Why the sudden change? What brought about your constant demands for money lately? Why the indecent dressing? Why the unending calls as if you are now working for a telecom firm? Oge asked with so much disappointment in his looks.
Oge is my elder brother, who tried his best to see that my siblings and I graduate from the university after the death of my father. As the first child of the family, he took up the role of our late dad immediately after he got his first job, supporting mom to see that we have at least our basic needs. He always reminded my siblings and me to remember where we are coming from and not be carried away with the happenings in our society today.
I used to be that girl that both my mom and grandma were proud of until I got admitted to the university. I guess it was how Grandma caged me so well while I lived with her all through my secondary school days that pushed me into trying to follow friends and live my life while I got freedom from her. While I lived with grandma, I was always considerate and managed the little we had, knowing that my family isn't rich, but yet, mom and Oge wouldn't keep calm until they saw us excel in life. I did help my parents with their business to ensure that we had what to eat. It was disappointing for them to notice my sudden change just in my first year at the university.
The negative change my family noticed in me all started when I got closer to my roommates. Ella was my biggest influence. She always reminded me how beautiful I am and why I should be smarter in order to live large in school. Ella stopped me from cooking my own meal and convinced me to eat from the school canteen instead of stressing myself. Ella condemned all my modest dressing and tagged it outdated kind of dress in our civilized world. I was foolishly following her footsteps and suddenly drifting from my original self. In all these, I was still serious with my academics but gradually following a path that could have ruined my life. Whenever we stepped out and I had a guy stop me on the road, Ella would advise me to give my contact information to the guy even when I declined.
There were lots of activities that could have changed me totally if not that grandma invited me home one weekend. I didn't know that she has been monitoring my behavior and expressed her dissatisfaction over it to my elder brother Oge. On getting home, I saw my brother, who welcomed me with a warm hug without knowing that he had deeper words for me. At night, Oge sat me down and first requested for my phone. He went through my phone and saw varieties of love messages from guys. He also expressed his concerns over my new kind of dressing, which wasn't decent, and asked me several questions to which I had no tangible answers.
What kind of life do you want for yourself? Oge asked! Define your future and retrace your steps to avoid regrets in life. These and more were his statements that pierced into my heart and served as a wake-up call to me.
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That night was one of my longest nights, as his words kept ringing in my head and made me restless. I had a deeper reflection over my life in school and imagined the possible outcome of where Ella was leading me. There was indeed a shit in my mindset. Immediately I returned back to school, I started working on new accommodations to first separate myself from Ella that much, as she was the source of my problem then. I didn't cut her off completely, but I gave her some distance and retraced my steps.
Image 1 is mine