*THE MAN I MARRIED*

*EPISODE ONE*


Kenny was the best guy I have ever met in my life. Nobody doubted our compatibility because we were just a perfect match. All my friends and family members loved him so much that they never wanted to see us quarreling.
Fortunately he is also Kehinde by name, sharing the same name with my dad and by implication I didn”t need to change my name when we are married.
I graduated from Osun State Polytechnic, Iree while he graduated from Obafemi Awolowo University. He was posted to Kaduna for his youth service while I was posted to Calabar for my Youth service. The one year compulsory NYSC scheme took us far apart for the first time.
He called me everyday, we chatted on WhatsApp and even made Skype calls. He sent me his latest pictures whenever he took them, and I also sent him mine. Even though we were miles apart, we communicated like we were together.
Sometimes we could spend hours or more chatting on WhatsApp and updating each other about our daily activities.
My problem with Kenny all started when I called him on Thursday before my Community Development Service and his phone was switched off.
Maybe he had a flat battery over the night, I thought within me. I came back from my CDS at about 2pm but his number was still not going through neither had he call me. Whenever his phone battery was low and may not have opportunity to charge it, he always calls me to notify me ahead so I won’t worry.
Kenny knows my phone number by heart, while didn’t he use any of his friend’s or neighbour’s phone to call me?
What has happened to Kenny? I became over agitated and worried. ‘This is 7pm and I have not heard from Kenny. He can’t stay for 24 hours without talking to me. What must have happened?’ Unfortunately for me I have never try saving any of his friend’s phone number he had used to call me on previous occasions.
I quickly picked my phone, scrolled through my old call records to see if I could trace the last time he called me with a strange number. Where will I start from? He called me last on 25th with a strange number. There are about thirteen unsaved numbers that called on 25th. I dialed the first one, “hello! Hello! I am Folake Kehinde, Kenny’s fiancée from Calabar, please is this Kenny’s friend? I asked. Which Kenny? The other person from the other end asked hurriedly. I don’t know any Kenny please, you are calling a wrong number.’ I hung up the call immediately.
It took me time and courage to dial the second number.
“Hello! Hello!! My name is Folake Kehinde, I just want to ask if you know any Kehinde David, a Corper serving in Kaduna?’
‘Where are you calling from young lady?’ The man asked me. ‘I am Kenny’s fiancée from calabar.’ I am sorry I don’t know any Kenny who is a Corper but I must say you have a nice voice and I will be willing to assist you find your Kenny if you will let us be friends.’
I became furious and wanted to end the call but immediately remembered his statement “I will be willing to assist you find your Kenny” Reluctantly I asked, ‘How do you intend doing that when you don’t even know who I am talking about?’
I work with NYSC secretariat in Kano and I can trace any Corper serving in any part of this nation.
Just give me his name, state code number and his place of primary assignment. This sounded hopeful, I became interested in the conversation. ‘Sir I am grateful, I will send you all the details you asked for now.’
‘I know you are Folake Kehinde from your introduction but can I know you better? He asked.’
‘Sir, what more do you want to know about me?’ I quickly asked. I told myself I will play along until he helps me get Kenny...


Did He get Kenny for Folake?

*Watch out for Episode 2
*EPISODE 2*

‘Hello Folake, I am Mr Isaac Kure, the man…….’
I didn’t allow him finish his statement when I broke in, ‘I know sir, I already saved your number on my phone.’ He said authoritatively, ‘Kehinde David is currently serving at Zammani College in Malali, Kaduna. He teaches Mathematics, he is a graduate from OAU with a Bsc in Applied Mathematics. ‘Yes sir, I answered, he is the one, please any news about him?’ ‘Folake, hold on I will call you later, I need to attend to my boss now,’ then he hung up the call. One minute after he ended the call, I was still holding my phone to my ear hoping that he will call back to say something about Kenny.
My worry suddenly turned to fear in five minutes. Twenty minutes later I called Mr Isaac but no response. Maybe he’s yet to be done with his boss. One hour came and gone no call from Mr Isaac, two hours, three hours and then four hours. I dialed his number again, it rang through but no response. I tried again but it was switched off. At this point, I knew I was going to fall sick for the suspense. I began to think of what next to do, should I take the risk and travel to Kaduna to see things myself? But why has Kenny not called me? This is three days now.
Maybe he’s seeing another girl and choose to keep me off? But can Kenny abandon me for another girl? That is impossible, I assured myself.
I called Jonah, Kenny’s best friend to know if he has heard from Kenny. ‘This is almost a week now we’ve not spoken with Kenny, he said.’ ‘Okay, thank you Jonah’ I ended the call.’ I called Kenny’s mother, ‘good afternoon mummy, how is daddy and Seyi?’ ‘They are all fine my wife, she replied without any iota of fear in her voice. Ma, I have not been able to reach Kehinde for the past three days now. I have tried all means to reach him but all to no avail. Ma, have you heard from him lately?’ ‘Yes, he called yesterday and I even asked after you and he told me you are fine. ‘Okay ma, please can you send me the number he used in calling you? Okay, I will do that when Seyi is back from school.’
Seyi normally returns from school by 2:30pm or latest by 3pm. By 3:34pm I called Kenny’s mother again. ‘Mummy “mio ti ri nonba no” (I haven’t seen the number yet).’ ‘Yes, I didn’t send you the number because since Seyi came back from school we have been trying the number but it has been switched off. I wanted to call him to call you instead of sending the number to you. I was going to scold him for not calling you for the past three days having kept you worried. Let me talk to him first before you both talk. He must apologize to you and make it up to you.’ I kept mum but I felt like asking her to still send me the number so I can try it myself but that will look like I don’t trust her so I thanked her and ended the call.
By the following day my phone rang and I quickly ran to check my caller’s identity, it was Mr Isaac. In haste to pick the call the phone fell off my hand and got smashed on the tile floor, the battery went on separate way from the phone board. By the time I managed to put my phone together, the screen had gone blank and the soft touch stopped responding. What is this? I asked myself. Why must this happen at this time? This must be the handwork of Satan. When I remembered that I saved almost all my contacts on my phone and not on my sim card I wept. I removed my sim card, put it in Janet’s phone to see how many numbers I saved on my sim card, it was just three numbers. I quickly took my phone for repairs. Aunty, it is better to buy another phone than trying to fix this one. The screen alone is N35000 and if we fix it the chance of it working is 50/50. Moreover if we fix it and it doesn’t work, we can’t return the screen to the seller again.
One month came and went and I didn’t here anything from Kenny or anyone else. All his social media accounts had become dormant. I bought a small phone of N5000 to enable me make and receive calls. I expected a call from Kenny’s mother or Mr Isaac but none came. Life without Kenny was like a man alone in a jungle. I have never known what loneliness meant until this time. Nobody meant anything to me anymore, I lived as if people around me were not human beings. Then I remembered a phrase in Genesis “but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him”. A lot of guys came around during this period but none could fill the vacuum created by Kenny, I saw nothing in them that could make me give them a chance in my heart. It’s now two months that I haven’t heard from Kenny.
One afternoon I told Janet I will be traveling to Kaduna by the weekend and will be back by Sunday. Janet advised me not to go until I hear from Kenny or from someone close to him. I know that was a good advice but I knew in my mind that I will not take the advice. I had made up my mind and nothing was going to change it, not even the fear of what will befall me. On Thursday evening I started putting my things together for the journey. I have never been to the north before all my life, so I needed to make a lot of calls. I spoke to Abdul, a Corper from Katsina state who is serving also in the same PPA with me. We made some few calls, got some contacts and he connected me to Ayuba, his cousin in Kaduna to pick me at Mando park and help me around town.

Did Kehinde find Kenny?

*THE MAN I MARRIED*

*EPISODE 3*

I arrived Mando park at about 7pm but my phone was already off. I kept my things with an Hausa man who sells little provisions in a kiosk. I sat down to take a bottle of coke in his kiosk. ‘Please can I find a place in your kiosk to charge my phone as I take my coke?’ I asked the man. ‘E mana, you peet flug your pone hia!’ he responded in his Hausa intonation. I quickly brought out my charger out of my bag and plugged my phone. After five minutes I tried to put on my phone just to call Ayuba that I have arrived when I heard a beep, it was a text message from Ayuba. “I have tried your number severally but it was switched off, call me when you arrive”. Immediately I called him and it rang until it ended without a response. I dialed again and this time a man picked the call but it wasn’t Ayuba’s voice. ” Kai, kari ki kira wonon nonban kuma, karuwa” then the man ended the call. I managed to rehearse what the man said to my Aboki friend where I kept my things but I couldn’t pronounce most of the Hausa words well, so interpreting it for me was difficult. Until we got a third party who understands Hausa and English well who interpreted what the man said “stop calling this number again, you prostitute.” After 30 minutes, it dawned on me that thieves had stolen Ayuba’s phone.
Immediately I called Abdul to inform him of the development. He tried to make some calls to help me out but all his efforts did not yield anything good. It was getting late already, I asked the kiosk man of the nearest hotel that is affordable and he called a cyclist to take me to a hotel in Kawo where a room is N4500 per night. I checked in at about 9pm. The following morning I took my bath and picked a taxi drop to Zammani College. Zammani college was not difficult to locate as it is one of the most popular schools in Kaduna.
‘Good morning sir,’ I greeted the security man on duty. ‘Good morning my daughter, how may I help you?’ He asked. ‘I am a Corper from Calabar, I am here in search of my boyfriend who is serving in this school.’ ‘We have four male Corpers in this school but I don’t know their names and no staff is around today being Saturday.’
I quickly described Kenny and he remembered him. ‘That’s Uncle maths, he said. They call him uncle maths because he teaches mathematics in the school. I can give you the vice principal’s number so you can call to enquire from her because I haven’t seen uncle maths in the school for almost three weeks now.’
‘Hello ma’am, my name is Folake Kehinde, I came from Calabar in search of a Corper serving in your school, by name Kehinde David.’ ‘Okay, I guess he’s your brother right?’ ‘Yes madam,’ She thought we are are siblings because of our surname. ‘He took permission to be away for two months to attend to some important life issues. He will be back next month.’ she said.
My phone dropped from my hand with uncontrollable tears rolling through my cheeks. The old security man understood the whole drama as he shook his head in pity.
When I got to my hotel room, more than one hundred thoughts ran through my mind in a jiffy. My aim of coming to Kaduna had been defeated, what’s the essence of spending another night in this hotel? I took my things and checked out, took a cab and headed straight to Mando park. The journey was rough because I couldn’t get a direct vehicle to Calabar but I eventually arrived Calabar on Monday morning. Life since then has not been the same for me without Kenny.
It’s now a month since I returned from Kaduna. The vice principal said Kenny will be back in a month’s time. I picked my phone and scrolled to her number. ‘Good day ma’am, this is Folake Kehinde, the lady that spoke to you about Corper Kehinde David last month.’ Okay, Kehinde’s sister, how are you?’ She asked. ‘
I am fine ma, I’m calling to know if he is back.’ No, we haven’t seen him yet and we’ve been worried as well. We have reported to the state coordinator of NYSC. This is really worrisome, where could he be?’ She asked.
‘Thank you ma,’ And I hung up.

*Did Kenny abandon Kehinde for another girl?*
Men!!!…. Lol

*THE MAN I MARRIED*

*EPISODE 4*

Check Out Episode 4 Link Below

https://legitreporters.com/2018/07/31/a-true-life-story-the-man-i-married/