The Things We Do For The One We Love
“Aww… look at how cute you guys look together. You will make a really cute couple.” My best friend and I looked at each other, made faces as if we wanted to throw up, and then started laughing at each other. We did that every time we were told we look good together, which was too often for comfort if you ask me.
Fifteen years and counting, we had known each other. Born in the same neighborhood, we had attended the same church (still attended the same church) and experienced life together. We weren’t always the best of friends. In fact, if anything we were more like familiar strangers growing up.
The thing is, I’m a year older than Mine (don’t ask me what his real name is, I call him Mine so just accept it like that), so we weren’t exactly playmates. Since I had rapid development, I hung out more with my older sister’s friends. So, Mine and I only knew each other facially but we were never best buddies.
When it was time for him to get admitted into high school, his parents shipped him off to boarding school. So again, we had nothing bringing us together. We however started becoming close in senior high. He came home for the holidays one time like that (I honestly can’t remember when exactly for the life of me) and that was when we clicked.
Being the attention seeker that he always is, he forcefully grabbed my attention one Sunday after service. I was walking briskly to ease myself in the toilet outside the auditorium when my tyrant of a best friend pulled a fast one on me. He stretched his right leg out for me to trip on while maintaining a straight face in the conversation he was engaged in.
“Your evil plan will not work. You think I’m going to trip and fall? No way. Anyone seeing you now will think you are one innocent boy like that, especially with those recommended glasses you always have on. They won’t know there’s a sinister demon behind that cute and calm face of yours.”
I remember vividly the smirk he etched on his face after my outburst. He said nothing, he only smiled. I got to learn a lot more about that smile as the years rolled by, I got to know that that smile carried deep, dark, sensual undertones below its surface appearance.
With time I got to understand what the twinkle in his eyes, darker shade of pupils, and cheeks meant, but that’s a story for another day. Today, we discuss the things we do for the ones we love and we did do a lot of crazy things.
High school came and went, we graduated with really good grades– we were both really smart in our fields after all. We both got admitted into the institutions of our choice to study the courses of our dreams; Pharmacy at the University of Lagos for Mine and Foreign Languages at the University of Benin for me. Our names came out at the top of the merit list, I wasn’t joking when I said we were very smart.
At this point, we were already best friends. In fact, we were already parenting a child together. (It was our first baby together, we called him Nate. Nate was the phone Mine was given when he was leaving for school. It was one of the coolest phones I had seen with my eyes then, so I fell in love and together we decided to raise Nate in the way of the Lord. We were good parents of course until Mine dropped him from a two-story building in his faculty. Nate got surgery but he was never the same after the accident. We still mourn him to date.)
A year after we got admitted into school, interesting things started happening. Mine wanted us to become ‘friends with benefits’. I strongly declined of course because I felt it would be weird making out with my best friend but there was something about that twinkle in his eyes that hypnotized you into doing his will.
We eventually became ‘best friends with benefits’ and it might surprise you that I was the one that instigated it.
One night, Mine and I were chatting when I suddenly asked him what he was wearing. “Umm… nothing. Just briefs. What about you? What are you putting on?”
I suddenly smiled a very sinister smile before whispering “nothing.” With that single word, our toxic best friends with benefits relationship started and he didn’t want it to end. I didn’t want us to end either so I played along but deep down I knew we had to stop it for our good.
In my second year in school, I met a guy named Bobo. (Again don’t ask me what his real name is, I call him Bobo so just accept it like that.) Bobo and I met from an anime group chat created by an otaku friend of mine. He stylishly slid into my DM that rainy night and brought warmth into my cold heart. We vibed so much that I had to start asking myself if we weren’t close acquaintances in our previous lives.
Image Source: istockphoto.com
“Baby, I’m really cold and lonely here. Do you mind sending me some pictures to keep me company? I’m really missing you, you know.” This was a month after I started chatting with Bobo. In that one month, we had transcended many levels to get to that point where he felt we were close enough for him to make that kind of request.
I was at a loss as to how best I could handle the situation without hurting his feelings. I had grown to care a lot about this Muslim and I didn’t want to let him down, but I was also a chorister, a very active worker in my church. I didn’t want to let down my God either by doing something really stupid. It was a tough choice, I chose man.
Two pictures turned to six and six pictures into three videos. He was no longer satisfied with clothes on, he wanted clothes off. Before I knew it I was sending him daily doses of nude pictures and videos to help him get through his daily life struggles. Before I knew it I had lost sight of who I was, I was slowly losing myself and the guilt continued to eat me up. I couldn’t confide in anyone, not even Mine, and it continued to eat me up slowly.
Eventually, I got caught by my pastor one day in church. He had been led by the Holy Spirit to go through my phone after service that day and that was when he felt directed to ask me to click on Bobo’s DM. I had never been so scared in my life the way I was that very hot afternoon. I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me because I couldn’t deal with the disgrace.
Image Source: Unsplash.com
“What is the meaning of all these?! Wh-What are all these? The-These pictures and videos, look at this chat. You were sexting him too? How could you be doing something like that and still have the boldness to climb the altar to lead worship?! Have you no fear of God??”
I couldn’t hold it in, I was crying. I wasn’t crying because I got caught, I was crying because someone I respected a lot was disappointed in me. Long story short, I got suspended from the choir indefinitely but I was still to attend workers’ meetings and rehearsals.
Since all of our leaders were confidential people, no one knew what I had done and that was how I began my journey of transformation. Bobo continued to disturb my DM though and eventually, we were together again. I guess you could call him my addiction, my poison. I was high on him and withdrawal proved impossible.
When we got back together though, things felt different. He was no longer the over caring, sweet, introverted guy I fell in love with. And yes, I did fall in love with him even though I had never met him in person. Crazy yeah? Well, I definitely was to have fallen in love with a Muslim online, knowing fully well that nothing could come out of the relationship. He didn’t want to date.
“Babe something really terrible happened. I ran into some debts and now I owe one guy five hundred thousand naira. He’s been threatening me and yesterday, he even sent some guys to rough me up. I need help and there’s no one else I can turn to. Help me please.”
He sent pictures of him looking like vomit, he had black eyes the size of watermelons, his cheeks looked like they were stuffed with oranges, and my heart broke into a million pieces. I had to help him out, right? I didn’t know what to do, the only money with me was my school fees and allowance for that session.
It was my third year already and I was going to travel to Togo for my internship. The money was to cover my school fees, travel payments, and necessities that needed to be bought. I had roughly four hundred thousand naira with me. My parents had never had reason to doubt my accountability and since I had always been a responsible child, they trusted me to be able to sort everything out myself. Little did they know that their little girl was not the same person anymore.
“S-Sure babe… I have some money with me that I’m supposed to use for my internship and tuition this session. You remember? I told you about it last month. I-I’ll help out with that cash, it’s just four hundred thousand naira though. We still need to raise one hundred, how do we go about that now? I’m so sorry I couldn’t help with everything.”
“Oh, it’s fine, babe. I’ll manage that and ask around so I can get the remaining money. It won’t be easy but I’ll find a way. The only thing though is that I don’t know when I’ll be able to repay you because I really don’t see cash coming from anywhere anytime soon. Is that okay with you?”
“Oh…umm…o-okay. It’s no issue. Your life is more important to me than all the money in the world. I don’t think I could live with myself if something happened to you and I knew I could have saved you with this cash. Don’t worry, I’ll find a way to raise the money again. Just focus on raising the remaining money okay? We’ll be fine, you hear me? You’ll be fine honey.”
Image Source: Unsplash.com
Three months later, Bobo ended things with me. Well, it’s not like there was anything to end since he never agreed to officially date me. Two weeks afterward, I saw him posting pictures from his engagement party on his status. He had used my school fees and IT money to organize his engagement party to a Muslim girl.
I still remember the smile on his face in all the pictures he posted. I never knew he could smile like that because he always kept a practiced smile on his face in the pictures and video calls I had seen him in. In one of his status updates, he uploaded a video of him dancing with his friends first, then his fiance.
He was shouting, laughing, and gyrating while rocking her. I never knew he could even dance, talk more of shouting like that. He always spoke with me in even tones, never raising his voice. I had once found that a very attractive quality of his, I never knew he was only being guarded around me.
I never knew him.
My phone dropped from my hand while I was watching the video, I had to hold on to the wall to steady myself from falling. I had not been able to get the money for my tuition and it seemed like I was going to get probated. My parents had abandoned me to take responsibility for my decision, I was all alone.
I was contemplating suicide one rainy night when Mine called me. It was very strange and it threw me off guard because Mine never called. He could chat for hours and send voice notes but he never called.
“Oh well, I’m about to kill myself anyway. I might as well talk with my best friend before I end my life.”
I answered after the third ring. Mine never called, talk more of calling thrice. It had to be urgent. “Hello?” I had tried to hide the pain in my voice but he knew me too well to fall for the bait, my voice had come out as a squeak and he got really worried.
“Yo… what’s wrong? I had called because, for some inexplicable reason, I had felt the strong need to reach out to you tonight. Prolly to warn you to cover up well tonight because it’s raining heavily over here and I know you like to sleep naked. You sound shaken though, what’s wrong, baby girl?”
The warmth and concern in his voice were all I needed to break down completely, I started crying. I cried for five solid minutes on that call and not once did he interrupt me, he simply stayed there and listened. When I was done crying he spoke up.
“Are you done crying now? Well, even if you aren’t I’m not going to let you start again. You’ll have a headache so, talk to me, baby. What’s wrong now?” I took the phone off my ear to look at the name of the person I was talking with again. This guy was definitely not my best friend. I wiped the rivers off my face and cleared my throat before answering him.
I told him everything that had happened and he comforted me how he knew best. Thirty minutes into our conversation, I was already laughing like a carefree five-year-old at a funfair.
“Baby, I don’t want you to cry anymore. I know I don’t show it but I care about you a lot.” He paused and whispered under his breath but I was able to catch it. “Maybe too much.” My heart did two backflips in its rib cage. He sounded so honest.
“So… I haven’t gotten round to telling you but I’m into cryptocurrency now and I have been benefiting a lot from it. I’ll show you the ropes so you can get into it yourself and start earning. Also, I’d like you to allow me to help you with your debt. I know you’re going to want to decline but don’t worry, just think of it as me loaning you the cash. I’m not going to let you destroy your bright future because of some dumb bastard okay? You can pay me back in bits but let me help you.”
I stood in the center of my room. I had never met anyone as benevolent as him. No one had cared for me that much asides from my parents and even they gave up on me when I messed up, but here he was standing by me when I had even given up on myself. I looked at the rat poison I had purchased to kill myself that night and flung it out the window.
“Someone out there truly loves me. This life is worth living again. I’m not alone.”
What's Your Reaction?
