The Irrational Decision That Cost My Phone

It was a beautiful evening, the sun had just gone down, and the weather was neither hot nor cold. I had just finished washing the plates at my mother's local restaurant and was helping her pack things in so we could close for the day.

I was inside the store, arranging some of the things we took inside, when my mother came inside, “You have a visitor,” she whispered and took over the work from me.

I was curious, it's been a while since I had a visitor. I had been so engaged in helping my mother at the shop that I hardly allowed anyone to visit me or go for a visit myself.

When I stepped out of the store, I saw Ben, my best friend seated under a mango tree. We spent nearly a month without seeing each other.

As I came closer to him, the scent of a nice perfume almost knocked me down. I sniffled quietly, and it kept leading until I came to Ben.

“Ben, the boss,” I teased him, extending a warm handshake, "Man you look great!" I added as I sat.

“Thanks, man," he replied, with a grin, almost blushing.

He was operating Infinix Hot 10, which was one of the hottest phones in town back then, he also wore a good wrist watch and his clothes didn't look like okirika (fairly used)

Curiosity wouldn't let me be, my eyes were just racing on his body. So I opened up before we even started any conversation.

“Guy, you are glowing, where did all these come from?”

Ben, looked at me with wide eyes, and laughed, “Your blood dey hot (you are hasty). Chill, bro, we will get to that.”

“You won't understand, Ben, it's just a month since we didn't meet, and the last time I checked, both you and I were broke. In fact, we had a plan to go and buy some okirika one of these Sundays but we never did due to lack of money, so you don't expect me to stay silent.”

“You are right, I understand and that was the reason why I came. I have been doing this online investment lately and, guy, it has been paying off massively. I bought all these things you saw on me with the income,” Ben responded.

My jaw dropped, and I wowed, countless times as I listened to him talk.

“So, how does it work?” I asked out of curiosity, adjusting on the wooden bench we sat on.

“First, you get registered, you deposit your capital. Then your money works for you and you withdraw your returns at the end of the day, but the higher your capital, the higher your returns,” he answered.

“Okay! What is the name of the platform,” I asked.

“Student wallets,” he replied.

“Alright, I am interested but I don't have capital right now,” I responded.

“You can invest any amount, it's just that your income will be low if you invest little.”

“Bro, if I tell you I have any money, I lied, I replied, my tone sounding low and dull.

“Alright then, take your time and look for money,” he said.

We talked at length about the platform that day and about life in general before we parted ways.

That night, I was restless. I thought of different ways to raise money to also join the investment but had none. I had nothing I could sell that could give me some money apart from my smartphone.

I reasoned all the gains Ben told me about through the night and by morning, I decided that I was going to sell my smartphone and invest the money.

According to my plans, I would invest for some time, then withdraw when I have enough money and get another phone. I didn't even take the time to consider the consequences. All I was seeing was an opportunity to make money and nothing more or less.

I refused to tell my mother about my plans because I knew she would disapprove of the idea.

Before noon, I called Ben and asked him if he knew anyone who could buy my phone and he said, “Yes.”

I was uneasy about it, I knew I was throwing caution to the wind by taking that decision and by not telling my mother about it but I proceeded.

I sold the phone at the rate of twenty thousand Naira, I used Ben's phone to open an account with the platform, and I invested all the money.

After doing all that, I perceived that I had made terrible mistakes already, however, each time I heard my friends talking about their withdrawals I was comforted.

I had no phone. Whenever I wanted to check my account, I had to borrow Ben's phone.

After a few weeks, I withdrew five thousand Naira as income and it boosted my confidence.

But my capital was what I was hoping to get so that I could get another phone because I eventually told my mother about the investment and she was so pissed off about the decision I made.

After my first withdrawal, news came in that the site was under maintenance, and was undergoing an upgrade.

I didn't bother, the upgrade took quite a long period of time and it was not coming to an end.

At that time, all I wanted was to withdraw my money but I waited and waited until it was months and no sign of anything positive.

Some of their clients began to protest and it went viral, it was then we heard that the platform had crashed.

The news broke me down badly, I lost my phone and I didn't even enjoy anything from the platform. My mother was so mad at me and she refused to give me a phone. I had to buy the next phone I used by myself and it took me a long time to do that.

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N.B: All Images Were Generated By Meta AI

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