OLUWATOYIN

 "Are you quiet?" she asked me. I looked at the dark-skinned woman for a long time before answering her. "No, I'm not. I was sleeping before you came. That's why I am like this." She laughed, relieved I wasn't as calm as I had portrayed myself. "My name is Toyin." she beamed at me while I wondered why that was her name. I had only met older women with that name, but seeing her made me rethink. She had an aura, the kind that drew people to her. "Tems!" she would call me to get my attention; although I was usually wary of the nickname, she made it pleasurable to my ears, blessing my heart with the fondness I shared with her. "I'll be twenty this year." I said during our random 'get to know your roommate' phases. "Really?" the question was outweighed by the enthusiasm of being agemates with me. "I'll be twenty too!" she smiled broadly as she said it.

'A kindred spirit, a familiar soul, a sister.' Those three descriptions always popped up in my head whenever I thought about her; there was something enthralling about her, enchanting and beautiful. 

I always wondered what went through her head on some random days, but I never questioned her. Even when I wasn't so sure about what it was, I chose not to ask her.

"There's a lizard in the room." The message lit up my phone screen as I was at rehearsals that day."Kill it," I replied silently, praying she would find the courage. "But I can't." Another message dropped and I laughed silently at her response. The lizard would have stared at her and shook it's head at her unnecessary fear.

"I went to school today and about 2 people recognized me from YouTube." The words of a celebrity! I stared at her and smiled subtly before screaming "Osheyyyyy ọ̀rẹ́ mi celebrity!" Her videos encouraged me to start watching YouTube and I was glad for the waves she was breaking, slowly but steadily.

"Oluwatoyin!" On days I needed someone to talk to, I would scream her name at the top of my lungs and she would turn to me with ready ears. She taught me what it meant to have a sister maybe because we are quite similar when it came to our siblings, we both have two brothers although she's the first child and I am the last child, we are the only daughters of our parents. Do you get it now? A kindred spirit.

Dear Oluwatoyin, the world is yet to know half of what you can do and what you will do. But before the world hears your name, I will whisper it to God's ears, telling him to bless the sister he sent me, telling him to brighten her path and telling him to keep her for me because I love her too much.

"Insects everywhere!" She had complained after stepping out of the bathroom that day. "Let's get insecticide and start spraying our room" I looked at her as she went off about the insects that were stressing her out and laughed making a mental note to myself about the insecticide.

Now that I don't have the luxury of seeing her face everyday, I appreciate her the more and I love her the more. Her light shone into my heart and helped me to open up to people more. My friends automatically became her friends because of this same light and she added people to me as well.

"Tems are you going to CCBR today?" She would ask me when it was close to evening and I would sigh heavily because it was going to be a long night. "You'll be fine." Part of me found it difficult to believe her but she was right, I'm fine now. 

You shine like the brightest of stars and I am glad to bask in your light.

There are more things to write and more little stories to tell but I can't squeeze everything into one blog post. My dearest soul sister, the kindred spirit God sent to me; you're set for greatness and beauty, your light will never dim and here's to being a year older, I love you ma'am ❤️. Thank you for sharing your beautiful heart with me. Happy Belated Birthday Olúwátóyìn mi ọ̀wọ́n.

4 months is a really long time.

I didn't know what to write,

I had a lot of drafts that were waiting to be completed and published,

But I kept postponing my comeback.

Here I am now!

I'm a BSc. Holder for as many of you that know and that means more time to belt out the most beautiful short stories.

Thank you for being patient with The Deepsea Writer ❤️

Thank you for your support always.

A proper breakdown of what has happened will be brought to your screens soon enough.

Today's post is for my girl Toyin.

Musical Stories for this moment:

To My Own by Adekunle Gold

Womb by Melanie Martinez

Elijah Level by Gaise Baba

Love always

Adétọ́lá❤️