Oh, I had a place in mind, a friend’s place. But on calling her, she said that her landlady was a thorn on her flesh as she had strict rules which included having no friends around talk more of sleeping over not to even think of spending a whole three months at her place.
I knew I had to think of another option, so I called my sister who was also serving there. Actually, she would’ve been my first choice, but she had a roommate whom I had no idea of what she looked like. I knew many people wouldn’t like to welcome another person in the room making three, so I didn’t call her at first. However, I ended up telling her, and she said, I should come first, then we would think of an option later.
She informed her roommate of the development, and out of her benevolence, she said she had no problem with my presence, and honestly, I thought that was said wholeheartedly until after two weeks of my presence, and she said, “it was time for me to leave as I was an inconvenience”.
Wait, how? I rarely even stay in the room until night when it was time to sleep. I was always finding a way to leave home so that she wouldn’t feel any form of inconvenience. In fact, I made sure I contributed to buying food at home so that she wouldn’t say my sister and I finished the food at home. I did all I could, but it wasn’t enough.
I was sad because my classes were just starting. How do I further? Where do I go? I couldn’t even think of going back to Lagos because that would mean that I gave up on the class. So, I started making calls. I called my friends male and female who were in Ibadan that could accommodate me, but the distance to my learning centre was too far to even think of moving.
While I was working on that, the landlord, who also stayed in the same compound as my sister and her roommate noticed some friction in my mood. I was always smiling, and looking happy, but he noticed a change in my mood and asked what happened. Did I talk? No. I would burst into tears if I had tried to, so I shook my head and said, “nothing, sir”.
Eventually, he met with my sister for a confirmation. My sister explained the situation to him, and he said, oh, that’s odd. Monsuroh is not a bad girl and doesn’t seem problematic. I have a spare room where she could stay for the three months if she doesn’t mind since I don’t have a tenant there yet.
When my sister said that to me, I was shocked because he didn’t seem like someone that could render such a help. He doesn’t joke with his money and properties, so I was surprised how he gave a room to me for free for a period of three months.
Sometimes, the places where we hoped for a lot of goodies are just goodies in disguise. Maybe the one that looked not like it have the many goodies in it.
Images are mine.