December 20th, 2020, the evening was cool and breezy, one of those days I love to take a stroll out and clear my mind along Elegushi Beach. Elegushi Beach is located on the island in Lagos. It’s one of the most popular and visited beaches.

I love going there in the evenings and walk along the seashore. I still can’t wrap my head around the wonders of God, how does one make such an amount of water stay coordinated in a specific location and not step out of its place to the land?

Looking at the waves rising and falling is always a sight to behold.

While I was walking and soliloquizing, someone walked up to me.

“Hi, good evening”, he greeted.

“Evening, how many I help you?”

“My name is Tosin and am a writer, may I know your name, if you don’t mind?”

“Am Segun,” I replied. “How may I be of help to you?” I asked him again, feeling agitated because it can be dangerous sometimes at the beach at that hour of the day.

“Like I said earlier, I’m a writer and I’m about to publish a story on love but I don’t want it to be fictional, I want something real, something true that people can relate with, if you get what I’m saying?”

“Yes, I get your point, you are saying you want to write about someone.”

“Exactly,” he replied, “I don’t know if  you will be willing to share yours with me.”

“I don’t know,” I replied sighing with a sad face.

“Why is that?” he asked me with concern on his face, “You even look sad.”

“Because it still breaks my heart whenever I remember it, it still causes my heart to bleed.”

“I’m so sorry about that Segun, I didn’t wish to reopen a wound.”

“It ok, I’ve grown to live with it, though it isn’t easy but what can I do about it?” I told him as I sat on the sand in front of the flowing water. “On the other hand, I think it’s time I finally share it with someone, maybe it will help lighten the pain.”

“I don’t know,” he replied, “You seem like you still hurting and if you are not in the mood to talk about it, I will understand.”

“Nah, I feel it’s time I talked about it.  I can’t keep bottling it up anymore,” I told him with a sad smile.

“I will be most delighted to hear about it, and thanks for seeing me worthy enough to tell me,” he replied, sitting down beside me and brought out a recorder.

“You welcome, actually today should have made it nine years to the relationship, but I guess God knows best,” I said with my head bowed.

He touched me on my shoulder and squeezed a little bit, you could tell he was a little emotional.

I shook my head to dull out the feeling and looked at him morosely.

“It all started after my secondary school.”

***

My name is Segun Anubi, after my primary education, my class teacher advised my mum to put me in a boarding school. Her excuse, ‘your son is brilliant and smart but he’s overconfident and it might be his undoing,’ I mean “who says that about a 12-year-old boy? What was she even expecting?” he laughed and looked across the expanse of the water before him.

“Well, my mama heeded her advice and sent me to a boarding school far from home. Funniest thing was that I’ve always fantasized about going to one myself, so it was a win-win for all. Life there was fun though tough at the beginning but getting to know my way around things, became fun. You know how it is when you are away from home and you had the freedom to do as you please,” he paused and looked at the guy beside him with a wink.

“Exactly that was how it was. That doesn’t mean I didn’t wake up in the middle of the night and cried because I missed home. I did that a lot of times but I quickly overcame that due to the amazing friends I had. It was interesting living with different people with different cultures and ways of life and learning about different things from each other. You know, guys and girls playing together like a family, and dating each other without the fear of your parents knowing about it. It was more like been unleashed. I was a bookworm, spent most of my time in the library, I never really had the luxury of dating any girl. I just never saw it as my thing. I had lots of female friends and most of them were throwing themselves at me, but I never reciprocated. I told myself I was going to keep myself for my future wife.

But all that changed the day I set my eyes on one amazing girl, Shade Medebi. Shade was a member of my church at home, apparently, we’ve been in the church Sunday school all our youth but I never knew her, in short, her mum and mine were very good friends, but because I was hardly at home I never really knew her. I was popular in my church because my mum was in the adult choir and I was always available for any program in the Sunday school, from Bible quiz to drama, any church activity, you mention it.

The guy chuckled and that made Segun turn to look at him.

Oh don’t look at me like that I’m usually not home for long because am mostly home during the holidays and spend not more than two weeks at home, so I didn’t know many people. I only knew those I grew up together with.

We normally graduate from youth church to adult church once we were done with our secondary education and we usually have a graduation program, and that was when I saw her. I just came back from school and went to church that Sunday when our teachers asked us to gather around for updates on what we would be doing for our graduation when she walked in with her friend. I was discussing with my friend when I saw her and she was the most beautiful girl I had ever set my eyes on.

She had the most innocent eyes I had ever seen and she looked so young. Her skin was so smooth and glowed and it was as if she wasn’t real, more like ethereal. I stood rooted to the spot and short of words and it took my friend a heavy tapping on my shoulder to bring me back to reality.

“Oga, close your mouth, abi till fly enter inside ni,” my friend said teasing me.

“No vex baba, who be that girl, abeg?” I asked him.

“Na Shade na, you wan talk say you no know her?”

“I swear I no know her,” I replied still looking at her.

“How you go know her when you no dey around.”

“You no fit blame me na,” I replied, “You get her number, I go need am, abeg?”

“Oya bad guy, I see wetyn you wan do there,” he replied laughing at me.

“No be lie, omo I like that girl die.”

“No p na baba, make I give you the number,” he called out her number for me and I saved it on my phone. I just couldn’t help but steal glances at her all through the day, she just broke my resolve and gave me a reason to go into a relationship. I never really believed in love, it was more like a fairy tale to me but looking at that beauty before me and with the goosebumps all over me, I knew I had been trapped in the web called Love and the only person that could set me free was standing in front of me, Shade Medebi.

Who would have thought I would fall in love on the first day of seeing a girl. I guess the saying ‘love at first sight’ is true and it can’t be underestimated. So, I made up my mind to have her as my girl, whatever it takes.