OHAMIA I STILL LOVE YOU

                                     

 “I was wrong, I was so so wrong”, I said to myself as I stared at the newspaper, Ohamia was now the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and I, still struggling to get my book, infact, the number 13^th book published, he was smiling right back at me, his fair skin glowing, his straight teeth, white, his flawless attire clinging to every masculine part of his body.  In the background of the picture, I could see his family members; his fat wife who looked like she had been slapped with all the money in the world, his two chubby daughters, all smiling.

 All of a sudden I felt a little anger from the pit of my tummy, NOOOOOOO WAIIITTT, who was I kidding? I felt a lot of anger, I wasn’t angry at ‘my Ohamia’, YES ‘MY Ohamia’, I was angry at myself, for my stupidity, I could have been the one beside him looking like I had been slapped with all the money in the world, I could have been the mother of his children…….

It all started 10 years ago, when I met Ohamia at the university of Abuja, I was a fresher, and Ohamia a Year 2 student. I had accidentally bumped into him at the cafeteria and poured all his soup away, I quickly offered to buy him another, in order not to get punished but he just laughed it off and told me not to bother, and walked away. I liked the way he laughed, I liked the way he smelt, and I liked the way he said “don’t bother”. But my pride wouldn’t let me chase him.

I didn’t see Ohamia again for like another 4months, until I joined the ICT service unit in school, I had just finished registering when suddenly, someone tapped me from behind… I could not believe who it was, it was Ohamia.

He smiled and welcomed me to the unit but I couldn’t respond, I was love struck, a small “hi” was all I could mutter, let me now mention that I was never one to like fair boys, but Ohamia’s fairness was golden.  He laughed and offered me a seat. After the meeting he escorted me to my hall and we exchanged numbers. That was how our fairytale began.

It was Ohamia and Vera all the way, we were inseparable, like bread and butter, like honey and bees, everyone knew us, infact we won several best couple awards.

I remember my first time, It was Ohamia that took me, whispering sweet nonsense in my ears as he held me like I was a little part of him, hands working all over my body, we were drunk in love.

Everything was rosy until Ohamia left school, we promised to keep in touch, but it’s hard when one is schooling and the other, in the outer world trying to make ends meet. Ohamia left, and Ejidey (Eji) moved in, she became my roommate, hmmmmmm…. beautiful sweet Eji, or so I tot, Eji had everything any girl would ever want, from clothes to shoes, to cash, and lots of it, we all tot, her parents were  prominent people in the society, but boy was I wrong.

Eji would invite me to parties which I would bluntly refuse to attend because of my true love Ohamia. I never took anything from her, even when she offered me, but there was a day I needed the sum of a Hundred and Fifty thousand naira to settle some issues in school, my parents could not afford it neither could Ohamia, I had no choice but to collect the money from Eji…. That was where my problem started, I had to pay Eji, but I didn’t have the money, and Eji told me the only way she would cancel my debt was if I followed her to a party, I had no choice but to dress up and tag along, that was how I realized that Eji made her money through men.

I had men flocking around me during the party, “FRESH MEAT” they called me, I danced with a few but gave my contact to no 1.

Ohamia called me that night but I refused to pick, because I was having the time of my life, and also felt guilty.

A couple of days later, I received a phone call, ‘hello, Vera. It’s me Charles’ I never heard a voice so deep and enchanting, we got talking and I realized it was Eji that had given him my number. We agreed to hook up, and when we did, I was wowed; I was given a little car, and a substantial amount of money which he called my pocket money that I was to get every month if I ‘took care of him’. This was a dream come true, I totally blocked Ohamia from my life, the poor boy cried, and pleaded and pleaded, but it all fell on deaf ears, I was having the time of my life, and no1 not even Ohamia was going to ruin it.

I finished school and Charles used his influence to get me a good job, I had gone for the first test, the interview, and I awaited my health test results. The results came in and everything was alright with me, my heart was fine, my kidney was great, I had just one problem, one simple problem that could have been avoided if I had stayed with my Ohamia. I was HIV POSITIVE.

I was shattered and I was angry; I refused to speak with friends, family or even Charles whom I had contacted the virus from. I started to write manuscripts of a battered and torn woman, of course no one like to read such, so I only wrote and got none published.

Ohamia still tried to get in touch with me but I was ashamed to see him. where do I start my explanation from? What excuse did I have to give?

And now I look at a picture of the President, my President, my lost love with tears in my eyes and I whisper to myself….

“OHAMIA, IS IT TOO LATE TO SAY I STILL LOVE YOU?”