[/color][color=#006600]The time was 4 pm. Segun’s flight was for 9 pm to Germany where his office was relocating him to. Who is Segun you might ask? He was a tall Yoruba man with an incredibly charming atmosphere around him, and he is my old roommate. I remember the first day we moved into the apartment; he welcomed me into our new two bedrooms flat with a strong handshake, and a cold beer. I was confused whether to follow this up with a manly hug due to his welcoming aura, mind you, I’ve only met Segun once before I ended up being is flatmate.
We meet on an online room-sharing platform, as faith would have it I didn’t like him upon viewing his profile, but the kind people “@roomiesconnect” assured me they vetted all their users. Although, I was still very skeptical to share an apartment with a Yoruba man I’ve never met in my life. Before the assumptions begin, yes I am Igbo. So I asked the good people “@roomiesconnect” to arrange a viewing so that I and he could check out the apartment together and I would be able to assimilate what type of person I would be living with. I know you must be thinking, how will I find out an individual’s traits in less than two hours? Well, you can say that’s my talent.
We meet at the house in person for the first time that day. To my shock he was the most mannered person I have ever come across, this made me grow even more suspicious. As the meeting progressed we inspected the apartment, I began devising plans and schemes to try and irritate him and draw out his bad side. Two hours into my daunting tactics while we went for lunch with the representative from “@roomiesconnect” it dawned on me that maybe he isn’t the devil after all. I steadily grew fond of him, as we had similar characteristics and even supported the same football team, I mean the guys “@roomiesconnect” really did their homework, they had seemed to have found my Yoruba brother.
As days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, and months turned into almost two years with us living in peace, I later confused to him about my plans to try and irritate him. He just laughed saying he knew, but he totally understood that it might have been something he would have done if he was not in such a hurry move in. We laughed and drank nearly a crate of beer that night. Time passed and I mean, sure we did get into one or two arguments, but who doesn’t? It’s not something Chelsea winning a match could not fix. Now as I open the door and bid Segun farewell, I realize I’m not just losing a flatmate, a friend, but I am losing a brother.