I Got My First STD at 24. The Person Who Gave It to Me Still Has No Idea.

This was back in 2021, I was 24, fresh out of NYSC, living in Enugu. I met this guy online , handsome, drove a Camry, said he was a businessman. We talked for two weeks before I agreed to see him.

The first time we slept together, I didn't even ask him to wear protection. I was too shy, too eager to please. After that night, I saw him three more times. He was always sweet, buying me things, taking me to nice restaurants.

Two weeks after our last time, I noticed something. A weird discharge. Itching that wouldn't stop. I ignored it for days, convincing myself it was just a reaction to something I ate. But the pain when I was peeing , omo, that one finished me. I knew something was wrong.

I went to a clinic alone, paid 5,000 naira for the test. The nurse looked at me with pity when she handed me the results. Gonorrhea. I sat in that hospital corridor and cried like a small child. I called him that night. He denied everything, said I must have gotten it from someone else. Blocked me everywhere.

I took the antibiotics, finished the treatment, and I have not had sex without a condom since that day. Not once. That experience taught me something my mother's warnings never could , your health is not worth anyone's validation. If a man refuses to wear protection, he does not love you. Full stop. Do not learn this lesson the way I did.