Stories of love, heartbreak, situationships, marriage, longing, healing, and the complicated emotions that connect people.
At some point, I stop crying, not because I’ve accepted my fate. I think my body simply gets tired, there’s only so much panic one person can produce. I am still sitting on the floor beside the bed, the expensive carpet beneath me is wet from my tears. I don’t know how long I’ve been […]
I have been thinking about bride price, not because I am getting married tomorrow, Nigeria and I already have one complicated relationship; I am not looking for a second one immediately. But the subject keeps finding me.A conversation here.A marriage story there.A woman quietly saying, “He changed after the wedding.”A man loudly saying, “I paid
I wake up smiling, the kind of smile that happens before you even open your eyes. For a few seconds, I don’t know where I am. The sheets feel too soft, the room smells expensive, the air-conditioning is so cold that I pull the duvet closer and then I remember. My smile grows wider.Oh, right.
I have changed my clothes three times already. The black dress is lying on the bed, then on the chair and then back on the bed again. I don’t know why I’m pretending the dress is the problem. The problem isn’t the dress, the problem is where I’m going. A funeral.His funeral. Even writing those
I’ve taken three showers already and I still don’t know what else to do with myself. The apartment is quiet, the television is on but I couldn’t tell anybody what’s playing, my food is cold, my phone is on the table, and my mind is still in that photocopy room. Still with her. I remember
The office is almost empty, I know because I’ve checked the time three times in the last ten minutes.8:17 PM.8:21 PM.8:24 PM. The cleaning staff have already passed my section twice, even the security lights have switched on outside. Everybody has gone home, everybody except me. I stare at the stack of documents beside the
One of the more surprising discoveries of adulthood is that people continue caring about you even after you’ve made a deliberate effort to become difficult to reach. I spent most of my second day in hospital attempting to convince everyone that I was perfectly fine. This was complicated by the fact that I was in
Dear Diary, There is a particular kind of pain that comes from being betrayed by a stranger. And then there is the pain that comes from being betrayed by the person who knows exactly where your heart lives. The second one is worse. Much worse. Because they don’t stumble into your weaknesses by accident. You
There should be a manual for being nineteen. Not a proper textbook. Just a small booklet. Something that explains all the things adults expect you to magically understand the moment you leave secondary school. How relationships work. How feelings work. How to know when somebody means what they say. How to know when they don’t.
Dear Diary, Apparently there are several hours missing from my day. I find this unacceptable. Not because I particularly wanted those hours. But because they belonged to me. And I have always been uncomfortable with losing access to things that belong to me. Time. Information. Control. Particularly control. The last thing I remember is standing in a boardroom