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Mr TopNotch, Abuja (2026)

09/10/2025

The Man Who Loved Me After D£

By Author Ovie

💔 Episode 10: His Last Message Was Inside Me

“They said it was all a dream.
That I collapsed in my studio.
That there was no village. No shrine. No spirit.
But when I looked in the mirror…
He left me something.
Something no one else could see.”

Two Weeks Later — Back in Lagos

Everyone said the same thing.

“You were dehydrated.”
“You were overworked.”
“You need rest.”
“There’s no such thing as curses.”

Even Tade said it.

He stayed with me every night. Brought flowers. Held my hand. Kissed my forehead like it was a prayer.

But he never mentioned Ejike again.

And I knew… he remembered.

But he was choosing peace. Choosing reality.

So I tried to do the same.

The Mirror — Again

The crack was still there.

Right down the center.

Even though I replaced the mirror twice, it always came back — same crack. Same place.

Then one night, after Tade had gone to bed…

I lit a candle. Faced the mirror.

Whispered, “If you’re still there…”

Nothing.

Then I turned away.

And heard it.

A soft knock.

Not on the door.

On the mirror.

I turned slowly.

And there he was.

Ejike.

Faint. Transparent. Smiling.

He wasn’t sad this time. He wasn’t haunted. He looked…

free.

The Final Conversation

I stepped closer.

"You’re at peace now," I whispered.

He nodded once.

“I chose you,” I said. “In the end, I chose you.”

“You chose truth,” he replied. “That was enough.”

“Was it all real?” I asked. “The spirit? The shrine? The baby?”

He smiled gently.

“Some curses are real. Some love is stronger than reality. And some stories… never really end.”

My throat tightened.

“Will I see you again?”

He shook his head.

“You’ll feel me. Every time you paint. Every time you hear rain. Every time hibiscus petals touch your skin.”

Then he added something that broke me completely:

“We never said goodbye properly. So here it is…
Goodbye, Sewa.”

He stepped back.

The crack in the mirror healed.

Then the mirror turned solid.

And he was gone.

The Studio — One Month Later

Life returned.

Almost.

I painted again.

I smiled again.

I even set a wedding date with Tade.

But sometimes, late at night…

I stare at my reflection…

And remember a love that defied d£, time, and tradition.

The Ending You Didn't Expect

Six months later, I found out I was pregnant.

The doctor smiled. “Congratulations! You’re about six weeks along.”

But I knew.

I knew the exact night life returned to me.

The same night I said goodbye.

And when the baby finally came…
A boy…
I named him Ejike.

Because some souls… don’t die.

They return through us.

They love us twice.

🌺 THE END 🌺

Follow me Mr TopNotch

07/10/2025

THE MAN WHO LOVED ME AFTER D£

By Author Ovie

💔 Episode 9: The Night I Chose Between Two Men and a Spirit

“The spirit gave me 3 nights.
Three chances to decide.
Save the man I once loved.
Keep the one I’m about to marry.
Or disappear with the curse.
But no one told me...
That the third option might be the only way we all survive.”

Night 1 — Tade’s Confession

We sat outside under the mango tree.

Just like I once did with Ejike.

Tade reached for my hand.

“I feel like I’m losing you,” he said.

I looked away.
Because he wasn’t wrong.

“I came here to bring you home,” he added. “To remind you that you have a life — with me. A future.”

I looked him in the eye.
He was a good man.

But love isn’t about good.
It’s about truth.

“Tade,” I whispered, “If I told you the man I thought was d£… was still here… would you believe me?”

He didn’t blink.

“I already know,” he said.

I froze.

“What?”

“I’ve seen the shadows. Heard the whispers. I felt him the night I entered this village.”

“Then why did you stay?”

He smiled sadly.

“Because I’m not afraid of ghosts. I’m afraid of losing you.”

That Same Night — Ejike’s Warning

I couldn’t sleep.

As always, he came.

This time… I met him outside, in the moonlight.

He looked faded. Fragile. As though the wind could carry him away at any moment.

“You have to let me go,” he said softly.

“No.”

“You must.”

“You told me love survives d£,” I cried. “You said you’d come back if I forgot you.”

“I did come back,” he whispered, “But now… you’re the one holding me hostage.”

My breath caught.

“You think this is love,” he said, voice shaking. “But it’s not. It’s guilt.”

Tears ran down my cheeks.

“If I let you go, you’ll be gone forever.”

He stepped closer. Rested his ghostly forehead on mine.

“And maybe… that’s what peace really means.”

Night 2 — The Spirit Speaks Again

I had one night left.

The mirror stayed silent. But my dreams didn’t.

This time, Omughele didn’t scream.

She sang.

A lullaby. One I’d heard Mama hum as a child. A lullaby passed down from daughters who never knew where it came from.

She cradled the baby.

Then held it out to me.

“Take it,” she said.

“Or bury it. But choose.”

I woke up with blood between my legs.

Not a lot. Just enough to feel like a warning.

Mama ran into the room.

“My daughter,” she whispered, hands trembling. “Have you…?”

I shook my head violently. “No. I’m not pregnant.”

But deep inside…

Something had been taken.

Or something was waiting.

Flashback — The Real Reason I Left the Village

Everyone thought I left for art. For freedom. For Lagos.

But the truth?

I left because I knew I was falling too hard for Ejike.

And the day before I boarded the bus, I missed my period.

I never took the test.
I didn’t want to know.
I ran.

But maybe… the spirit knew all along.

Night 3 — The Choice

The wind howled louder than ever.

Doors slammed. Candles blew out on their own.
Hibiscus flowers were everywhere — in my shoes, my pockets, even inside my pillow.

At midnight, I stood between two men.

Tade, standing by the doorway.
Ejike, behind me in the mirror.

I looked at them both.

The living.

The d£.

And myself… standing in the middle of a curse older than my blood.

Then I spoke:

“Take me.”

What Happened Next?

The mirror cracked.

Not shattered — cracked clean down the center.

Tade screamed my name.

Ejike vanished.

The wind stopped.

Everything went silent.

And I… collapsed.

I Woke Up 3 Days Later — In Lagos

White sheets.
Sterile air.
Tade sleeping in the corner chair with his shoes off.

I turned to the nurse.

“What happened?”

She looked confused.

“You fainted. They brought you here. You were burning with fever.”

“No,” I said. “What happened in the village?”

She tilted her head. “What village?”

I blinked.

Everything blurred.

Then she said something that made my heart stop:

“You were found unconscious in your studio.
Alone.”

☠️ END OF EPISODE 9

Follow me Mr TopNotch

05/10/2025

THE MAN WHO LOVED ME AFTER D£

By Author Ovie

💔 Episode 8: The Spirit Wants a Child

“I thought I could save Ejike.
But now the spirit says that if I want him to rest…
I must give it something in return.
A child.
My child.”

That Same Night — After the Mirror Woman Screamed

I didn’t sleep.

I couldn’t.

I sat on the cold floor of Mama’s guest room, knees clutched to my chest, breathing like someone whose lungs no longer remembered how to work.

That scream… it didn’t come from the mirror.

It came from inside me.

And that baby — the one with Tade’s face — that wasn’t just a nightmare.

That was a threat.

Early Morning — Baba Isaiah’s Warning

I went to him before sunrise, dragging my wrapper behind me like a curse I couldn’t shake.

He opened his door before I even knocked.

“You saw her,” he said.

“The woman in the mirror,” I whispered. “With the baby.”

He nodded. “Omughele.”

My stomach dropped. “She’s real?”

“She was. Once. Until her love was cursed. Until she tried to run.”

“And the baby?”

He hesitated.

Then said the words I feared most:

“That’s your future child, Adesuwa.”

My breath caught.

“She’s showing you what she wants… a child born of your heart. An offering.”

Mama’s Secret

I told Mama everything.

About the mirror.
The child.
The shrine.
The flowers.
Omughele.

She didn't speak.

Not at first.

Then she opened a small wooden chest I had never seen before.

Inside was a letter.

Faded. Torn. Dated 1981.

It was written by my grandmother.

“If the bloodline must survive, the vow must never be broken again.
The first daughter must never give her heart to an Obasi boy.
If she does…
The land will require her womb.”

I dropped the letter.

Tears fell freely now.

“You knew,” I said to Mama.

“I prayed it would skip you,” she sobbed. “I did everything—fasted, burnt sacrifices, even bathed you in river salt when you were a baby. But your heart… your heart always knew his name.”

Flashback — My First Time Seeing Ejike (As Children)

I was only seven.

I had followed a butterfly too far from my compound.

I fell. Skinned my knee. Cried like the world was ending.

Then he appeared.

Dirty slippers. Crooked teeth. Big eyes.

He didn’t say a word.

He just took off his wrapper, tore a piece, and wrapped my knee gently.

Then he said, “You shouldn’t cry over pain. You save tears for love.”

I never forgot that.

Not even when he d!£d.

Not even now.

Tade’s Unexpected Arrival

By evening, Tade showed up in the village unannounced.

He said he was worried.
Said I hadn’t answered my phone in days.
Said he missed me.

But the moment he entered Mama’s compound… the wind shifted.

The air got colder. The birds stopped.

And as soon as he sat down — the baby cried again.

But only I could hear it.

I excused myself. Ran to the room.

And there, on my bed—

Another wet hibiscus.

But this one was bleeding.

Red.

Warm.

Fresh.

Midnight Again — The Voice Speaks

No mirror this time.

Just a voice.

Low. Female. Ancient.

“You brought another. A replacement. A promise. A womb.”

I couldn’t breathe.

“No!” I cried. “Tade has nothing to do with this!”

“He carries the seed. He carries the debt.”

Then silence.

And a single word whispered like thunder:

“Choose.”

☠️ END OF EPISODE 8

Follow me Mr TopNotch

03/10/2025

The Man Who Loved Me After D£

By Author Ovie

💔 Episode 7: The Curse Was Never His Alone

“I thought the spirit came for Ejike.
But now… it’s following me too.
And I just found out something I was never supposed to know.
I am not the first woman it has come for.”

Flashback — Years Ago (A Story Mama Never Told Me)

Before Ejike…
Before Tade…
Before I was even born…

There was a girl named Omughele.

She was the first daughter of the Okiemute family — my bloodline.

She fell in love with an Obasi boy.

Just like me.

They said it was dangerous.
That their union would break “the pact.”

But they didn’t care.

They loved.

They touched.

They planned to run.

And on the night they were meant to escape…

She vanished.

No trace. No bl**d. No c0rps£.

Just her wrapper… found tied to the Obasi shrine.

Present Day — Mama’s Revelation

“You knew this would happen,” I said, trembling.

Mama’s eyes brimmed with tears.

“I didn’t want to believe it,” she whispered. “I prayed it would skip you.”

“What would skip me, Mama? What?!”

“The binding.”

She sighed deeply, her voice breaking.

“Women from our family… are not meant to love Obasi men. There’s a vow. An old one. Made generations ago.”

“What kind of vow?”

“A protective one. Your great-grandmother swore it in front of the river. That if any daughter of our blood ever dared to give her heart to the Obasi clan again, the land itself would claim one of them.”

I staggered back, shaking my head.

“So Ejike… was taken because of me?”

“No,” Mama said slowly. “He was taken because he loved you too much to let you go.”

The Nightmare

That night, I dreamed of the river.

Calm. Still. But with voices beneath it.

Whispers in a language I didn’t understand.

And then I saw her—

Omughele.

Standing in the water. Half-submerged. Hair like wet threads.

She looked like me.

She held a baby. Wrapped in white cloth soaked in red.

She spoke only once.

“Break the vow… or bury another.”

I woke up gasping.

There was sand in my bed.

And a wet hibiscus on my chest.

The Village Shrine — Forbidden Visit

I couldn’t sleep.

So before dawn, I took a wrapper and crept toward the Obasi shrine.

They told us never to go there.

They said the land was dry. That nothing ever grew there.

They lied.

It was covered in white hibiscus flowers.

Thousands of them.

But in the center… there was one small patch of earth that had been dug recently.

And inside it—

A small wooden figure with my name tied to its neck.

My breath caught.

Footsteps behind me.

I turned, heart pounding.

Baba Isaiah. Again.

“I told you,” he said softly, “love that lingers in death… is never just love.”

“What is this?” I asked, holding the figure.

“A mark,” he whispered. “A warning.”

“From who?”

He looked up at the sky.

“From the ones who never forgot.”

Later That Night — The Final Sign

I sat in my room, watching the clock.

Midnight.

The mirror fogged again.

But this time, Ejike didn’t appear.

Someone else did.

A woman.

Dressed in river-soaked cloth.

With a baby in her arms.

And on the baby's forehead…
Was Tade’s face.

She opened her mouth.

And screamed.

☠️ END OF EPISODE 7

Follow me Mr TopNotch

02/10/2025

The Man Who Loved Me After D£

By Author Ovie

💔 Episode 6: The Fire Wasn’t an Accident

“They told the world it was an accident.
That the house caught fire because of a candle.
But I knew better.
Because I was the last person to walk out of that house…
And I left the door open.”

Present Day — Okpanam Village

I didn’t sleep again.

How could I?

How do you rest knowing the love of your life has no grave, no peace, and no justice?

How do you breathe knowing the last thing he ever heard from you… was a l!e?

Mama begged me not to go near the ruins.

She said it was cursed. That nothing good came out of that land. That even the goats avoided that side of the village.

But I went.

Because I needed answers.

And the truth was waiting for me — right where the ash still whispered his name.

The Burnt House — 3 Years Later

The structure was still standing… barely.

Blackened walls.
Collapsed ceiling.
The faint scent of burnt wood mixed with something older… something sour.

The villagers never rebuilt it. They left it there, untouched — like a wound that refused to heal.

I stepped over a fallen doorframe.

Memories came back in pieces.

The laughter.

The mangoes Ejike had picked.

The way he had looked at me that night, before I walked away — leaving the door open, heart shattered, truth unspoken.

Flashback — Moments Before the Fire

Ejike was pacing.

“You’re not telling me everything,” he said.

“I am,” I lied.

“You’re not just leaving for Lagos. You’re leaving me.”

I swallowed hard. “I need more than this village. You understand that, don’t you?”

“Do you love him?”

The question hit me like a slap.

“Tade?” I hesitated.

“Yes.”

I looked at the floor. “I don’t know.”

He walked to the door. “Then go figure it out.”

I stepped outside.

Turned back.

He was still standing there, candle in hand, tears in his eyes.

I didn’t say goodbye.

Present — At the Ruins

I touched the scorched wall, now covered in moss.

I whispered, “I’m sorry.”

The wind picked up. Hard.

Leaves flew.

Dust scattered.

And suddenly — I heard footsteps.

Slow. Heavy. Right behind me.

I turned around—

But it wasn’t Ejike.

It was Baba Isaiah.

The Truth from the Old Man

“You shouldn’t be here,” he said.

“I need to know what happened.”

He looked at me for a long time. Then sighed.

“People lie, child. But fire doesn’t.”

I stepped closer. “What do you mean?”

“The fire didn’t start from inside the house.”

“What?”

“It started behind it. By the shrine.”

My blood froze.

“Shrine?”

He nodded. “The Obasi family shrine. The one Ejike swore never to bow to.”

My mouth went dry.

“He rejected his family’s ‘inheritance’… and the spirits rejected him.”

“You’re saying… they k!ll£d him?”

He looked away.

“I’m saying… not everything in this world wants to be forgotten.”

Later That Night — The Mirror Again

He came back.

Same place. Same time.

But this time… he looked weaker.

Paler.

“Ejike,” I cried. “I know now. I know what really happened.”

He stared at me. His voice barely a whisper.

“You were never the reason I d!£d.”

My heart clenched.

“But I was the reason you weren’t saved,” I sobbed.

He shook his head slowly.

“They were always going to take me. But your love kept me here.”

My chest heaved. “Then why are you fading?”

He stepped back.

“Because the thing that truly k!ll£d me… is waking up again.”

☠️ END OF EPISODE 6

Follow me for more episodes Mr TopNotch

01/10/2025

The Man Who Loved Me After D£

By Author Ovie

💔 Episode 5: I Was the Reason He D!£d

“Everyone thought it was an accident.
But I knew the truth.
I loved him…
And I ruined him.”

Flashback — The Night of the Fire (3 Years Ago)

It was supposed to be a quiet evening.

Ejike had just returned from the river with his usual calm, wet-shirt look that always made my stomach twist in ways I never admitted out loud.

We sat under the mango tree behind Mama Anulika’s compound.

“You’ve been quiet,” he said, glancing sideways at me.

I nodded. “I need to tell you something.”

He waited.

“I’m… leaving. For real this time. Lagos. I got accepted into an art residency.”

He smiled. It didn’t reach his eyes.

“When?”

“Next week.”

He turned his head.

Silence.

Then he said something I’ll never forget.

“If you leave now, we’ll never see each other again.”

I laughed nervously. “Stop. Don’t say that.”

But he meant it.

And I knew he was right.

Because I wasn’t just leaving for art.

I was leaving… to get married.

Present — Okpanam Graveyard

The hibiscus still sat in that empty c0ff!n, untouched by time.

Mama stood behind me, her wrapper tight around her waist, fear thick in her eyes.

“We have to close it,” she said. “Before the spirits notice what we’ve done.”

I didn’t move.

“Adesuwa?”

I turned to her slowly.

“I lied to him, Mama,” I whispered. “The night he d!£d… I lied.”

Her lips parted slightly.

“I told him I wasn’t leaving for a man. But I was. I told him I’d come back. But I never planned to.”

“And you think that’s why he came back?”

I nodded, tears falling. “He d!£d thinking I didn’t love him. And now…”

My phone rang.

Unknown number.

I answered it without thinking.

“Adesuwa,” the voice whispered.

I froze.

“Ejike?”

“I forgive you.”

Then the call ended.

That Same Night — The Return

I stayed up again.
How could I sleep?

A man I once loved — still loved — was walking around without a b0dy, without peace, because of me.

So when the light flickered…
When the mirror fogged…
When the wind blew through a closed window…

…I didn’t run this time.

He appeared behind me, like always.

Tall. Still. Beautiful in that haunting way only lost souls can be.

“I saw you,” I whispered, turning to him. “At the grave.”

He didn’t speak.

“You weren’t there. Just a flower. What happened to you?”

Still no answer.

“Say something, Ejike. Please.”

He stepped forward.

And this time… I felt it.

His fingers brushed against my cheek.

Cold. Gentle. Regretful.

“I d!£d,” he whispered, “with your name in my mouth.”

My knees buckled.

He caught me before I hit the floor.

“I waited for you,” he said.

Tears poured from my eyes.

“I’m sorry,” I sobbed. “I didn’t know how to love you then.”

His eyes glowed faintly.

“But you do now.”

I nodded. “Yes. I do.”

Then he said something that shattered what was left of me:

“But love can’t bring me back…
…only truth can set me free.”

☠️ END OF EPISODE 5

Follow me for the next episode Mr TopNotch

30/09/2025

THE MAN WHO LOVED ME AFTER D£

By Author Ovie

💔 Episode 4: We Opened His Grave

“I saw it with my own eyes.
The coffin we bur!3d him in was still there…
But his b0dy wasn’t.”

Okpanam Village — Three Days Later

The road to the village felt longer than I remembered.

It wasn’t the potholes. Or the dusty breeze that scratched my skin.
It was the silence.

Even the birds refused to sing.

Mama didn’t come to pick me from the junction. She sent someone. A boy I didn’t recognize, who wouldn’t meet my eyes the whole way.

As we approached our compound, I noticed it immediately:
People were watching me. Not just with curiosity… but with fear.

Inside Mama’s House

“You shouldn’t have called him back,” Mama said quietly, as I sat on the same wooden chair I’d once eaten roasted corn on.

“I didn’t call anyone,” I whispered.

She dropped the kettle on the table.

“Some love,” she said, “is stronger than d£. But when it’s disturbed, it becomes hungry.”

My eyes filled with tears. “He’s not a monster, Mama. It’s Ejike. He hasn’t hurt me.”

Mama looked at me then. For real.

“That’s what makes it dangerous.”

That Night — By the Church

The old catechist, Baba Isaiah, had agreed to meet us.
He was there the day they bur!3d Ejike. He said he still had the church records.

We walked behind the chapel, lantern in hand, until we reached the edge of the graveyard.

And there it was.

His grave.

Unmarked. Overgrown. Forgotten.

But I knew it.
I felt it in my bones.

“It’s time,” Baba Isaiah said. “Whatever returned to you... isn't resting.”

I hesitated.

“Mama, are you sure about this?”

She nodded. “You won’t sleep again until we know the truth.”

Digging the Grave

The shovel hit something hard after a few minutes. The smell of wet earth and rot filled the air.

My chest tightened.

We cleared the dirt.
The old wooden lid came into view.

I dropped to my knees.

My hands shook as I touched the coffin.

“Do you want to open it?” Baba asked.

I nodded.

He cracked it open with one final strike.

And then…

Silence.

No scream. No wind. No thunder.

Just one horrifying truth:

It was empty.

No b0dy. No bones. No remains.

Just a folded white hibiscus lying exactly where his heart should’ve been.

I couldn’t breathe.

Later That Night

I sat outside, wrapped in a wrapper, staring at the sky.

Mama brought me water. I didn’t touch it.

“I thought I was going crazy,” I whispered. “But this…?”

She knelt beside me.

“Something is unfinished,” she said. “Something is holding him here.”

I looked at her, tears brimming in my eyes.

“Do you think… he blames me?”

She didn’t answer.

But the wind did.

It blew softly.

And in it… I heard his voice.

“You left me alone.”

☠️ END OF EPISODE 4

Follow me for the next episode Mr TopNotch

29/09/2025

THE MAN WHO LOVED ME AFTER D£

By Author Ovie

💔 Episode 3: He Still Remembers How I Smell

“I changed my perfume.
Moved cities. Got engaged. Bur!3d him.
But somehow…
He still remembers how I smell.”

Present Day — Lagos

I did everything right.

I prayed.
I played gospel music all night.
I sprinkled anointing oil on my pillow.
I even called my mother in the village and asked for Psalm 91.

But nothing worked.

He kept coming.

Sometimes in the mirror.
Sometimes in my dreams.
Sometimes when I closed my eyes and dared to think of love.

The fourth night, I woke up to a single hibiscus flower lying beside my pillow.

Fresh. White. Still dripping with dew.

I screamed. I cried. I collapsed.

But the flower never disappeared.

The Village Phone Call

“Adesuwa, you’ve opened something you shouldn’t have,” Mama said over the phone.

“I didn’t open anything!” I snapped. “I saw him, Mama! Ejike! He was here!”

Mama went quiet. Too quiet.

“You have to come home,” she finally said. “Before it’s too late.”

“Too late for what?” I asked, trembling.

But she’d already dropped the call.

Lagos Mainland — The Art Studio

I tried to focus on work.

Tade had planned our engagement dinner for Sunday. He said he wanted me to meet his extended family.

I nodded. Smiled. Pretended to care.

But all I could think of… was him.

His face. His voice. His presence.

And the smell.

The smell of hibiscus. Smoke. And something ancient.

Then something happened I couldn’t ignore.

The Girl with the Red Eyes

That afternoon, a woman walked into my studio. Short. Dark-skinned. With long braids and eyes so red they looked inhuman.

She didn’t say hello.

She just looked around, then whispered, “He still loves you.”

I froze. My brush dropped. The red paint splashed across the canvas like bl**d.

“Excuse me?”

She turned to me slowly. “He remembers everything. Even the night you lied.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I whispered.

“Don’t you?” she smiled sadly. “He died thinking you never loved him.”

I took a shaky step forward. “Who are you?!”

She turned to leave but paused at the door.

“When you bur!3d him,” she said, “you didn’t close his eyes.”

Then she walked out.

Gone.

Flashback — 3 Days Before His D£

Ejike held my wrist tightly under the moonlight. We were standing by the abandoned well.

“Tell me you love me,” he whispered.

“Ejike—”

“No games, Sewa. No laughter. Just truth. Say it.”

I couldn’t.

Because back then, love was a risk I wasn’t ready to take.

He let go of my hand slowly.

“Okay,” he said.

That was the last time I saw him alive.

Or so I thought.

Present — The Mirror Again

I stood in the bathroom, afraid to look.

But I had to.

I turned toward the mirror slowly.

At first, it was just me.

Then—

His hand appeared. On my shoulder. Resting gently.

But in real life, I felt nothing.

He was only touching the version of me inside the glass.

“Why are you here?” I whispered.

His voice echoed inside my head.

“Because you never told me goodbye.”

☠️ END OF EPISODE 3

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28/09/2025

The Man Who Loved Me After D£

By Author Ovie

💔 Episode 2: The Door That Never Closed

“Three years ago, we bur!3d Ejike in a shallow grave behind St. Matthew’s Church.
Now I don’t know what’s scarier…
The fact that he’s back, or the fact that I still want him.”

Flashback — Okpanam Village, 3 Years Ago

The rain refused to stop that day.

It poured like the skies were mourning with us.
Thick, muddy water washed through the red clay as we lowered his c0ff!n into the ground.

Ejike Obasi.

My childhood friend.
The first boy who ever called me beautiful without laughing.
The first man who made me believe that not all men disappear.

But he did.

In a fire that came from nowhere. In a house that shouldn’t have burned.
They said it was witchcraft. That the gods were angry. That he had broken some ancestral oath.

I didn’t believe in any of that nonsense back then.

I still don’t.
..At least, I think I don’t.

My fingers trembled as I dropped a white hibiscus flower into the grave.
He loved white hibiscus.

He once told me that in the spirit world, white petals never wither.

Now I wonder... was he trying to tell me something even then?

Present Day — Lagos

My studio was empty.
Completely.

Not just of people… but of energy. Of air. Of reason.

I called out, “Ejike?”

Nothing.

I opened the drying room door, slowly. It creaked like something from a horror movie.
The room smelled faintly of old paint… and something else. Something that reminded me of burnt charcoal and hibiscus flowers.

I wasn’t crazy. I knew what I saw.

And I knew who I saw.

I backed out, locked the room again, and grabbed my phone.
Tade had sent three messages.

Tade (6:34 PM):
Babe are you okay?
Tade (6:35 PM):
I’m worried o. What happened?
Tade (6:37 PM):
Where are you? Do you want me to come over?

I didn’t reply.
What was I supposed to say? “Hey love, remember that guy I told you d!£d in a fire back in my village? Yeah, he just showed up in my studio, looking exactly the same, not aged a day.”

Tade would call a pastor. Or a therapist. Or both.

I opened Instagram instead.
Scrolled mindlessly. Laughed at a reel I didn’t even hear properly. Tried to pretend my brain wasn’t replaying the look on Ejike’s face.

That sadness. That longing. That warning.

Then a message popped up on my screen.

From a number I didn’t save.

UNKNOWN:
You left without saying goodbye.

My chest seized.

I clicked the number.

It wasn’t registered. No profile picture. Just those five chilling words.

I blocked the number instantly.

I didn’t sleep that night.

I just lay in bed… waiting for him to come back.

Flashback — A Promise Made

One week before Ejike d!£d, we sat under the mango tree behind the old Catholic school in the village.

“I’m leaving for Lagos next week,” I told him.

He nodded. Quiet. That was his way.

I hated that he wasn’t reacting. I wanted him to say something. Anything.

“I might not come back.”

He turned to me. Eyes dark. Voice low.

“If you ever forget me,” he said, “I will find you… even after d£.”

I laughed at the time.

It wasn’t funny anymore.

Present — 3 Days Later

I tried to shake it off. Maybe I was stressed. Maybe my mind was playing tricks.

But on the third day, I saw him again.

This time not in my studio.

Not in my dreams.

But in the mirror.

I was brushing my teeth when I caught the movement.

Right behind me.

He was standing by my kitchen door.

I spun around.

Gone.

But the mirror still showed him… standing there.

Still watching.

Still waiting.

☠️ END OF EPISODE 2

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27/09/2025

📖 The Man Who Loved Me After D£

By Author Ovie

💔 Episode 1: The Door That Never Closed

“I know this sounds insane…
But the man I thought I buried three years ago walked into my studio…
…on the day I said yes to another man.”

Lagos — Present Day

It started with a flicker.
The fluorescent light above my head blinked once. Then again. Then it died completely.

"NEPA," I hissed under my breath, setting down my brush. "God punish you people."

But this time, it wasn’t NEPA.
The generator didn’t hum to life. My fan didn’t start spinning. Even my phone charger stayed dead.

The entire studio… was silent. Too silent.

Then I heard it.

A knock.

But not from the front door.
Not from outside.

From the inside.

Behind me.

I turned, slowly.

My heart? It didn’t just beat — it pounded like a prisoner begging to be released.

There was someone standing inside the glass room I used for drying portraits.
The door had been locked for months. Nobody ever went in there. I barely did.

But there he was.

A man. Tall. Still. Familiar.

My mouth dried. I took one step closer. He didn’t move.

"Who are you?" I called, my voice cracking halfway.

No response.

Just that stare.

That sad, knowing stare.

Suddenly, my phone buzzed in my pocket.

I jumped.

It was Tade — my fiancé. The man I’d just said yes to, not more than three hours ago. The man who promised me forever.

“Baby,” he said the moment I answered, “are you crying?”

I touched my cheek.

Tears.

I didn’t even realize I was crying.

"No," I whispered.

But I wasn’t answering him.

I was speaking to the ghost in front of me.
To the man in the drying room.

The one who died three years ago.

The one whose body I helped bury with my own hands in a coffin lined with white lace.

"Ejike...?"

He nodded once.

I dropped the phone.

And when I looked back up—

He was gone.

☠️ END OF EPISODE 1

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