Love blinded

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It was the early hours of a lazy Saturday morning, normally a day when I would have been prepping to get some house chores done, but my cousin Charity whom I've spent the past few days with enjoying my final year holiday break had made us do the cleaning and washing the previous day.

Having a free conscience, I spread myself on the medium-sized bed we both shared ready to dive into another round of morning sleep. If you've never had a daily morning routine of school or work, you won't understand the sweetness of having those early hours of sleep with no guilty conscience or distraction.

Already seeing myself on a cloud, with a princess dress on, feeling perfect peace and drifting away, a sudden tap on my back jolted me back to reality

"Stand up jo! You too like sleep"
My cousin, the intruder of my dreamland said to me

And then the smell of her strong flowery and chocolaty perfume which always irritated my nose hit me, and made me open my eyes in dissatisfaction.

There she was, all dressed and looking at herself in the mirror for what seemed like the hundredth time, also brushing her already laid hair, her body con gown hugged her body tightly making her figure 8 silhouette more pronounced, she looked beautiful as the orange colour of her dress contrasted with her brown skin.

"How do I look?" She asked as I was fully awake now, wondering what the special occasion was, because I know her not to be a morning person. The occasion must be very special to get her ready and dressed up.

"My sister, you're fine o" I replied genuinely, making her blush and her head swelling with pride.

"Have you forgotten where I said you would be accompanying me today?"

Then it hit me, how can I forget this day, It's the 7th of May already, my cousin has been impatiently looking forward to this day and hasn't been able to keep shut about it. Ever since she started going out with her new boyfriend Charles, it's been two months and she has already been thinking about being a Wife and a mother, because according to her, she has hit a gold mine. From what she told me, Charles had just returned from overseas to spend some time with his family in Nigeria for about 6 months and would be taking her along on his next trip.

She was so happy, and I was happy for her as well, as long as they loved each other genuinely. But there was something fishy about him, He claimed to have millions of naira locked in the bank, and was too busy to visit the bank to get it released, according to him, he also had some container of goods on the sea, and was expecting it to arrive soon, so he would often ask my cousin for money to sort his bills.

All of which seemed strange to me, my cousin felt she had hit a gold, but as gullible as she was, she never knew all that glitters are not gold, and whenever I tried to make her see reasons with me, her love for Charles had overblinded her to make her see any reason.

Normally, I would have minded my business, but my cousin was always going out of her way and even went as far as giving her school fees to him.

That was the last straw, I had to meet with this Charles, and as fate will have it, May 7th was a date Charles had promised to spoil her with shopping, and was also going to return all the money he had borrowed because apparently, he finally had the time to visit the bank to give his almighty signature to get his high figure amount of money released.

I definitely wasn't going to miss this day and hoped it was a reality for my sister. I quickly freshened up, pairing a baggy jean with a fitted top, and off we went to meet with Charles.

He said we should wait for him in Shoprite, which was one of the biggest shopping malls in the state, That was when I got to know that they had never really been on a real date, and always met at the church or the junction close to her house.

We waited in Shoprite all day but Charles never showed his face, I could see the frustration on my cousin's face, but her blind love for him still made her feel he probably was caught up in circumstances beyond him. We managed to get ice cream and chocolates for ourselves and left when it was getting dark.

As usual, an excuse came from Charles after that day, he was caught up in a business meeting that took the whole day. All of his tactics came to an end one fine Sunday afternoon. Amaka, my cousin's friend who attended the same church but in another district chose to worship in her church that day, it was also my first time worshipping in her church. I finally got to see the Charles that had stolen my cousin's heart, he looked like an average Nigerian guy with a fake American accent.

"Meet my boyfriend char.." My cousin tried to introduce her boyfriend to me

Charles! The Americana! She was cut off by Amaka as she made a dramatic entry to where we stood.

"You have brought your lie lie story here"

Hasn't he told you he is from America, and his container is yet to land, he also has millions of dollars in the bank?" She said, with an amused look on her face

"He is a scammer" she continued

"He goes around churches looking for gullible girls, dates them, and lives off them with his lie"

Before she finished exposing him, Charles had already taken to his heels in shame and my cousin stood there frozen dumbfounded, realizing that her prince charming wasn't who she thought he was.

As the truth sank in, my cousin's eyes welled up with tears. She had been so blinded by her love for Charles that she had ignored the warning signs. I felt a mix of emotions and also relief that the truth was finally out, but I also felt sad for my cousin. At least she learned a hard lesson that not all that glitters is gold.

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