The past weeks have been raining dates! Coffee dates to be precise.

The older girlies meeting their younger selves over coffee, I planned mine too! I wanted to meet teenage Zerifa or should I say Nizi( she adores that nickname), I looked forward to our little date, I’ve missed her a LOT.

I walked into the coffee shop, it was cozy and pink, girly, playful and so feminine — it’s like it was designed for cute little girl dates. The shop was filled with teenage/adolescent girls and adult women — -no man in sight. They sat in pairs, each pair looked like twins just a difference in age and appearance.

Some were laughing together, some had tears and some just sat in silence — a comfortable silence.

I made my way to the only empty seat at the corner of the shop, I sat and starred at the empty seat in front of me. A seat supposedly for my Younger self, she didn’t make it to the date — I hadn’t invited her — yet.

I know she would find this coffee shop weird and probably say “it looks like a Daycare for baby girls with all these pink and bows and baby looking chairs”

She doesn’t like pink, I don’t either but unlike her I’ve learnt to not resent it and treat it like every other color — except Yellow, it’s a forever beef between us and that color.

She wouldn’t have liked a coffee date, for me coffee was an acquired taste so I understand her dislike for it, an ice cream date or a lunch date would absolutely make her day but knowing her, she wouldn’t have voiced her discomfort but fake liked coffee just for this date — she was strangely good at pretending.

I ordered for latte and got my notepad out, I love the atmosphere in this shop, it felt like healed pains,the snuffled cries coming from different tables around didn’t feel like agony or hurt, there was no peril feeling in the air. It felt like reassurance, healing, closure and hope — I thought to myself “I want this, I like this, I will definitely do this with nizi”

So I wrote on my notepad

5 Reasons I didn’t go on a Coffee date with Nizi in February 2025

1. Nizi doesn’t like coffee. I want to take her on a proper date or a fun ice cream date.
2. 2. I want her to have fun on this date, play like a kid she is, feel relaxed and not like she is coming for an interview. So I will take her somewhere fun.
3. 3. I don’t want the atmosphere here to affect how she processes the date, she brags about having a mind of her own — she does — but she gets easily influenced especially if she cares about what she’s doing or whom she is doing it with and for. I want her to be relaxed and not compelled to do this against her non verbal will.
4. 4. I’m not ready to see the innocence in her eyes and all the unanswered questions that I still don’t have answers to, I’m unprepared to meet her. I might be older, wiser and arguably smarter but she still has a hold on me and I still run to her every now and then for comfort. I love our dynamic and I don’t want there to be a shift in it after the date — I fear there might be.
5. 5. We will definitely be late to whatever date we plan on going on — I’m working on my time management, I want to be able to come before her, keep a seat for her and order her a dessert before she arrives, not because it will make me feel like the older person but because it is my subtle way of saying “I’m looking out for you” “I want to care for you for as long as I have breath in me” “you deserve to be pampered”….with us, it’s always the little things that speaks the loudest. So when I’m a step ahead, I’ll fix the date, I’ll come earlier and I will tell her it took 25years plus to work on our timing so she shouldn’t beat herself up about it.

I dropped my pen and tried taking a sip of my latte — well it’s very warm now. I heaved a sigh, here’s another thing amongst the billions of things I and Nizi still have in common and have remained a constant — We don’t like our food or beverages going from Hot to cold.

The thought of this made me feel warm inside. I’m still very much Her and she is still Me.

I flipped to the next blank page in my notepad and I wrote again

6 reasons why I want to go on a date with Nizi

1. She is my favorite person in the world and I would take any proper chance I get to hang out with her. I love her.
2. 2. I want to hear her yapping about everything, I want to see the joy in her eyes when she tells me about that one novel she is writing, I want to see how carefree she is, I want to be around her wholesome energy.
3. 3. I want to look at her from an adult eye and see if her insecurities were so evident even when she tried to mask it.
4. 4. I want to hug her, and tell her I SEE YOU, not just physically, I see her in the crowd, I see her in groups, I see her everywhere and she isn’t invisible as she thinks she is — a lot of people will get to see her soon too. I want to clean her tears and probably cry with her — we cry a lot anyway. Then I’ll reassure her of the uncertain days, I don’t need to tell her EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE I just want to tell her SHE WILL GET THROUGH IT like a badass she is.
5. 5. I want to tell her that everything she is feeling now is normal and nothing is wrong with her.
6. 6. I want to walk her back to our old neighborhood, make sure she gets home safe because I know the hassle she must have gone through to come on this date — our parents aren’t the very cool type that let you go anywhere you want. I want to see our old house one more time, soak in the nostalgia and maybe catch a glimpse of our parents and if I’m lucky our siblings as toddlers.

A tear dropped on the page. I wiped it off with the back of my left palm, this time I closed my notepad and put it in my bag. The latte is completely cold at this point so I signaled the waitress.

“Can I get my bill”

She looked at my still full cup of latte, I could hear the question before she asked it.

“You barely touched your latte, you didn’t like it?”

I gave a her a warm smile

“No, it was perfect but I got busy and it got cold, I don’t like cold beverages”

“Oh”

“Yes”

“Where you waiting for someone, should I get you another cup?”

“It was supposed to be a date, yes but I didn’t invite my date, I wasn’t ready to meet her yet. Also no I don’t need another cup of latte, I’m very good.. thank you for asking I just need my bill please”

She nodded and gave me a hearty smile,

I paid my bills and left.

The smell of baked coffee beans lingered in the air, Reminding me of how change can be a conscious decision one makes —just like my acquired taste for coffee. I can’t wait to share this with nizi… I know she will be flabbergasted and probably say “ITS A LIE! I can’t like coffee!”

Then we will end up placing a bet on it because somehow a bet always solves our disagreement.

I didn’t meet my younger self for coffee

Not yet anyway.

But I’m not worried nor sad,

I will meet her soon, I will always save a seat for her.

I could have sworn I liked you just as a friend…

I could have banked on it that all I did for you was out of the goodness of my heart for a friend…

That everything I felt, I felt because I’m a kind-hearted Simple girl who cares about her friend so much…

That Every quick text back was because I didn’t like the idea of taking so long to reply…

I could have thought wanting you to send pictures of yourself and the little things you do was just a way for us to bond as FRIENDS…

I could have justified telling you every detail of my day as just a thing FRIENDS that are cool do…

All these and more I would have sworn didn’t mean anything – -just friends…

But that would be telling a black lie to no other person than myself…

I knew the calmness your presence and voice gave me wasn’t common

The way my heart skips beats when I look at you across the street…

How that beautiful smile of yours warms me from the inside out…

God! The way you indulged me in whatever small talks I love to talk about, my buzzing ideas, my never-ending curiosity, my squeaky laughter all of my weird side you indulged…

Maybe that’s why I let myself feel things that I know you didn’t feel…

I let my heart know you….

I let it love and adore you…

Cowardly of me to write this down rather than telling you, I know….

But in here and in my heart where you reign superior it is safest for me…

For once in my life I want to love selfishly and safely…

I want to free fall in love, soak in it, and enjoy the serenity of being in love alone…

For in this love, I am safe, I am not rejected…

For in this love, I alone know and phantom every emotion…

I don’t get to share it or prophesy it…

I don’t get to risk being hurt and rejected…

I don’t get to risk losing you…

For in this love, I alone am in it…

Some days I wish you looked at me the way I look at you..

But if you did, just like every emotional look I get to share with a person, it has an expiring date…

Sometimes I wish you were as excited to talk to me as I was to talk to you…

But I know if you did, sooner or later you’d get bored of my talks…

Some moments I wonder if my texts light up your mood as yours does mine…

But I know if you ever did, it would be short-lived…

I don’t want to go looking for answers – because I know the answer to all my wishful thinking …

I’m content loving you in secret…

Where I get to choose when it ends or I might just not put an expiring date on it…

Where I can love you for as long as I can bear.

I hope my heart stays content loving you in the hidden.

As she has never loved in secret.

This is her first….

I was astonished to run into it

I was excited to see it

I hope it was too

I spoke to it in a familiar language but It couldn’t comprehend.

It felt familiar yet strange…

A blast from the past, A friend, A familiarity.

When I snapped out of those lucid thoughts, I knew there were words I needed to let out, messages I needed to send across…so I wrote.

.

Dear friend,

. It’s funny how we planned to live next to each other, serve together, and be best pals forever but life comes at you fast.

We had plans life had directions.

We had dreams life had destinations.

Life has taken unexpected turns, and in some ways, I have been doing better on my own, without you here.

There is this sense of independence, growth, and fulfillment that comes with facing challenges Solo and I’ve adapted, I think I adapted too well and it hurts, it hurts because more than most things, I want you to be by my side while we win this life together.

I miss you

I wish we could hang out like old times.

I miss how carefree we used to be, just two younglings full of life and audacity.

I miss our bants, our extremely healthy arguments, Nicknames, and inside jokes.

You used to be the best part of my days and I hope I was yours too.

I miss us as a team.

But as much as I have wishful thinking of what I want, I want you to know that I valued what we had…

The friendship, the laughter, and the memories are a big part of what I am today.

Fragments of them keep me whole on nostalgic days.

But while I hold on to what we had, I hope there comes a day when life merges our path again

I hope you still have the sparkle in your eyes when that day comes-if it comes.

I hope you know that I wasn’t the friend that got away and as little as I said it, I cherished you-us.

But of all, I hope this letter finds you well.

Women,God’s gift to earth

His way of showing and telling us that he wants the world to be better and full of Light

The holy book documented, Out of a Man We Were Made but with Us guarantees his continuity.

Oh! out of a single bone came a masterpiece, a balance, a force, a life-giver, a keeper, a relic, a Phoenix, a mystery, a genius, out of a single Bone came A WOMAN in all her glory.

Woman? What is that?

A woman is Strong but Exquisite

One life looking after a thousand lives:

Extremely endangered but dauntingly badass

A woman is justice for the unjust

With a voice that could pierce the thickest walls and zeal so strong it could crash the waves of the sea.

She is beauty to all the sisters

She is life at its core

She is a girl with dreams so big they feel unachievable but because she is a woman she will achieve them and watch her deepest dreams bloom to live

A woman is happiness

Heavy heart, stressed mood, betraying body but she wears that melting smile.

She is Ambition

striving and climbing even when no one wants her to, she dares to dream.

She wears scrubs, she wears Aprons, she wears a suit, she wears Camouflage, she flies an Aircraft, she Sings, she wears a coverall jumpsuit, she Writes, she reads, she dances, she goes to Mars, she rules a Nation, she speaks for her Nation, she owns her company, she sells. She is everything you Never thought her Ambitious little head could crack.

A woman is love

The purest, the calmest, the reckless, the most wholesome and enticing Form of it.

She is Scar, the type that runs deep in the heart and out on the skin, visible with so many stories of Breakthrough and conquering.

Daughter is a woman

Young and priceless. Finding her way through a Man’s world that she will conquer.

She is courage

With strength, fierce, and bravery interlocked in her pulse.

MOTHER is woman

With children in her bosom and at her breast

From her womb flows rivers of love and generations of Strength.

grandmother is Woman

She is grayed with wisdom from years and wrinkled with stories of life well lived.

She is sister

Looking out for all who sucked from Mother’s breasts

She is Aunty

Loving and giddy, welcoming and allowing.

The Girl child is a Woman

She will tell the tales of time, she will conquer, she will love, she dares to dream, she might want children at her bosom, she will spread her wings and she will take on the World.

No! A day is not enough to celebrate the force that the WOMAN is, We celebrate Ourselves every day and at every chance.

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY!

Sis! Go own the World! It’s Yours!

Often we’re neglected, set aside for later, ignored, or even referred to as OTHERS.

The ones that are never sent on stage.

We find peace in not being seen

We like the solitude

We thrive in not being noticed

We like it quiet

We shake our heads in disapproval when beams of light unconsciously cascade over us

We hide

When we’re asked “Why? Why are you such a loner? Why don’t you mingle?”

We want to fold up even more

We want to tell them every single thing in our head about how perilous being seen is

How fettering helps us cope and evaluate things beyond their understanding.

But rather than breaking these words down into simple and understandable sentences we rather reply

“I don’t know” “That’s just the way I am”

Everyone sees us as “Others” as the “quiet ones” and “the ones who need no attention” so why should we tell them that on some days

We want to be seen

We don’t want to be the “Others”

There were days when we died a little

when our souls were trapped in corpses that breathed,

when our smiles smelled sorrow, but seemed brighter,

When our eyes drowned yet they praised its depth.

When our hearts were shattered but still held beats

And our minds ran faster than our feet could ever carry

how strange is it that there were days when we weren’t us, and no one noticed.

I’m a wallflower and I want to bloom even when no eye sees my radiance

When I wither away let the spot of my presence be seen on that Wall, let it be Seen! Let the scraps of my presence shadow through the wall.

Let it tell the story of how my solitude was my friend and Foe

I sat down today and I thought about how much I’ve changed — how much you’ve changed me.

I feel so free and homely at heart.

It’s so new to me, the calm, the serenity, the softness of it all is so new to me — I’m not used to it.

Love as I’ve grown to know it has never been this soft and without struggles

I’m not used to this kind of gentle love — I thought they only existed in books and romcoms.

I’m not used to not fighting about issues-you have to fight for what you love right?

Romance without sad tears? Does that even exist?

Before you

I didn’t know it was not ok to fight every day

I didn’t know it was not ok to cry often

I didn’t know it was ok to take up space

I called tough love PASSION

But with you it’s different

You listen to me

You hold me

You genuinely enjoy being in my presence

You kiss me every chance you get

You tell me I’m perfect even when I don’t feel it

You speak life into me

I’m not used to this, it’s all new to me

But I love it.

I love you

And I love how you love me

I want to love myself that way too

Maybe I’ll get used to this love

Maybe it will stay with me forever

And I could keep you forever.

Listen to this playlist while you read

I saw the tweet on my timeline and immediately under the tweet I saw this reply, my first reaction was laughing, it’s funny but it struck a nerve. And as funny as it sounds, it is true! I fell in love with an Igbo man once and I never unloved him no matter how hard I tried.

I was younger and he was younger. One would say it’s young love and yeah it was! Yes, one of the most genuine young loves I got to experience.

“Nah we’re just friends,” I said outwardly

When inwardly I was screaming for more. Just like I was convinced he heard my inner thoughts, he fell in love with me too and we became more than “just” friends.

He loved me truly, he supported me, he held my hands, he sat with me in silence and cried with me in sadness.

He was my best friend, the one person I could unpack my deepest thoughts to without fear of being judged.

I didn’t feel the need to be who I wasn’t with him.

I fell in love with him at the period of my life when I struggled with loving myself, when I was the most insecure about myself, when I was going through one of the roughest times of my life but this Igbo man loved me long and hard through it.

He loved me enough for me to start loving myself, he made me feel the most beautiful even when I didn’t like what I saw when I looked in the mirror,

He told me “I got you” and meant it.

People say “You have to love yourself first before you can love someone else” but I disagree, someone can love you so much that you begin to see yourself as someone worthy of being loved and you start loving yourself.

. I can remember any time I was in distress or having a bad day or anxious, my first thoughts were “I want to talk to him” because I knew no matter how wrong my world was turning, talking to him would make everything right again. He could tell me Jump and I would ask him how high?

I loved him and he loved me.

I knew he loved me in the way he spoke to me, in the way he laughed heartily at my goofiness, I knew he loved me in the way he worried about me, in the way he spoke light into my darkness, I knew he loved me in the way he became the calm in my chaos, the way he paid attention to me, in the way he was interested in everything that I talked about.

I knew he loved me in the way he hugged and kissed me, I knew he loved me when he became free and open to me compared to the inhibited him I first met.

He showed me he loved me, he told me he loved me and he made me see and feel he loved me-I hope I did the same to him too-

When we ended things, I was lost because what was I supposed to do with all these feelings I had for him? What does one do with them? I asked for the longest time

How do you go from loving someone with every fiber in you and one day you don’t feel an atom of feeling for them?

but I found out that it’s okay to love someone from a distance and keep them at heart but not within reach.

It’s been years since we ended things-Nigeria happened to us but that is a story for another day I have made peace with the fact that I can’t un-love him. I can’t pick a thing he did to make me unlove him and as that tweet reply said “When they’re finished with you, you won’t have mouth to talk” True that! I can’t even say bad things about him because there wasn’t anything to talk bad about!… we are in different phases of life and we might never be on the same page to get back together but I’m content.

The love I experienced from him, the feelings I had, and the love I hope I showed him is one of those loves that makes you feel whole, make you feel at peace that even if you don’t get to experience it again, you count yourself lucky to have at one point in your life experienced it.

Until you’ve experienced genuine and intentional love, you won’t know how ridiculous that saying “love na scam” is.

I heaved a sigh of exhaustion at the thought of showing up to work with tons of unattended backlogs I was supposed to get sorted out before the resumption of work tomorrow. The snaps stories of the all-girls hangout I missed because you texted “I WANT TO SEE YOU TONIGHT” unraveled a barn of regrets on what I missed and I wished I was there with my girlfriends.

I hate that I keep choosing you over my affairs.

I hate that a single sentence from you-I WANT TO SEE YOU TONIGHT-wills so much power to destabilize my pattern and plans

I hate that I’m your convenience, the one who you only entertain in your free time.

I hate that you never consider my timetable

I hate that I have no problem picking you from the side and placing you at the very top of my priorities.

I hate that even when I’m with you, you mostly neglect my presence until it’s time for bed, and then I become the center of all your attractions.

I hate how unsubtle you act that shows you don’t regard me as much as I do you.

I hate how disoriented I become whenever you are in sight. It Feels like I’m jinxed.

I don’t want you to have me only at your convenience

I don’t want you to call and text only when you are in my city

I don’t want to be your go-to for convenient orgasm

But here I am by 10:28 pm, in the back seat of a cab, in the cold night breeze…heading towards you just because you texted “I WANT TO SEE YOU TONIGHT”

I hate myself for being so accessible but I can’t help it so I’m writing in my note app because it’s only in there that I have the willpower to tell you No! YOU WON’T HAVE ME AT YOUR CONVENIENCE!

YOU WON’T HAVE ME WHEN YOU WANT, NOT ANYMORE!

Until I grow the balls to tell you what I know you should hear, what I know I should tell you, I’ll write them in my notes and recite them until I say it out loud one day.

I opened my eyes to a bright white room a hospital! Great! The 5th admission I’ve had this year

“She’s awake.” I heard ileri say.

There was a darkness to my left eye like something was covering it and I tried to flick them open but I couldn’t, by instinct I attempted reaching for my eyes.

“Hey hey hey don’t!” Ilerioluwa’s said calmly “You have drips on and your vitals are being monitored.

I dropped my hand and heard all the beeping sounds in the room. I knew this was not good.

“How bad is it?” I asked.

I could see the hesitation from her.

“Not so bad?” She said.

I scoffed. “There’s no need to lie to me Ileri, the beeping from these machines I’m plugged to is enough to tell me, so please I beg of you How bad is my condition?”

She moved and sat beside me on the tiny hospital bed and held my hands.

“You got stitches from your wound hence the bandages around your eyes, but you had lost a lot of blood from your wound and…”

I knew she was holding back and she might not tell me everything so I lightly squeezed her hand that held mine.

“Please I beg you, I lost a lot of blood from my wound, and what?”

She looked away and sniffed, trying to hide her tears from me. She looked at me with concern and pity.

“Lola you miscarried, you were 4 weeks pregnant,” she said. “But but you are fine I promise — “

“No Ilerioluwa! I’m not fine.” I sobbed “I lost my baby! How am I supposed to be ok?”

She pulled me into a light embrace and let me sob my broken heart out.

Lola you are better than this, you deserve better.

It was at that point those words pulled strings in my heart and this time the strings snapped because it hurt as hell — physically and mentally — I was in what is called PAIN in its Raw Form.

I had complications, due to the way I miscarried, I had several broken bones and I had to stay in the hospital for a month. I moved in with Ileri temporarily while I processed my transfer letter. Ileri made a promise not to tell anyone what truly happened and so it was our little secret.

Ilerioluwa got Ola arrested his properties were confiscated and he lost his job, FIDA took up the case and he is likely to face a 6-year sentence. The next and final court hearing is next month and it is going to be the first time I appear in court for this case, i have a restraining order against Ola and I intend to keep it that way forever but I have to give my physical testimony on the last day of the final hearing.

I got my transfer back to Benin state and I have started my life afresh.

I’m 27years old now, it’s been two years since the incident, it’s been two years since I heard from or saw Ola- and it’s been one week since I saw Ilerioluwa — who is now engaged —she comes to visit me every month and I know I wouldn’t be here without her.

We need the likes of ileri in our corners. The people who look out for us when the fog of life blurs our vision.

I know the first judgment of anyone that reads this story will be “he was abusing you and buying you things so you chose to stay” but the truth is I was doing well enough on my own, I made more money than him, I just felt “oh he didn’t mean to hit me, he was just in a bad mood today” “I shouldn’t have yelled at him” “I could have just told him about this earlier” “I triggered him” etc I developed a coping mechanism of blaming myself for his actions.

That is the thing with abuse in romantic relationships, many times the abused develops a coping mechanism mostly unknowingly to them, they find themselves in a circle of blaming and thinking if they are just a little patient with their abuser, it gets better, but the truth is it never gets better.

You get so sucked into the circle of abuse that most times it becomes more excruciating to leave than it is to remain in that circle.

I feel a sense of peace being able to share this piece with a larger audience other than my close circle. I survived! I lived! I left! And to anyone in this situation I want you to remember that if as little as my resolve was I was able to choose myself, I know you can do the same too.

Talk to that friend, colleague, or family member, don’t cover it up. You shouldn’t be ashamed. Choose You.

My name is Lola and this is my story.

THE END.

I press CTRL-S on my keyboard and the document is saved. I tap my phone screen and it’s 3 am

“Wow that was fast,” I muttered.

As I blink back tears and heavy a sigh, It feels like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders, it feels like I needed to tell this story to be able to move forward. I close my laptop and walk to my bed, as my head hits my pillow I know I am truly free, a smile spreads on my lips and I shut my eyes in contentment.

“Look, Lola! I’m tired of these white lies. I’m not stupid nah I have brains and eyes.” Ileri said

I remembered acting surprised like I didn’t know what she was insinuating.

“Huh? What do you mean?” I asked as I typed on my laptop.

“Your bruises, cuts, sprains, wounds for fuck sake! I have known you for six years Lola and you are everything but clumsy! Why are you covering up for him? Why is Ola doing this to you?”

I felt my chest constrict but I tried to appear as okay as I could.

“Ileri abeg abeg no talk that kind thing, I am fine and please keep my man’s name out of your mouth so we won’t have issues, at work I try to be up and doing but at home, I’m the clumsiest person ever stop assuming.”

She sighed in exasperation.

“Lola you are better than this, you deserve better.”

Those words stayed with me even after Ilerioluwa left my office.

. My team and I had just won a 40 million contract after we gave the most amazing pitch to our biggest investor. It rained congratulations and gifts all day at the office and I was happy so I stopped by the market to buy ingredients to prepare Eferiro and pounded yam — Ola’s favorite — I got home and started my kitchen duties.

Ola came back home a few hours later, I shared the news with him and told him I was preparing his favorite meal, I loved how his eyes brightened when he was excited so I just admired how good he looked when he was happy.

I got a call from a dispatch rider telling me he had a package for me. I was happy because I thought Ola had pulled one of his cute stunts but the issue was he does cute things when he hurt me and he hasn’t done that yet.

“Baby someone is coming to deliver something to me, you’ll help me receive it at the gate please, I don’t want to leave this yam I’m pounding,” I yelled from the kitchen

“Who’s the package from? Or did you order something?” He asked while moving things in the living room.

I laughed, “I don’t know, maybe you got me something and you are messing with me but thank you just go and collect it for me ejoorh the dispatch guy is already in the street.”

I heard the front door open and close I knew he had left the house to receive the package. After a while, I heard the front door open and close again. I also hear him moving around and the scrunching sound of what I assumed was a paper bag followed along.

I stopped pounding.

“Babe! Is that you?”

No answer.

“Babe?”

No answer again.

I rinsed my hand and made my way to the living room and the sight of what I saw sent my heart pounding in my chest. Ola sat by the left sofa holding a glass filled with what I assumed was whisky and he had that look on his face that indicated “I’m one lazy answer from you away from beating the crap out of you” I know better than whatever he was going to ask I better answer fast and honestly.

He pointed at the bouquet and a tiny box on the coffee table.

“Who are these from?” He asked

“I swear to God babe I don’t know, I…I just got a call from a dispatch rider — “

He scoffed “You know Lola I don’t like lies! I’m going to give you one more chance, think deep and hard before you answer me this time. Who are these from?”

At this point, I was shaking and trying to hold back tears. I wasn’t scared of who the gifts were from — it most likely was from a colleague at work, who wanted to congratulate me on my new project achievement — I was scared of what Ola would do to me this time.

“Please Ola believe me, here take my phone check it out everything is open, I swear I don’t know who sent it but I think it’s a colleague from work because. I was receiving gifts from work after today’s pitch success.”

He glared at me before slamming the cup he held on the table and the poor thing broke into two causing the whisky to spill on the table.

“A colleague is sending you flowers by 8:45 pm on a Friday? With a note.” He waved a small white paper in the air and read it,

“to my badass leader, I’m so proud of you and I love you, I hope you like my little congratulatory gift, plus I’m taking you for lunch tomorrow, love and light Kingsley(PR).”

“So you are telling me this is Nothing! He said he loves you! And is taking you out for lunch tomorrow and he bought you flowers and a wristwatch!” He growled.

Kingsley is my newest add to my team, he is in charge of the PR of our team, my relationship with him has always been on the elder sister younger siblings line, the kid is just 21 years old we have a 5years age difference and it has always been respectful and platonic. He had left the office during the chaos and congratulation rampage and I closed from work earlier hence he didn’t know when I left, I guess he just sent the gifts anyway rather than wait till Monday if only he knew the mess this cute gesture has gotten me into.

Ola sprang up on his feet yanked the bouquet and tossed it at me roughly, it landed on my side before it fell and scattered across the living room.

“Ola! Ola! Don’t touch me! I didn’t do anything this time.” I snapped

I was shaking and glaring at him when he launched at me with his palm landing on my cheek, I fell to the floor from impact.

“You slut! After everything I’ve done for you, all you do is cheat and you dare to tell me to go pick up a gift from one of your men!” He growled.

“Jesus! Jesus! Ola” I screamed. But it landed on deaf ears as he pounced on me and delivered punches and slaps to every part of my body.

I begged, I cried and l screamed as he battered me and insulted everything about me and I knew help wasn’t coming. I struggled to free myself from him but he was stronger and twice my size.

I somehow got a grip of his collar and I stuck my fingers into his eyes and he yelped, involuntarily freeing me as he tried to gain his balance.

“Fuck!” He yelled.

His grip on me loosened and I tried to make a swift escape but he caught me by my hair. Something salty and rusty slipped into my mouth blood! I’m bleeding!

“Ola I’m bleeding! I’m bleeding! Leave me alone before you kill me!” I screamed.

He let go of me this time.

“Jesus! Ola! I can’t see! You have blinded me.” I cried.

“You know you know it’s not true!” He scolded “It was a mistake, you provoke me too much Lola, you always get on my nerves now look at you!”

“Don’t leave me here o! My eye o!” I cried.

My muffled cry filled the room but I still managed to hear his last sentence.

“Clean up, we will talk when I get back.” He said.

He left me alone took his car keys and left the house.

Ilerioluwa’s words rang in my head

“Lola you are better than this, you deserve better” It was at that point with my blood smeared on my face and my battered body I knew I had to get away from Ola, I was better than being a punching bag and I have no idea if my the blurred vision I’m having is as a result of tears or blows, I can’t find the answers to that here. I have to go and I have to go now.

I staggered to the bedroom and picked out my credentials, my car keys, a clean shirt to press on my bleeding wound, and my phone. I drove into the night in severe pain. I knew I can’t make it far without someone’s help, I was losing blood, my vision was dazed and I was in serious pain, I had nowhere to go to, no one to call except Ilerioluwa “Karma is a bitch”.