Funny story with underlying life's lessons.
During my NYSC in Ondo town, I had this girlfriend Funke (not her real name), a fellow corp member, who was generally doing the motherly duties for me & 3 of my fellow corper friends. She was cooking & taking care of us.
Short thread.

Funke's folks stayed in Lagos, while I & my friends had our stations in Delta, Edo & South East. Life in NYSC was pretty tough (like it is today). The 'alawee' then as at now, couldn't do much for us, so we depended on stipends from home (whenever it came), & Funke's magnanimity.

She used to visit home (Lagos), every Thursday or Friday (or so she said), and come back on Sunday, bringing back needed foodstuffs (palliatives) and cash, for her gang (us ). Our survival basically depended on this her benevolence and affection for me.

Soon Funke will travel as usual, instead of the normal Sunday evenings, will show on Sunday morning and tell me that her uncle (her Dad's younger brother) who's a cocoa merchant, happened to be coming to Ondo from Lagos and she tagged along.

She'll have a reserved room, paid for her by this generous Uncle, after staying just a night, transacting his biz in town in the famous Blue Sky Hotel (not real name)! She'll invite me over, claiming that she begged him to book an extra day for her/her friends to enjoy a little.

Now I knew this wasn't true, I knew what was on, but my friends advised me to play along and not cut their meal ticket. This wasn't funny, because I was actually in love with Funke, and wasn't really interested in the food and money, more than I was committed to the relationship.

The pressure from my burning heart was intense. I felt betrayed and at a time, stopped following her to the hotel, giving one reason or the other, and she also stopped asking me after she noticed my demeanor. But that didn't change her routine, and I was literally dying inside.

After a while, I made up my mind that I would challenge her about this, and I told my friends so. They were against it & one of them was literally mad at me. Why do I want to do this stupid thing? How do I want us to survive this hell hole? Why don't I just be wise & tag along?