The Stories I Tell...

 [7/19, 21:49] Me: What is this Love? I know brotherly Love, parental Love, and God’s Love. But this one, what is it? [7/19, 21:50] Friend: Omo!!!!!!! That is a tough question. It’s really unexplainable. This is an excerpt from a conversation I had with a friend. I wanted to know what ‘love’ is, the type that makes people get married to each other. I have several questions about it, and I’d like some answers. Something that fits and is fairly recognizable. I’ll start with the biggest question. Is there only one person we are meant to love? Is someone out there The One for us? Okay, this is not a question I answered because I do not believe in The One. There is no one person out there who is the one for you neither are you the one for someone. However, if the LOML of your life can be any of more than seven billion people on earth, shouldn’t there be a reasonable limit on how many people you can have a strong affection for or any other variant of Love? Is two or three people an appro...

My childhood ruined me. Okay, that was a bit dramatic. Actually, it was Disney that ruined me. Or maybe it was the romance novels. I’m not sure anymore. One thing I’m sure of? Love is stooooopid. As a kid, I was presented with a very idealistic and probably unrealistic view of romance. But as the smart kid, I quickly wised up. Almost no couple I saw in real life reflected what I saw on screen and in books. The horror stories I heard about what married people did to each other definitely didn’t help either. So I concluded, no such thing as love. Of course, we love God and babies ( because who doesn’t love babies?) From a young teenager to a young man, I never had an inkling of that feeling that would make me want to commit to someone. Of course, I had crushes, but that was all they were, fantasies. I liked the Hollywood love, but I knew that wasn’t possible. I guess it’s true what they say: if you wait long enough, everything changes. And that’s precisely what happened. One never plans...

   4 A.C  This life no just balance o .    Since Bayo met Cynthia, he has been giving me extra work. Anytime she's nearby, I have to beat faster. Sure, I know Bayo is still a young man and that means I am a young heart. But that doesn't mean I should start doing extra work because of another human being. It's not as if Bayo is dreading being sacked anytime his boss asks him to his office. Neither is he playing football. I bet Cynthia's heart is not doing any extra work on Bayo's account.    A girl that looks the way the Eyes have described her surely wouldn't be falling head over heels for Bayo. Eyes said Cynthia has hips that didn't lie, skin the colour of roasted groundnuts, and teeth that had probably been in a million toothpaste ads. She's out of his league. She probably only talks to guys that have their own cars and Bitcoin.  P.S: I'll be using A.C meaning After Cynthia to denote the timeline. 37 A.C   I'm too young to be diagnosed with...

   A woman and her daughters. She sits on the tiled floor with her back against the wall. She is clothed in a wrapper which is tied around her waist, leaving her saggy breasts exposed. Oluwashikemi, her firstborn, sits on the floor in between the robust thighs of Opemipo, her last daughter. Taiwo, her second daughter is lounging on the sofa while staring at the ceiling. She appears to be present only in the flesh. Kehinde, her twin sits on what used to be her father's favourite chair. Like an exiled dictator, the man of the house is in his study which he rarely leaves since he retired.   Shikemi, aged 25, by having lived longest with their mother knew what was on her mind. She is the one to slice open the silence.  “Guess who I saw at the bank yesterday?” “Another fine bobo to be your brother-in-law,” Opemipo replied without missing a beat as she made her sister's hair. “I saw Lanre.” An audible sigh came from the sofa. “That guy is in serious money,” she bent h...

               This is the second part of a series. For the first part CLICK HERE. Thus it began officially. He got a job in the same town Esosa lived in with her parents. Esosa also got a job. Between their busy schedules, every single free moment they got was spent together. It became one of the inside jokes of their group. If you couldn't reach him, you called Esosa. The reverse was also the case. He became more enamoured with her. The thought of her smile made him grin at odd times. He had not yet given her a ring, but he daydreamed about her dressed in a snow-white wedding gown declaring her love for him before an audience. He couldn't imagine being in love with someone else. He loved her to the point he sometimes felt inadequate. Like a destitute supplicant offering one naira at his God's temple, he feared he would never love her in the way she needed to be love. Whenever he told her this, she would always reassure him that he was enough for...

  He had imagined this moment a million times already. But the song was wrong. In his imagination, the song Beautiful in White by Shane Filan played over and over as she walked down the aisle. So as long as I live, I'll love you, Will have and hold you. You look so beautiful in white. And from now till my very last breath, This day I'll cherish. You look so beautiful in white…tonight. The song wasn't the only thing in his imagination that didn't match reality. The reason for her smile that had always dazzled him had nothing to do with him this time. Now, that gap-toothed smile bordered by two perfect dimples were focused on the groom. The man that wasn't him. The entire reception hall had stood up as the new couple slowly made their way to the dais set up at the opposite side. Tears of joy were being shed by some including those who shared the same table with him. Their friends. Her friends, he corrected himself. Before the couple arrived, they had all been talkin...

Once upon a time, in a land far far away, there lived a boy. Or a man. Maybe a boy-man. Whatever you choose. The point is this person had just finished his university education and now had a mid-level income job at a start-up company. Like most people alive, he had a name. His name was Adam.      Adam was a reserved young boy, man, man-boy, whatever you chose. He was the only son of his parents who had had ten daughters before having him. This remarkable fact was probably the reason why he had many close female friends.  His affinity and empathy for females had been detected at each stage of his life: from his formative years through his year at the university and now at his workplace. Girls, women, females in general gravitated towards him, confided in him, even those in relationships asked him for advice. While all this might sound good and well,  the general public's opinion on Adam's friendship with numerous females could be neatly divided into two. Adam w...

This is a story that you have probably heard before. Even though I wouldn’t wish it on you, it is very possible that you've featured in a story like this. For now, though, this is Bayo's story. Bayo had just entered that period called puberty about two years ago. Looking at him though, you wouldn't have known. He did not grow facial hair neither did he grow body hair neither did his voice upgrade to a deeper version. One thing was for sure; he had definitely started seeing girls in a new light. A rosy coloured light. There was this one girl in particular... Bayo saw her at his worship centre. She was dark skinned in colour, cut her hair low and was always dressed simply but elegantly. She and her family had started worshipping at the centre only   a few weeks ago. They always sat on the front seats, close to the podium. What especially called her to his attention was the spectacles she wore. Although he didn't know it yet, Bayo had a thing for girls wearing ...