We met at a Christmas Dinner.
We met at a Christmas dinner. One year later, we met at my favourite coffee shop. It was Christmas of the year ’23. Although the streets jingled with merriment, my heart was far from merry. I was sad, a deep and dark kind of sad that eluded the gaze of ordinary men. But my friend Osaze noticed it, and invited me to a fine dining experience he was hosting for a few friends. “ something to get you out of your head”, he said while pitching the gathering to me. A day before Christmas, Osaze called again to check if I would be honouring his invitation, and with a laugh, I said, “at this point, if I don't attend, you will have my head on a platter, but let's see what happens. You know how it is, it all depends on how I feel tomorrow.” With a scoff, he countered, “na why I no dey like introverts be this, which one be ‘depends on how I feel’, una too dey reason things. Just carry your body come abeg, no stress me. It won't be loud, I promise.” Osaze is a typical Benin man and, as ...