24/08/2025
One blessed morning in April 2022, after a very chaotic night shift at Golden Cross Hospital in Lagos, I went to hand over to the morning duty doctor.
I must have looked a sight, big comfy scrubs, eye bags, and completely scruffy after a sleepless night.
That was when I first met N’kem. My colleague introduced him as the new doctor joining us because we were short-staffed. I looked up and saw this fine, tall, neatly dressed man — shirt, tie, ward coat perfectly ironed, neat to a T.
We exchanged pleasantries, and I honestly can’t remember the exact details of our first conversation, but I know he left an impression. The moment I got home, I called my friend to gist her about the “new doctor” I had just met. For the most part, we kept things professional. We bonded over work and slowly developed a friendship. At the time, he was in a relationship and I respected that.
But later in the year, just before his birthday in September, his long-distance relationship ended. I was his only friend in Lagos then, so I suggested a few birthday activities so he wouldn’t spend the day sulking.
