Jennifer Amede @bestie_love

I still remember the day I stepped onto the scale before starting my 300L first semester. I was suprise to see 50kg. I felt a sense of accomplishment, knowing I'd maintained that weight since 2016.

As the semester progressed, I kept a close eye on my weight. By exam time, I had dropped to 46kg. I wasn't worried; I knew it was just a temporary fluctuation, probably because of the exam stress and other factors that might be personal. As at the time the semester was coming to an end I was back up to 48kg.

Life got busy, and I didn't get a chance to check my weight during those times. But recently, I decided to step onto the scale again. I wasn't too sure what it would be this time but to my greatest surprise I weighed 54kg! Wow I had finally broken through the 50kg barrier.

I couldn't wait to share the news with my friends Fatima and Ogechi. Those girls has always talked down on me each time we discussed about our fitness journeys, and now I felt like I had something to brag about. Fear my return.

Wisdom tooth pain is no joke. I’ve always heard my friends complain about how painful it can be, especially when their wisdom teeth started growing. I was always so scared of the day I would experience it for myself, but then it happened. One morning, I started feeling a slight discomfort around the back of my mouth. At first, I didn’t think much of it. But as the day went on, the pain slowly started to increase, and by evening, I couldn’t ignore it anymore. That’s when it hit me – it was my wisdom tooth coming through.

The pain was unlike anything I’d experienced before. It was constant, and I couldn’t find a comfortable position to sit in. I kept thinking about how bad my friend’s experience was and how much pain they had gone through. That night, I tried to get some sleep, but the discomfort made it impossible. I kept tossing and turning, praying the pain would go away, but it didn’t. It was only when the morning came that I realized something strange – the pain was gone. Just like that.

I was amazed. By the time I woke up, all the pain had disappeared. I could hardly believe it. It was like a miracle. The rest of the day came and went, and there was no more discomfort. I thought I was in the clear. And true enough, as my wisdom tooth finished growing, I never experienced any more pain. It was almost like it never happened. But I still wonder how I would’ve managed if the pain had lasted longer. Honestly, I feel so lucky.

There was a beautiful bag that always caught my eye whenever I walked by the boutique. Its lovely design and bright colors drew me in, and I found myself dreaming about owning it. Every time I saved enough money to buy it, life seemed to throw unexpected expenses my way, usually a medical bill or something related to family.

Determined not to let this bag get away from me again, I came up with a plan. I talked to the shop owner and asked if I could pay for it in installments. To my relief, she agreed. This was my chance! I made the first payment and walked away feeling hopeful and excited.

The first month went well. I carefully kept track of my spending, and each time I made a payment, I could almost feel the bag in my hands. But just when I started getting into a good rhythm, life threw me another curveball. I had to deal with a family issue and ended up with an unexpected expense that drained my savings. Suddenly, I was struggling to make the next payment.

I felt frustrated and defeated, but the thought of that bag kept me going. I refused to give up. After a few days, I picked myself up and thought of ways to make some extra money through freelancing, selling things I didn’t use anymore, and taking on odd jobs. Little by little, I started to rebuild my savings.
Finally, after what felt like forever, I made the last payment.

The day I walked into the boutique to pick up the bag, I could hardly contain my excitement. When the shop owner handed it to me, I felt like a rich person.

One day, I was really craving something fried, but there was no groundnut oil in the house. I decided to go with palm oil instead, which seemed like a decent backup. Things were going smoothly while I bleached the oil, but when I added salt, everything changed. A huge flame came up, nearly burning my face. I ended up dropping some of the yam slices on the ground.

In my fear, I quickly covered the pot to stop the fire from spreading and turned off the gas immediately. My whole body was vibrating, and the thought of continuing to cook was out of the question.

For the rest of the day, I couldn't even go near the kitchen. The whole experience left me too shaken to try frying anything again. That night, I ended up buying food from a nearby shop because cooking was officially off the table.

There was a time when I hadn’t yet secured a place to stay, so I ended up squatting with a friend in her hostel. I reasoned it would be temporary, but just two weeks after moving in, I noticed my hair had become infested with lice. It was shocking and frustrating, and after trying different things, the only real solution was to cut it all off.

This was my long, cherished hair that I had been growing for three years. Losing it because of the dirty environment around me felt so unfair, but I knew it had to be done. Even though it hurt to let go of my hair, my health came first, so I made the tough decision and cut it all off.

A week later, things got worse. The environment around the hostel became so unsafe that I was forced to pack my things and leave. It wasn’t just about the lice anymore, my safety was at risk, and staying there any longer was not an option.
Sometimes, the girls will complain of seeing a man at night walking around the girls' hostel and so many other disturbing things. Omo, thank goodness I survived.

For the past few days, I’ve been really sick, feeling drained and just trying to get by with some medication. Unfortunately, it wasn’t helping much, and I was still feeling miserable. But today, I decided to push myself and take a short walk outside, hoping some fresh air would do me some good.

After passing by the first street, I got an unexpected call from a friend I hadn’t heard from in over a year. It caught me off guard because we hadn’t spoken in so long. He told me he had a surprise for me and asked for my account number. I was curious, so I sent it without thinking much of it.

A few minutes later, I received an alert for 10,000 naira! When I asked him why, he simply said he felt I could use the money since he hadn’t seen or heard from me in a long time. It was such a random and kind gesture that it completely changed my mood.

I was so grateful and excited that I temporarily forgot about how sick I was feeling. I ended the walk right there, deciding to treat myself to some yoghurt with the money. I will get better from here.

Two days ago, I went to buy an extension socket. The man selling it assured me that it was of good quality and would work perfectly. He seemed confident, so I trusted his word, paid 3000, and took it home. Since there hadn't been electricity for two days, I hadn’t had the chance to test it.

When power was finally restored last night, that’s when trouble started. To my shock, the socket caught fire almost immediately! Luckily, I wasn’t sitting close to it when it happened, but the fire was scary. My sister, being the first to notice, ran outside. But me, as a sharp guy, I knew the quickest thing to do was to switch off the changeover, so I quickly handled that.

Thankfully, the fire didn’t spread too much. It only affected a small part of the wall, leaving a black mark behind. If I hadn’t acted fast, who knows how bad it could have gotten? We all calmed down after the situation was under control.

This morning, I marched straight to the man’s shop. I wasn’t about to let this slide. I confronted him about the faulty socket, and after a bit of arguments, he surprisingly took responsibility for it. He apologized, which I didn’t expect, and offered me a partial refund of 1000. He also took the socket back.

Even though I didn’t get my full money back, I was relieved that the man owned up to it and didn’t argue foolishly.

Today, I woke up feeling tired, knowing I had a busy day ahead. After my morning exercise, my phone rang it was an old customer who regularly buys electronics from us. He asked to meet at the store, and I rushed there, hoping for a significant sale. We met, and he started checking through our products. After some time, he selected a few items, and we began the transaction process.

The total came out to be 80k, and I was excited, with a big sense of achievement for the day. I packaged the goods, and we exchanged pleasantries. However, just as he was about to leave, I asked him for what mode of payment he will be using, then he said he had left his phone on my table as "evidence" that he would return to make payment and claim his phone. I thought it was a strange request, but I didn't think much of it. I handed over the goods, expecting him to return soon, maybe as an old customer I should have some level trust.

But as the day went by, I realized I had been cheated. He never showed up, and his phone was switched off. I felt frustrated and disappointed. I had been tricked out of 80k. I couldn't believe I had trusted him.

Do you think he will return???