I wish you could see me today so you would know and feel the impact of what Jato has done to me and how he has destroyed my life.
I am only 20 years old and do not deserve the kind of pains Jato has inflicted on me for the past two years of my life. I am way too young for this. Jato should have just let me be. He should have left me alone to manage my life the way I was before he came into my life with tons of promises and today, he is leaving me in ruins.
Whatever happens, I have promised myself that I am going to be the last girl Jato is going to play like lotto for his own enjoyment. After me, he is going to run the next time a woman as much as bats an eyelid at him.
I met Jato two years ago at the hotel I and my friends had gone to celebrate my 18th year birthday.
In my area at Okokomaiko, turning 18 was a big deal. It was the signal for freedom and all of us, girls, looked forward to that period. My area was filled with older people who made it a duty to always watch what every young person was doing. So turning 18 meant I was free to go to anywhere I wanted and do whatever I wanted without anybody stopping me.
So my friends and I organized a party to mark my 18th birthday and it was while we were at the pool swimming that I noticed this handsome man seated at the poolside bar alone and staring at me. He stared at me so much that it was clear he wanted me to notice him. I tried my best to ignore him but it was near impossible to do so.
Soon, my friends noticed him staring at me and started making fun of me about it. Don’t get it twisted; I was not a virgin at this time. I had lost it to a senior in secondary school when I was fifteen and in SS2. But after him, no other man had touched me.
Well, while we were seated at the pool side bar and about to cut my cake and start on our small chops and all, the bar attendant came to us with some bottles of wine, a bottle of champagne, four large plates of well prepared fish and a large plate containing full chicken and some bottles of soft drinks.
We were surprised because we didn’t order for them. Well, the man staring at me at the poolside bar, Jato, as he would later introduce himself to me, had ordered them for us.
We were still contemplating on what to do with the whole food when he walked up to our table and smiled at only me before extending his hand for a shake. I remember I felt shy all of a sudden staring closely into his eyes because he was very handsome and had a smooth feel to his hand. This was a classy man and even then, I could feel the envy and jealousy in my friends’ eyes.
Jato had just introduced himself that day and wished me a happy birthday before he turned and left. He just left without asking for my contact or dropping his! He didn’t even give me a chance to introduce myself or anything.
I must confess I couldn’t stop thinking about him for several days after my party. As a matter of fact, I went to the hotel three times in the hope I would get to see him again. Truthfully, the whole thing bothered me seriously as I really wanted to meet him again.
One day, about two months after my birthday and just when I was already starting to forget about the whole incident, I was inside our house and watching a movie when my seven year old brother rushed in from outside to tell me that one uncle wanted to see me. I noticed he was very much excited as he stood before me and spoke. When I asked him who the uncle was, he said he didn’t know but the uncle dashed him five hundred naira to come and get me. Before I could say anything to that, he rushed outside and I stepped outside to find Jato standing outside beside his car with a smile on his face.
He looked even more handsome than the first day I had seen him and I must have melted inside of me right there and then. But how did he find me and where I lived?
Jato took me to another hotel and we ate lunch. He told me that he had already spoken with the bar attendant who knew me and where I lived and he had given him my address before he left the hotel that day. He had traveled on business the next day and had just returned. As a matter of fact, he had come straight from the airport to see me.
I asked him why he wanted to see me and he had gone straight to the point. I would never forget the way he had smiled, taken my hands in his and spoke into my soul.
“I am in love with you, Deborah”.
