Photo made with canva
I've grown over the years to detest lies, and despite this, there was a moment i had no other alternative but to lie. Ade was a very close friend i had over a decade ago, and i know him too well to tell what he wanted or not. He's loving and caring, but whenever he gets angry, no one can dare challenge him because he can be abusive at times due to his drunken habits.
Whenever he falls sick he never wanted to be treated and will always want to rely on self medication, and to make matter worse he likes being drunk at most times, and this wasn't going well with me because i loved him. To further worsen situations, he's also suffering from a chronic ulcer, and i can not watch him kill himself because it would affect me terribly.
One day, I visited Ade and discovered he was drunk to a point that i had to bear his excesses. To worsen the situation, he was on medication treating malaria and typhoid fever, yet he went out to drink to stupor, lavishing the 40thousand naira that was meant for his tuition on alcoholics. He was of the hope that I'm always there for him whenever he's financially incapacitated. He withdrew all the money and went to drink at a bar adject his area. He lived off campus while i lived in the school hostel but did visit him at times. I knew his regular joint and decided to branch there before going to his house.
Photo credit: upn from freeimages
I was totally devastated when i met him drunk. I knew he wasn't having much money on him, so i was worried about how he got the money to drink excessively has he did. The waiter confirmed he was offset when he arrived, and he is yet to clear his previous and present debt as a regular customer. The bar attendant said the money Ade was owing altogether for both past and present was 15 thousand naira in total (which was a huge huge sum of money for me back then). I was shocked to my nerves and wondered how Ade would clear such an exorbitant debt. Ade was fully intoxicated by the alcoholic wines he drank that he began to speak jargons. So i checked his pocket and discovered he had 40 thousand naira intact in his front pocket. I stylishly managed to remove the money from his pocket and paid the bar attendant the money he was owing. So i took him to his house to rest, and meanwhile, I took the rest of the money with me. He slept, and i left him on his bed and found my way back to my hostel because i had to study for my test the next day.
The next morning by 6am, Ade called me and was restless as i sensed the panic on his voice, he said that he was robbed by some hoodlums over the night that they stole the 40 thousand naira his parent sent for his tuition fee (He wasn't conscious and couldn't remember that i was the one who conveyed him home and laid him to rest on his bed). He never wanted to tell me that he visited the bar adjacent to his environment because he knew how i would react to that statement. So he decided to tell me that he was robbed and injected with sleeping drugs. That was how the robbers succeeded in robbing him. I kept quiet for a week and never mentioned any statement to him. I demonstrated a high level of hatred towards him for the manner he behaved qnd also for the fact that he lied to me. So i maintained silence, and decided that i would withhold the rest of his 25 thousand naira with me until he faces penalty for what he did. In the other hand i was also trying to consider him by returning this left over change of his money to him. So i was i i worried and felt like having pity on him and one other part of me felt like not giving him the money. That moment was also a trail moment for me and i needed money so urgently to get some foodstuff as i was broke by then. So i thought of borrowing 10 thousand from the money to get some foodstuff for my self and once i get back the money, I'll return it back to him in full. So, conscience couldn't let me rest.
As it doned on Ade that the closing date for the payment of his tuition fee was fast approaching, he threatened to arrest the bar attendants that were on duty that very night he drank, and all he did proved abortive as he was at fault. So the bar attendants told him i was the one who took him from the bar, and they also said i paid them. So Ade later requested to see me.
My plan was to make him suffer what he did in order to never repeat that again in his entire life. So, the bar affirmed to him that i paid the bill. So i told ade that it's true that i paid, but i used a money i borrowed from someone. Ade became confused. I even told him that the owner of the 15 thousand naira i borrowed is demanding that her money be paid back within a week, so i gave him ultimatum of 3 days to find wherever he can borrow the 15k from. So he rallied round to get the 15k. So i collected the money the third day and added it to his 25k with me. So i told him to go pay his tuition fee now in order not to miss his examinations as that very day was the deadline and the supposed person i claimed "lend" me 15k was to pay her tuition too. So i lied for his benefit, and it all worked out well.
Ade kept asking how i managed to get the 25 thousand naira i added to the money he got to pay back the supposed person, and that who lent me the money for his benefit. I dribbled him till when i later confessed to him. He wept soberly and apologised for all he did, he also promised to never be drunk again. He was able to use rally round to return the 15thousand he borrowed from someone.
So you can see that the level of lie i gave was to favour Ade, but what if i never decided to behave the way i did, Ade shouldn't have stopped taking string drinks. So my lie was a blessing in disguise.
This is my entry to the week166 episode 2 of the hive learners weekly featured content. This is also my first attempt of participating in this community. Thank you for your time and have a great day.