The first night I moved into this apartment, my neighbours showed me the meaning of 'home away from home'. I was welcomed as if they were already expecting me and it was awesome, I won't lie. I was tended to and attended to like the beautiful stranger they've waited for all the time. It was beautiful I must say.
During the last Christmas, I was indoors, tired from the week's stress and sleeping. My all day plan to sleep was interrupted by my neighbour's call to come get a delicious delicacy of jollof, fried rice and chicken with a very chilled five-alive pulpy drink to gulp it down. I was shocked because honestly, I wasn't expecting anything. During the New year holidays too, I was invited to their beach party which I honourably declined, but not without them giving me a plate of delicious jollof rice and chicken with chilled malt. I was lucky to have them as my neighbour.
In all these, I made sure to reciprocate their goodness. I hate to always be the receiver in all my dealings, so, I reciprocated their delicious meals with even more delicious and rare meals combo. I am a chef, but not a commercial one. Eh eh. Okay, jokes apart, I make really nice meals when I want to. So, anytime I did, I made sure I extended the good meal to my neighbours. We had an amazing relationship.
One day when I wasn't at home, I got a call from a strange number. "Hello, am I on to Miss Monsurat?" Yes, you are. I responded. "I am calling from the police station as regards the house you currently live. Your landlady reported you to us that you bypassed your flat's prepaid meter, so you are to report to the police station immediately". "I am not in anywhere near home", I said. Honestly, I was some six to seven hours far from home, and I would be away for about two months.
My mind was beating so fast now, because if you know my country, you'll know that police is never your friend, especially if you don't have money. I could hardly concentrate on the reason for my travel in the first place. I called my siblings, and they were shocked too. But I allayed their fears while I was a bit scared myself. I called the caretaker who rented the apartment to me, and all he said made no sense, so I called the landlady directly.
After all the troubles, I paid a total 28,500 naira ($18.5HBD) for a debt I knew nothing about. Thank God I have friends I could borrow from. I was shocked when I realized that my sweet neighbours were the perpetrators. We have a total of nine prepaid meters, and all was bypassed by these people. Why they chose to do it for every other person, I have no idea. The crazy part? When I tried to recharge my meter sometimes back and I wasn't able to do it on my phone, this neighbour collected money from me, and neither sent the code nor did he refund my money. He had used it to buy weed as usual. Oh, I forgot to mention that I later realized they smoke weed for a living, and do nothing but gather in twelves or thirteens to gist about their next line of fraudulent activity.
After all the prepaid meter bypass brouhaha passed, there was a gap between us already. Or who wouldn't run away from a neighbour that wouldn't mind hurting someone for a personal gain?
Well, I thought the gap wouldn't get any wider until yesterday when I realized that they had placed their apartment's light on my apartment's prepaid meter. No wonder my over 200 units of power finished in less than a month when all I use is just a fan and white bulbs. As for him, he has everything you could think of having in a well-furnished home.
So, for the question, if I have a chance to change my neighbours, will I? No, I won't. I'll rather move far away from them because I hate two-faced people.
All images are generated on MetaAi.