THIS THING CALLED INTUITION
By Nkiru Ogbuli
I looked up the meaning of intuition. “A natural ability or power that makes it possible to know something without any proof or evidence : a feeling that guides a person to act a certain way without fully understanding why.”
It is not something to ignore but I did just that last Monday.
You know how I had mapped out my days leading up to the Valentine’s day? Check here:
Well, that Monday evening, there was nothing like going out in the picture for me but out of the blues, one of my on and off toasters decided his life depended on seeing me. Let me not lie, he is someone whose company I enjoy. He is an intelligent, witty guy though cocky most of the time. We met, had a great evening listening to some good music over some fish and drinks very close to the house. The evening ended, or so I thought. He dropped me at home and went on his way.
Earlier in the day, I had been chatting with someone else. Back story, I was at Abacha Barracks the previous Saturday to catch up with some friends. I had just made my way through the parking lot into the Mammy market when some guys beckoned on me. I just waved them off and continued walking. Then I heard, “You don’t even know who is calling you.” I muttered, ‘who the hell are you?’
I continued walking. A voice told me to go back and say hello. A voice or the journalist (amebo) in me, I can’t really tell. Who you know is everything these days too right? I walked back and they were so happy I went back. “What a mature lady!” “Your mother’s prayers on your head have been answered today.” I replied, amen! I exchanged numbers with one of them and excused myself to meet with the friends I had come to meet with initially.
The guy chatted same evening me. The usual hello and hi and to know if I had got home safely. Nothing out of the ordinary. Coincidentally, the next day, a different number chatted me and noted how I was fairer on my display picture compared to the person he had seen the previous day. I thought nothing of it since even I myself had two, in fact, three WhatsApps. I should have been more vigilant and asked questions.
I was invited to join in watching Nigeria’s match against Ivory Coast in the AFCON Finals privately, you know, at home or something. I turned it down, first I wasn’t going to meet someone I just met in a private place, secondly, I had made up my mind not to watch it. I didn’t want to put my heart through all that suspense. We all know how the match ended.
On Monday, the chats continued. It got to a point where the guy asked what I did for a living and after reading out my whole resumè, he said he might have a Ghost Writing gig for me. My mother’s prayers answered right? I was ecstatic. Around 1pm thereabouts, he invited me to Apo. I turned it down since I was working on scripts I had to turn in on Wednesday. I had mentioned it earlier in our chats.
Fast forward to past 10pm, when my on and off toaster had dropped me, a call came in. In fact, I had missed the call and called back. He said it was noisy where he was. I asked why he had called then. He said he had dropped me a message on WhatsApp and got no response. I opened WhatsApp and saw the message, “My contact has responded about the writing gig. Meet me at ——– Bar let’s discuss.” He said he was at Apo, that I should book a ride to him. I told him it was late and he replied that I could sleep out. 1st red flag! Something was off at this point.
I insisted I wasn’t going to sleep out. He said no problem. I reasoned that I needed to secure the gig and that a couple more drinks wouldn’t hurt. Worst-case scenario, I would call Grace and sleep in her place. I tried to order a Bolt and they were all busy. I chatted him and told him we could leave it for Tuesday since it was quite late and the taxis were all busy. This guy booked a ride for me! My intuition was becoming very loud yet the risk taker in me asked what could go wrong.
Before you could say Jack Robinson, the driver was already there. I hopped in and off we went. On getting there, I wanted to pay the driver and just go in but his call came in and asked that we waited there at the entrance. It meant we were not hanging out? 2nd red flag!
Someone tapped the boot of the car and hopped into the front seat. I looked at the person and couldn’t recognise him. This wasn’t the person I had given my number on Saturday. I got out of the car immediately while telling him I didn’t know him from anywhere. He offered no explanation and told the driver to drive.
I ordered a ride to go back home and it turned out to be the same driver who had dropped me and went to drop the mysterious guy. Apparently their destination was very close to the Bar. The driver told me how the guy said nothing throughout the ride and that the only thing he muttered was that he had shaved his beards. I told him I know the person I had given my number to on Saturday and that the guy was nothing close to him!
He commended me for alighting immediately I saw the guy wasn’t the person I was expecting, noting how other ladies would have just gone with the flow. Out of curiosity, I opened our chats and saw that he had deleted every message he had sent to me! I have an App that recovers deleted chats though I don’t know if I want to proceed with looking into who he really is and what his intentions were.
All I can say is, be safe out there! The world is a dark place. Always listen to and trust your intuition or instincts. They never lie. Once something appears off, it almost always is. I had a feeling something was not just right all along. I should have just called it a night after I was dropped off but I didn’t want to appear difficult or scared. So many things could have gone wrong that night. I don’t even want to think about it.
Stay safe people!
Nice, Kiki of Abuja