A TALE OF MISCHIEF AND HOT TEARS.

There's barely any story that I have to tell. Assumed I might just pass on this one but something changed that. I'll save you all of that description and just dive right in.

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This happened years ago. I had just finished my junior certificate examinations. At that time, I was what you could call "a holiday maker." I always had that aunt or another to visit. Was sort of a hot kek and people wanted me at their place. Weekends almost never met me at home. This particular aunt got me the most. Weekends, midterm breaks, the long break, she called ahead and sort of booked me.

As expected, I went to spend the long after-WAEC break at her place. It was a nice time there and she liked me. So much more because I was a workaholic. A clean freak to be precise.

Now, she has two kids. Two girls. Younger than myself. At the time, her first girl was about 4 or 5, I don't exactly recall. The younger one shouldn't have been more than two. And one day, something interesting happened.

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That fateful day, towards evening, the kids and I were home alone. It was a Sunday. My aunt had had gone out briefly to get something. Can't remember why for but I was looking all over the room for my phone. It was a Nokia phone. A really cool device and to this day, I like it very much. I don't have it any longer though.

Since it was nowhere in the room, I decided to check the living room. Maybe I had dropped it somewhere there. Now, the house is built in a way whereby once you come in from the outside, you get in the living room first. On one hand there's a door leading to the master's bedroom. On the other, you find a door, leading to a lobby where there's a bathroom and toilet on one side, kitchen on the opposite, and the other bedroom at the end. I hope you understand that.

So just as I was walking past the bathroom, I saw the older girls bent over a bucket, busy with something. I called out to her and asked why she was there. She told me she was washing. A surprise! When I asked who had sent her that and what it was that she was washing, she produced my phone. It was covered in soap suds and drpping water. Innocently, she went on to say that she couldn't get it to come on, so she decided to clean it up

All this while, I was mute. I could neither laugh not cry. Somehow, I was excited. Yeah, I was crazy, I know. Smartphones were just becoming a thing and I saw that as an avenue to get one. I had not been crazy about getting one but then, it seemed luck found me.

So, I rebuked my aunt's kid a little for what she had done and told her to report herself when once her mum had returned. Finally, when my aunt got back and news got to her, she promised to have it repaired. My heart sank. That wasn't what I expected.

That night, I put the phone in a bowl containing water, and let it sit overnight. I was sure to keep it out of sight. Kai! My stupid was stupid.

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Long story short, my aunt took the phone to an artisan sometime in the week, but it gotten in too much damage. And so she promised to get me a new device. My joy went over the roof. I was glad. I returned back home to my parents shortly after, without a phone. School was to resume. Some weeks after, my aunt reached out to me and requested I come over to her place for my new phone. My heart did the backflip many times out of joy.

By weekend, my mum took me to her place. Well, well, well, when the new phone was handed to me, my eyes filled with tears. Of course, it wasn't tears of joy. The new device was a downgrade. Some really China phone(Nigerians will get what I mean better), very heavy stuff, with no appeasing feature and no aesthetic as my Nokia, no nice games, just java. It looked all metal and was heavy and had this long antenna for radio or whatever and the ring volume was loud enough to handle club music. The speaker in my church wasn't even that loud. Kai! I wanted to cry. Scratch that,. I cried. Very hot tears. E pain me

And I tell you, I did not use that phone, not even for a day. Can't even remember the details of what became of it afterwards. I sought for ways, later on, to repair my water unresistant Nokia, but the phone kwechiri. It was gone.

That was the last I went to that my aunt's house. They keep asking why I never came again. But how'd I tell them? This is a reveal. I hope no relative of mine ever sees this.

There's no moral lesson to this one. Thankfully, it wasn't requested. So there's my story.

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