What A Year!

   Hi guys, how have we been? 

Here's the second story I wrote and submitted for a contest, which I didn't win. I hope you enjoy it, and I would really appreciate your feedback. 

Image from Canva

  It was the last day of  2024, New Year’s Eve. My family and I were headed to church as it was a norm for Christians in Nigeria to go to church and spend the night praying and dancing into the new year. We arrived at the church at 10 p.m., which was the time the service was to start. Everyone wore excitement on their faces as we greeted each other. My family of six sat in a row together. While the pastor preached a short sermon, I watched the large wall clock in our small parish draw closer to midnight, and I reminisced about the events of 2024. I remembered how we were excited on New Year’s Eve of 2023, counting down to 1st January 2024.

  The year 2024 started with my relatives visiting, aunts and uncles scolding me and my three siblings for not calling them. It was a busy day, and as the first daughter, I was in charge of the cooking duties. As I was chopping onions, Aunty Kemi came into the kitchen.

“Funmilayo, how are you?”

“I’m fine, ma”, I replied as I turned my attention to her.

“You know why I’m here. Funmi, look at your older brother, Dayo. He has a home with two children, he’s a fulfilled man. You’re clocking thirty this year, I don’t want you to get too old that no man will desire you again” I rolled my eyes. The conversation reminded me I needed to book a flight to Lagos from Port Harcourt.

“You are rolling your eyes, when you go back to Lagos, better find a man before December” She said with a stern look and left the kitchen. My mood was down for the remaining hours of the day because of what she told me. 

Work was to resume on 8th January, I travelled back to Lagos on the 5th of January, leaving my younger sister and brother with my parents. Nothing much had changed in Lagos, it was still the busy city I left behind. I worked as an administrative personnel in a big law firm, and although the pay wasn’t great, it was enough to fund my needs.

Every day had the same routine. Wake up, pray, shower, get ready for work as early as possible to beat traffic, work from 9 a.m. to 5p.m, get home by 7 p.m. because of traffic, even though my apartment was just forty-five minutes away from my office, cook or order food, eat, watch a movie, sleep off while at it. As someone who enjoyed her own company, I never saw my life as boring. This routine continued until April, 15th April to be precise, rumours were flying around that the firm would lay off some people due to financial difficulties. We were not sure of this news until people started getting sack letters, which confirmed the news. Eventually, the letter arrived at my desk, and I knew what the content was before I opened it. My heart raced as I thought of how I would pay for my expenses. I was turning thirty on the 25th of April, jobless, unmarried and unhappy. I cleared my desk and went straight to my apartment, got on my bed and cried myself to sleep. I told my friends and they sympathised with me, some even promised to take me out on hangouts, but I declined. I didn’t know what it meant to not have a job, as I had been working in that firm for three years after I graduated from the university.

My birthday came, and I finally agreed to go on one of those hangouts as I was feeling much better. My friends, Aisha and Bukola, took me out on a movie date, then we went for karaoke night at a bar. It was in that bar that I met John. While we sang Beyoncé’s Brown Skin Girl, I noticed him staring at me intently, so I blushed and continued singing. When we were done and about to walk out of the bar, he held my arm to stop me and introduced himself. We exchanged numbers and soon started chatting. He was a 34-year-old pharmacist from Ebonyi state, the same state as me. He was also the second-born of four children. We went on two dates, and in June, we started dating. 

I had already started applying for jobs and finally got one as a financial clerk in a private secondary school. My life felt beautiful again, I had a job and a boyfriend. John loved me, but whenever he was angry, he would shout and hurl insults at me. I knew I needed to leave, but Aunty Kemi's words rang in my head, so I stayed. 

One day, I came back from work and met a woman with a set of twin girls at my door. I walked up to her and asked who she was. She responded with a slap on my face, telling me to leave her husband alone, and if her children grew up without a father, it would be my fault. I apologised with tears in my eyes. She forgave me and walked away. I never heard from John again. 

I got busy with work and attended church often to distract myself from what had happened. 

December came, and so did my smile. I got a promotion as the chief administrative officer in such a short time, and my salary was more than what I earned when I was working in the law firm. 

While I packed my bags to travel to Port Harcourt, I made up my mind that I would not let Aunty Kemi’s words or anyone else hurt me this holiday. As I waited to board my flight, I scrolled through Instagram and watched videos which had this sound, ‘And the 2024 season comes to an end’ with a compilation of fun memories in the year. I thought to myself.

“Oh, what a  year this has been”