I had always looked at him with admiration in my eyes; Gboyega was the perfect definition of charming which the dictionary failed to get. Yegs as I loved to playfully call him was a guy perfectly tailored for me…just me. And who was I?
Moving to a new neighbourhood as an adult was something I had dreaded for a long while and like they say, the thing you fear the most shall befall you.
Well it did befall me, sooner than I thought for dad had lost his job and we couldn’t afford the massive 5 bedrooms all ensuite, 2 palours and a large backyard home we owned in the heart of Maitama, Abuja. As our car pulled up in the rugged streets of Mararaba, I still couldn’t believe we were going to be living here, with all the ruggedity that I wasn’t accustomed to going on around me. Pikins playing football in the street, all the business owners running their noisy ‘I pass my neighbour generators’ as I would get to learn that phcn was a luxury in this junk and on arriving our front yard dad couldn’t even park the golf he had acquired after losing his E-class to the bank because an ‘aboki’ had occupied the space with his truck filled with jerry cans of water…hmm, we were really in for it.
Yet in the midst of all the disgust that was clouding my judgment, something about his young sweaty athletic body appealed to me, at 22 I was well in touch with my sexuality. He had control of the ball and the zeal with which he protected it and aimed for the goal post made the edges of my mouth twitch forming a smile, in that brief second I knew the environs of Mararaba would not be as bad if only I would get Gboyega to be my friend but I was still the spoilt, proud rich kid who was unwilling to belittle herself with a bunch of sexy nobodies. That reminder quickly erased the smile that had started to form.
5 years later the story was entirely different, in a not so good way. As I left yegs’ apartment in lakeview estate jabi that evening everything around seemed to be normal, the streets were a little quiet as the rain that threatened to fall earlier had chased people indoors and the street lights as bright as ever; giving the area a beautiful yet serene look and the chilly breeze was just what I needed to relax except I couldn’t as my heart kept racing 1st from disbelief and then hurt.
My eyes were blurry from the tears I was trying to hold back that I walked past my car without realising it. How could the man I had believed so much in be gay? Looking back now I wonder how I missed the signs; but were there even any signs? Yegs had made me a better person, changed my snobbish and pompous character and I became more homely and accommodating for the man I loved.
I remember how thankful I was the day he walked up to me in the neighbourhood of mararaba a few weeks after we had moved because I was starting to fear that I would have no friends as no one could see past the mean and snobbish wall I had built around me. I even learnt to cook and keep a job, wasn’t that enough wife material to even make 2 pairs of agbada for the most robust man?
Flashes of Yegs and Micheal kept taunting me, Micheal of all people whom we had known to be like a brother to Yegs, at least now I knew where the brotherly bond was coming from. I should have stayed away since he said he wasn’t home but in my always romantic mood I wanted to surprise my boo when he got back home dressed in my sexy lasenza lingerie I got especially for him “oops! I even dropped that in the doorway” I said out loud now realising he hadn’t even run after me to beg, even if he didn’t mean it the effort might have appeased me a little.
Yegs had really hurt me, wasn’t he aware that hell hath no fury like a scorned Chidimma? Even though my love for him had made me softer, there was still a mean alter ego somewhere inside and I was going to pull her out tonight. I was heading straight to General Aminu’s house. I had known General for about 4 years now, he was my “helper” after Dad had lost his job and he was also the one I begged to give Yegs the job that came with an official car and the same house he used for his backstabbing scenario.
General would be glad to strip the riff-raff of everything considering he wanted to marry me as wife number 5 but thought my relationship with Yegs was a stumbling block, I’m glad I hadn’t completely cut off all ties with General as I had decided not to put all my eggs in one basket until I had a logo on my left finger. Eventually that would be the card I was going to play against yegs and then would be the right time to say CHECKMATE.
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Ticiatowns is a writer extraordinaire with a passion for entertaining and that she does through her vast imaginative ability touching fiction, lifestyle, inspirational and humor.
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