Ben told me she was cheap. He named all the guys in the area who had had their way with her. She was beautiful nonetheless so I decided to be the next guy to hit.

I took her number from Ben, who obviously had had his way with her too. When I called her she was very sweet to me though she didn’t know me. I lied that one of her friends gave me her number and I wanted to be friends with her.

Three days later we met. I spent a little money on her thinking I could take her home afterwards. She said no. We met again days later. She didn’t go home with me. I called Ben; “Chale, the girl dey stretch me oo. E catch my turn noor, girlie just dey stress me.”

When I told him how much I’d spent on her, he burst into laughter. He gave me tips. That I should propose to her. That I should invite her home, telling her I had a gift for her.

I did and days later, sister was in my room, sitting next to me in my bed. She asked about the gift. I told her I’d only give it to her after the action. She smiled. “I said yes to your proposal not long ago. Please let’s take our time,” she told me.

It didn’t happen that day too but I realized my feelings towards her were changing. The chase, the nos, the numerous disappointments made me see her differently. I stopped talking about shuperu and instead concentrated on being a friend. Two months after she said yes to my proposal, it finally happened. She spent the night with me.

I should have called Ben to tell him it happened. I should have jubilated. I should have patted myself on the back and said, “You did it, man.” I couldn’t. I couldn’t because the feeling was different. I was empty when she was gone. I found myself wanting more and more until a year later she got pregnant for me. She was scared I was going to ask her to get rid of it but I told her, “Let’s start a family together.”

We had our traditional wedding when our baby boy was nine months old. We did the court signing afterwards to make it legal.

Ben was in the shadows asking if I was sure about what I was doing. He was convinced she used juju on me. I agreed but the only juju she used on me was her kindness and humility and perhaps the way she made me chase. She was a different person than who Ben said she was.

Our first son completed JHS last year. The second is in class six. The third is in class four. We’ve moved places, changed jobs, changed friends but the love and respect we have for each other hasn’t changed. Yeah, we fight but we fight fair and quickly return to love, because like the compass, love has always been our North, our true resting place.

— Johnson

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