It was the year 1977, I had just graduated from Secondary School and my dream was to be my own boss and start a hairdressing/beauty salon. I was not really the academic type and I knew what I wanted. I wasn’t dull but I just didn’t want post-secondary education…I actually passed my ‘School Cert’ (like we called it back then). My mum enrolled me with a friend of hers to learn the skills required for this ‘dream’.

My dad was not really in support because I was the only girl, the last child and all my older siblings/brothers were in various institutions of higher learning and he wanted me to at least get a National Diploma even if I wasn’t going to work with it. My mum stood by me and somehow got my dad on board…he wasn’t going to pay for the training at first, but he later did.

About a year after I started with “Aunty Betty” (My mum’s friend that was training me), I met one of her nephews, Tunji. He was a student of the Yaba College of Technology in Lagos…they were out of school due to the ‘Ali Must Go’ riots and had come to see her aunt. I was the only one at the salon when he came in…I was wondering what a man was doing at beauty shop, he greeted me with a smile and that was it. I couldn’t get that smile out of my head. He was soft spoken and very intelligent, he had asked me some questions about school and when I told him my plans, he said it was a wise one because there was nothing as fulfilling as following one’s passion in life. Aunty Betty officially introduced us when she arrived at the salon….I must have made an impression on him as well because he kept coming to the salon everyday till it was time to go back to his school. He would hang around and crack jokes…he was really hilarious. At a point, Aunty Betty had to ask what we were up to…she would say jokingly that she was totally in support, if we planned to take our friendship to the next level, to which Tunji would smile and I would pretend not to understand what she was talking about.

I wasn’t that experienced in relationship stuff…the only boy that ever claimed he was my boyfriend back in high school got a beating of his life when two of my brothers caught up with him (the benefits/woes of being an only girl with 4 big brothers). These were the same guys that would switch girls like they were disposable plates but their sister was off limits to all the boys in the neighborhood.

Tunji left after the schools were reopened and I thought that was it…after all; he never said he wanted to date me, although he was always coming to the salon all through his stay. At first I had expected him to say something but when he left, without words, I assumed he was just a friendly guy that wanted to spend time with me and his aunt. The day he left for school, he sent me a letter through his aunt but because I did not want to read it in her presence I put it in my pocket, when I got home I put it under a pile of clothes in my wardrobe but completely forgot about it.

There was a day I told Aunty Betty I wouldn’t be at the Salon because I had some errands to run for my mum. It must have been about 3 weeks after Tunji left…when I got home from where my mum sent me, he was in our house. He was in the sitting room with two of my brothers and they seemed to be having a wonderful time. They were talking and laughing…I was shocked to see him.

He later told me he came from school to collect some money from his aunt and would be around for a couple of days…he checked at the Salon and was told I didn’t come, Aunty Betty gave him my home address and he wanted to surprise me. I was more of afraid than surprised because my dad was home and I didn’t know what his reaction would be after Tunji left. It was the first time any boy came to look for me…I was about 20 years old then and my dad still saw me as a kid…


PART 2:

I made Tunji leave and saw him to the gate, I could see the mischievous looks on my brothers’ faces as we were leaving. Tunji asked if I read the letter he sent to me, as that was one of his reasons for coming to see me…I told him I had forgotten and I would read it later that evening. He promised to come see me the next day, I begged him to come to the Salon and not our house.

When I got back in, my dad was waiting in the sitting room

“Who’s that boy?” He asked

I didn’t have any answer but my mum quickly responded that he’s her friend’s nephew. My dad nodded and said “ I like his confidence”.

This boy must have two heads, I thought to myself…as the only girl; I was my dad’s most precious gem and he had made his position known that he did not want to see any boy in that house till I was done with my vocational training and had set up in my own Salon.

That night, my mum asked if anything was going on between me and Tunji and I told her we were just friends…she smiled and went back to the kitchen. I waited for everyone to sleep and I went for the letter. It was still where I had kept it, I opened it and it was my very first love letter…

Somewhere in my room,

A night before I depart,



XX Bleep, 1978.

Dear Toun,

Top of the day to you my ravishingly beautiful friend. I believe you are having a wonderful day, if so doxology.

Just in case this is coming to you as a surprise, the past weeks have been the best of my life. I never thought I would meet a girl that would blow my mind and knock me off my feet. Right from the first day I saw you, I knew I was hooked. I have tried to get you out of my head but just couldn’t.

It’s as if it was predestined and written in the stars. Anytime I set my eyes on you I can’t explain the things I feel in my heart. It’s as if someone is filling my brain with symphonies of a wonderfully composed music; that makes my mind fly high into the splendor and grandeur of celestial places.

I love this feeling and I never want it to stop. Trust me; this must have been what Romeo felt. Only something this divine would make a man want to end his own life just to protect and preserve the feeling.

However, not even Shakespeare could have captured what I feel; ink, pen and paper would not do justice to it. It may look like I am perambulating but I just want to do my best to express this feeling. I want you to be my girl

It can’t be wrong

When it feels so right

‘Cause you, you light up my life

I know it sounds like I stole the lines from Kasey Cisyk, but girl, you truly light up my life.

Even my aunt knows that we will be great together. I am not just looking to pass the time, which is why I waited till I was leaving for school. I want something deep and meaningful. I want you for keeps.

What sayest thou?

Post Scriptum: I would have told you this in person but I wouldn’t be this composed in front of you, so I chose to write you this letter.

Forever in Love,

Tunji Abioye

I must have read the letter like 5 times (I kept it for many years…many, many years) there were some words in it that I didn’t really know the meaning but I got the idea and I knew what Tunji was trying to say. Butterflies played ping pong in my belly all through the night. It was as if the letter woke some feelings up in me as well. I liked Tunji too, he was handsome and his spoken English was flawless….



To be continued in Part 3

Watchout!!

Source:https://gongafricablog.com/category/lifestyle/

cc: Obinnau

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