SWITCHED

Laide stared at Bolu with utmost bewilderment. She was dumbfounded. She didn’t see that coming. She needed to process this. A relationship of five years, gone? Just like that? She had invested all her life into this relationship.
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They had met in a restaurant where they roughly ran into each other. Bolu, returning from the attendant, was carrying his tray of food when Laide rammed at him. The tray of food fell on the ground and the whole place, including the lower part of Bolu’s trousers, was a mess. Apologies flooded the atmosphere. Surprisingly, they laughed it off. Then they got talking. It was safe to say that was first of many dates to come.
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Their love journey was exceptionally romantic. They didn’t even keep quiet about it. Their families and friends were largely in the know. Social media spectators were thrilled with their love adventures. Theirs was a fairy tale love affair many would dream of. Imagine you not just living your dream but also living the dream of thousand others.
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It wasn’t just fun fair along. There were periods of sacrifices too. When Bolu’s business first hit the rocks, Laide released her savings of 1.5 million naira for him to start all over. Two months later, he proposed to her. When he barely paid back 5 hundred thousand naira, she asked him to consider the rest a gift. After all, they were going to raise a family together. The business, again, collapsed. This time, he got a new job that paid him three times what he got in his business monthly.
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There was a day Bolu’s mother confronted Laide for being too flashy. She said her lifestyle was wat too extravagant. Laide replied her _unapologically_, stating clearly to the woman that that was who she was, and she cannot, in order to please anyone, change her lifestyle. Bolu’s mother raised her voice. But Bolu came in, in defence of his fiancée. He had never looked his mother in the face. That day, Bolu defiled that principle and went head-to-head with his mother…all for Laide.
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***
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‘When are you coming to get your stuff in my place?’ Bolu asked, bringing Laide back to the presence.
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‘Bolu,’ Laide said, searching for his eyes. ‘You weren’t joking?’
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‘I’m sorry. I can’t continue with us again.’ He knew that was going to shock her. This had been a six-month plan, he was ready for any outcome or drama that she might want to pull.
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‘Why?’ She asked trying as much as she could to hold back tears. She tried to touch his hand but he withdrew himself. She sobbed.
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‘I found someone else.’
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What he said and the way he said it was mean. They both knew it.
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She left calmly. She didn’t say a word again.
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***
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Usually, after settling down in the morning, surfing the net was always the first thing for Bolu. But today, after removing his phone from airplane mode in the morning, text messages began to troop into his phone in their tens. Hawa was the first to call.
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‘Six months…six months Bolu. How could you? Bolu how da—‘
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‘Babe calm down,’ Bolu was barely wakened. He had put his phone on airplane mode overnight because he was seeing season one to four of _Money Heist_. Money Heist had been trending on twitter for some time now and unlike him, he wasn’t contributing to that particular trend. So he vowed to himself that he was going to finish all the seasons and episodes at once last night. He still had not recovered from cutting his sleep. And now Hawa…what was she even saying?
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‘Calm down my foot! You told me you’ve broke up with your ex—‘
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‘I—I—Ye—Yes.’
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‘No! You didn’t. You were busy raping her.’
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‘What did you just say?’ Bolu was not a violent person but he would have punched her in reflex if he was around her. How dare she accused him of rape? Where was that coming from? Okay, he didn’t tell her he was still with Laide but that was over now. Was this a kind of sister-coding or what? Rape was the last thing he would do to anyone. Just two days ago when #JusticeForUwa, #JusticeForBarakat and #SayNoToRape were trending, he aired his opinion against rape passionately that at some points when he had nothing else to say he began to post only the hashtags multiple times.
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‘Don’t pretend to me, brother. Receipts—screenshots are scattered over social media.’
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‘I am not getting you.’
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‘It is over. I can’t date a rapist.’ Hawa ended the call.
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Bolu impulsively launched Twitter App. Straight to Trends for you. Damn! He was trending with the hashtag #BoluTheRapist. A text message notification showed on his phone. He wouldn’t have bothered but this was from the company he was working with. He read:
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We are sorry to inform you that you can longer work with us. With the recent revelation of a rape scandal involving you, the integrity of our prestigious firm is at stake. We will relieve you of your duties with us to allow you settle this matter, if need be. Your—
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He was still reading when his mother called.
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‘Bolu, ki ni mo n gbo yi?’ (Bolu, what is this that I am hearing?)
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‘Mum, it is not true.’
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‘Hmm, I hope not. I said it, iwo omo yi. You have changed?’
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This had gotten haywire. He cut the call and dialled Laide’s number. Not reachable. Apparently, she had blocked him.
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He quickly left the compound of his house. He was going to find the nearest call centre and make a call to Laide. When he found one he didn’t waste time to call. She didn’t pick at first but on a second dial, she received the call.
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‘Who is this?’ She sounded rather harsh. Bolu knew he needed to start by persuading her, if not he won’t even get a word from her.
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‘Laide,’ he called calmly. Even with that one word, she knew it was him. Bolu sensed she was going to hang up on him, so he said quickly, ‘Please. Just listen.’
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‘What?’
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‘People are attaching me to a rape case. Please, do you know about it?’
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She didn’t answer immediately. She must have weighed her options. If she didn’t say anything, he was still going to call her out. Replying him there at that instant would make him realize she meant business with this issue. She chose the latter.
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‘You raped me, Bolu’
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‘What is this?’
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‘Remember three years ago when you came to my place on my birthday?’
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Bolu flashed back. True, that day he had made sexual advances to her and she turned him down. If it were to be someone else, he would had immediately backed off but that was his girlfriend who had told him at some point that her NO meant Try harder. He insisted and she obliged. That day she moaned differently and Bolu had wanted to, at least, talked about it but she hushed him. She said, ‘Thank you Bolu, I needed that.’
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‘I remember clearly.’
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‘Good, did you rape me that day or not?’
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That was a bait and Bolu knew it. That call might be on speaker for some other person(s) to listen to. Or perhaps, she was recording their conversation. This issue had gotten to a point where anything he say might be used against him in the court of law.
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‘I-DID-NOT-RAPE-YOU!!!!’ He yelled.
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She hung up the call.
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***
Heading back home, at the street adjacent to his, Bolu noticed three guys hurriedly rushing to catch up with him. Their approach had the tone of violent. The guy that seemed to be leading the others pointed at him. He recognised him easily. That was Laide’s brother. Bolu had to run, he would quickly veer at the next junction before his street, then he would had lose them and he would speedily look for a place to hide. And he knew that street for one thing—serenity.
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As he branched that street, he was directly staggering before a car coming at a top speed. Before he could reason straight, the car had smashed him. He crashed on the ground. The vehicle didn’t stop. Apparently, the driver was in haste to get his pregnant wife, who had been overdue since the last hour, to the hospital. An onlooker quickly came to the scene. He checked, in his own way, if Bolu was still alive. Every means he attempted to verify life in him only proved that he was dead. Thinking of what next he can do, he looked around. The three guys had gotten closer. He looked at their expressions, he saw shock infused in anger. He took to his heels. The other two guys spontaneously gazed at Laide’s brother, wondering what to do now. He gave them the you-better-run look. Impulsively, they sprinted in the opposite direction to the onlooker who was now at farther distance.
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Bolu was left lifeless on the ground, in the pool of his own blood.
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#STA
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#SayNoToRape
#SayNoFalseRapeAllegations
#AllLifeMatters