round neck top which was what
she wore when we left Ekiti.

“I don’t think I’ve ever told you, but my parents are dead Ola…”

I couldn’t help but slightly interject with a response.

“I know Olaide, big mummy told me the day she came.”

Slowly she raised her head up and looked at me. Her eyes
were swollen from the tears.

She sighed before speaking.

“She told you about my late parents?”

“Yes she did,” I replied.

“What else did she tell you, Ola?” she asked with a solemn
voice and an angelic face.

I looked into her face and omo, I knew I loved her so much. I
wanted to tell her the truth about me knowing of her having a
child, but deep down in me, I felt I didn’t want to know. If she
wants to tell me, so be it.

250
“Nothing else, we were meant to continue our talk the next day
before she passed away.”

She hung her head and shook it.

“Could you please get me some water, I want to tell you

something I’ve never told anyone.”

I stood up from the bed and went to the fridge to get a bottle of
water for her. I was still on my towel.

I sat back on the bed and gave her the water to drink. I was
back to my initial position and after she drank out of the water,
she gave me back the bottle and I kept it on the stool after
gulping out of it too.

For what she was going to say, I figured out that I needed
water too.

She cleared her throat before speaking as we both looked into

each other’s faces.

“I am actually an orphan. I lost my parents to a car accident

years ago when they traveled to Osogbo, Osun state for an
event. Luckily for me I was 10 years old at the time and was in
boarding school when it happened. We were in session so I
didn’t go with them. My junior brother who was 2 years old at
the time was with them and they all died. It was a terrible
experience for me even while I was still young. We were based
in Ado Ekiti as my parents were actually both lecturers at Ekiti
state university.”

My heart began to feel pain as I listened to her.

251
“I lived with my father’s brother and his family afterwards in Ado
Ekiti and it was all cool and sweet. I spent ten years with them.
My cousins were all boys so we practically played together and
did boys’ stuff. It’s one of the reasons why I know how to play
video games, they taught me how to and I always play
whenever I get the chance to, even while I was in the
university. Then there came a time when he had to relocate
with his family to the UK. I wasn’t aware until it was late and I
found out that I wasn’t going with them. My uncle was the one
sponsoring my education at the time so he called me a day
before they left and explained everything to me. I was like 19
years old then and was planning to go to university. He told me
that they were leaving but they could not take me because of
funds but however he would keep sending me money always to
make sure I didn’t lack anything and hopefully he would work
on me coming over there to meet them soonest.”

She held my hand and asked if I was following and I nodded in

an affirmative way.

“Now I was stranded and didn’t have anywhere to go. They had
been my family and safe haven for over a decade. The rent of
their house still had like three months so he told me that he had
renewed it for an extra year just for me to be safe and that he
would send 200k for my upkeep every month. He only sent that
money once and that was it. He cut off all communications with
me and there was no way I could reach him. Even his children
blocked me on all platforms and stopped texting me. My whole
life was crumbling down because I didn’t have anyone else.
Out of my curiosity, I decided to go ask the landlord, if truly my
uncle had paid additional one year rent and to my dismay, he
didn’t. He lied to me.”

“Omo! that’s wicked o!” I muttered.

252
“Ola I wanted to go mad. I forgot to even tell you, they had sold
all their properties in the house to raise funds for the trip. Their
Tv, furniture, fridge, appliances and all. The only thing I had to
myself in that house was my clothes and the bed that I slept on
in my room. That very day that I found out, I was devastated. I
slept on my bed and cried my eyes out because the rent was
due the following week and I had nobody. I woke up late that
night at around 9pm and I was hungry. I decided to go outside
the gate to go buy something to eat from the shop in the street.
I got there and they were closed, so I decided to walk further
down to the next street. On a normal day, I would have gone
back because it was late and the street was dark but I was hurt
and hungry so I kept on moving. Unfortunately for me, I was
attacked by three thugs who overpowered, gagged me, took
me to a nearby uncompleted building and raped me.”

“Oh my god!” I said out aloud.

This hit me hard. I could never have imagined that this was
what she went through and it’s what she has been suppressing
all this while, all these years.

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 29.
Assurance
“I sat still, looked into her eyes and got teary.
How I longed so much to hear her say this to
me after all these months.”

I hugged her tight and drew her close to me as she was

profusely crying right now.

I didn’t know when tears dropped from my eyes too as I held

her so close.

”It’s okay baby, it’s going to be fine. You can stop if you don’t
want to talk anymore. We don’t have to talk about this if you are
not okay with it.”

But she cleaned her face and adjusted herself to sit well before
speaking.

“It’s fine. I actually need to get this off my chest. It’s been five
years already. So let me continue.”

“Are you sure?” I asked.

She nodded her head.

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“That night, I walked back home and the gate was locked. I had
the key with me, but I was too weak to put my hand inside and
open the lock. It was at the gate that I passed out because I
bled so much. I opened my eyes the next morning at the
hospital, with my landlord’s wife beside me. The Landlord’s wife
was your aunt.”

“Goodness lord! I had no idea about this,” I said to her.

“I told you that nobody knows. Just me, her and her husband,
Alhaji. She found me at the gate that night while she and her
husband were coming from a function and they took me to the
hospital. They paid my medical bills and took care of me. They
ran tests on me to be sure I was not infected in any ways prior
to that. Two weeks later I found out that I was pregnant, my life
almost shattered when I found out. I wanted to commit suicide
because I had no one else in this world, let alone to bring in a
bastard child to come suffer as I would. I was just 19 and I had
my education ahead of me. It was then that I began to
contemplate suicide.”

She stretched her hands and pointed to the bottle of water and
I picked it up and gave it to her. She took another gulp of it and
gave it back to me. I covered it and dropped it back on the stool.

“Your aunt stopped me from committing suicide. I wanted to

abort the pregnancy but for someone who had been barren all
her life, she told me not to. She followed up by telling me a
story of herself when she was still younger, at about my age.
She got pregnant for someone but she was scared and aborted
it. That process affected her womb and she was never able to
give birth again till now. She did not want that for me so she
promised to take me in as her daughter and for the unborn
child too. I was to have the baby and she would take care of it

255
for me by giving the child out to foster care for five years, after
which I would be done with school and I can go get my child. At
first I told her that I didn’t want the child and that the foster
parents can have her for life but she laughed and told me that
she knew I would say that but she assured me that I would
eventually want and loved that child when that time comes.
Eventually, I gave birth to a baby girl. She took care of me and
my baby and after a year, the foster parents came for her. I
couldn’t even release my child but your aunt reminded me that
four years later, I would go get her. All of this was to get me
focused on my education which she sponsored all through. My
girl is four years already and we were meant to go get her next
year during her fifth year birthday to come stay with me
permanently.”

My head was hot trying to assimilate and contain everything

she just said. It made me respect, cherish and love her the
more. I began to wonder why I was angry at her for anything at
all. She had been through a lot and yet she buried it all in and I
didn’t even find out.

“Ola, it hurts so much that she is dead now. Alhaji is not so

strong at the moment so there’s a limit to what he can do for
me. Your aunt was an angel sent from heaven. She took me
even when she didn’t have to and I prayed to God that I would
be able to repay her someday. It’s just sad that she died
without me being able to do that.”

I took a deep breath, looked at her and closed my eyes. It was

then and there that I knew I didn’t want to lose her for no
reason at all. It’s been over six months of living with her and
she’s changed my life. I wanted her with me forever.

256
“Olaide, I am promising you that I would not ever leave you for
no reason. I am promising that I would always be there for you.
Your daughter would be my daughter and we would raise her
together. I know I have wronged you in myriads of ways with
my actions in the past but I swear to you, I have put that behind
me. I choose you today, tomorrow and foreverr….”

“Wait wait wait …” she interjected with a smile. It was the first
time I was seeing her smile since Friday night.

“What about Peju?” she asked.

I smiled.

“I broke up with Peju already, there’s nothing between us. She

only came to pick up her stuff in annoyance the last time,” I
replied.

“Okay, okay, how about Tony’s boss, Mrs Oluchi?”

I thought to myself what to say to her. Should I say the truth or

lie?

“Well there is nothing between us, we are just friends. I met her
the day Peju broke my head at the restaurant and we have
been good friends since then. She invited me for the event
because she thought I needed a release from all the pressure
I’ve been getting recently. That’s all.”

I felt my heart beat fast when I told this lie but her next words
almost made me choke.

“Alright, that is better, because I know you would never have

sex with a married woman, that’s not the Ola I know.”

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I wanted to go mad.

“Wait.. wait … wait … what! Oluchi is married?!” I asked in

astonishment.

“Ahan, you don’t know? Tony said she’s married but her
husband is in Canada with their 3 year old son. She came back
recently to tidy up a deal and should leave back for Canada
next year.”

“Goodness me!” I muttered.

“Is something wrong? oh let me guess, she didn’t tell you?” She
burst into laughter. “Maybe Madam wanted to fuck you so she
left out that part. Or you have even fucked her already Ola?”
she asked.

“What is that supposed to mean? I will never do such a

despicable thing, sex with a married woman, never!”

In my mind, I knew I had messed up big time but Olaide must

never know. This had to be a secret I would keep within me till I
die. I had to play offensive so I change the topic.

“What of you and Tony? You’ve been living with him since,
haven’t you guys done something together?” I asked.

“You are just so clueless, aren’t you?” she replied me as she

smiled and shook her head.

I looked at her and began to wonder what she meant.

258
“All these while that I left your house, I haven’t been staying
with Tony, I’ve actually been in Tunji’s house with him and his
girlfriend.

I began to get confused.

“Baby boy, calm down okay. Myself, Tony, Tunji and Sam
planned to punish you a bit after the Peju fiasco at the house.
We wanted you to believe that I was at his place and that we
had something together while in fact, I had been in Tunji’s
place all through.”

This was indeed crazy. So she planned all of this with those
crazy lunatics. I was angry but at the same time relieved.

“But wait, me and Tony fought over you. The cut I had, was
from our fight for goodness sake,” I said.

She smiled.

“Yes I know. Tony wanted it to look all real and to provoke and
punish you too. What better way to do that than to make you
think that I had sex with him. I was so proud of you when you
came back home with the cut on your head. You bled for me
twice, it made me feel good.”

I laughed.

“Made you feel good abi? Fowl! How about his clothes that you
wore to the house? I fought my friend because of you,
meanwhile you and him planned this all along?”

“Yes we did. I asked him for something that he owns and that
you would recognize. And to be honest, Ola I’m going to say

259
this for the very first time, I love you. I love you so freaking
much. Seeing you with any other girl churns my stomach and
the only person I want to be with is you. I know you didn’t love
Peju, but the fact that you had sex with her really annoyed me
but yes, I still love you..”

I sat still, looked into her eyes and got teary. How I longed so
much to hear her say this to me after all these months.

“I love you too Olaide.”

That was all I could say as we slowly moved towards each

other and began to kiss passionately.

Her lips tasted as sweet as they did the very first time we
kissed. I realized that it’s been so long that we did anything
erotic.

Since the day Peju came, our relationship had issues. I was so
happy that finally it was over.

We continued to kiss for a while longer only to get a knock at

the door. I already had it fixed before I left.

I didn’t want to stop kissing her but the knocks kept on coming.
I looked at Olaide and she was like I could go.

“It’s probably your friends, I told them we were home already.”

As I stood up to go get the door, I did not know that Olaide had
held the towel deliberately. The whole material gave way as I
got off the bed and my erect penis was glaring at her face with
my naked body.

260
What the hell. I stood still and looked at her. She gave a
naughty smile as she looked at me penis.

Slowly she sat up and began to take off her top, followed by her
underwear. All she had left was just her short, she was topless
and her full gorgeous boobs were revealed to me.

“Fuck yeah!” I muttered as my penis grew in length.

She moved towards where I was standing and touched my

penis which made me shudder. She kissed the tip and
seductively said to me.

“They can wait at the door for a couple more minutes, I’ve
missed this so much and I want you to make me feel good right
now.”

She gobbled it down her throat and beautiful lips and I was in
ecstasy.

For my friends at the door, since y’all conspired against me,

they should wait at the door for a while longer, e o ni kure! (you
won’t die well).

My phone was ringing and it was Tunji. I’m definitely not picking
his call, not right now.

Sope Otilo.

261
 30.
Emi lokan
S ix months later, we are at my place.

Myself, Olaide, Tony, Tunji, Tinuke, who is Tunji’s girlfriend and

Samuel.

We were here to celebrate one last time before myself, Olaide

and her daughter travel to the UK the following week.

This was a Saturday afternoon and we were to leave on

Wednesday.

A month ago, we had our court wedding secretly without

informing any of our friends. Only my parents and siblings knew
about it. I was only informing them about it today.

“Payback’s a bitch guys,” I said to them as I stood in front of the

TV to address them.

We had ordered food and drinks already and it was right on the
table.

Jollof rice, fried rice, two buckets of KFC chicken, four bottles of
wine, two bottles of vodka, five packs of yoghurt and ten pieces
of energy drinks.

Yeah, I remembered them all, because I was the one who went
to buy them.

262
“They say he who finds a wife, has found a good thing,” I began
majestically.

“That is very correct!” Sam interjected and we all laughed.

“Please, please don’t interrupt me or I'll send you out!” I

jocularly remarked and he bowed his head.

“I’m very sorry sir,” he replied and we all laughed.

l smiled and continued.

“I am forever grateful to God for bringing this beautiful woman,

my heart, my love, my sugar bunny….

“Ahan!”

“It’s plenty!”

“Just for one person!”

I was interrupted by cheers from my friends. I smiled as I

looked at Olaide from where she sat. She was blushing and
also smiling.

When the noise had simmered down, I continued.

“As I was saying, I am immensely grateful that I am married to

the most amazing woman in the whole world and you were all a
part of making this happen. I want to also use this medium to
apologize to my good friend Tony whom I thought was trying to
steal my girl, when all along he was involved in the plan of
getting us together.”

263
Tony laughed and shook his head before speaking.

“What are friends for? But if you slack next time, we would find
a better husband for her bro!”

“I second that!” Sam interjected with a laugh and we all burst

up into laughter.

Tunji raised up his hands to speak and I motioned for him to.
He stood up from where he sat beside his babe and spoke.

“Hi guys. It gives me great joy to be among you all today. I’ve
spent a huge chunk of my life with you all, and there’s no one
I'd rather give my blood for than you boys.”

“I love you bro!” Sam screamed. We all smiled.

“I love you too, Sam,” Tunji replied with a grin. He turned to

look at Olaide.

“Olaide, I have to thank you for your patience, love and care
towards this lunatic Olaoluwa ..”

“Emi ni lunatic abi?” I asked with a chortle as the rest were

smiling.

“Please let me go on…” He replied without looking at me and

we both smiled.

““…As I was saying, I am glad that you are in his life and also in
our lives. You embody what a true woman should be and I pray
that you both last long and forever. We are really going to miss
you guys so much.”

264
“Come here!” I said to him and he walked to where I stood and
hugged me tight. After hugging me, he went to meet Olaide and
hugged her too. It was a beautiful sight.

“Wo me I am hungry o!”

That was Sam and he opened a pack of food on the table and
began to share it to us all.

“You too like food, na why your belle just big,” Tony said to him
jokingly.

“Na you sabi, if you like, don’t eat, you wey get flat tummy, how
e take help you?” he replied.

I knew at that moment that I was going to miss these guys. I

went to sit right beside Olaide as we all were eating.

Oluchi and I had ended things already. I confronted her about

her family abroad and she apologized saying she didn’t want to
tell me because it would throw me off. All she wanted was to
have a nice time pending when she would leave.

I wasn’t really angry because it was not as if I was emotionally

invested in her, I was in love with Olaide and nothing could
ever change that. It was the deceit that hurt me because I didn’t
expect that from her.

We got past it and I told her of my plans of traveling abroad

with my wife. She was happy for me and supported me with
500k as a means of compensating me.

265
Few minutes later as we ate, Olaide nudged me to say that she
wanted to speak. I was skeptical at first but eventually I told her
she could.

She stood in front of us all in a bubu gown. She was extremely

beautiful in my sight and I was proud that she was mine.

“Hey guys!” she said timidly.

“Our wife!” Sam screamed and hailed her and she became shy
and covered her smiling face.

“Alaye, don’t bully my wife nau, that’s why you don’t have
babe,” I replied and everyone jeered.

We were all laughing as I just scored a point against Sam. The

look on his face was priceless and I knew his comeback was
going to be epic, but definitely not today.

“1-0, Olaide, please go on, I won’t embarrass your husband in

front of you.”

I was laughing hard and I signaled to him to not be angry and

that he was a joke. Olaide continued as we all listened to her
this time around.

It took a while to get back her composure and the quiet

ambiance when the whole jeers simmered down.

“I just want to say that the past year with you guys has been so
amazing. I’m not the kind of person who has so many friends
but you guys welcomed me into your clique right away. I never
felt out of place for once as I became one of you. I will never
forget you all. Tony, thank you for being a true friend to Ola,

266
even when you guys fought and he didn’t know you were
actually having his back, you stood firm and true to him, I really
appreciate that.”

Tony smiled before speaking.

“No matter how foolish he is, he’s still my bro. Well he’s now
fully your problem, handle him as you wish.”

“You must be mad for that statement!” I retorted with a chuckle

and we all burst into laughter. “Also tell him to stop hoeing
around, he’s getting old.”

He gave me haughty eyes but I didn’t care.

“Sammy,” she continued.

“Lord knows you are the glue that holds us all

together. You are very cheerful, bubbly and hilarious. Even in
the most serious of situations, you find a way to make us laugh.
I pray you find your own woman soon.”

“Amen oooooo!!” We all chorused in unison with laughter.

Tunji and Tony put their hands on his head as if to pray for him
and he knelt down.

It was a hilarious sight. It took a while before it simmered down.

“Tunji,” she continued again.

“Thank you for being the mature one among us. Your words of
wisdom and shrewd insight have greatly impacted us and trust
me, I personally will imbibe some of your philosophies. I had so

267
much fun learning from you. And to sister Tinuke, thank you for
accommodating me and taking care of me while I stayed with
you.”

Tinuke smiled at her. She was the type who rarely spoke as
she was a shy person. Beautiful and petite in stature, she was
a befitting queen for Tunji.

Tunji meanwhile was appreciative of Olaide’s compliments and

stood up to go hug her.

“Everything is not hug Ọgbẹni! ko ko werey danu,” I retorted as

I tried to block him from going to hug her.

Everyone was laughing now.

“Is your wife complaining?” Tunji asked with a chuckle.

“But you have already hugged me,” I replied.

“Are you her?” he asked.

“We are now one. The bible says two shall become one,” I
replied again and we were all laughing.

“Ola, it’s fine let him hug me nau,” Olaide intervened with a
giggle.

“See two full grown men acting as kids,” Sam jibed.

“Okay guys, let’s settle it this way!”

That was Tony.

268
We looked at him and wondered what he would say.

“Ola, why don’t you let Tunji hug Olaide while you hug Tinuke
also simultaneously.”

That sounded like a good idea to me as Tunji was always so

over protective of his babe who just recently got back from the
UK.

“Good idea!” I screamed as I left him and walked to where

Tinuke was seated. She was already screaming No and
laughing.

Before we knew it, Tunji swerved and pushed me.

“Simultaneous equation ni! efi nkan mi sile funmi,” he replied as

he jumped to where his babe was and cuddled her.

“Nobody touches my woman!”

We all were laughing at this point.

“Idiot, but you wanted to tap current on another man’s woman

abi!” Sam replied to him.

“Leave him, he has forgotten that my friend’s babe is also my

babe,” Tony added with a laugh.

“Nibo!” Tunji screamed and we all laughed.

It was such a friendly and comical atmosphere and right there I

knew I was going to miss each and everyone of them so much.

269
I walked up to meet Olaide where she stood watching all of us.
I hugged her tight in front of my friends and kissed her cheeks.

“I love you so much baby.”

“I love you too,” I replied and we smiled at each other.

“Olaide!” Tony called out.

We looked at him.

I realized that he had turned the Television on and was getting

the Playstation 4 ready. He brought out the game consoles.

He held one and stretched his hand to give Olaide the other
with a smile on his face.

“Are you ready? One final game?” He teased her.

“Oya!” Sam screamed and Tunji shouted. Even I myself was

pumped up.

Olaide took the console from his hand and smiled.

“How much?” she asked.

“How much are you willing to go? Make I chop una flight
money,” he jocularly remarked.

We all burst into laughter.

“10k per game,” she replied with a smirk.

Tony shook his head and laughed as we all watched.

270
“Game on!”

THE END.

271
Writer’s Corner

To start with, special apologies to those who have waited since

August, 2021 for the release of this ebook.

To be honest, I have no cogent excuse as to why it took this

long, but I have gone through a whole lot in getting this book
ready for over a year.

I’ve lost my job twice, resigned from another willingly when the
stress and pressure was much, wrote a viral thread that made
me gain more traction on social media and the most tragic of all,
I lost my mother.

It’s been a rollercoaster of emotions ending it in this state.

I initially didn’t want to kill any character in this book but my

mother’s death induced me to infuse a death into this story.

Nonetheless I do hope it has been worth the wait.

All I want to say is thank you for purchasing this book and for
believing in me.

Thank you for supporting me.

And for those who got this free, thank you for reading also.

I don’t want to talk too much but I will implore you to follow me
on all my social media platforms (Instagram and Twitter majorly)
so as not to miss anything as time goes on.

I promise to keep on writing and giving you many more

beautiful stories and novels.

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If this is the first novel of mine you are reading, do not hesitate
to purchase:
- The Shugar Mummy
- Costain to Ketu and other stories

I assure you they are wonderful pieces that you would enjoy.

Feel free to send me a review by texting me on any of my

pages.

I love you all so much.

Your modest writer,

Lavez Falodun Olaoluwa Igbekele-Kristi

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