My first encounter with an Ashawo at Lapaz – A true story [Let’s Talk Sex]

I’m not a fan of alcohol but, on this day, I mixed my Coca-Cola with a small amount of Smirnoff Vodka. I didn’t get drunk but I felt a bit tipsy and tired. Usually, when I close from work, I join the car of one of my boss’, who drops me at Odorkor, and then I pick a troski home.

On this day, though, two of my colleagues at work who live around my area said they would pick Uber and convinced me to go with them. To save myself from spending extra money on transport, I decided to go with them rather than join my bosses car.

And this is where all the mess began. We were four in the Uber – myself , my two colleagues, and another lady, who was also a colleague at work. We were supposed to go straight home, but for whatever reason, they kept making some questionable stops.

First, they abruptly ended the trip at a bar around the Legos Avenue Road. Curious to know why, I asked why we had stopped. “Oh, let’s go and have a few drinks before we go home,” one of the guys answered.

So I tagged along. My two colleagues ordered a beer each, I ordered for malt, while the lady amongst us also took malt. We sat for close to 30 minutes, until I started pressuring them that I wanted to go home.

So we picked another Uber. Again, instead of heading straight home, they pinged the destination to Lapaz. In my mind, I thought we’d get there and then pick a troski home or something due to the hiked prices Uber was offering for the ride.

However, at Lapaz, my two colleagues insisted we have another drink. At this point, the lady amongst us declined and opted to take a troski home. So we were three now – myself and my two colleagues.

In hindsight, I think I should have left too. But I guess I wanted a free lift home, or so I thought. Like a fool, I was just following them as they walked into the inner parts of Lapaz. As we passed, I sighted sex workers parading around and waiting for potential customers.

We passed by all of them. “Let’s sit somewhere and have a drink,” one of my colleagues said. Before we could sit, though, one of them approached a lady standing opposite our direction. A few minutes later, my other colleague joined him, leaving me all alone.

From the way the lady was dressed, I immediately knew she was a sex worker. Immediately, I started feeling uncomfortable and, although I was already far from where they were standing, I still felt the edge to move farther away.

When my colleagues returned, I asked them what they were discussing with the lady. “Ah, did you think we were going to drink alone? We need to sit with some girls,” one said.

At this point, I couldn’t even process what was happening. I’m not used to engaging sex workers, let alone sit at the same table with them. So I told them I was going home and I started to walk away. But they stopped me and promised not to misbehave anymore.

Then they said they still wanted to have a drink before we leave. I agreed to wait. Again, they both ordered a beer and I took Malt. Shockingly, once we sat down, the sex worker they earlier went to speak to joined us on our table. I became confused and embarrassed.

When they asked her what she’d drink, she ordered for Vody Energy Drink. Observing that I was the only one taking a soft drink, her first question was: “Why Malt, don’t you take alcohol?”

That was when I knew I was f**ked. No sooner had I decided to leave than she mentioned her name. “I’m Charity and I’m a Nigerian.”

It was already bad that I was in my company T-shirt and to make things worse, my colleagues blatantly told her that “our friend wants to take you home.”

That statement emboldened her. After all, she thought she had a customer. Then they started telling her how much of a big person I am. “He’s our boss and he wants to have fun,” they added.

Ladies and gentlemen, as all this was happening, she was sitting right next to me. It is the closest I’ve been to a sex worker and, honestly, I wasn’t just uncomfortable, but I also began sweating profusely.

Then she asked: “Where will you take me?” This was the last straw. Embarrassed by the whole situation, I eloped. Yes, I had to pretend to be buying something and I ran away.

I’m sorry if this is not the end you expected…