✾⚘The Artist's Journal⚘✾

          Laying on my bed, I watched the ceiling. My headphones hung on both sides of my head. The fingers of both my hands were locked into each other and I placed them on my belly; meditating.

Remi and Aisha sat in a spot, few feet from where I was, conferring about the situation on ground.

"I don't want to sound insensitive but we both know that Temi is very responsible for what happened." I heard Aisha say.

"Yeah. Doesn't matter if you are talented and the best, what the contest entailed was that you need votes to win! She wasn't even making any efforts. Her efforts would have been more significant than yours or that guy, Sam, because she's the one who got into the contest."

"Exactly. Then at the end, after winning the contest, she would have gotten the platform to prove herself like she wanted to. Talents didn't define that contest but votes. Way to go, Zeph."

"He should realize he made a big mistake by now."

"If only Temi herself had put in so much effort in gaining votes just as I was constantly doing for her, there's a greater chance that she would have at least made second place."

"I feel bad for her. You think we should talk to her?"

My eyes were clouded with tears while their words lingered in my head and sank deeply into my soul. The tears slid on both sides of my face to my ears.

I was depressed and lost in despair.

A lot of my online friends were asking me about the contest and I was too ashamed to acquaint them of the outcome. I had bragged about my progress towards the levels of the contest. I did so partly because I wanted to show off my perceived success and feel among those who often flaunted their chances and luck.

         On the other hand, Beck kept bothering me with phone calls; his behaviours towards me was causing an irritation that I wanted nothing to do with him anymore. Dude, just stop bugging my life! In fact, I stayed away from the media. I  was sad and depressed.

I refused to respond to calls and texts for a while.

My friends, of course, came around to cheer me up once in a while but it could never withdraw the pain and feeling of hopelessness.

"And the winner of The Artists'Journal is Light!" 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐋𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐄𝐳𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐮𝐤𝐰𝐮 𝐈𝐫𝐨𝐞𝐠𝐛𝐮. 𝐙𝐞𝐩𝐡 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐍𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞. 𝐋𝐨𝐥.

I could never take that announcement out of my head. A fellow Nigerian had won the contest... A fellow Nigerian.

Not even one influential person online picked interest in me after the whole contest, I didn't even get an endorsement deal or just anything.

I got no special attention, no defense from the audience pertaining the unfair judgement of Zephaniah. Nothing was going the right way.

At some point, I turned to the Lord in resentment, "you failed me! Why didn't you hear my prayers? Aren't you God anymore? Aren't you on the throne as they say? Why did you put me to shame if you don't put people to shame? You know what, just forget it. I knew you wouldn't answer anyway."

I wanted to give up.

¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶

         In two weeks, I went back online through the edification of my friends but I really wasn't active; I went through newsfeeds for a while, made no posts, and chatted with only a few people on casual things.

       One day, out of boredom, I made a comic book of scant pages based on the lucid dream I had. I was then motivated to give the public the same enlightenment I had gotten from Tika and from that revelation. It was a cutesy-wootsy little comic book which I made and designed myself.  ꒰⑅•ᴗ•⑅꒱

I got back on my feet, shot a wonderful video of me reading the book with a splendid accent. I edited the video perfectly with tons of amazing effects enough to grasp one's attention and I decided to post it on TikTok.

¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶•°¶

        I received the third text from Beck saying, "c'mon girl, why do you never answer my texts?  Do I bother you?🥺" Yes!

"It's not like that. I've just been really busy. I'm sorry." 𝐌𝐚𝐲 𝐏𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐨'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮

"So how have you been?"

"Good. Just good. HBU?"

"I'm just here meditating on how much of an angel you are.😇😏" 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐠𝐨.. [-_-]

"Aww, thanks." (◐‿◑)

"Your ways are so different. If I may ask, did you happen to make that comic yourself?"

"Yes.😃 I'm an artist and I tell stories through art."

"Impressive! You know, I had shown your video to my uncle and he was impressed. He says he wants to see some of your best works."

"And why would I want to show your uncle some of my best works?🤨"

"Cause he's prolly your biggest fan right now. Lol. He's been staring at your drawings and he won't stop talking about you." 𝐀𝐰𝐰𝐰. („• ֊ •„)

       I dug up some of my previous contents on Instagram and I sent the pictures to Beck, even some of the works I used in the contest.

This went on for some days until I accidentally spilled my deeds to Remi.

"You're doing what?! Temi, how naive can you be? Who is this uncle he speaks of that you don't even know? How can you be releasing tons of your work to a stranger online?"

I thought about it. He actually made sense. I just really enjoyed the praises I got from Beck, this time, through voice messages. He made me feel like a true artist, like I had something really special inside of me. Gradually, I was becoming increasingly interested in him.

"I guess I'll have to stop then."

"No. Ask him whom this uncle of his is."

I did that through a text and in two minutes, he responded, "he's an artist just like you. His name is Zephaniah Dankworth. You should know Zeph."

Then again, "did you know that my uncle held a contest for people like you some weeks back? Why didn't you say anything? You would have gotten into the contest."

I was very muddled. I showed the text to Remi and we both stared at each other.

"Zephaniah is your uncle?🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯 Stop playing games with me!😬😬😬😬😬😬"

"I'm at his place currently. I guess this would be the right time for you to accept my request of a video call.😏"

"Do it," Remi said after reading the text, "so that I can warn him to stop bugging you!"

I rolled my eyes and responded to Beck, "video call it is."

I and Remi were sitted just outside my balcony. I snappily arranged my hair and moisturized my lips with a lip gloss

Remi was slightly offended by this act of mine.

Beck called and I received the call. I wasn't timid until I saw how much of a Prince he looked. He had green eyes.

"Hey, Beck. It's finally good to see you."

"Hey, Princess. It's finally good to see you too." 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐝, 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞.♔ (⋆ʾ ˙̫̮ ʿ⋆)

Remi read my thoughts through my demeanor and he burned with jealousy.

"So, about this uncle of yours..."

"Oh, yeah. He's right here." Beck turned the phone away from himself to his uncle. To my greatest bafflement, I viewed the face of Zephaniah the artist!!!

I froze in shock. When I gained consciousness, I screamed aloud and couldn't stop until Remi covered my mouth with his palm whereas the two chuckled.

"BECK, WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THAT YOU'VE GOT A FAMOUS ARTIST FOR AN UNCLE?!" I yelled, somewhat furious.

"I'm not the type that flaunts the fame of a relative. It's not that much of a big deal to me," he shrugged. "Plus, you never did ask about my surname, Dankworth."

"I know you," Zeph said next. "Didn't you join the contest of The Artists' Journal last month?"

"Yes, yes I did," I couldn't find the right words or accent.

"Yeah, I remember you. When he showed me your work, I knew it was you all along. Funny story: you happened to be my favorite and I was going to reach out to you sooner or later... Well, here we are," he smiled. "About the contest: I felt bad when you didn't win, honestly. Then I realized that I had made a mistake by defining the winner through votes. I was actually advised by my wife to do such and I absent-mindedly concurred until I saw the damage it caused. But it was too late to change the principles. You and my nephew are great friends, aren't you?"

"Very great friends!" I said in no hesitation.

"Yeah, Beck hasn't stopped talking about you and your talent for a second. He's always like 'uncle, you should see what a great artist my friend is!' He kept badgering me about it until I beheld your drawings and paintings, even that little comic you did about social media." And I had been pushing Beck away for such a long time?!?!?! 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝, 𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐩 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞, 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐚?!

"I love how down to earth you are. What really drew my attention to you was when I saw how you try to encourage people and send a valid message out through your works. Not everyone does that on social media these days. Everyone is simply out to make the money and I can assure you that money isn't success. Success is complete when others actually get to benefit so much from your potentials, from your ideas; when they get to benefit from you.

" When I saw your first work and the level of your outstanding creativity, I knew already that you are one of a kind. I was only waiting for the right time and this is it. So, tell me, would you like to work with Zephaniah?"

"Absolutely!" My hands were quivering.

"I would have to speak to your parents and my manager. In the meantime, let's have private conversations on WhatsApp."

"I need to clarify somethings though."

"And what would that be?"

"Beck, didn't you know all this while that I'm an artist? Didn't you know that I got into that contest?"

"Honestly, I didn't. One time, I wasn't steady online for a week and it was during the contest. That's why I kept calling you. When I did come online, I had no time for Insta or anything, just texts on WhatsApp. You never really uploaded your artworks and even if you did, I didn't see any of them. It was so hard getting certain informations like this one since it always seemed like you're pushing me away... I don't know."

"Wow. There's a perfect explanation for that, really."

"Alright, bye Princess," said Beck, "I'm looking forward to having multiple video calls with you." 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥! 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲; 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝!!!!!

"Definitely. Later, Beck."

The call dropped and I froze once more. It felt like I was just recovering from a trance.

"Come here girl," Remi held on to my shoulder and pulled me to himself.

(★^O^★)

⚘

⚘

⚘

⚘

⚘

⚘

⚘

⚘

::♥• 𝐌𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐀 𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐓 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐉𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐍 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐒𝐎𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐋 𝐌𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐀 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐀 𝐇𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐓𝐀𝐆 "𝐀𝐈𝐒𝐌𝐂"

»» #𝐀𝐈𝐒𝐌𝐂

::♥•𝐅@𝐓𝐞𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐞