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still be seeing each other." I winked at her and left. Back in my room, I had to caution myself. I must not be carried away by Mariam. Faith was still my love until it was proved beyond reasonable doubt that she was no longer mine. I wanted to be patient and fair to her. Developing affection for Mariam could create complications if in a short time Faith came to her senses. I changed the chanel of the television to watch live football match, but it was an uninspiring one and I soon found myself dozing off. I woke up when knock sounded at my door. On opening the door, I found Mariam with a tray of food. "I brought you this," she said, handing the tray to me. "Oh, but you shouldn't have bothered," I said, almost coyly. "It's swallow food. I hope you like it." I smiled. "Thank you so much, Mariam. I really appreciate this." I took the tray from her and set it on the centre table. It was amazing how things had changed between yesterday and today. About twenty-eight hours ago, Mariam was pestering me about her

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missing underwear. Now, the same lady was the one serving me hot food. All the same, my mind said I should thread cautiously. There were two plates and a bottle of water in the tray. I opened the first plate and found it contained yellow garri made into hot big mould of eba. As soon as I opened the second plate, aroma of the egusi soup with assorted meats hit my nose. I had not tasted it but I was sure it would be very delicious. Just then, there was a tap on the door and without waiting for response, the door was opened. "Sorry for the intrusion," Mariam said. "What about your guest?" "Oh, she's gone back. She left early this morning." Mariam nodded and left the room. I settled down to eat after sanctifying it in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, not minding the fact that I ate not long ago. The food was delicious, as expected. Between the cookery of Faith, Funmi and Mariam, Mariam was the best. Again, I had to caution myself against being enamoured to Mariam. After the meal, I took

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the plates to the kitchen for washing. I then returned them to Mariam, thanking her profusely. "It's okay, Mike," she said modestly. "Any time." I went back to my room. I did not eat anything again that day. Later, I ironed some clothes to get ready for work the following day, Monday. * * * I woke up early as usual. By five-thirty in the morning, I left home. Since I worked on Lagos Island, I must set forth at dawn. By ten minutes to eight I was in the office. As an accounting officer to a consulting firm, I must always dress corporately. During the lunch break, I sent a Whatsapp message to Faith. I greeted her and asked how was the night. The marks indicated that she had received the message, but she did not reply until after several minutes. Her reply was a bombshell. "Get out of my life!" she wrote. I was depressed. How could Faith write such a devastating thing? Much later, to my chagrin, I realized she had blocked my number. She also blocked me on other social media. Wow! Now, I believed, beyond any

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Hmn .....

reasonable doubt that my relationship with Faith had hit the rock. There would be no need I called her again. I tried to put all my energy to work and to forget about her. After closing, I joined the staff bus and alighted at Maryland. From there I would take a bus to Opebi. On our street, I thought of what i would eat that evening. There was still bread and sardines that could suffice. I could see light in Mariam's room and soft music coming from there. No, I didn't have the intention of seeing her today. I quietly went to my room. The following day, I went to work early as usual, got busy and returned queitly to my room again. By eight p.m, Mariam called my line. "Hello, good evening," she greeted. "Good evening Mariam. How was the day?" "Fine. You're at home now?" "Yes, I came not long ago." "Okay, I'm coming now." I grinned. "Alright, see you." In a couple of minutes, she was in my room. "Hello, Mariam." "Hello, Mike. How was work?" "Fine. And yours?" "Fine too. Your face is suddenly scarce." I smiled.

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More.......

I offered her a seat. "You know how the routine is. One will wake up early to work, work strenously, and come back late and tired. It's not easy." She nodded. "I agree with you. Those of us working within Ikeja axis don't know the merit." I nodded. "Exactly." There was a moment of silence. I changed the television station to a news channel. "Have you heard from your girlfriend?" she suddenly asked. "Have you reconciled?" I shook my head emphatically. "The relationship is beyond redemption. She has clearly told me to forget about her." "Sorry about that," Mariam offered. I tried a smile. "It's okay. Such is life. We move on." "I would have brought you some food, but I didn't cook this evening." "It's okay, Mariam. I don't have any entitlement to that." My phone started to ring. It was a surprise that Funmi was the one calling. "Excuse me," I told Mariam as I picked the call. "Hello, Funmi." "Hello, Michael. Is this the best treatment you can give to me?" "I don't understand what you mean?" "How will you

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understand? I left your place since Sunday morning and you never called me since then." "But you left in anger," I reminded her. "You barely responded to my farewell that day." "Does that mean you should never call me again?" I shook my head in perplexity. "Alright, Funmi. I'm sorry for not calling you." She seemed molified. "Apology accepted." Before I could say anything, further, she cut the line. Phew, what a lady! Mariam was looking at me curiously. "That was Funmi, my ex girlfriend that came on Saturday. Things did not go well between us and she left in anger on Sunday morning. I had not contacted her since then, and she just called to express her displeasure over it." Mariam nodded. There was a long pause. "Did you have sex with her?" she asked suddenly. I wasn't expecting that and I was thrown off balance. "In all honesty, no." Another long pause. "Why?" she asked. Now, I was getting baffled. "Why what?" She looked at me solemnly. "Why didn't you do it with her?" I became solemn too. "I have learnt

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that sex is overrated; that sex should be controlled; and that sex should be between a man and his wife only." Mariam looked away for some time and then stared at me again. I was ready for another question from her. "Are you saying, in all honesty, that in any relationship you have with a female henceforth - no matter how intimate - there will be no sex?" I nodded. "I don't deceive myself that it will be easy, but, yes, that is what I intend to do. I pray the Lord will continue to be my strenght." She suddenly smiled. "I will help you to say Amen to that." She sighed and got up. "Let me take my leave now. Goodnight, Mike." I smiled and nodded at her. "Thanks for coming, Mariam. Goodnight. Have a wonderful sleep." "You too." She waved and left. What an evening. I could see that Mariam was the inquisitive type. I had no problem with that. I had answered her questions as honestly as I could. Not long after Mariam left, I decided to go to bed. Before sleeping off, I said a short prayer to God about giving me a

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