Young love

One evening, when I was eight, my mother asked me to bring out the teddy bears my "big aunty" gifted me for Christmas.

Big aunty was the nickname I gave to my mother's elder sister.

A strict woman whose house I spent a dreadful Christmas at and whom I swiftly forgave when she presented me with two huge teddy bears.

I was bemused, wondering when my mother started playing with teddy bears but still brought them out anyways.

"Your big aunty has been initiated into the kingdom of darkness and she has implanted demons in those teddy bears of yours so we must destroy them with anointing oil infused with the blood of Jesus and also fire," She said.

Little me didn't understand what was going on, just that my new favorite toys were being snatched from me. 

My mother had started going to a deliverance ministry and had also convinced my father to go with her.

"Our extended family is the source of all our financial problems and my inability to bear a male child. We must loose ourselves from their hold." She proclaimed with her jaw set. 

Therefore, we began to attend the deliverance ministry.

We underwent fasting and prayers, the "spirit of anger" was cast out of me even though I couldn't comprehend what that meant. 

A year later, that ministry was declared a deceitful place by my mother and we began to attend another ministry.

I sensed that my father was just going along with it to avoid arguments and distress but I could see the toll it was taking on our family. This ministry was also deemed unworthy a few months into our attendance and that was how we started going from church to church looking for miracles and fighting the spirits of our village people who did not want us to succeed.

Eventually, we stopped going to church frequently.

We went from attending services three Sundays in a row, to not even bother waking up early to prepare.

It was at this time the accusations of infidelity began and culminated into much bigger issues.

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.

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"Chisom, your father has started again. I heard him on the phone talking to your uncle about getting a second wife."

My mother threw this on me the minute I walked into my bedroom already tired from the bus ride home.

I noticed that she had just returned from her boutique in Ikotun as she was yet to change into her nightwear.

"Mommy, you've been saying this since I was 12, it's been five years and he hasn't brought another wife. Biko, calm down," I said.

All I wanted to do was figure out a way to ask Mariam for Tobi's number without her teasing me, and to sleep for a very long time.

"It is until you get a stepmother that will be maltreating you that you'll finally be on my side since you're always on your father's side."

"I'm not on anyone's side ma, and besides not all stepmothers maltreat their stepchildren."

As the words came out of my mouth, I knew I should have just kept quiet and gone to the kitchen to help make dinner.

She went on and on about how I was supporting my father and how I must really want another woman to take over her household.

I tuned her out which was the best way to get her to calm down.

After dinner, whilst still contemplating how to get Tobi's number, a message notification came into my phone from Mariam.

"Som, Tobi was asking for your Facebook ID, should I give him?"

I couldn't believe my eyes.

See question. Why not?

I quickly replied in the affirmative. And as expected, the teasing began with me going along with it as I couldn't contain my excitement. 

I refreshed my messenger multiple times before resigning myself to the fact that he wasn't going to message me that night. Nevertheless, I concluded that he must want to wait to not seem too eager or desperate. With that on my mind, I drifted into a long and dreamless sleep.

.

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"He just broke up with his girlfriend? Is he looking for a rebound girl or what?"

The anger inside me was about to reach its boiling point.

"How can someone just break up with his girlfriend and start flirting with another girl?"

I kept throwing questions at Mariam who by the way was slowly backing away from me.

I reined my anger in and tried repeating my questions more calmly.

"You weren't even listening well. You just picked out one thing I said and blew it out of proportion.

"I told you that he broke up with his girlfriend early in the year, around February or March and he felt drawn to you when you guys met at the program.

"I just decided to tell you this so you'll be aware of it just in case he tries to hide it."

As she explained, the anger I felt at the supposed deceit slowly dissipated into nothing, and reassurance blossomed.

He wasn't a terrible human being after all.

We soon left the topic of Tobi and focused on the preparations we were making to start our 100 level with a bang.

I wasn't ready for university at all. I had just graduated secondary school in July for heaven's sake. Life was moving too fast and I didn't know how to stop it.

I knew in my heart that I wanted to be a medical doctor; it's been my dream for as long as I remember and I have worked so hard to get to this point but I didn't think that point would come so quickly.

It's crazy how fast life comes at you like a speed train.

I escorted Mariam to the bus stop and made sure she bought biscuits for me before she got on a commercial motorcycle.

As I strolled down my street to my house, my phone vibrated with an incoming message from Tobi. I instantly quickened my footsteps, almost breaking into a run, just to answer his text.

I knew I was getting way too excited over a guy I had just met, yet I couldn't contain the happiness that enveloped my very being.

All my university worries and family issues flew right out the window as I relaxed on my bed, plugged my phone into my power bank, and opened his message.