Men And Lies: How He Met The Same Girl Twice
Based On A True Life Story
The music was blaring very loudly and I was sitting terribly close to the speakers. It was actually Teni’s song ‘Power rangers’ that was playing at that exact moment. Wahala. See me that was at a club with a strange man I did not fancy, listening to Teni singing If to say I get a superpower, I for come kiss you where you dey. I was there feeling single and miserable. Wishing I had someone I could love so much I would want to have superpowers.
“You’ve not drunk much,” Roland said into my ear. His breath stank already but I had been drinking too and I couldn’t really judge.
“I’ve drunk enough,” I said and smiled sideways at him. He nuzzled my cheek and pressed a fresh glass into my hand. I took it graciously. I knew the guy was trying to get me drunk so I would be agreeable enough to sleep with him. On a normal day, I wouldn’t have minded sleeping with him. He didn’t look so bad, he was tall and big around the soldiers. Under his shirt was solid muscle and his face wasn’t bad to look at either especially when he smiled.
What was stopping me from grabbing the “care package” was the sad lonely thought running through my head. I had no one to want to be superhuman for. It was a startling feeling. I found myself looking around the club. Couples were sitting with their limbs intertwined, kissing or drinking from the same glass romantically. Others were standing and dancing, one girl was rubbing her fat ass on her boyfriend’s crotch and the guy seemed to be in cloud nine. I didn’t blame him, I’ve had a girl rock me before.
Sweet feeling. It was while I was looking around that I spied the cake coming towards me. Before then, I had almost forgotten we were there because Roland had been invited to his friend’s birthday party. I waved for the cake and the male server came towards me. When he reached where I was sitting, he bent down until his head was almost in my cleavage then he dropped the whole tray and winked at me. Roland didn’t notice because he was talking loudly to another friend of his but suddenly I had the best idea.
“Why would you eat all the cake?” Roland lamented as he held my hair away from my face. I replied to him with another retch into the bowl. I was smiling inwardly. When the hunter says he will shoot without missing, the bird will decide to fly without perching. I was getting myself out of the mess in the best way I could. I had the ability to cough up anything I had eaten at any time and it was turning out to be a useful skill. Roland called a cab for me and soon I was safely home, tucked into my bed and drinking yogurt from a tall glass.
***
“I didn’t ask you to write this,” I told Gbenga the tall fat boy in my class. I had asked everyone to write an essay about the state of the nation Nigeria and the boy had written a short essay on the Nigerian rivers and mountains. I was far from pleased.
“You said we should write about Nigeria, Ma” he whined.
“The state of the nation!” I retorted “were you asleep when I was giving you tips on how to write it?”
I slapped my hand against my head and sighed. It wasn’t fun being a teacher at all. The only thing keeping me at that school was the fact that I needed money to add to the one I had so I could travel to Lagos and do something with my life. I turned back to the boy and found him staring out the door like all his mates, Adedeji was standing outside and watching me.
His large frame was covering up half of the door and that day he was wearing a pink shirt over grey trousers. Both articles of clothing were properly ironed and had been starched, so they hugged his body in delightful ways. Adedeji was one of the reasons why I still hadn’t run away from the teaching job, he was always there to comfort me when I was down.
The other teachers would look on in envy as I and Adedeji talked and laughed in a corner of our staff room. There was always something to talk about, Adedeji led an interesting life and his friends and housemates would always do the most hilarious things. One day he told me a story. He had prepared a pot of cocoyam pottage before coming to work that morning. On Jo’s way back home, he had been dreaming and fantasizing about all the ways he would bend his mouth when he ate it.
When he got home, he met his door open. Ha! Who opened my door? Who has my key? He asked himself many questions. Inside the house, he met his friends, five of them cleaning the sitting room. What is happening? Guys? An early birthday present? He asked, surprised but happy. His guys also smiled and continued their good work. Adedeji walked through the house. Everywhere was sparkling clean. He concluded that when he got back in the sitting room, he would advise the boys to begin a cleaning agency. They were so good, the place was so shiny it looked like they had licked it with their tongues.
Adedeji stepped into the kitchen and was stunned, his countertops were shiny, the dirt in the waste bag had been taken out and the kitchen smelled fresh. All the pots were washed and neatly arranged in the open cupboard opposite him. All the pots were washed. His pottage was nowhere to be found. Adedeji stormed out of the kitchen in anger. When he got to the living room, the rags his friends had been using to clean lay haphazardly on the floor. They were gone, they had disappeared with his sweet pottage in their bellies.
You can imagine the way I laughed when I heard the story. The way his friends had tricked him and how gullible he had been was so amusing. Adedeji had smiled at me that day, then brought my fingers to his mouth and kissed them. Him showing up when I was most frustrated didn’t surprise me anymore, I hadn’t met a man who was so attuned to my feelings before. If not that I had decided I wouldn’t be dating that year, I would have seriously considered dating him.
He entered the class and all the students got up to greet him. They all loved him, the girls childishly crushed on him and the boys looked up to him as a role model.
“Please permit me to borrow your Teacher for a moment,” he said in his scratchy voice. That was the only noticeable flaw he had.
“You’re permitted, Sir!” The students chorused happily. I almost felt betrayed. He took my hand and we walked outside into the corridor and Adedeji turned to me.
“I’m having a party at my house today, wanna come?” He asked. I shook my head. “You look like you need it” he continued.
“I can’t, I have..” I started to say but he put a hand over my mouth. The children clapped behind us. I decided right there I would be giving them a really difficult assignment to take home that day.
“No excuses please,” he said. “You don’t have to drink if you don’t want to.”
I nodded my head, knowing I had already lost the battle. Adedeji pumped his fist into the air.
***
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“Parties get tiring sometimes,” Adedeji said as we entered his room. He was right, it had been fun for a long while but I was already tired. I needed to sleep. I took off my shoes at the foot of the bed and collapsed on it.
“Not going to get out of your clothes?” He asked sitting down beside me.
“You could help me,” I said. His eyes sparkled with want at my comment. Slowly he took off my shirt and my trousers till I was only in my undies. Then he bent down to kiss me. It was soft and sweet but when I noticed it was getting too far I pushed him gently away. The guy was huge, even bigger than I had thought. He took off his shirt and it was a beautiful sight to behold. Then he began to take off his belt and a red light flashed in my head.
“What are you doing?” I asked. He paused.
“Taking off my trousers too” he replied as though it was too obvious a question for me to ask. I didn’t say anything, I was watching his next move.
“I’m not going to have sex with you. You know that right?” I said when his trousers were off.
“Come on baby” he begged.
“Come on baby what?” I asked. I was getting irritated.
“Let me get naked,” he said as though it was an answer to my question and he took off his boxers. Then he faced me. His hands trying to take off my panties, I resisted.
“Adedeji stop!” I said.
“Baby please, please,” he said. He looked so serious, it was almost comical.
“No,” I said. Then I slipped off his grasp and ran into the bathroom. I took off my underwear and entered the shower. Adedeji was suddenly behind me. He tried to bend me down so he could begin the process but I was having none of that.
“Come on baby,” he said. His eyes were beginning to get red and angry. I was startled, my gentle Adedeji was gone and replaced with this angry beast.
“Let me go,” I said when he tried to hold me again. He didn’t even seem like he was going to use protection, I hissed in my mind. Did the guy think I would let him have unprotected sex with me?
I quickly toweled and went out of the bathroom. He followed me and we both lay on the bed but he wasn’t talking to me. I was still contemplating what to do when I fell asleep.
I woke up to his hand on my breasts. It was 5:00am in the morning and he was already disturbing my peaceful rest. I removed his hands and was sliding out of the bed but he dragged me back. The “baby come on and baby please” session resumed but I knew I couldn’t do it. I had made up my mind not to have sex and I would not. We battled and battled. Most of it was fun, me running around the bed and him chasing me around. Us fighting over my clothes. After a while, he gave up.
“You’re punishing me but I can’t force you to have sex because sex is a mutual thing. If one party doesn’t want it then it can’t be forced ” he said sadly.
Then he wrapped the covers around us so it felt like we were in a cocoon, just the two of us. It came to me in a rush but I suddenly realized I was falling in love with him. I was so grateful that he didn’t touch me at that moment of realization because I would have given in to him.
It was a Saturday, so he dropped me off at my house and left. We separated with a grudging goodbye hug from me, a kiss and an I Love You directed at me from Deji. I walked away confused but pleased to a degree. Confused because I hadn’t planned to fall in love with anyone and pleased because I got a chance to spend quality time with him.
***
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I was walking down my street one cold evening, wearing my blue hoodie. That one that makes me look like a teddy bear. A sleek black car was parked at a corner and when I passed it, the man sitting inside called me.
“Hello dear,” he called. I looked inside and saw him sitting there, he was fair in complexion and handsome. About 50 years old but with an athletic build.
“Good evening Sir” I greeted.
“Aww. Don’t call me Sir. Why are you so formal? Is it because you saw me in this car?” He asked.
“No, your face looks old,” I said amused. What is this man thinking? I thought.
“I’m doctor Musa. I live around here,” he said.
“I’m Joy. Pleased to meet you” I said.
“You’re so beautiful. Can I have your number?” He asked. His hand was poised over his keypad.
“0812823481,” I said.
“I love the way you say “eight” so classy!” He exclaimed. I smiled at him.
“Thank you,” I said
“You’re welcome. I’ll call when I get home. Goodnight dear,” he said and drove off. I kept walking without a second thought. It was a day later I realized he did not call me. It didn’t bother me in the least.
***
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The school was going on break and I would be traveling home to Delta state so I and Deji arranged to see each other. I was going to meet him at his house, I was excited and I knew we would have sex so I texted him upfront that he should get condoms because the baby girl does not have unprotected sex. He said he would get some, and that it was alright.
That evening, I got to his house but I didn’t meet him so I had to wait outside for him to return. I hate waiting so much, it was torturous, those twenty minutes of standing in front of his door.
“I’m sorry baby,” he said when he arrived, kissing me on my lips. He was looking good in his Jersey and sneakers combo.
“It’s fine,” I said with a tight smile. I was relieved at least. Sometimes happiness is a hazy dream so we take what we can get.
We entered the room and it was warm and cozy. Deji put on the lights and looked at me.
“Come here,” he said stretching out his arms “I have missed you so much”
“I missed you a lot too,” I said. We kissed slowly and lovingly.
“Come on. Let’s shower” he said. We both took off our clothes and entered the bathroom.
It was an “I wash you back, you wash my back” moment. Deji turned me around and tried to penetrate. I wasn’t having any of that.
“Stop! I told you I don’t have unprotected sex, remember?” I asked.
“Baby come on,” he said. His voice was hard and harsh but unlike before, I couldn’t resist him anymore, I was already in love with the beast. So that was how this guy had bathroom sex with me, I didn’t participate. Then he toweled me and took me to the bed where he continued. He was raping me and he kept saying “I love you, baby“. It was so disgusting and vile coming from him at that moment.
I was in shock and in pain. The sex felt good but I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction so I didn’t open my mouth to moan. I was shouting inside of me. I couldn’t believe I had been so trusting and naive. I let him have his way until he grew tired of the lack of response.
“Baby how what is it? Are you okay?” He dared to ask me. I turned my face away from my abuser, so the tears spilled down the side of my face. He wiped it away with his finger.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry baby. Please forgive me” he begged. I said nothing, I knew everything had changed.
***
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One Year Later
An airport road was busy that day and I was standing at one end hoping to cross when I saw a man looking at me from across the road. He was driving a gray car and he was saying “damn! This girl is so beautiful”. He smiled at me and I smiled back. When I crossed over to the other side, he handed me his card and told me to call him. I received the shock of my life when I inputted the number into my phone and it showed “Mr. Musa”.
It was the same man who stopped me on my street last year and asked for my number. I was positive he hadn’t recognized me because our first meeting had been in the evening when we really couldn’t see each other clearly. I looked at the name and I smiled. This man was a giant flirt that I needed to teach a solid lesson. I laughed inwardly at his ignorance of the fact that he was meeting the same girl twice and I called him. He picked up and promised to call me back.
“All I need is a girl to love me,” Musa said. We were at a bar. He was going on and on about love and care but I knew what he wanted was to have sex with me. Till today, I am continually amazed as to how men can tell a woman, a fragile woman like myself who has never loved to, but ends up falling accidentally and helplessly in love, that they love her when the truth is they just want a piece of me.
“So what do you do?” I asked. I wanted to know if he had a standard lie but he floored me.
“I’m an engineer. Mechanical engineer” he said. I smiled and said “okay”. Once a doctor, now an engineer. Beautiful! I was watching the foolish old man talk and I was getting really disgusted. To make matters worse, he was holding me as though we had known each other for years.
“Why are you so stiff? Um, baby. Look at the other couples. It is obvious they love each other” he said.
“I don’t love you,” I said.
“But I love you. You’re not listening to me. Have you been listening to me?” He asked and placed a hand on my arm.
I looked down at the hand. I looked at his face. I was thinking and not really seeing him at that moment. I really wanted to spit in his face and expose how much of a fraud he was but I was thinking and he didn’t seem so important. He was a fraud and an idiot but that was okay. He was doing all those things inside his “pocket”. I wasn’t thinking of him because he didn’t concern me. Instead, I was thinking about that night with Deji.
“Let me go. I’m leaving” I said to Musa. He looked shocked but I ignored him and walked out of the bar. The pain was swelling up into a fountain again. I was wondering, why do men not realize how much damage they cause when they take advantage of a woman? I picked up my steps. I had been damaged once and though I was scared now, I knew that my heart might again land me in a dangerous situation, out of which I would come out damaged and torn, with no hope of healing.
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