THE PERKS OF LOVE
The sound of someone crying had woken him up from his daily afternoon nap or as he’d like to call it, his POWER nap. He arose sluggishly, moving about the gigantic house looking for the fellow who was sobbing endlessly. There were only 4 children in the Aderibigbe family so it wasn’t so hard to decipher who was weeping.
It was still early in the afternoon, his elder brother couldn’t be home from work yet and his older sister was on a date somewhere. Alas! It was his older sister Demilade that was sobbing incessantly in her room. He had opted to leave her alone but something, maybe nature drew him back to her.
He entered her room noisily forcing her to notice his presence, she asked in a shaky voice
‘What do you want?’, If you are here to mock me, please leave’. His big sis had never been this sad before,
‘What’s the problem, demi?’ He enquired in a soft cool voice, she replied in between sobs ‘He took it all, he took everything away from me’
He had thought she was talking about her virginity, he remembered she had been a victim of date rape at just 18 years of age.
‘What did he take?’ His curiosity had surely been sparked
She didn’t reply but instead increased the pitch of her wailing. He was quick to calm her down and then he told her those ineffective 6 words ‘Everything is going to be ok’
She stared at him with a lost puppy look, calmed herself down and replied ‘He took away my love, my heart, my money, my best friend and he also stripped me half naked in public’
‘Bloody son of a b@#ch’ he cursed under his breath, ‘I’m going to kill him when next I set my eyes on him’ he said that aloud
She replied frantically ‘Please don’t, I still love him’ then she continued with her seemingly endless sobbing
‘This is where I get tired of you all, you are all engulfed in the fantasy of a prince charming and fairytale love that you fail to realize how bad the guy is for you, simply because he told you some sweet words’ He shook his head and left the room angrily
Peluwa was a 20 year old boy, he was the typical charmer and ladies both young and old couldn’t resist him. He was in his third year at one of the renowned universities in Lagos; he was studying Medicine, the perfect course for a boy who didn’t believe in having emotions.
While taking a stroll in his estate on a breezy Friday night, he caught a glimpse of a light skinned beauty. The memory of her face faded in recent weeks but for the first time in his life, he longed to see someone again. He got his wish, he saw her again on her porch one afternoon, he waved endlessly but she didn’t return the favour, he concluded that she was either blind or just a snob. Weeks and months passed until one day when he decided to spend the weekend at home after a stressful week at school. He boarded one of the Lagos metro taxi’s from his school to his family’s residence at Ikoyi. He alighted in front of his gate; there he realized he had forgotten his wallet in school hostel. Seeing the padlocked gate, he decided to call all his siblings to find out if anyone of them was nearby, no one was. He quickly ordered the cabbie to take him back to school but the cabbie refused insisting that his previous fare must be paid before they could embark on another journey. Things got intense as both parties got into a heated argument.
Princess, the light skinned girl Peluwa had sighted the other day happened to be coming back from school also, the fancy Fendi bag she carried revealed her books. She rushed over to the scene of the incident after seeing the two parties exchanging fierce words.
‘What’s wrong, sir?’ she addressed the cabbie; her voice was warm and soothing. Peluwa couldn’t help but stare at her tempting figure.
‘This man has refused to pay my fare’ the cabbie smiled as he managed to put that sentence together; he also couldn’t help but stare.
‘You see, it’s not like that.’ Peluwa cut in, in his usual sexy voice.
‘How much is it?’ she was still addressing the cabbie
‘its 2500’
She opened her purse and settled him immediately. He zoomed off, cursing as he sped away
‘You didn’t have to do that’ his voice had cranked up to super sexy
‘If that’s your thank you, I’d say yes, I didn’t have to’ she said with a cheeky smile
He chuckled ‘I’d pay you back as soon as possible’
‘You don’t have to, I’m princess’ she stretched forth her hand.
‘Ah! Where are my manners? I’m Peluwa’ he smiled while biting his lower lip gently She quickly increased her pace, ensuring that he couldn’t catch up.
They became closer in the following weeks, and the fact that they both attended the same university ensured that they saw each other regularly. She was also in her third year, studying accountancy. They became the closest of people on earth; they knew everything about each other. He fell madly in love, he had never been so close to someone and keen to see someone loke the way he always felt whenever she left him.
‘So when do you plan on getting married’ Peluwa asked shyly on of their regular rendezvous meetings.’ Maybe in three years’ time’ Since that day, the talked about marriage more frequently. Peluwa felt it was time to pop the question and get engaged to her. They were both in the final semester of their final year in the tertiary institute, what better time could it be to get engaged than now? He thought. He ran over to the jewelry shop nearby, he got a fancy looking diamond ring. Spending all the money in his account.
The following Saturday, he decided to surprise her by going to her house early even though they had agreed to meet later in the day at their favourite hangout spot. He pressed the bell repeatedly until a gruff voice replied
‘Who’s there?’
A tall lanky light skinned fellow opened the door, he was quite handsome
‘Yes, what do you want?’ he asked harshly
‘I’m here to see Princess’
‘She’s not home’ he slammed in the door in Peluwa’s face almost immediately allowing him no room to ask further questions. Later at that planned meet, ‘ I saw your brother today, one lanky dude. He was quite mean though , why didn’t you tell me he was back from the states?’
‘Uh, he’s not my brother’ she stammered
‘That’s my fiancé; he just came back from the states two days ago’
Peluwa’s jaw dropped instantly. He stood up and started marching towards the direction of his house like a controlled robot
‘Wait, let me explain’ Princess said from a little distance away.
He didn’t stop; he walked straight into his house without talking to anyone, stormed into his room and locked his door shut. He lay on his bed, reminiscing about the funny, the bad & happy moments he and Princess had both shared while the tears flowed in a snail like fashion.
He refused to step out of his room; he was feeding off the supplies in the bedroom fridge situated there. it was almost two weeks since Peluwa had locked himself in his room, his father had run out of patience, he ordered that the spare key be brought out. When the door was opened, they were surprised by what they saw.
‘I’m sorry sis about your loss, I didn’t know he was going to commit suicide and from the note he left saying ‘I loved you’, I realise that he truly loved you’ the tall lanky light skinned dude Peluwa had seen the other day was addressing Princess, his sister. Princess replied in the midst of tears ‘ You blockhead, you should have considered the fact that he loved me before you brought up the idea to prank him, now see what you’ve caused’

Feb 15, the aftermath of not having a valentine the day before had finally sunk in. I got up quite early that morning as I set about, trying to get ready for the hustle and bustle of the new job. My job was meant to be a stroll in the park simply because a certain school of thought believes “If you do something you have passion for, your work becomes play” or so I heard. I seem to have passion for this marketing thing but the job is far from play. From getting the early cup of coffee for the boss[I’m the only one allowed to do that],meeting clientele on the other side of the city, arranging paper work and trying to convince people to buy your products. Aargh!!! This feels like HELL. The daily drive to work was less than 45 minutes but I walked into my office late on that day because of the beautiful lady I saw in the reception. She was in her mid 20’s,I guess, average heighted, very curvy with a sleek, smooth dark hair and a smile so captivating, I lost track of time. Her beauty had me at standstill with many absurd questions popping up in my head; I just kept on wishing she was the temporary secretary the boss had promised to hire while my permanent secretary was on a compulsory 9-month vacation. All the ecstasy soon came to abrupt end; she apparently was asking after the boss and from her eagerness, I adjudged she was one of the boss’ several girlfriends. Disappointment had set in but I wasn’t going let that deter me “I’m going to get her”, I mumbled in a discreet tone as I made my way into my office .In my office, I had planned all my pick-up lines and arranged them selectively in my head in hope to seeing her the next day. I didn’t see her the next day nor the next month or the one after, I later found out she was the boss’ daughter who based in America, a glimmer of hope had been rekindled when the boss informed me that she was going to be in Nigeria for a long time because he had made her the head of one of his many conglomerate. I met her 6 months later at a clothing store just a few blocks from my apartment. I formally introduced myself, we had a chit-chat and yeah, I quickly implemented all my pick-up lines but to no avail. She didn’t even give me her phone number or BB Pin; she was the first girl to resist my charm, which made me more attracted to her. I discovered that she was going through a bad breakup, this I learnt from the boss after having a few drinks with him on one of those Friday nights[you know what I mean *winks*].I obtained her phone number after ransacking the boss’ phone stumbled on her phone number while holding the boss’ phone. I remember calling her and after explaining the reason for the call, which was a supposed order from the boss to check on her. These words echoed through my ears “hey, if you want to be friends for your ulterior motives, you had better back down now because I’ve met guys like you and trust me, I’m gonna make you regret your existence if you try messing with me”. ‘Bossy and sexy, I thought. It took a while for me to convince her that my intentions were pure even though they were not. Her name was Claire. Over the months, our friendship waxed stronger like the ones you see in those fancy fairytale movies, but I always had the secret intention to wife her. On a bright but blistering Saturday afternoon, we went on a picnic together, there and then she introduced me to her close pal ‘YVONNE NELSON’, yeah, the real ‘YVONNE NELSON’. I bet you could imagine the hysteria that followed after I was introduced to Yvonne. You think Yvonne is beautiful in all those magazines & pictures you’ve seen her in, right? Wait till u see her in person. Her beauty made me shiver and I began to say irrelevant things, I guess she noticed it because she always put on that enigmatic smile of hers anytime I started with of one my jabberings. The three of us grewto be best of friends but I couldn’t bear the agony any longer. I needed to tell Claire how I felt about her ,her father once said “If you ever make my daughter sad, I would ensure rot in jail and that your career never resuscitates after that”, that had always been the blockade anytime I tried expressing my feelings to Claire but I had summoned the manly courage to express myself. I called her over to my apartment, we had a few drinks [non-alcoholic] and I told her the way I felt about her. To my chagrin, she just cried and left without uttering a word. She later called at an ungodly hour, she told me Yvonne had called her earlier that day and told her that she was in love with me. I was confused, because here was an opportunity to date a celebrity [something I had craved all my life] or date the girl of my dreams. The words of Claire’s fathers, my boss echoed in my ear as I tried to make a decision. I picked up my phone the next day, dialed her number, we both talked about our feelings. I asked her out, she said yes and choose these next week Friday as date night. I drove to her house to pick her up; her father welcomed me and commended me on my brave decision knowing fully well that marriage was certainly the next thing. I treated her to a lavish dinner at my house [she is a top actress so I couldn’t take her out because of paparazzi].At the end of the date, I walked her to the garage and handed her the keys to my car [as a real gentleman would do].As I leaned in to kiss her shiny yet enticing pink lips, my course mate woke me up, announcing in a way that was rather too loud for my liking that the lecture had just ended. I arose and wriggled my way out of the usually overcrowded lecture hall. Just outside the lecture hall, I looked straight ahead and I SAW CLAIRE. I couldn’t believe my eyes. It seemed as if she was waving at me to come over but now when I recount the incident vividly, I realize she was just trying to flag down a cab. Before I could cross over to the other end of the narrow road, she had flagged down a cab, winked at me and in a millisecond; the cab had zoomed off with the girl of my dreams, gone. I haven’t seen or dreamt of her since then but I can recount the incident as vivid as the day I wrote my university entrance exam. This incident got me thinking if this was just a coincidence or just a result of my poor judgment that cost me the girl of my dreams. Crazy belief,huh? But if you had witnessed what I had witnessed you certainly would have believed anything. *PURELY FICTIONAL*