Stories of love, heartbreak, situationships, marriage, longing, healing, and the complicated emotions that connect people.
I knew the holiday was going to be difficult, I just didn’t know it would be this difficult. My boyfriend and I had spent the final week of school complaining about the distance like two people who had just been informed that Nigeria and Ghana were now on different planets. “We won’t see each other
I didn’t sleep, not properly. I lay on my side of the bed, staring into the darkness, listening to the sound of my wife’s breathing. She was sleeping, or at least she appeared to be. I wasn’t. Her question kept repeating itself in my head. “If you are allowed to marry four wives, why have
I have never understood why weddings come with so many instructions…Smile…Don’t sweat…Don’t step on your dress…Don’t cry too much…Don’t cry too little…Don’t eat too much…Don’t drink too much…Don’t forget your bouquet…Don’t lose your earrings…Don’t let your makeup artist ruin your face…And, obviously… Don’t forget to greet dead people.Yes.Dead people.That was the instruction that nearly ruined
My friends have convinced me that I am not doing anything wrong. That is how this whole thing started. Maybe that is also how most men get themselves into trouble. They sit with their friends, everybody talks confidently, everybody has an example, everybody suddenly becomes a relationship expert, and before you know it, you are
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