Adunni's Tales

Bola looked up and saw me where I was glued to and she immediately ran towards me. “Layoo my baby, I am so proud of you…Congratulations” She hugged me and took the award from me. Just then Uncle Jide moved closer to us and also congratulated me. As he was about to hug me just like Bola did, I mumbled one excuse and started walking away from the two of them. Bola told Uncle Jide she would see him around and followed me. “Layo Layo, this your Uncle Jide is not bad o. why didn’t you tell me he is as handsome and intelligent as this?” “Bola he is…” “And he is such a good person” Bola cut me short before I could tell her I was in a relationship with Uncle Jide. “Layo… on a second thought, I need to talk to him about something. I will meet you in the hall” Bola turned back to go and meet Uncle Jide. I wanted to stop her but I felt really weak, like I would faint. I couldn’t afford to have another health crisis especially not on my last day in High school so I kept on walking ...

After the incident with Michael, Uncle Jide called me in the night and apologised for any embarrassment he might have caused me. He told me I wouldn’t understand but that he did that to protect me because he loves me. That was all I needed to hear. I was smiling uncontrollably for days.  Even though, Uncle Jide never asked me out but that was the confirmation I needed that we were in a relationship. I mean, why else will he tell me he loves me? I have always had a huge crush on him anyways. As far as I was concerned, everything was perfect. For the next few months Tayo never kept quiet about how Uncle Jide will marry me and I will be her best friend/ sister-in-law. She told everyone that cared to listen that I was in a relationship with her brother who is a corper in Abuja. Truth be told, I never genuinely cautioned her. I could no longer hide that I liked Uncle Jide and I was enjoying the respect my friends and classmates were giving me anytime they heard of my relationshi...

Uncle Jide kept his promise. He was around for all our visiting days. Sometimes he would come straight from school and go back to school the same day.  Tayo had once hinted me that Uncle Jide wasn’t very close to his Mom. She didn’t understand why but she was happy that she was the centre of his attention. Few times when my parents or Bola came for me, Uncle Jide would wait for me till they leave. Uncle Jide never came empty-handed. A day to our visiting day, Uncle Jide would call us through the house mistress’ phone and ask for a list of what Tayo and I specifically wanted him to buy for us. Because of Uncle Jide, visiting days became what I looked forward to. On the first visiting day in SSS3, Uncle Jide bought phones for Tayo and I. We had told him we could use phones in SSS3, but we didn’t imagine that he would buy for us. He bought the same phone for us and loaded both with airtime. “I will be going for my Youth service soon. I was posted to Abuja. Even though I’m far ...

“Yaaay…you bought us ice-cream and pizza” “Aaaaw… you brought more provisions too” “my brother is the best brother in the world” Layo kept chattering about every single thing Uncle Jide brought. He brought quite a lot of things though and to be sincere, he is indeed caring and loving just as Tayo had said. I just couldn’t get why he kept on staring at me. I could literally feel his eyes on me. I haven’t been in that type of situation before so I didn’t know how to react.  After a while, I decided to look up and trace his eyes to what was actually getting his attention. I traced his eyes to my chest. What could he be looking at on my chest? I was confused. When I folded my hands across my chest and he looked away, I was relieved. “Thank you Uncle Jide for bringing all these for me too…I am very grateful” This time he spoke coherently. “You are welcome my dear.” Everything felt normal again as we sat down in one of the classrooms to eat together. I sat opposite Uncle Jide...

Bola ran to me and dragged me to the restroom. She knows me well enough to be sure that the next thing I will do is burst into tears. It had always been my defence mechanism anytime she catches me doing anything wrong. She sure didn’t want me to be labelled as “crybaby” by my classmates on the first day of school. I tried to tell her what happened amidst the tears but it just made me cry more. She hugged me tight and told me to finish crying before talking. When I was satisfied, I told her what happened…or what I thought happened. “Did you check for your lunchbox where you put yours and it wasn’t there?” “How will it be there when she was eating from it” I answered. Why was she even questioning me?…I thought, she should have rushed to deal with the talkative thief already.  “Let us go and check where you kept yours first” she checked my face to be sure that there were no traces of my tears and then took me to the classroom.  As we passed the eating area, I saw t...

“Bye Layo, be a good girl, make friends… and make sure you eat your food.” That was my mom bidding me farewell before zooming off in her newly acquired Benz E-class. It was my first day at secondary school. My mom was definitely excited that her small baby is growing up fast. As for me, I wasn’t excited neither did I see myself as grown. I didn’t even like the school …not like my opinion was sought anyways. It was just a natural occurrence that I attended the school since Bola did too. With a sigh, I decided to walk towards the classrooms and see how the day will turn out. “Layoo, Layooo my baby” I recognized Bola’s voice out of the voices of many chattering students; some, new students like me, and most returning students. I ran to her, smiling for the first time since I entered the school premises. She hugged me and took my bag and my lunch pack from me. She took me to my classroom, secured a seat for me, arranged my books in my locker, after which she took me to her classro...