POLYGAMY PART 2

As you have known the kind of background I had; then you can feel with me the trauma of growing with rivals in all things. This created a subconscious fear in me all the time. I was scared of sharing whatever I had and I was too conscious of many things. I felt nobody could love me thus I wasn’t ready to give in to anyone. I’ve lived with people who don't show any form of love apart from good morning, who don't wish you happy birthday, who don't show any form of happiness at your success, who spoils what would be passed down to you, who transfers aggression for the minutest act from you. If there is something called hatred and you need to know visit my dad in his house. But the irony is he never worries himself.

I didn’t know much about the other side of life until I met Nosa. Nosa is an exact opposite of me. She hails from Edo state and life in her house is a lot more interesting than mine. We were both in geology and with the kind of background she had, success wasn’t that difficult. The only problem with Nosa is that she loves sex. She introduced me to the balance of the body structure with a little bit of sperm in it. It was with her I first tasted alcohol also. Nosa had a limit which I didn’t have, because once we are on holidays she is also on holidays but as for my house there is no holiday. If you like don’t come back home from school, “you are on your own”. All blames go to the mother. 

NYSC sent us to Port Harcourt and the one year was a teaching experience. I was getting better in socializing but I wasn’t ready to share Nosa with anybody. She was all I had. She had shown me love more than any other person in this world, thus she always wants to get me hooked up with a guy to distract me, so that she could go on with her sexcapades. We just wrote the Chevron interview and we were waiting for a taxi. She met a guy at the venue who later we knew was a staff. 

Rotimi is an example of a father to your children. He was clean and cream. He looked like a movie to me; a peculiar approach and for the first time I was interested from the depth of my heart. We’ve agreed on six pm to meet at a lounge at old GRA. Nosa is always the one to follow but for this day I was going to play a fast one I thought. When we got there they were already there. The reception was excellent and they addressed us like we were oil workers also. I was the happiest person that night because with a job in an oil company, it means I’m never going back home again. We played till late in the night and confidently I got drunk. I told Rotimi everything about my life and what caught my attention was how he was attentive. He was so interested in the bitter life I lived and it was the next morning sunlight that welcomed me back to life. 

I had coffee and club sandwich and instantly my heart cursed the family I grew up from again. A part of me advised me to ask him if he would be my boyfriend as fast as possible but the other cautioned me. I held my tongue back a little but I didn’t hold my body back. We spent the whole day together before he told me his life history. 

Rotimi became an orphan at the age of two. He was taken in by his uncle who works in the United States but his family lives in Ibadan. His wife was an example of a witch with behaviours ranging from starvation to poisoning. They had two daughters and because everyone had started calling Rotimi the first son in the house she became jealous.  He had to sleep outside the building many times till a particular day his uncle came back without notifying his wife. His friend had reported the issue to him. Rotimi just finished his secondary exams then. When his uncle came, he was fully down with cold. He could not even stand up to attend to the man. The uncle rushed him to the hospital and from that hospital, the later part of his life was spent in Oklahoma.

In his words: I totally understand what pain is my dear. And I’ve sworn to help whenever I can to anyone in pains that are unexplainable. Tears started rolling down my eyes as for the first time someone agreed with me in what pains could be. He held me close and fell on my body. He whispered them slowly but I couldn’t believe what I just heard. I pushed him up a little as I looked straight into his eyes. He said I’m serious “will you be my girlfriend”.

My name is Laide Ojekunle and this is my story……….