Customer relationship turned to friendship and soon I became someone she confided in. Friends thought I was dating her. I told them, “abeg ooo monkey play by sizes. You no dey see the car she dey drive? What she go take me do?”
Friends were like, “Abio, shoot your shot, you don’t know ooo, maybe she’s into you.” I told myself, “What if she says no? Then I’ll lose her friendship and also the money I get from working for her.” I didn’t even try.
She gave me an invite to their end of year Christmas party. I ate, I drunk and had fun. On our way home later that night, she started telling me about her love life. What went wrong and what didn’t go the way she wanted. Some were funny so we both laughed.
When we were about getting to my place, she stopped. I could see a change in her attitude like she was about to drop some news. She asked, “Do I intimidate you?” I answered, “No.” She said, “You’re enterprising. I like who you are. Just be a man and things can change between us.”
I knew where she was driving. So I said, “I’m the one who has everything to lose so I had to be careful.” We were quiet. She dropped me off.
We continued chatting throughout the rest of the night and I had the courage to say it. She responded, “Let’s see how it goes.”
The next day was Christmas. I knew I had to send her a gift but what? She brought me a watch and a pair of sox and said, “You can come around with your friends this evening.”
My friend Chinedu, he talks by heart. Albert was cool but he didn’t know how to stop when offered free alcohol. And Godsway, he didn’t have any good clothes to wear. I decided, “No, these guys won’t follow me there to embarrass me.”
When she saw me she said, “Oh, you came alone?” I answered, “Yeah, all my friends have traveled to Abuja for Christmas.”
—Abio
