Straight Boys 37 Reality Reality has a way of revealing the truth, whether we’re ready for it or not. There comes a moment when a person finally sees—clear as day—that they were wrong all along. The choices they dismissed, the warnings they ignored, the paths they refused to take—it all comes crashing down. But sometimes, realization comes too late. The damage is done, and the consequences are set in stone. Regret replaces confidence, and what once seemed like certainty now feels like a mistake too big to undo. This is the weight of reality. It does not bend for emotions or wishful thinking. It teaches through experience, not words. And when the lesson arrives too late, it does not grant the luxury of second chances—only the burden of what could have been. Yet, even in suffering, there is one final choice left: to own the truth, to face it without denial, and to find meaning in the lesson, if not in the outcome. Reality may be unforgiving, but wisdom—no matter when it comes—still has value. When I came back to the hostel with Ejiro, we went to the room as usual, and there was a lot of fun and joy. We got in a little bit early, though it was past seven p.m. But then, it was still late. I walked out of the room towards Martin's room, but I stopped at the door. I did not want to indulge him, so I turned to move, but his door opened, and he came out. As he stepped out, he looked straight into my eyes, realizing how much he had shouted at me before. We hadn't spoken to each other since that time. I did not know what to say to him or how to say it. I just kept quiet and was about to move when he grabbed my hand, pulling me back while closing the door with his other hand so as not to disturb my brother. He then led me to the balcony. I followed him like a puppy, not knowing where he was leading me. When we got to the balcony, he hugged me—and then he kissed me. Martin: "I know you're angry with me right now. I shouldn't have shouted at you like I did. But you are the one that is always telling me to man up for myself, and I'm trying to be a man here. I don't know why you suddenly want to find out who my father is. I have kept that part of my life hidden for a very long time, and I don’t want to get into it. So, I’m very sorry. Please, don’t be angry at me." And then he kissed me again. I stood there like a log of wood, without giving any response. I wanted to leave, but he pulled me back again. Martin: "Don’t treat me like this. Stop it. Please, stop it." Me: "What's in your mind? You slapped me. You know, the first time you slapped me was on the bed—that is totally understandable. I know how you get when you are horny. But this slap… this was not a slap from being sexually tense. This was different. "I’m sorry that I meddled in something that is not my business. Do you know why I so badly wanted to know who your dad was? It's because of the ‘K’ at the back of your picture. My father’s name starts with ‘K,’ and I didn't want it to be the same ‘K.’ But right now, I believe it is not the same ‘K.’ Something tells me your ‘K’ is even closer than you think." Martin: "It’s alright. I understand you. The worst thing you can do to me is hate me because, no matter how history is written—forward or backward—you remain the first person I shared my love with, my body and all. And I do not have any regrets about that. I would want to do it again and again, even though I understand the circumstances of why we cannot. I'm just letting you know." Me: "Thank you for this information. And I’d also like you to know that you are the first person—male or female—that gets my blood warmed up very fast. When I see you, I am hot." 😂 And he smiled. I could see the beautiful smile on his face—it was nice. I don't know if a person can be in love with two people at the same time. But deep down in my heart I still have a place for Martin. But then certain things need to be let go. Then I turned to enter Emma's room. I wanted to find out how he was doing because, on the drive back to the hostel, he was extremely quiet. Knock, knock, knock. Emma: "Yeah, who is there? Come in, the door is open." Me: "Emma, how are you doing? I wanted to check up on you. I hope you're good." Emma: "Yeah, I’m okay. Just a little bit confused." Me: "I noticed you were quiet while we were driving back. I don’t want to be imposing or anything, but would you like to talk about it?" Emma: "Yeah, sure. But before I say anything to you, I would like to ask you something—and I would like you to be sincere with me." Me: "Oh? Go on, ask me." (He locked the door.) Me: "Emma, you just locked the door. I hope you're not planning on taking away my pride tonight." Emma: (laughs) "😂😂😂😂😂😂! Don’t be stupid. You’re so foolish! How can I take away something that has already been taken away?" Me: "How sure are you about that?" Emma: "That is why I locked the door—so I can be sure. So, you tell me." Me: "I came here to check on you, not to be interrogated." Emma: "All right. I wasn’t planning to interrogate you or anything. I was thinking about you." Me: "Thinking about me? You cannot be thinking about me when you have Larry." Emma: "You’re foolish at times." 😂 😂 😂 Me: "I know what you're thinking about. Since you don’t want to talk about it, I’m going to start talking about it myself." Emma: "Slow down, slow down. I know you know what you want to talk about. And you know a lot about me. But I do not know anything about you, and I’m trying to know something about you." Me: "I don’t know how to explain it to you right now." Emma: "Okay, that’s fine. Just answer my questions with ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ You don’t have to explain anything since you cannot explain." Me: "All right, ask the questions." Emma: "Have you ever been romantic—sexually—with a guy?" Me: "Yes, I have." Emma: "Okay, that’s nice. I like that. Do you like me in that way?" Me: "No, I do not." Emma: "You mean that? As attractive as I am? Are you sure about that? This content is the intellectual property of OurStory TB and the author, Whiteman Micheal. Unauthorized use, reproduction, or distribution without proper credit to the author or the page is strictly prohibited. Permission must be obtained before any use. Me: "Emma, would you like us to discuss, or do you just want to go on and find a way to get into my pants? Because that is not going to happen. You already have someone that I love, and I love both of you very much. I don't want to be a spoiler. It wouldn't be good for people to say bad things about me. There has already been a lot of talk about me, and I'm not interested in having more bad things said at this particular point in time." Emma: "All right, all right, you win. So, are you telling me that I may not actually be into guys?" Me: "I haven't said that. I only said maybe you are into it because of what is happening around you. Maybe if you go somewhere where things like this aren't happening, you’d feel different." Emma: "You're not lying. Sometimes, I feel different. Sometimes, I feel like I'm forcing myself to do this. On a very serious note, I think with Larry, it's different. Somehow, I have found myself falling in love with him. It's not very easy for someone to admit that. I am still in shock that I said it in front of the family barrister. And did you see the way he reacted? As if I didn’t say anything?" Me: "That's his method of dealing with issues. Not everyone is going to handle the same situation the same way." Emma: "So, tell me about yourself. How did you start? Definitely not like me, right?" Me: "I was with someone very old. Very, very old. Maybe twice my age." Emma: "How did you even do that?" Me: "That is a beautiful story for another day. Maybe if you ask the others, they’ll tell you." Emma: "So, what would you advise me to do right now?" Me: "Follow your heart. Be sure of what you want, but don't force it. Just allow it to flow. Do everything that feels right to you. As long as it flows naturally and you are okay with it, then you are good to go." Emma: "Deep down inside, I know I'm a simple guy with simple needs. I don't need much. I see myself as lonely and alone. I don't know why I always feel this way, but you brought family into my life, and for that, I am going to—" He fell on me and engulfed himself in my arms, making me hug him while he rested his back against my body. Me: "Yeah, you'll be fine. We will always be fine. Let’s just focus on our lives and move forward." Emma: "What are your plans? You have big plans. Tell me about them." Me: "I don't intend to go and start looking for a 9-to-5 job immediately after school. If I can make enough money to pay the salary of more than one person and still have enough to take care of my needs and expand my laundry business, then I think all I need to do is to keep growing it. I don't want stress. I don't need someone shouting at me for no reason. Right now, I'm making almost 100,000 every week just from washing clothes. You know, a lot of young students nowadays can't even do their own laundry, so the business is growing. That’s why I started looking for an apartment. A big sitting room would be used for the full laundry business while we sleep in the other rooms." Emma: "Now I understand why you insisted on getting an apartment instead of renting different rooms in this hostel. It keeps us together while also giving each of us our own space. I hope the barrister finds us a good place." Me: "I hope so too." Emma: "I don't even know what my dreams are right now. But since I met you, I've been figuring things out about myself. Maybe I’ve been locked in my own body for a very long time. I need to free myself and realize what I want and what I can do for myself. If we get that money for Larry, do you think he knows what he will do with it?" Me: "Well, the first thing I think he will do is involve my father. He’s a good financial expert. He will tell Larry how to manage his money properly. Larry won’t squander it—I wouldn't even allow him to. Because just like you, he needs a family, and he needs to stand on his own." Emma: "Do you think I'll be family enough for him?" Me: "You and I grew up in a place where a family is made up of a father, mother, and children. You and him starting out as a family won't be easy. It will require a lot of trust, a lot of work, and a lot of faith. It will also be expensive—unless both of you plan on having girlfriends who will bear your children. Artificial insemination comes with high expectations, and it is very expensive. One way for you both to be truly happy together, if you plan to stay together for a long time, is to go to a country where this is acceptable. But if you must stay here in Nigeria, you must be ready to face all the consequences." Emma: "What about you? Are you going to settle down with a man, or are you going to be straight?" Me: "Right now, 90% of me wants to settle down and have kids with a nice lady. But I don't even have a girlfriend. Not that it's a requirement, but just saying—so you know that we are almost the same, if not the same." Emma: "Where have you been all my life? I've always needed a senior bro to confide in, someone who understands me, someone I can rest on like this and have chats with. You can give me pointers, and if I do something wrong, don’t hesitate to shout at me. Don’t hold back just because I have money. Always tell me when I’m wrong—shout at me and correct me." Then he tried to kiss me, and I stopped him. Emma: "I was just trying to play with you."😂 lol Me: "And I am trying to be the senior brother you want me to be. You have someone—cherish him and love him. You don’t need to be foolish like the rest of us." This content is the intellectual property of OurStory TB and the author, Whiteman Micheal. Unauthorized use, reproduction, or distribution without proper credit to the author or the page is strictly prohibited. Permission must be obtained before any use. And I gave him a very tight hug and left the room for my room. Barrister Z: "Hello, who is here? Please open the door. I want to see Mark." Waiter: "Good evening, boss. Oga Mark no dey." Barrister Z: "What do you mean he's not around? I was here not quite long ago, yesterday evening. I guess he was here—we sat down together. Please tell him that it's me. It's very urgent. I need to see him." Waiter: "Oga dey his house, he no dey live for here." Barrister Z: "Okay, can you give me the address of the place? You can see I have a lot of bags here, and I need somewhere to sleep right now. Do you guys have lodging here? Can I lodge in?" Waiter: "We no have that, sir." Barrister Z: "Alright. If you insist... Please, I need a place to sleep. Don't be angry. Please help me." Waiter: "Oga, na because I know you. If not, I no go help you. Come inside." The barrister followed him to the servants' quarters at the back. When he got to the young man’s room, he was surprised. The room didn’t even have a bed—just a small mat on the floor, which the guy slept on. It was getting late, and they were closing for the night. Even though some people drank until 1 a.m., they had to close because of security. The young man asked him to wait there, saying the boss would come in the morning, and that he (the waiter) would be coming to join him to sleep in the same room. Barrister Z: "Wait... you don’t have a bed? You mean you sleep on the bare floor?" Waiter: "Oga, here no be my papa house na." Barrister Z: "Oh my God... You mean you've been sleeping here all this time while working in this place? Like, you sleep here during night duty and in the morning, you go back to your house?" Waiter: "Baba, I no get family anywhere for lagos. Na here be my house." The barrister was so confused. He couldn’t believe that some people were so poor that they couldn’t even afford a bed to sleep on. He began to wonder if Mark was underpaying his workers. Barrister Z: "I know getting paid isn’t easy, but is Mark not paying you well? Why couldn’t you afford to buy yourself a bed?" Waiter: "Oga, I get bills. I have a mother in the village and siblings there. They need money. That’s where all my money is currently going. I really don’t know what to do with myself now. And you... you're here with all your bags and fine clothes. See, I no get security o. If thief come rob you, no be me you go blame. Everything you are carrying is at your own risk." Barrister Z: "Don’t worry. By tomorrow, Mark will sort me out, and when he does, I’ll also find somewhere better for you to stay." Waiter: "That’s why I am helping you. I know you are close to my boss, and if I help you, he might help me more. He has been helping me more than I deserve. I don’t pay rent here. Others have to leave in the morning for another person to stay in their room, but only me stay permanently because I don’t have any other place in this Lagos." Reality began to dawn on the barrister as he realized that everything wasn’t as it seemed. He was actually there with his bags because his own mother had sent him out of the house. She had received a warning from her daughter that if he continued living with her, her brother-in-law would stop paying her house rent. Instead of losing her house just to protect her son, she sent him away so she could keep her home and maintain the financial support. That was why he was there with his bags, looking for a place to stay. That night, I got a call from Barrister Charlie, asking to speak with me privately. He told me that the call was to inform me that the barrister we had been dealing with was not even an original barrister of the chief. He was a miscreant and had been expelled from the law firm. However, our agreement was still binding and upheld. He wanted to know if we wanted an increase in the money or if we were okay with the original amount we had asked for the first time. I asked Larry about it, and he said he was fine. There was no need to ask for too much money that could put all of us in danger. Since they had agreed to a stipulated amount, it was best to keep it that way. We all agreed. Then, I informed the barrister, who was okay with it and asked me to come and see him in two days so I could view some apartments he had selected and choose the one that suited all of us best. I was so happy, seeing all the changes and everything going on. Good things were coming to all of us gradually. That night, I didn’t know that the reason Larry was not in Emma’s room was because he, my brother, and Martin had planned on going to a queer party. Nathaniel was going with them. Before the four of them arrived at the destination, they saw very big bodyguards standing at the door of a rich house. Before entering, they had to call out a code, as everyone was assigned one. So, Larry called Martin and my brother to decide on their codes. Larry: "Now listen, you guys. Everybody has a code, and it goes only two ways. There is no other code, no matter how long the variation continues. You are either a top or a bottom." Obi: "What is a top, and what is a bottom?" This content is the intellectual property of OurStory TB and the author, Whiteman Micheal. Unauthorized use, reproduction, or distribution without proper credit to the author or the page is strictly prohibited. Permission must be obtained before any use. Nat: "Top is the guy that bends the other guy and puts his thing inside. The bottom is the guy that bends and collects it from behind. That’s the best way to explain it to you." Obi swallowed a large chunk of saliva. Larry: "Relax. It doesn’t mean you’re going to do anything inside there. You just identify yourself so you’ll be able to pass the gates. There was a line of guys at the gate and some girls too." Martin: "The girls on the queue, what are they going there to do? To watch?" Larry: "Girls have their own thing that they go on with, just the same way two guys want to be together. It’s the same way two girls also want to be together. Listen, no matter what happens, you guys must not leave my sight. I don’t have any explanation to give to Big Brother when I get home because he will be furious with me. I just want you guys to experience university life so you don’t get into trouble. See the real thing under watchful eyes." Nat: "Obi, you know where you find boys, many people will approach you tonight. Don’t push them away. Don’t slap anybody, don’t beat anybody. Quietly say you are with somebody, and if they insist too much, look for me or Martin and grab us. Hold us tight to yourself. Do you understand?" The boys nodded their heads. As the line got closer, it was their turn, and the big bodyguard put down his glasses, looking sternly at them. Bodyguard: "Ah, ah, you guys look too young! When did you start doing this kind of thing? Your bodies are still slim, as if you’re not yet matured. Ha! What is your code?" (Pointing at Obi) Obi: "Top... bottom." Bodyguard: "What did you just say?" Obi: "Sorry, top." Bodyguard: "You better be careful with the things you say with your mouth. Is this one your boyfriend?" (Staring at Martin) Obi nodded his head in affirmation as he grabbed Martin’s hand and threw him inside. Larry and Nathaniel could do nothing but laugh at both of them. When they got in, it was a very different place altogether. It was their first university party. There were a lot of boys and girls there; everybody was just dancing and free. There was a swimming pool and a table where you could go and take drinks and serve yourself. Larry: "Listen to me. As far as this night is concerned, you will not drink any alcohol here. You will only take soft drinks and water. If I catch you with alcohol, I will report this incident to Big Brother myself, and I will make sure I hit you for the rest of my life." They both agreed not to try any alcohol at the party. As they were moving around together, they were surprised, their eyes full of wonder at the different spectacles everywhere. Everything was so nice and shiny; they were almost shocked when they saw some of their classmates. They were so happy to see them and came over to hook up with them. They were also happy to meet their classmates. It was something of a secret, but then when you see someone who knows your secret, you’re also happy. So, they met four of their classmates from the same faculty there, and two of the girls. Through it all, they became closer friends because it was kind of their first time. Though most of them claimed to be straight and just came to have fun, they enjoyed the party. As they were both looking at people dancing and experiencing the environment, they noticed some special people dancing at the pole—guys and ladies in different poses, with different people watching. It was a high-life experience for such young men. Then someone came behind Obi and grabbed his butt, pressing it against his waist. And tried to kiss him with an alcoholic reek breath. In less than two minutes, the guy found himself in the swimming pool, with a lot of people, including Larry, trying to bring him out of the pool before he drowned. This content is the intellectual property of OurStory TB and the author, Whiteman Micheal. Unauthorized use, reproduction, or distribution without proper credit to the author or the page is strictly prohibited. Permission must be obtained before any use. By Whitman Micheal join us on Facebook OURSTORY TB Moral: You don’t want to wait until the last hour before you understand the consequences of your actions. Sometimes, there may be no remedy to help you. It is something that you’ve done, and now, you must face it on your own. New experiences are exciting, but when you’re under pressure or in a difficult situation, it’s better to have some assurance. But remember, never be too sure. The saying "When you go to Rome, behave like the Romans" applies to everything in life. When you go to a new place that you are not familiar with, try to obey their rules and respect their laws. There may be no remedy for the consequences of your actions, especially when you are a stranger to that land. Moving from grass to grace is one of the hardest challenges that man faces every day. It’s very tough, no matter the path you take. Climbing the ladder and reaching the top with the "big boys" is never easy. But in less than 24 hours, or even less than that, someone can fall from grace to grass. It’s so easy to fall—so easy. That’s why, as you climb the ladder of success, be watchful. Make sure you don't lose your balance and fall all the way down. When you find a good friendship, cherish it and keep it close. Don’t lose it, and don’t let it die. Friendship is like a plant; you need to water it for it to grow. The same applies to relationships, marriages, and even family bonds. Everything grows, but only depending on how much you nurture it. If you don’t take care of it, it withers away. By White Man Micheal, join us on Facebook for more stories. This is a weekend booster. No sponsors. Like and follow our page Abeg please 🙏 recommended and comment.