I Got My First STD at 26 in Abuja. The Person Who Gave It to Me Was My Own Colleague.

I was 26, working as a customer service agent in a telecom company in Abuja. This was back in 2022, during the peak of the heat. I had been single for two years after a bad breakup, and I was just tired. Tired of being lonely, tired of pretending I didn't want touch.

Her name was Funmi. She was 32, married with two kids, but her husband was always travelling for work. We started talking during lunch breaks, then it became after-work drinks at a spot in Wuse 2. One night, after too much Star, she said her place was closer. I followed like a fool.

We did it that night. No condom. She said she was clean, that her husband was the only person she had been with. I believed her because I wanted to believe. Two weeks later, I noticed a strange discharge and a burning feeling when I peed. My heart dropped into my stomach.

I went to a clinic in Garki alone. Paid 12,000 naira for tests. The doctor said it was gonorrhoea. I sat in that waiting room for 30 minutes after, just staring at the wall. I called Funmi. She cried and said she didn't know, that her husband must have brought it. I never spoke to her again after that.

Omo, the treatment was a course of injections and antibiotics. I finished it, tested negative after. But the shame stayed. I stopped having casual sex for almost a year. Now I always ask for test results before anything, and I never trust anyone who says 'I'm clean' without proof. If you are reading this and you think it cannot happen to you, please carry your condom everywhere. This Abuja heat is not the only thing that can burn you.