jumoke peeped consistently at her door, munching on a bar of bounty chocolate waiting anxiously to hear the sounds of her neighbour Lilian walk back into the next apartment, this was her daily routine, she would do anything to catch a glimpse of her beautiful next door neighbour, the feeling it gave her was indescribable ,the situation she knew was an unhealthy one but olajumoke Benson was used to unhealthy situations, she tipped the scales at 120kg ,scattered all over her apartment were empty chocolate wrappers, cartons of biscuits arranged side by side with various slimming products, she had tried forever living products, Tianshi products ,Chinese products after a while she had come to accept that she would probably be fat for the rest of her life.
Olajumoke adebisi Benson was the first child of alhaji Moshood Benson, the owner of one of the largest paint companies in Nigeria, her mother on the other hand was a former beauty queen who was currently with her fourth husband,her mother left her dad after only three years of marriage and she was the only issue from that union ,growing up with her mum had been tough, jumoke was not tall and light complexioned like her mother, instead she took most of her features from her father, she was 5 ft 5 inches tall and was as dark as they come, her eyes were large and some of her friends had teased her back in school that her eyes were like torchlights round and white, the only striking thing about her features was the dimple on her right cheek but because she didn't smile quite often they were barely noticeable.
Her mum had been ashamed that she had such an "uninteresting child" as she had put it during a conversation with her socialite friends which jumoke had eavesdropped on at the age of 10, she had been sent off to boarding schools from the age of 8 and her siblings from both sides would not identify with her, her mum's 3 other kids all took after her good looks , tall light complexioned and beautiful while her dad's 7 children from two other women always looked at her as an outsider. she was always alone , the only true friend she had ever had was food, what her mother didn't give in emotion her father made up with money,he had always just provided financially for her , she remembered the incident that led her father to take full custody of her, one Christmas holiday back in her teenage years, she had watched in horror as other students parents had come to pick up their kids and nobody came for her, it was after a teacher had found her wandering around the hostel that they tried to reach her parents, her mother had taken her other children to Dubai for the holidays and had forgotten about her, her father came to pick her. He had looked with sympathy at the overweight depressed child waiting in the sun for him to come and take her home and swore that he would never let her go back to her mother's house, he took her with him everywhere including his business meetings , that was when jumoke finally found out where she belonged.
she embraced the art of reading and soon began topping her class in all the subjects, during the holidays she did not fraternize with her mates at parties or hang out spots she interned at several of her fathers companies, learning the ropes of business, it was no coincidence that immediately she completed her masters in business administration her father made her a director in his company.
she might not be beautiful or graceful but she was good at her job, she worked non-stop, she took holidays only when she needed to do some research in one country or the other for the companies benefit, it was common knowledge that her father would hand the reigns of the company over to her very soon when he retired, being successful and rich was good but it did not keep her warm at night, men did not even take a second glance at her unless it was all about business, miserable she sought for comfort in food, she ate when she was sad, angry, anxious even when she was sick she ate, her doctor had told her to try and lose some weight but she couldn't find a replacement for the food urge in her life, everything she tried did not seem to work.
she was not always this lonely, she remembered the only man she had ever been with Isaac, he was the son of the head driver in her father's house, she had met him when she was 19. tall and shy isaac had been the perfect confidante in a house filled with energetic siblings who did not pay any attention to her. his father had asked her to assist him with his Physics assignment one day and they had become fast friends, he eventually was successful with Jamb and got admission into one of the federal universities, one year later when she saw him again her mouth had dropped open, gone was the tall lanky boy who stared at his feet when he walked, isaac had filled out nicely, he had grown a beard which made him look older,and his lanky frame had given way to slight bulging muscles, he had started to learn Karate in school he told her , suddenly Isaac had grown into a man overnight and jumoke took notice, they began spending more time together,one thing led to another and jumoke made love for the first time, at that time she began to make a serious effort to look good for her man and eventually lost 40pounds, their relationship continued even after she came back from the US after doing her masters programme , she had believed that she would marry Isaac and have his kids but that all changed one day when she had come home early from work and caught Isaac in bed with her half sister,she moved out of her father's house and moved into this 2 bedroom serviced apartment in maryland ,that incident was 6 years ago and there had been no man ever since.
As the years went by she buried herself in work and food, she gained back the weight she lost and even added 10 additional pounds , work was all she knew and was interested in till she met Rashida at the airport. She was a tall interesting looking woman who walked around with a bald head and almost always wore t shirts and jeans , it was Rashida who actually approached her and introduced herself when they had both been stuck at the airline when their flights to port harcourt had been delayed for several hours they soon became fast friends, Rashida was funny and fun to be with and the friendship helped jumoke loosen up ,one friday evening after work Rashida had showed up at her apartment with an overnight bag and insisted "i am staying the night with you i dont feel like sleeping alone" jumoke was excited, Rashida was always great company.
Jumoke woke up suddenly as she felt herself being touched, she bolted up to see Rashida naked on her bed, "whats going on..?" "sshhh" rashida replied using her hand to cover her mouth, "don't you know how beautiful you are.." jumoke was stunned, not just because no one had ever called beautiful but also that there was a naked woman in her bed. "listen Rashida i don't know what game you are playing but i am not interested." she muttered getting up from the bed and crossing her hands in anger. rashida cocked her head to one side for a minute and watched her quietly, just when jumoke thought this was some kind of sleep induced behavior and rashida would snap out of it any time soon ,rashida lay back on the bed caressing herself, "you know playing hard to get only turns me on" "i have been watching you for a while, burying yourself in work and junk food all because of a man, for how long will you do this." "men are vultures" rashida continued spitting out in anger, "why do you need to deny your body pleasure all because a vulture hurt you in the past." unbelievably rashida began to writhe like a snake towards her, slowly crawling till she got to the edge of the bed. jumoke inched backwards in shock "love does not have to be about gender, it doesn't have to be about pain " at this point rashida had slipped her hands between jumoke's nightie and her hands were climbing up,her eyes holding jumoke spell bound "love can be beautiful between two sensitive women "rashida continued whispering in her ear " let me show you" at this point rashida's hands gripped her breasts and jumoke shivered uncontrollably it had been too long since she was touched and she was beginning to enjoy this "let me teach you another way to love, another way to please yourself, another way to let go of the pain" jumoke began to moan as rashida's fingers began to work through her body her hands were no longer crossed to her sides but were now gripping rashida's bald head. she had tried the (man woman love )and it wasn't for her, perhaps this was her true nature . perhaps love could also be found in the hands of a woman, jumoke closed her eyes in defeat as rashida dragged her to the bed..Jumoke had become a lesbian.
Olajumoke adebisi Benson was the first child of alhaji Moshood Benson, the owner of one of the largest paint companies in Nigeria, her mother on the other hand was a former beauty queen who was currently with her fourth husband,her mother left her dad after only three years of marriage and she was the only issue from that union ,growing up with her mum had been tough, jumoke was not tall and light complexioned like her mother, instead she took most of her features from her father, she was 5 ft 5 inches tall and was as dark as they come, her eyes were large and some of her friends had teased her back in school that her eyes were like torchlights round and white, the only striking thing about her features was the dimple on her right cheek but because she didn't smile quite often they were barely noticeable.
Her mum had been ashamed that she had such an "uninteresting child" as she had put it during a conversation with her socialite friends which jumoke had eavesdropped on at the age of 10, she had been sent off to boarding schools from the age of 8 and her siblings from both sides would not identify with her, her mum's 3 other kids all took after her good looks , tall light complexioned and beautiful while her dad's 7 children from two other women always looked at her as an outsider. she was always alone , the only true friend she had ever had was food, what her mother didn't give in emotion her father made up with money,he had always just provided financially for her , she remembered the incident that led her father to take full custody of her, one Christmas holiday back in her teenage years, she had watched in horror as other students parents had come to pick up their kids and nobody came for her, it was after a teacher had found her wandering around the hostel that they tried to reach her parents, her mother had taken her other children to Dubai for the holidays and had forgotten about her, her father came to pick her. He had looked with sympathy at the overweight depressed child waiting in the sun for him to come and take her home and swore that he would never let her go back to her mother's house, he took her with him everywhere including his business meetings , that was when jumoke finally found out where she belonged.
she embraced the art of reading and soon began topping her class in all the subjects, during the holidays she did not fraternize with her mates at parties or hang out spots she interned at several of her fathers companies, learning the ropes of business, it was no coincidence that immediately she completed her masters in business administration her father made her a director in his company.
she might not be beautiful or graceful but she was good at her job, she worked non-stop, she took holidays only when she needed to do some research in one country or the other for the companies benefit, it was common knowledge that her father would hand the reigns of the company over to her very soon when he retired, being successful and rich was good but it did not keep her warm at night, men did not even take a second glance at her unless it was all about business, miserable she sought for comfort in food, she ate when she was sad, angry, anxious even when she was sick she ate, her doctor had told her to try and lose some weight but she couldn't find a replacement for the food urge in her life, everything she tried did not seem to work.
she was not always this lonely, she remembered the only man she had ever been with Isaac, he was the son of the head driver in her father's house, she had met him when she was 19. tall and shy isaac had been the perfect confidante in a house filled with energetic siblings who did not pay any attention to her. his father had asked her to assist him with his Physics assignment one day and they had become fast friends, he eventually was successful with Jamb and got admission into one of the federal universities, one year later when she saw him again her mouth had dropped open, gone was the tall lanky boy who stared at his feet when he walked, isaac had filled out nicely, he had grown a beard which made him look older,and his lanky frame had given way to slight bulging muscles, he had started to learn Karate in school he told her , suddenly Isaac had grown into a man overnight and jumoke took notice, they began spending more time together,one thing led to another and jumoke made love for the first time, at that time she began to make a serious effort to look good for her man and eventually lost 40pounds, their relationship continued even after she came back from the US after doing her masters programme , she had believed that she would marry Isaac and have his kids but that all changed one day when she had come home early from work and caught Isaac in bed with her half sister,she moved out of her father's house and moved into this 2 bedroom serviced apartment in maryland ,that incident was 6 years ago and there had been no man ever since.
As the years went by she buried herself in work and food, she gained back the weight she lost and even added 10 additional pounds , work was all she knew and was interested in till she met Rashida at the airport. She was a tall interesting looking woman who walked around with a bald head and almost always wore t shirts and jeans , it was Rashida who actually approached her and introduced herself when they had both been stuck at the airline when their flights to port harcourt had been delayed for several hours they soon became fast friends, Rashida was funny and fun to be with and the friendship helped jumoke loosen up ,one friday evening after work Rashida had showed up at her apartment with an overnight bag and insisted "i am staying the night with you i dont feel like sleeping alone" jumoke was excited, Rashida was always great company.
Jumoke woke up suddenly as she felt herself being touched, she bolted up to see Rashida naked on her bed, "whats going on..?" "sshhh" rashida replied using her hand to cover her mouth, "don't you know how beautiful you are.." jumoke was stunned, not just because no one had ever called beautiful but also that there was a naked woman in her bed. "listen Rashida i don't know what game you are playing but i am not interested." she muttered getting up from the bed and crossing her hands in anger. rashida cocked her head to one side for a minute and watched her quietly, just when jumoke thought this was some kind of sleep induced behavior and rashida would snap out of it any time soon ,rashida lay back on the bed caressing herself, "you know playing hard to get only turns me on" "i have been watching you for a while, burying yourself in work and junk food all because of a man, for how long will you do this." "men are vultures" rashida continued spitting out in anger, "why do you need to deny your body pleasure all because a vulture hurt you in the past." unbelievably rashida began to writhe like a snake towards her, slowly crawling till she got to the edge of the bed. jumoke inched backwards in shock "love does not have to be about gender, it doesn't have to be about pain " at this point rashida had slipped her hands between jumoke's nightie and her hands were climbing up,her eyes holding jumoke spell bound "love can be beautiful between two sensitive women "rashida continued whispering in her ear " let me show you" at this point rashida's hands gripped her breasts and jumoke shivered uncontrollably it had been too long since she was touched and she was beginning to enjoy this "let me teach you another way to love, another way to please yourself, another way to let go of the pain" jumoke began to moan as rashida's fingers began to work through her body her hands were no longer crossed to her sides but were now gripping rashida's bald head. she had tried the (man woman love )and it wasn't for her, perhaps this was her true nature . perhaps love could also be found in the hands of a woman, jumoke closed her eyes in defeat as rashida dragged her to the bed..Jumoke had become a lesbian.
i hope that people get the different perspectives i am trying to touch on in some women's lives, before coming to a conclusion be patient and read all the posts until the end of the story when all four women meet....to be continued next week.
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