“𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑎 𝑙𝑜𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝐶𝒉𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑚𝑎𝑠.
𝑇𝒉𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑡𝒉𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐼 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑…𝑦𝑜𝑢.”

• • •

“Ho! Ho! Ho! A merry Christmas to—”

“What do you want?” the slightly older woman asked, crossing her hands and staring down at Olaniyi.

He adjusted the Santa spring hat that he had come across after digging through his mother’s old belongings. “I came to distribute gifts to the good children in your house.”

The woman blinked at him. “Leave!”

“But ma—”

“I said get out before I call security!”

He let out a sigh and turned to leave when a little boy ran out from inside the house shouting for his mum. The boy stopped when he saw Olaniyi dressed in a Santa outfit.

“Mummy, Father Christmas!”

The mother grabbed a hold of the boy’s hand before he could get to Olaniyi. “Where are you going?”

“I want sweet,” the boy said, pouting.

“Shut up! I warned you about taking things from strangers. Do you want them to initiate you? Abi you don’t know this is the period when ritualists go around looking for who to use?”

The little boy started crying as the mother dragged him into the house. Olaniyi couldn’t help chuckling at the scene. He could have sworn she was Gen Z until she started talking to her son.

He left the house, failing for the umpteenth time in his attempt to cosplay Santa. At least this time he used the front door instead of the window and he didn’t get accused of theft or almost get a beating from every single person in the neighbourhood.

He could feel the sweat dripping down his body so he stripped himself of the Santa coat since he wasn’t fooling anyone with it. It had seemed like a good plan when he thought of it. After all, rich kids were stupid and only they could believe in something as dumb as Santa Claus.

And he expected the parents to be a bit more open minded, at least enough to let him in their house to give his ‘gifts’. He stared down at the golden bracelet in his hand. He had managed to get this from one of the houses.

Since none of them had let him past their threshold, he was lucky to have found this lying in someone’s compound. He could only hope that it was real gold. That way he wouldn’t have entirely wasted his time.

He looked wistfully at the large houses as he passed them and thought of how much he could have made had he gotten into one of them. He stopped walking when his eyes landed on a girl who stood outside one of the buildings.

This particular one wasn’t a residential home but a hotel. She held onto a large purple suitcase and stared ahead like there was no tomorrow.

She looked biracial with curly bangs falling into her dull green eyes and the rest of her curly hair framing her oval face. She was so beautiful; Olaniyi didn’t know when he started walking towards her.

“Hey,” he said once he was standing in front of her.

She didn’t stir or give any single indication that she had heard him.

“Hello,” he said again.

Her eyes widened a bit before landing on him. From this distance he could see the freckles scattered on her brown skin from her nose to her cheeks. She blinked at him for several seconds, not uttering a word.

“I was just walking by and I—”

She straightened herself, pulled her suitcase and started walking away. Olaniyi’s mouth hung open and he blinked as he tried to process what just happened. When he did, he went after her, deciding not to give up.

“Are you going somewhere?”

She continued walking as if she hadn’t heard him. But he noticed that she wasn’t fast and it didn’t seem like she was trying to get away from him. It seemed more like she was just lost in thought.

“Your bag seems heavy. I can help you.”

She turned to look at him now, her thick brows furrowed but she still didn’t speak.

“I promise I won’t run with it.”

Her full lips parted but she didn’t get any words out before she got distracted by something behind Olaniyi. He turned to see what she was staring at and found a poster advertising something.

Apparently, they were giving out free apartments to couples in line with the Christmas spirit. The only requirement was that the couples needed to show valid proof of their marriage to get the apartment.

“Two-bedroom apartments? Sounds nice to me. We should try it out.”

Olaniyi’s words finally triggered a response from the girl.

“Do you know me from somewhere?” Her accent was American.

“No—”

“Are you by any chance homeless?”

“No—”

“Then why the hell would you think of that!?”

Olaniyi laughed at her tone. “Relax. It was just a suggestion.”

“A bizarre and implausible one. Besides, it's probably a trap.” She continued walking and he followed.

“Says who? It looks legit.”

She arched one of her thick brows. “Do you live in this country?”

“Yeah?”

“And you think that someone with good intentions would randomly give away free apartments?”

“This is a rich people neighborhood.”

“So? It’s Nigeria. My dad always says . . . u-used to say that there’re a lot of kidnappers. Those posters might have been put up by traffickers to lure people like you.”

“You can’t blame me for thinking about it. It seemed like a good offer.”

She scoffed. “Yeah, right.”

“I don’t expect you to understand. You clearly would never be homeless.”

He couldn’t help the slight edge that seeped into his tone. Judging by her appearance alone, she looked like she cost more than his aunty’s house. Then if he added the fact that she just came out from the biggest hotel in the country, she wasn’t just regular rich but blood money rich.

“As a matter of fact, I am homeless right now,” she said with a mirthless laugh.

“You don’t look homeless. The money you spent in that hotel for a night can buy my aunt's apartment.”

“If I wasn’t homeless I wouldn’t be staying in hotels. And I can’t even do that anymore . . . If you aren’t homeless, why would you be interested in free houses?”

“It’ll be much better than living with my aunt,” he murmured but she heard him.

“Where are your parents?”

“They’re dead.”

The heat of the sun competed with the harmattan breeze and barred down on their backs. The sound of honking horns and speeding vehicles filled the air for a few seconds.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, staring down at the cobbled pathway they walked on.

Olaniyi waved it aside. “Why don’t you have a house? You look like you can afford it.”

“Should I remind you that you’re a stranger?”

“I’m Olaniyi. You know my name. I’m no longer a stranger.”

She facepalmed herself, sighing.

“What do you plan on doing now?” Olaniyi asked, staring into her eyes. He wondered if she was wearing contacts.

“I don’t know.” Her eyes looked glossy and Olaniyi suddenly realized she wasn’t joking.

“Then why don’t we go for the apartment?”

“That’s not any safer than telling you about my life.”

“But it’s safer than sleeping on the streets.”

She chewed on her lips as she mulled over the thought. She opened her mouth but closed it again and frowned.

“What happened?”

“We’re not married.”

“I’ll handle that.”

“How?”

“We’re in Nigeria. Anything is possible.”

“I don’t know . . . How old are you?” she asked, swiping off a charred flake that landed on her face.

“Twenty. You?”

“Eighteen.”

“Good. We’re both legal.”

She thought about it a bit more before reluctantly agreeing. Either way she was in danger.

“I’ll get the rest of the details,” Olaniyi said, jogging away.

He returned before she could change her mind. “I’ll help you carry your bag. We’ll go to my aunt's place first and drop it and then we’ll make inquiries about the flat.”

She let out a deep exhale before nodding.

• • • • •

“Ola!”

Olaniyi heard his name as he was talking to the vendor and turned around to find the girl he was with earlier, Zikora, running towards him. He left the shop and started walking towards her.

She hid behind him once he got to her.

“What happened?” he asked, his eyes darting between Zikora’s face and the place she had come running from.

“Those guys dressed in crazy costumes were chasing me with a stick.” She peered from Olaniyi’s back, panting.

“Which guys?”

“The ones in costumes that I see whenever we come back for Christmas.”

“Masquerades?”

“Yeah, those ones.”

Olaniyi tried but failed to stifle his laughter.

“Stop laughing,” she said, hitting his chest.

“Okay. Don’t worry, they’re gone.”

She looked behind her. “Are you sure? And why do they go around harassing people?”

“This is a village and it’s a tradition.”

The dust flying around made Zikora’s eyes water. “I hope the house we're getting isn’t situated here. What are you going to do about the marriage certificate?”

They had both gone to the address on the poster earlier to make inquiries and that was what led them to this part of the town. With the way the woman present there had both looked at them and questioned them, it would take a lot of convincing to get her to believe that they were married.

“I have a friend who can run it for us. I told him. He should have it ready by tonight and we’ll go again tomorrow.”

“Hmm.”

They resumed walking with Olaniyi leading the way.

“It was pretty smart of you to have given that answer when she asked about your parents. Although it’s a bit too convenient if both of our parents just happen to be dead.”

“But it’s true.”

It took two seconds for what she said to settle in his head. “Oh my God, I’m sor—”

“It’s okay. Are you hungry?”

“Yeah, I wanted to buy bread before you came. I haven’t eaten anything since today.”

“Neither have I.”

“We can split the bread. I’m sorry if it won’t be much but I don’t really have more money—”

Zikora shook her head. “It’s fine. I have five hundred naira left. That should get me something.”

He had so many questions he wanted to ask her but decided to keep them to himself. They walked on the dirt road to the nearest shop.

They bought two loaves of bread and settled on the stairs of a closed shop to eat it. Olaniyi started eating his bread first and Zikora was about to start when a little child walked to them.

He was so thin, his skin clung to his bones. He couldn’t have been older than seven. He gestured for them to give him food and Zikora stared between her bread and his face for a while before handing it to him.

He thanked her and left. Olaniyi gaped at her as she stared at the child’s retreating figure.

“Why did you do that?”

“I wasn’t really hungry.”

Her stomach chose that moment to grumble. Olaniyi’s stare pierced her.

“Fine. It’s almost Christmas. Shouldn’t Christmas be about giving? Well not only Christmas but you get the point.”

He stared at her incredulously. “You haven’t eaten since morning.”

“He probably hasn’t eaten longer than that. Besides, he's a child. I’ll get something to eat eventually. I think I have a pack of biscuits in my box.”

Olaniyi divided his bread into two and gave her one half.

“No, you—”

“Dammit! Just take the bread!”

She seemed startled by his words but collected the bread anyway, muttering ‘thank you’ under her breath. He apologized quickly and she waved it off. They both ate in silence and when they were done, they returned to his aunty’s place.

For the first time in the two years he had lived here, he noticed just how decrepit the building was. With each step Zikora took, he wondered what she thought about the place.

When they had come here earlier, they had been in a rush so he hoped she didn’t really pay attention. But right now she had all the time in the world to notice the spirogyra covering the interlocked floor of the small compound and creeping onto the cracks in the fence’s wall.

She definitely wouldn’t miss the broken louvers and the wooden doors that barely hung on their hinges. He half-expected her to scrunch her nose at the occasional smell from the soakaway pit but her face remained stoic as she entered the building.

The Christmas lights that were strung through the metal handrails flickered as they went up the stairs. He was relieved that at least there was electricity.

He took Zikora into his room, grateful that he always cleaned his room before leaving. She scanned it from the door before walking in.

“Nice room,” she said but he knew she was just being polite.

There was nothing attractive about the peeling walls or the tattered mattress in the middle of his room that was barely covered by the strap of clothing he called a bedsheet.

“I’ll go outside so you can change and take a bath. The tap isn’t working but I filled the buckets.”

She nodded and thanked him.

“Also my aunty will soon be back and she isn’t going to be happy if she finds out you’re here so can you please stay in the room until I return?”

“Sure. I’m sorry for putting you through the stress.”

“You’re doing me a favor by getting the apartment so we’re even.”

He left the room afterwards and waited in the tiny living room for his aunty to return. He had dozed off on the couch while waiting. The groaning of the rusty hinges of the front door woke him up and alerted him that his aunty was back.

“Useless boy!” she said, the moment she found him lying on the couch. “All you do is lazy about. How much did you make today?”

He stifled a yawn. “I didn’t make anything.”

The line she had drawn with an eye pencil to replace her shaved brows went up sharply. “What do you mean you didn’t make anything? What were you doing the entire day?”

“I—”

“I don’t even care. Follow me to my room!”

Her heels clicked on the floor as he followed her. When he got to her room, she handed him one super pack of indomie.

“Only one pack?” he asked, staring down at it.

“What? Were you expecting me to feed you when you didn’t bring any money home? Go and cook for me jare. And don’t try anything funny. If that food isn’t enough for me you’ll sleep outside today.”

She slammed the door on his face when she was done. He inhaled and walked to the kitchen. After preparing the food, he served it to her and returned to his own room.

Zikora was talking to someone on her phone when he entered the room so he used the time to bathe. When he returned, she was spreading her clothes on the floor.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

She looked up at him. “I’m preparing to sleep.”

The corner of his brows twitched up. “You want to sleep on the floor?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you insane? You’ll get a cold.” His eyes drifted to the missing louver panes. “It gets really chilly here at night, especially now that it’s Harmattan.”

“That’s why I’m spreading my clothes on the floor. I wish I didn’t pack only summer clothes though.”

He facepalmed himself. “I don’t think you get it.” He gestured to the louvers. “You see the state of the window, that isn’t keeping the cold out. The last thing I need is for you to fall sick. Those clothes are too light to make any difference.”

He let his eyes linger on her satin pajama top and shorts for a few seconds before he realized what he was doing.

“Do you have any blankets?” she asked.

He was tempted to laugh at her question. He didn’t even have a proper bedspread. “I don’t. Look, I’ll sleep on the floor. You can stay on my mattress.”

“But—”

“I don’t have the strength for arguments and no you’re not bothering me.”

“You’re not sleeping on the floor.”

Olaniyi groaned. “Okay, why don’t we both sleep on the bed? I don’t move when I sleep so I won’t come near you.”

She gauged the bed from where she stood as if skeptical that the both of them could fit on it without contact before she reluctantly nodded.

They both lay on the bed, trying to give each other as much distance as possible. Olaniyi tried to fall asleep but the cold kept him awake. When he finally couldn’t take it, he turned to find Zikora shivering.

“Hey,” he whispered and she diverted her eyes from the missing board in the ceiling to Olaniyi’s face.

“You’re shivering.”

“No.” Her teeth clattered.

“We can wrap ourselves in the bedsheet. It’s just that it’s a bit small so we have to come together. Is it okay if I . . . h-hold you?”

She rolled over to Olaniyi and he wrapped his right hand around her waist, pulling her closer while he used his other hand to pull the bedsheet over them. They remained like that afterwards and he couldn’t sleep since he was very aware of her body pressed against his.

His heart had picked up its pace and he prayed she didn’t hear it. After trying to sleep for several minutes, he finally gave up.

“Are you awake?” he whispered, looking down at her face.

“I find it hard to fall asleep in new environments and it’s not every day I have to share a bed with a stranger,” she said, looking at him.

He chuckled lightly. “Yeah, this is actually weird.”

The sound of the window rattling as the wind howled outside took over for a few seconds.

“What would you have done if I hadn’t shown up?” Olaniyi asked suddenly.

“Probably gotten run over by a car. Or if I returned to the right frame of mind, I would have tried to sell something I had and looked for an affordable hotel.”

“You weren’t in the right frame of mind?”

“I might have been suicidal. Nothing else would have made me follow a stranger.”

He grinned. “What would you have sold? Your phone?”

“No, it’s an old flip phone I bought when I got here because I misplaced my own at the airport. I wouldn’t get any value for it. And plus I still need a phone.”

“Are you ready to tell me why you were suicidal?”

She kept quiet and looked away from him and just as he was about to apologize for asking, she spoke. “I checked out from the hotel this morning. I was supposed to meet my parents at the airport but then I got a call and learned that the plane they got on crashed.”

Olaniyi didn’t know what to say. Sorry wouldn’t make her feel any better. So instead he asked, “You guys live in the US, right?”

“Yeah, Florida.”

“Why were you in Nigeria before your parents?”

“I came from France. I was on a pilgrimage.”

“That’s why you said you were currently homeless?”

“More like stranded. I’d spent all the money I had and since I misplaced my phone before then, the only people I could contact were those I had their numbers offhand. Not a lot. Just one friend and my dad’s lawyer.”

She licked her chapped lips before continuing. “My dad’s lawyer went on a vacation with his family. They’re on a remote island with no cellular connection to avoid disturbances so I can’t reach him. And he’s my trustee although I’m not supposed to be able to access the money in the trust fund until I turn nineteen—which is in a week by the way.”

“Happy birthday in advance.”

“Thanks. But maybe there’s a clause that lets me access it in the case of an emergency. And even if there isn’t, he’s my dad’s best friend. He can at least send me some money to buy an economy ticket to go back home.”

“Doesn’t your family have a house here?” Olaniyi asked.

“It’s in Anambra and I can’t afford to go there either.” Her breath tickled his neck. “You know, I still find it hard to believe that any of this is real.”

Olaniyi’s lips curled up. “Snuggling with a stranger?”

“That too but the whole crash . . . It still feels like a big joke. Or a hyper realistic dream I just can’t wake up from.”

Against his better judgment, he cupped her cheek. “You’ll be fine.”

No other words were exchanged until they both drifted into sleep.

• • • • •

Olaniyi counted the money in his hands. He had made quite the bank today by deceiving some old fools into buying charm destroyers from him. And as a bonus he got away with not paying for the foodstuffs he bought because the woman’s shop was rowdy and she was distracted by other customers.

He also sold the bracelet he had found yesterday. Luckily, it was real gold but Adekunle wouldn’t give him more than twenty thousand for it.

He walked back to the apartment. He and Zikora had finally gotten it today although they still had to provide proof to the woman that they were both employed before the apartment would become theirs.

He was sure she was still skeptical about them. She kept asking if they had eloped and why they decided to get married so early.

The apartment itself was sizable but that was basically it. It was completely empty, even lacking windows in the openings left for them. It was better than his aunty’s place but he was already used to staying there.

He considered renting the apartment out after Zikora left. At least that would give him a steady source of income.

The blaring of horns snapped him out of his thoughts but he was too stunned to move. The bike swerved away from him at the last minute, the rider yelling curses at him.

The dust that rose afterwards made him cough and wave his hand in front of his face. When it had cleared, he noticed a child sitting by the road in haggard clothes and remembered what Zikora said about Christmas and giving.

He walked to him and gave him a thousand naira note.

The child looked up at him. “God bless you.”

There was something in the way the child looked at him that warmed his heart. Zikora would definitely be proud of him if she were here.

Thinking about her made him want to run back to the apartment. He couldn’t explain why his mind kept drifting back to her throughout the entire day or why he was so eager to return to her but he tried not to dwell on it.

He reached the apartment at the same time she did.

“How was your day?” he asked, unlocking the door.

“I made a little bit of money. And I also bought you a plate of food.”

His eyes moved between the nylon in her hand and her face. The bangs were still there but the rest of her hair was tied up in a high puff. She looked even more beautiful than she did the previous day.

“How?”

“I walked around a bit and I found this hairdresser. I asked her for a job but she dismissed me. I stayed anyway and helped her throughout the day. I even did someone’s makeup.”

He hummed. “How much did she give you?”

“Two thousand,” she said.

“Only?”

“Yeah. The person I made up gave me a tip of one thousand.”

“That’s nice. I bought some foodstuff.”

“You got money too? What job do you do?”

From what Olaniyi knew, she was a self-righteous person. She would probably reject the food if she knew how he got it so instead he said. “I work for a mechanic.”

It wasn’t entirely a lie. He used to until the guy died and his shop burnt.

“Sounds tough.”

They both sat on the tiled floor and Olaniyi started eating.

“Is it just me or does all this feel . . . wrong?” Zikora asked.

Olaniyi chewed the food in his mouth and swallowed. “What?”

“This apartment. We aren’t even a couple let alone married. I don’t like deceiving people. And I saw this couple there today that were really in need of a place to stay but we took the last apartment.”

“We didn’t have much of a choice.”

She stared at the floor for a moment. “I know . . . is living with your aunt really that bad? If it’s not, I think we should return the apartment.”

“And where will you stay?”

She opened her mouth and closed it again.

“Let’s just stay here until you’re able to contact your lawyer then I’ll return it as soon as you leave, okay?”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

She smiled. “What do you want for Christmas?”

His eyes drifted to her full lips and he shrugged. “You?”

Her eyes watered. “My parents.”

He changed the topic. “What are you doing for Christmas?”

“You can go stay with your aunt.”

“She’d prefer it if I didn’t.”

“Then we’ll go to church.”

“Church?”

“Yeah, it’s the celebration of the Lord’s birthday after all.”

After that she insisted on dragging him out for a church hunt. They ended up at a Christmas vigil and stayed there till it was over.

They were exhausted when they returned and they both slept for most of the day. When Olaniyi woke up, Zikora was still sleeping and he prepared a meal for the both of them.

They ate till their fill and Zikora distributed the remaining to random people she saw on the street saying that no one deserved to stay hungry on Christmas.

Night came sooner than usual and once again they both snuggled against each other on the bed with the bedspread over them to keep out the cold. This time Olaniyi was much more away of her presence, her scent that invaded his nostrils and he couldn’t quite explain the thumping in his chest nor the reason he didn’t want to ever have to let go of her.

“I’m going home tomorrow,” she said.

At first, he didn’t understand what she said because he was busy staring at her face and then suddenly the meaning of her words hit him. “What? Why? I-I mean, how? Did you later reach your lawyer?”

“Yeah, it was like a Christmas miracle. I called him earlier when I woke up and you were asleep. He sent me some money to get a new phone,” she said.

“How did he manage to get you tickets for tomorrow?”

“He didn’t. I’m going in his private jet.”

Olaniyi nodded. Of course, he should have expected someone who could afford a vacation on a remote island to have a private jet.

“That’s great,” he tried but failed miserably to sound happy.

“What happened?” she asked, concerned.

“It’s nothing. I’m just a bit tired. Go to sleep, okay? We’ll leave early tomorrow morning.”

She nodded and put her head on his chest, closing her eyes. He was tempted to kiss her forehead but held back. He didn’t sleep the entire night.

He escorted her to the airport the next morning. Someone came to carry her luggage as soon as the taxi dropped them off. She didn’t follow the person immediately but stood there twirling her hair.

The silence in the air was palpable. Olaniyi decided to break it. “I guess this is goodbye.”

“Yeah,” she said before bringing out an envelope from her handbag. “Take this. I can’t thank you enough for everything you’ve done for me.”

The envelope was heavy and he opened it to see wads of one thousand naira notes.

He shook his head. “You don’t need to pay me.”

“It’s not payment. And no, I can’t take it back. My dad’s lawyer insisted I give it to you.”

“You told him about me?” He didn’t know why that came as a shock to him.

“Yeah. I have to go. Goodbye.”

She turned around to leave but he stopped her. She turned to him with a puzzled look. He took in a deep breath and ignoring the warning bells going off in his head, leaned in for a kiss.

Just as their lips touched, Zikora backed away.

“Sorry . . . What are you doing?”

Olaniyi kissed his teeth before sighing. “I’m really sorry. It’s just that I really like you, a lot. And I know it’s crazy, it even sounds crazy to me because we’ve only known each other for like three days but I swear it feels much longer.”

Her lashes fluttered and he realized just how unrealistically long they were.

“I don’t know what to say. I mean, I like you too.” A smile creeped up Olaniyi’s face. “As a friend. And I’ll definitely never forget you.”

The smile fell but he quickly tried to cover it up. “You should get going now.”

“Goodbye,” she said and hugged him.

He remained standing in that same position long after she left. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Then he picked up his phone and called one of his guys.

“How far? I get apartment wey I wan rent, you fit find tenant?”

“Ahn! Where you find apartment? And you no give me update?”

“Don’t worry. I dey come your place.”

He went to his friend, Tunde’s place and spent the rest of the day there drinking. When the day was almost over, he staggered back to the apartment.

He sat there thinking about Zikora and suddenly he got a text from a foreign number. It read:

It’s Zikora. I just landed.

He smiled as he replied her.

That’s great. He hesitated before adding, You didn’t get what I said yesterday but all I wanted for Christmas was you.

Written by Maryann Igwe.