In March 2020, the world shut down. The federal government ordered all universities to close, and the Town Campus of the University of Uyo emptied out in a panic. Students scrambled to find transport back to their respective states.
Sam called me that afternoon, his voice tight as he wondered aloud how he would survive a lockdown with no family nearby. I called my mum. I told her it looked like she’d have an extra mouth to feed. My mother never asked how long he’d stay. She just added a plate.
With no hesitation, Sam was welcomed into our family compound on Mpok Avenue in Eket. He was like a brother to me; even our colleagues at UniUyo thought we shared the same blood. Sam wasn’t one for idling around. Within a few days, he secured a job at a local laundry shop down the road to pull his weight.
One Thursday, Sam returned from work with a smile that reached his eyes. He pulled me aside to tell me about his day. He had met a girl named Jane at the shop, and he acted completely dreamy talking about her. He told me to stop by his workplace on Saturday afternoon because she had promised to return and pick up her clothes.
When Saturday came, I walked down to the shop. Jane walked in shortly after. She was beautiful—light-skinned with cute, pouty lips. I checked myself immediately; this one was for Sam.
But then, the door opened again, and a tall, dark-skinned girl walked in. This was Dora, Jane’s elder sister. I saw my chance and made my move. She was easygoing and responsive, and we talked for a while. I didn’t ask for her number—my rule has always been that if a connection is real, we will cross paths again.
A week later, Dora found me on WhatsApp. She was putting together a youth committee to host a community sensitization event, and she wanted me on it. Soon, the committee was formed, and our weekly meetings were held at the apartment she shared with Jane in Uyo.
After our first official meeting, Sam and I walked home together. My phone buzzed in my pocket. It was a WhatsApp message from Jane: “I really love your vibe during the meeting, you’re very cool.”
I stared at the screen, unsure of what to do. Before I could decide whether to tell Sam, Dora called me later that night. She explained she wouldn't be around the next day, and since Sam was tied down at the laundry shop, Jane and I needed to go to the bank at 8:00 AM to open the committee’s account.
I showed Sam the messages. He nodded, completely unbothered, trusting me without a second thought.
The next morning, I rang the bell at their apartment. I waited for over two minutes before the lock clicked. The door swung open, and Jane stood there alone, wearing nothing but a wet, white bathing towel wrapped around her body.
I tried to keep my face completely blank. She smiled, telling me to come inside while she took a bath. Dora, as expected, was already gone. I sat on the couch for an hour, waiting for her to finish.
At the bank, Jane was clingy, standing exceptionally close to me in the queue. It made me sweat. When we finished, I tried to head home, but she insisted I return to the apartment with her. She said she’d be bored alone since Dora wasn't returning until the next day. I refused repeatedly, but she wouldn’t let me win.
Back at the flat, she cooked noodles for us. As the evening started to close in, I told her I had to leave before Sam started wondering where I was.
She finally let me go.
When I got back to our room on Mpok Avenue, Sam asked what had kept me out for hours. Since nothing physical had happened, I told him how the day went. His expression changed. He didn't look pleased about the details, and a quiet distance settled between us.
The next afternoon, Sam was at work when Jane called me again. She said she had something to show me at the apartment.
A quiet rationalization crept into my mind. We are already familiar, I told myself. I can just go see her quickly, and Sam never has to know.
When she opened the door this time, she was in the white towel again. But there was no hesitation. She leaped and wrapped her arms around my neck. I asked nervously if she was about to bathe.
"No," she said. She walked into her bedroom and told me to give her a minute.
When I walked in, Jane let the towel drop to the floor.
"Are you just going to keep staring?" she asked.
We made out on her bed for about thirty minutes. In the middle of it, a sudden wave of reality hit me. I pulled away and sat up on the edge of the mattress.
As I put my shirt back on, Jane sat up and told me she liked me much more than Sam. She began listing the things she found boring about him.
"What happened just now can never happen again," I said.
That night, lying on the bed right next to Sam, I couldn't look at the ceiling.
Yet, the secret meetings didn't stop. Even during our official committee meetings, Jane would find excuses to corner me in the kitchen or the hallway while Sam was talking to Dora.
One afternoon, Sam asked me to meet him at the laundry shop instead of our house. He pulled up a plastic chair in the back room.
"Jane is slipping away," he said, his voice quiet. "She doesn't pay attention to me anymore. But I notice how she smiles with you during the meetings."
Sam was a reserved guy, only truly expressive when he was around me. Looking at him, the words stuck in my throat. I couldn't bring myself to confess. Instead, I gave him safe, empty advice: "Go and have a heart-to-heart talk with her. Smooth things over."
That night, Jane called my phone repeatedly. I ignored the calls, eventually texting her that I couldn't talk because Sam was sleeping in the same room. The next day, I went to her apartment to tell her we had to stop meeting. She was unusually calm and agreed we should keep our distance outside of the committee.
I went home feeling like the weight had finally been lifted.
But when I walked into our room that evening, Sam was sitting on the edge of the mattress. He wouldn't look at me. He wouldn't reply to my greeting. The silence in the room was absolute.
The next morning, Sam announced an emergency meeting. Dora and Jane were already waiting when we arrived at the apartment. We sat down, but Sam didn't open the project files. He looked straight at me.
"This committee was just an opportunity for you," Sam said, his voice shaking. "An opportunity to take advantage and see my lady whenever you saw fit."
I looked at him and saw the pain in his eyes. He had noticed everything.
"I had so many chances to end you when I found out you were visiting her," he said.
My chest went tight. Sam had put someone to tail me. Someone had been watching me walk into that apartment block, reporting my movements back to him while I was inside.
"I am packing my things out of your house today," Sam said, standing up. "And I never want to see your face again."
I apologized. I lied. I told him nothing physical had ever happened between us, desperate to save the brotherhood we had built. But he didn't believe a word.
He packed his bags and left our compound that afternoon. The lockdown eventually lifted, and the campus reopened, but the brother my mother had welcomed into our home on Mpok Avenue was gone for good.