It was very unusual of Praise not to have replied to my 2go message at noon so I decided to check on him since he lived three streets away from mine.
"Good afternoon, Brother George. Uncle Praise has not been around since morning," Sam, Praise's younger brother said to me immediately after I stepped into their compound and asked about my friend's whereabouts.
*"Where did he go? We saw each other yesterday and he didn't mention that he was going somewhere,"" I replied.
"He went out with Daddy and maybe he didn't remember to tell you," Sam replied.
"I will find a way to reach him," I said to Sam and just returned home.
Immediately after I got home, I called Praise with my mom's phone but he didn't pick up and I just gave up with the thought that he would visit me when returned from wherever he went.
That night passed and there was no sign of him, I didn't receive a response to my message or even a call.
"I didn't see your friend around today," My mom asked me later that night because it was very unusual of him not to visit my place in a day.
"He went out with his dad," I replied and checked my phone again to be sure I didn't miss anything from him.
The next morning, I went to his place and Sam's response sounded like he had rehearsed those lines. He repeated the same thing he said yesterday and I guess something was wrong but couldn't say exactly what it was.
I returned home and the second day just passed without seeing or hearing from him. I told my mom what I observed and she told me to bother myself going there.
"If he wants to see you, he knows where to find you. Don't bother yourself?" Mom replied and I took the advice.
I went to deliver some goods to my mom's customer somewhere around a friend's house and we ran into each other while I was going about the delivery.
We exchanged pleasantries and he told me that he needed to tell me some things so I finished the errand and quickly went to his house.
I got some fried fish along because I know Seun's mom always had dried cassava flake for drinking popularly known as Garri Ijebu. Upon arriving there, Seun was happy and he did the needful. He got some of the cassava flakes, sugar and ice to do justice to the fried fish I bought.
"Praise messaged me about something but I didn't believe that's why I didn't talk to you about it earlier," Seun started the conversation while we were drinking.
"Praise? I haven't seen him for a few days and he is probably not just talking to me," I replied.
***"He vowed not to talk to you again because you want to snatch his girlfriend," *** Seun replied.
Sean's response gave me a shock that triggered me to cough repeatedly and the food almost ran off my head. He gave me some water and I felt relieved after.
I didn't speak because it might trigger the cough again but a lot was playing in my head because it was not the first time he accused me of such. Thinking about what Seun said made me angry and my blood was boiling.
"He said you guys went to her house on Saturday for the first time and you called her without his consent," Seun added.
"That's not the case and Praise is sick for saying all that rubbish. He said the girl was just his classmate and she was even the one who called me to help her with something," I replied after my body had calmed.
"That's different from what he said so you guys should talk about it. We are friends and things like this shouldn't be happening," Seun advised and I left his place without touching the remaining food.
On my back home, I prayed Praise was at home and God answered my prayer. Immediately after I gave Mom feedback about where she sent me, I rushed down to his place.
I met him playing football with Sam and Bayo who was also my friend. They stopped playing football immediately after they saw me and I was ready for the worst that would happen because I hate it when people spread lies about me.
"Womanizer! I can never let you meet my girlfriend," Bayo said immediately after I got to the spot where they were.
"Praise, what did you tell Seun?" I asked and just snubbed Bayo's dirty talk.
"Didn't you call her? He replied.
"Do I even have her number? She collected mine, have you forgotten?" I asked.
The argument continued for a while and I just wanted to clear my name but Praise wouldn't let that happen. He kept bringing up irrelevance from the past and I just left him. We stopped speaking till he travelled to another state for his tertiary education while I was stuck at home still struggling to raise money to continue my studies.
A year before he graduated, I got admission into a polytechnic and out of excitement, I posted the news on my Facebook. My friends started dropping their congratulatory messages and I was happy.
I started replying to the comments on my post and was shocked to stumble on Praise comment.
"Congratulations brother," I read the message multiple times and didn't believe that it came from Praise.
"Thanks, Praise," I replied.
He asked about my family and I still didn't believe he was the one despite mentioning my sibling's names one after the other.
"I hope you have forgiven me for what happened between us," Praise asked.
"You did not offend me and everything that happened then was a lesson to me. I grabbed the lesson and the memories became water under the bridge," I replied.
Praise apologized further and promised to check up on me whenever he was around for the holiday but we moved away from that environment before it happened. We only spoke on the phone since then but I am glad life is treating us fairly and I look forward to an event that will bring us together since he now lives and works in another state far away from Lagos.
