...a short tale of love and companionship...

is

ASPIRING BESTSELLER AUTHOR

AMEENAT ADEBADEJO
 is

AMEENAT ADEBADEJO
This book is inspired by a true-life story. However, the names used are a
product of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. Any
resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Copyright © 2024 by Ameenat A. Adebadejo

Cover design by Ameenat A. Adebadejo

Illustration by SusIO via iStock.com

Book Interior Design by Ameenat A. Adebadejo

i
 Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Epilogue

STIL Playlist

Acknowledgements

About The Author

To all the girls who have loved before, to all the girls who
are scared to love. To all the girls who are scarred from
love, to all the girls who love to love.

I hope you learn to love yourself, then you find that

person who loves you more.

To all the girls who wished for an African Love Story,

this is for you.
 This isn't a story where you watch the characters
fall in love.

These characters are already in love. This is a story

of how the two characters became one.
 Prologue

( 🎶 “Dandelions” by Ruth B.)

Have you ever hugged someone and felt his immense
love for you? Ever hugged that certain someone so
deeply, that you're moved to tears? Time stood still,
hearts felt full. The hug felt so right, you hear every
pore of his skin confess his love for you. You know
words can never describe how you both feel, but his
heartbeat syncing with yours did so much more.

Goosebumps appear all over his body as he deepens the

hug while a single tear rolls down your cheek. And that
was when you knew he was your home, irrespective of
whatever happens, you will always go back to him.
 Chapter 1

( 🎶 “Stole The Show” by Kygo ft Parson James)

Let's take it back to the beginning, shall we?

Dancing has always been my thing. Ever since I was

young, I've always been a nimble dancer. I loved
anything that involved dancing. I wanted to be a
cheerleader, a gymnast, or a ballerina, but my
upbringing made it impossible to pursue those dreams.
So I let go of dancing for many years, till I gained
admission and realized I could join a dance group,
which I did.

I met Adura when I was done with men. Literally. At

the young age of 17, I had given up on the ideology of
love and marriage. I was ready to retreat and work on
myself because I realized I was counting on the opposite
sex to give me the self-worth I never thought I had.

We met at that dance group (which is ironic because we

rarely dance anymore) and he had eyes on me for a
while although I never noticed him. He was always
hanging around me, trying to find the confidence to
approach me, while I moved around unbeknownst of his
affection.

Adura searched for a way to get my number without

actually asking for my number because he was a very
timid person. He stumbled upon a problem, which was
the fact that our dance group did not have a WhatsApp
group. He brought that up to the group coordinators
and they permitted him to create the WhatsApp group.
My smart man.

He went around asking people for their numbers and he

approached me last. With his heart in his throat, he
asked for my number, which I gave him. To me, that
was the first time I noticed the Ankara boy, to him, it
was one of the best days of his life.

I won't bore you with the details of how we started

dating. Trust me, almost 5 years down the line, he's still
a little sore about how we became a thing. The point is,
he ticked the boxes I didn't know I had. He stole my
heart and I didn't even know when or how it happened. I
went from being little miss independent to becoming
wholly, crazily in love with Aduragbemi.

However, I'll tell you what made me pay attention to

him. He thinks I was attracted to his grades because I'm
sapiosexual. While that is true, that wasn't what drew
me to him. I was attracted to his reliability. I can trust
him with everything I have, which makes it easy for me
to be loyal to him. On many occasions, I expected him
to run away after I was raw and opened up to him. But
he never left. He listened to me, stood by me, watched
me shatter, picked me up bit by bit and helped me
realize I was worth much more than I thought. He loved
me, more than I loved myself.
From his eyes, I saw me. Through his lens, I saw a
glorious lady, I was no broken girl. I realized I am a
priceless jewel worth cherishing, a diamond in the rough
that's on the way to redemption, a gem worth fighting
for and polishing. Beyond all this, I realized that I just
found a man of inestimable value, a glowing maestro
and I decided that I’d never let him go.
 Chapter 2

( 🎶”Bloodline” by Ariana Grande)

Adura taught me how to love and be loved.

I only fell in love once before I met Adura. I never

entered my previous relationships with love or affection
for the guy. Looking back, almost all my relationships
began and ended for selfish reasons. The first guy I ever
dated? I broke up with him 3 days in, because I realized
I couldn't date him knowing fully well I liked his friend.
The second guy asked me out in public and constantly
manipulated me into staying with him. The third guy?
Let's just say I dated him because of my low self-esteem.
The list goes on.

I never had any relationship that lasted longer than 6

months. In fact, I knew one of my exes was cheating on
me two months into the relationship, but I waited till I
was bored with him before leaving him. I always got
bored with them mere months into the relationship,
which low-key freaked me out, but I was extremely
scared of being alone. Plus, I desired male validation so
badly. So instead of healing, learning about myself and
growing, I jumped headfirst into another relationship.
In the end, I was a mess.

Remember when I said before I met Adura, that I

wanted to retreat and work on myself? Well, that was
partly true. I wanted to work on myself, but then I liked
Adura. Something about him was so… Different. I
couldn't put my hand on it and I was so curious, I
wanted to find out. However, I didn't want to stick
around. I thought he was just a distraction, but he was
also a means to an end.

I guarded my heart jealously, I didn't want to let anyone

else in. The one person who I loved before I met Adura
had been the one to break me so I most definitely didn't
believe in love anymore. Falling in love with anyone was
not on the cards for me so I decided to ignore the
glaring signs that he was interested in me.

Then came the sexual tension. Till now, I still don't have
words to describe the kind of tension that was between
us. The first time I ever kissed him, it felt like butterflies
erupted in my belly. I had never, ever felt anything like
that. The events that preceded our first kiss are still
etched in my memory and I think back on it every time.

Minutes before our first kiss, he asked me out in the

most memorable manner. He made a cute little website
asking me to be his girlfriend (as a tech bro that he is)
and presented it to me a week before my birthday. I was
so touched, so teary-eyed. No one had made such an
exquisite gesture to ask me out. I felt so much emotion
at once and that would have been enough for me to be
his girlfriend.

Even though I was so touched, I turned him down. I

told him I wasn't ready to be in a relationship. It wasn't
because I didn't like him or find him attractive, I mean
he is a very good catch, but I needed space. I needed
time to heal and be on my own. I wanted to be able to
stand alone without constantly relying on men to make
myself feel good. Then I did something out of the
ordinary. I kissed him. Yes, I know, mixed signals and
all, but I really couldn't resist him anymore.

Despite my mixed signals, he didn't treat me any

differently. He continued being there for me and on my
birthday, he built me another cute website. Then he got
me the first birthday gift I had received in years. I don't
think I ever told him this, but I cried when I reflected on
what he did for me. I knew he was a wonderful guy, but
it wasn't enough for me to change my mind.

I tried so hard to avoid being attached to him. I believed

it wouldn't be hard, I mean this wasn't my first rodeo,
but he was different. Soon, I was looking forward to
every call, every message, everything about him. The
attachment came with ease, I couldn't even fight it.

Back then, I didn't know what we had was a

situationship, we were doing almost everything lovers
did without being in a relationship. We went on this way
for almost 2 months, dancing around the whole thing
without hitting the nail on the head. I was content with
being that way until I felt threatened by another lady
who wanted to be with him.
That was the moment I conceded that I had fallen for
Adura. The mere thought of him being with someone
else filled me with so much rage and envy. I
acknowledged the fact that I was so attached to him and
I didn't want anyone else with him, so we decided to
make it official. After all the back and forth, we
officially started dating in 2019.
 Chapter 3

( 🎶”Still With You” by Jung Kook (BTS))

We became a long-distance couple in 2021.

For partners who saw each other every single day, going
long distance was my biggest fear. At this point, we had
been dating for almost two years and we had overcome
the forced separation COVID-19 had brought into our
lives. The COVID-19 era was insane, I had no idea when
I left him in March that I wouldn't see him till August,
missing all 3 important events in our relationship (his
birthday, our first anniversary and my birthday). But
COVID-19 was the turning point in our relationship.
That was when we knew the depth of our love for each
other and we promised we were never going to let each
other go.

I thought after COVID, the worst was over, but then the
japa plans kicked in. He started to consider going
abroad to further his education and he was very excited.
That was all he could talk about, every time we were
together, he filled me in on his plans, the country he
wanted to go to, how he would leave, when he would
leave, and why he was leaving. He was very excited and
I just had to be there for him.

What he didn't know at first was that I was shattered. I

knew I couldn't handle that long a distance. I knew it
would be difficult for us to have a relationship with the
time difference and distance. But I didn't say anything
because I didn't want to hurt him, so I kept my pain and
hurt to myself.

2021 rolled by and I was determined to make the best of

our time together before he left. We planned to do our
internship together at school so we could be together. I
was very excited because I saw it as 1 year of being with
the love of my life. We applied for our internship, only
for everything to crash when we least expected it.

Our application was denied. I was so sure we would get

it and I didn't have any alternative. He had an
alternative to work in school, so I felt stranded. I was
scrambling to get an internship, paid or not, anything
just to be close to Adura, because I believed if I didn't
get it, our relationship was done.

One of my best friends got an internship opportunity at

a telecommunications agency in Lagos and she found
out there was a vacancy for more interns. She told
Adura to come for the interview since it fit his academic
qualifications. She doesn't know this, but at that
moment, I was angry with her. How could she tell him
to come for an interview in Lagos, knowing fully well
that would separate us? What was she thinking? How
could she do that to me?

Adura, on the other hand, pleaded with me to let him do

the interview. He said he just wanted to go for the
interview to see how a standard job interview was done
because he had never done one before. He said he wasn't
interested in the job, he would go for the interview and
that's all. After all the explanations, I had no issues with
him going. He will come back to me and we will do our
internship together as he promised. What could go
wrong?

Everything went wrong. He liked Lagos, he liked the

company, he liked the work hours and wanted to move
there. God, I felt betrayed. I had just gotten an
internship opportunity in Lagos as well and I forfeited it
to be with him. When he told me he got the job and
wanted to accept the offer, I exploded. How dare he do
this? He knew I had a better job offer. He knew I chose
to stay by his side. He knew all of this, yet chose this?

In a fit of rage, I told him why I desperately wanted to

do my internship in school with him. I told him I knew
our relationship would never be the same once we went
long distance. He was going to leave me here in Nigeria
soon, so would it kill him to spend some time with me
before he left? Tantrum after tantrum, fit after fit, I
screamed and cried at him, thinking that he was playing
the long game, he was done with me and wanted to
leave, just like everyone else.

I can never forget how he handled my temper tantrum.

He went to a restaurant and got my favorite meal with
the last money he had. He came home with the meal and
told me he was trying to bribe me. Then he calmly told
me he wasn't doing this because he wanted to leave me.
He just felt I deserved better than working in school and
so did he. He didn't want our relationship to hinder our
growth. He wanted us to look back years later and know
we didn't make a mistake.

Then he made a promise to me. At least once every

month, he will make sure we see. Either I visit him, or
he visits me, one way or the other, he will make it work.
He hugged me and watched me come down from my
anger. Then I picked up the food and ate it. I may have
been angry at him, but the food did me no wrong. After
much thought, I realized he was right. It didn't make
sense for us to reduce our potential just because we
wanted to stay close to each other. So I let him go. I let
myself go. I guess I was just hangry* after all.

Three years later, he was right on both accounts. He

kept his promise. We see each other at least once a
month. Also, staying in school would have drastically
reduced our potential, I don’t think either of us would
be where we are now if we didn't go long distance.

Hangry - A combination of the word “hungry” and “angry”. bad-tempered or

irritable as a result of hunger
 English Translation of “Still With You”
by Jungkook (BTS)

Intro
That faint voice of yours that grazed me
Please call my name one more time
I’m standing still under the frozen light, but
I will walk towards you, step by step
Still with you
Verse 1
A pitch dark room
I shouldn’t get used to it
But I’m used to it again
The low-pitched sound of the air conditioner
If I don’t have this, I might just fall apart
Pre-Chorus 1
We laugh together, we cry together
These simple feelings were everything I had
When will it be?
If I see you again
I will look into your eyes
And say, "I missed you"
Chorus
In a rapturous memory
The rain pours even when I dance alone
By the time this mist clears
I'll run with my feet wet
So hug me then
 English Translation of “Still With You”
by Jungkook (BTS)

Verse 2
The moon looks lonely
Like it's crying in the bright night sky
Even though I always know the morning will come
I want to stay in your sky like a star

Pre-Chorus 2
Every day, every moment
If I knew this was gonna happen
I would have remembered more of them
When will it be?
If I see you again
I will look into your eyes
And say, "I missed you"
Chorus
In a rapturous memory
The rain pours even when I dance alone
By the time this mist clears
I'll run with my feet wet
So hug me then
Outro
Behind the faint smile that looked at me
I will draw a beautiful purple shade
Though our footsteps may be out of step
I want to walk this path with you
Still with you
 Chapter 4

( 🎶”I Like Me Better” by Lauv)

Adura has been my biggest cheerleader and supporter
from day 01.

Irrespective of the difference in our career paths, he

watches over me and helps me however he can. When I
decided to become a content creator, he was the person I
ran it through. He keeps tabs on everything I do and
tries to find solutions to my problems.

A few months back, I slipped into a depressive episode.

Here is the thing, I am a very superficial person. I focus
solely on the present. I was very unhappy about where I
was life-wise. I felt like I hadn't reached the goals I had
for content creation. I was also having an intense
identity crisis. I didn't know who I was, what I wanted
or who I wanted to be, so I decided to drop everything
and wallow in my feelings.

I couldn't vocalize my sadness, so I shut him out. I

didn't tell him the extent of how shattered I was, but he
was able to clock the fact that I wasn't very happy. I
wallowed in my unhappiness, choosing to drop
everything without thinking about my accomplishments
and how far I had gone.

Feeling stumped and confused, he went through my

social media page intending to find out if I had been
consistent and realized I was about to reach 100k total
likes. He tried to hype me up, but I was too deep in my
misery to take note of all he was saying. When he
realized his approach wasn't working, he decided to use
the carrot method.

He remembered I told him about one LED desktop light

I really wanted to buy to up my content game, but I
couldn't afford to get it. So I added it to my cart and
hoped that I’d be able to get it later.

Adura asked me for the price of the light, I told him,

and then he promised to pay for the light if I made a
video celebrating 100k likes. At first, I refused, because
I felt like there was no using faking a celebration I
didn't feel. But he insisted and I thought, “Why not? It's
like taking candy from a baby.” Or so I thought.

Even before I got to 100k likes, he got the desktop light

for me and my video quality improved. Although that
didn't particularly get me out of my depressive episode,
it reminded me of how lucky I was to have a partner
who saw my success as his own. Someone who stood by
me and helped me reach my goals.

This whole event is a core memory of our relationship.

I've always known he's a wonderful and kind person, but
he always goes above and beyond. He has a way of
letting me see beyond the present. He knows how to
calm my mind when it's racing. He thinks he's not very
good with words, but I appreciate his words every time.
I'm very thankful for how he helped me get out of that
depressive episode. He helps me stay grounded every
time, even when the voices in my head try to disregard
my growth and accomplishments. He reminds me of
where I'm coming from, where I am and where I'm
heading to, which is very important to me.
 Chapter 5

( 🎶”Work Song” by Hozier)

Our love languages are completely different from one
another.

Adura’s love languages are words of affirmation and

physical touch. Oh, he also loves Public Display of
Affection. Words of affirmation make me cringe, badly.
Although I love hearing him compliment me and call me
all these sweet names, that doesn't mean it doesn't make
me cringe. I don’t mind physical touch from him, but
not for too long. I get overstimulated very quickly and I
prefer to not be touched. I'm not a fan of PDA, I’d
rather keep my relationship private, but for him, I try.

My love language is Acts of Service. I prefer to be able

to help him, without using words. He doesn't fancy Acts
of Service, but he does it regardless. He always wants to
be my person, my helper, my kindred spirit, so even
though he doesn't fancy my love language, he prefers to
satisfy me.

That's where both of us are different. He learns how to

adapt to how I want to be loved, but I prefer to love him
how I can. I never saw that as a problem. I got used to
him doing all the sweet-talking, all the touching, while I
show my love through Acts of Service, just being there
every time he needs me, loving him without words. I
recently watched Queen of Tears and I think I can
compare our relationship to that of Baek Hyun-Woo
and Hong Hae-In.

One thing that I love and hate so much about Adura is

how he is always ready to suppress his emotions to
avoid hurting me. Whenever we had disagreements or
arguments, he refused to speak his mind. He would
rather apologize, even though he felt like he had no
fault, even though he knew I was wrong, he would
restrain his emotions.

But the truth is, the restrained emotions became a

ticking time bomb, and I unknowingly do something
that pushes him over the edge, which makes him
explode. At the end of the day, it hurts both of us. I had
to sit him down and emphasize the importance of
communication in our relationship. I want to hear him
out. All his thoughts, his emotions, everything
unfiltered, be it rational or not.

I had no clue that he was disgruntled about how I was

towards him. He didn't just like giving words of
affirmations and physical touch, he loved receiving it as
well. I thought he was satisfied with how I loved him,
not knowing that he was starting to worry that I had
fallen out of love with him. He thought the reason why I
couldn't do these things comfortably was because I
didn't like him anymore, but that was farther than the
truth.

The day he poured his heart out to me, I was shattered.

I was hurt. I never wanted to give my beloved this much
pain. I never wanted him to think I didn't love him
anymore. But I didn't know how to tell him how much I
loved him. Doing it the way he does it didn't feel right
to me, it wasn't enough for me, so I had to be creative
and true to my feelings for him.

Aduragbemi, you are my muse, the one I draw my

inspiration and strength from. I know I've told you
multiple times that I love your names so much, but I
don't think you understand the extent to which I love
them. Your name signifies a prayer, one that I never
knew I had. God saw that I needed a helping hand and
He sent you to me, a beautiful, intelligent package of
goodness.

“I love you” seems too weak to say how I feel about

you. “I miss you” is too little to say how much I wish
you were here with me. You showered me with love,
kindness, empathy, respect. You taught me what love is,
you showed me how to love myself and how to love you.
Aduragbemi, you're my friend, my lover and my partner
in crime.

On my best days, I crave you. On my worst days, I need

you. You're my home, my happy place and there is no
way, absolutely no way I wouldn't want to be with you.
You're the reason I look forward to the future, the
reason my past is worth reminiscing. You're the joy in
my present, the light in my world. My favorite person,
my best friend, the yin to my yang. You're the one I run
to at any inconvenience, the first person I confide in.

Whenever I watch romantic movies, you're the one that

comes to mind. When I listen to romantic songs, you're
the person I envision. I want to dance in an empty
ballroom with you, slowly moving back and forth as we
whisper sweet nothings while joking around with each
other. I want to travel with you, go to all our favorite
countries and have fun. I want to come home to you, tell
you all about my day and watch you do your stuff in our
home. I want to remain your go-to person, your biggest
fan and your number-one supporter.

I have watched you grow, I have seen your progress.

Being with you makes going older appear blissful, 5
years have gone by within the twinkle of an eye.
Sometimes we talk about the past and I'm stunned at
how fast time flies because it seems just like yesterday.

But with you, I'm not afraid of the future. With your
hands in mine, I'm ready to take over the world. You
make life worth living, you make love worth feeling.

As I always say, I love you Aduragbemi, till infinity and

beyond.
 Epilogue

( 🎶”Luminary” by Joel Sunny)

Our story hasn't ended. Ours is forever and ever.
I have no idea where we will be in the next couple of
years, but wherever we are, I want to be right next to
you, loving you just as much as you love me.

You're mine and I am yours. In the end, it's you and I.

 🎶STIL Playlist🎶
“Dandelions” by Ruth B.

“Stole The Show” by Kygo ft Parson James

”Bloodline” by Ariana Grande

”Still With You” by Jung Kook

“I Like Me Better” by Lauv

“Work Song” by Hozier

”Luminary” by Joel Sunny

 Acknowledgment

Every year, for my beloved’s birthday, I always try to

outdo myself. “His gifts this year have to be better than the
last”, that's what I tell myself. So when I got the idea to
write a book inspired by our love story and publish it on his
birthday, I didn't know how to start. It seemed too much,
too crazy, too ridiculous to do within a short duration.

But my girls, they had my back. They listened to me when I

didn't know how to start, they helped me with the design
and they were rooting for me. Barakat, Chimdi, Najwa,
Kelechi, Debbyroar, Ebi, and Evelyn, thank you for being
the Paprika Girls. I'm so grateful to you all.

To the love of my life, you inspired this book. Writing this

book was no hassle because every memory with you is
worth writing about. The only issue I had was narrowing it
down to 5 chapters, to represent each wonderful year we
have spent together. I may not say it enough, but just know
I love you with all of my heart and you're the best thing that
happened to me over the span of 5 years.

To my BookTok family, thank you. Thank you for being an

amazing community, thank you for telling me to write
again. Thank you for helping me break that writer’s block.
I really do hope you enjoy reading this.
 About The Author

Content Creator and Book Reviewer by day, yapper and Lover

Girl by night. Ameenat Aderinsola Adebadejo is a graduate of
Mass Communication who may or may not have made it her
entire personality because in her words, “Do you think it's easy
to spend 4 years memorizing so many Mass Communication
theories that don't concern you at the end of the day?” But we
all know she has forgotten more than half of those theories.

She is a newly realized feminist who spends too much time

talking about internalized misogyny and decentering men to
make up for the years she spent being a patriarchal princess.
However, she is still very new to the feminist world so she
threads carefully as she learns.

She dreams of being a PR/Brand Strategist or a Journalist. If

that doesn't work, she is rooting for her tech boyfriend to make
plenty of money so she wouldn't need to work anymore.
Lowkey, she is very proud of her younger self who chose to date
a tech-bro back in those days when they were still seen as nerds.

Oh, she's also a huge K-pop and Kdrama fan.

Visit her Linktree to follow her on all social media platforms.

When you love someone so deeply but
struggle to express it conventionally,
write a sweet love story!