I Was 19 and He Was My Mother's Cousin. What Happened in Benin City Changed Me Forever.

This was back in 2018, during my first year at UNIBEN. I was 19, fresh from secondary school, and staying with my mother's younger sister in Benin City to save money. Her husband's cousin, Uncle Mike, was 41, married with two kids in Warri. He came to visit for a family wedding and stayed for two weeks. I don know how it started. Maybe it was the way he looked at me when no one was watching. Maybe it was the small talks when everyone else was asleep. One evening, I was in the kitchen washing plates, and he came behind me, put his hand on my waist, and whispered that I was too beautiful to be washing plates. Omo, my body just froze. I didn't push him away. It went on for those two weeks. Every night after everyone slept, he would come to my room. I knew it was wrong. He was my mother's cousin, married, old enough to be my father. But he made me feel wanted in a way no boy my age could. He gave me money too , 15,000 naira after the first time, then more. I used it to buy a phone and clothes for school. The day he left, he said he would call. He never did. I found out later from my aunt that his wife had found messages on his phone and almost left him. He blocked me everywhere. I felt used, dirty, and stupid. But I also knew I let it happen. What I learned: When a grown man with a family notices a teenager, it is not love. It is opportunity. And you are the one who pays for it long after he has moved on. I am 27 now, and I still carry that shame like a second skin. But I am finally saying it out loud.