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She Was Ready – TheWill Downtown
Ada was in university when she decided she was ready to start paying bills. Ade had already started
working.
From where Ada was sitting, employment appeared to be going extremely well.
He lived with his older brother.
Although from the way Ade and his friends occupied the house, his brother sometimes seemed
to be the visitor.
Ade often took Ada out to eat.
Anything she asked for, he seemed happy to get for her.
When GSM first came to Nigeria, Ada wanted a line.
An Econet SIM cost eighteen thousand naira then. It was a lot of money.
Ade bought one for her.
He couldn’t afford to buy two.
So Ada got the SIM.
Ade joked that he would get his own when SIM cards became buy one, get one free.
Ada laughed.
She still uses the number.
And somehow, back then, Ade always seemed to have money.
Ada couldn’t wait to start working.
Ade kept telling her to enjoy school.
People were still paying her bills.
She should enjoy it while it lasted.
Ada listened.
Then told him she was ready.
Ready to work.
Ready to earn her own money.
Ready to pay for her own things.
He told her again another time.
Enjoy school.
Ada remained unmoved.
Bring it on.
Years later, Ada sat on her bed with her phone.
Electricity.
She opened the banking app and made the transfer.
Successful.
Internet.
Another transfer.
There were other things after that.
Ada didn’t need a list.
She knew the list.
Some payments went
directly.
For others, she first moved money into the account from which a standing order would eventually collect it.
She moved the money.
Made another payment.
Then another.
The banking app displayed her balance.
Ada hid it.
There was a setting for that.
The numbers disappeared.
She continued.
Outside, the estate was quiet.
Some mornings she sat outside with her coffee and could hear birds.
There was traffic somewhere beyond the gates.
Lagos was still Lagos.
But inside, it could be surprisingly peaceful.
The AC hummed in the room.
Facility managers.
Security.
Estate dues.
Electricity was prepaid.
Band A.
Ada bought units.
If PHCN went, the generator came on.
Most of the time, the house simply continued to be a house.
The AC continued being an AC.
The lights stayed on.
The internet worked.
Ada paid for that too.
She hadn’t gone shopping.
No holiday had been booked.
The house was simply working.
Food would finish.
Fuel would finish.
Something would renew.
And there were things Ada was certain she had paid remarkably recently that had somehow become due again.
She checked.
She had.
They were due again.
She paid those too.
Sometimes money entered Ada’s account and, for a short while,
looked like money.
Then came the bed.
The phone.
The banking app.
Beneficiary.
Amount.
Narration.
Confirm.
Successful.
Next.
The balance appeared.
Ada hid it.
The AC continued humming.
Outside, somewhere in the estate, the birds carried on.
They appeared to be doing very well.
Ada made the next payment.
One evening, Ada sat on her bed paying bills.
She made one transfer.
Then another.
There was one more she remembered halfway through putting the phone down.
She picked it back up.
Opened the app.
The balance was there.
She didn’t know why.
Some setting had undone itself.
There it was.
Ada looked at it.
The setting was two taps away.
She knew exactly where it was.
Ada hid it.
Then she opened the next payment.
Beneficiary.
Amount.
Confirm.
Successful.
She put the phone beside her.
The AC was on.
The house was quiet.
Everything appeared to be working.
Ada Obiajunwa writes from Lagos about the big truths tucked inside ordinary moments — friendship, self-discovery, and the quiet revolutions of everyday life. She believes in the power of presence, good banter, and decoding the unsaid. Through her fragrance studio, WhiffWonders, she also crafts scents that weave memory and emotion into experiences that feel like home.
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