There is a trotro station around my area and I have stayed in this area all my life. I used to play with this boy around a park. It’s was nothing serious, just ten-year-old children running around and having fun. I was a very sporty girl and my parents always called me stubborn, not to talk of the number of times I have been beaten for going to the park to play with boys, but at that time I saw nothing wrong with it. So even though they kept beating me, I found ways to sneak out and play with my friend. Somehow the playing in the area stopped for my agemates when we started going to the boarding house. That has been like the cycle in the area, so a whole different set of kids started playing there. I forgot about that friend of mine because I assumed he had also gone to the boarding house.
Vacations were not that long, so I wasn’t seeing him at all. I was also somehow shy to go to his house and ask about him. I was thinking he had moved on and I was here thinking about him. But later on after SHS, one of our other friends told me he never went to SHS and he has become a trotro mate. I was so surprised, but my friend was right. I saw him at the station near my area calling passengers. I don’t know what is wrong with me, but maybe I have liked him since the days we were kids because the moment I saw him, I was so drawn to him in a weird way although he was looking dirty. I didn’t go to him then because he was somehow busy and I didn’t want to interfere.
Thankfully, our paths crossed again. I was done with SHS and I was doing an HND programme. I met him in the area and I greeted him and told him that I have missed him. He was done with work and he looked so tired, but we found a pavement and sat on. He was so shy of me, but he is the realest guy I have met. All the guys I have been with have a way of hiding themselves and acting fake to prove themselves, but he was so real with me. He told me he was shy of me and that he is dirty and he is not my level. But I really didn’t care about all of that because I wish we could just continue our friendship from where it ended. Somehow we started meeting and talking. When I return from school, he will meet me and talk for a while before I enter my house.
My parents got to know about it and they have given me very strict warning to never talk to him again. The area is a bit of a messed up area. Many of the mates have impregnated teenagers and many young people don’t further their education. My family and a few other families are the only rich and educated people in the place and my parents have been very strict on us growing up. But I am 18 years now and I don’t see the reason why I cannot be with him. He is such a nice guy and he is also very funny. He hasn’t even tried to flirt with me or do anything inappropriate. He just sees me as his friend and there is nothing wrong with that. My mother even went all the way to warn him to stay away from me. So now, we have stopped meeting, but he chats me on whatsapp.
I used to deny it and say that I only want to be his friend but I have fallen for him. He is doing the mate work because his single mother who was the only one taking care of him died and now he has no one. I wish my parents can even help him go to school or learn a trade or something. My dad is rich enough to do that because he is even paying the fees of outsiders. But my parents won’t reason with me. When they see him, they think he is like the other mates who have impregnated the girls in the neighbourhood and they don’t want to see things from my point of view. Please what should I do?