I Went to a Babalawo to Make Him Love Me. Now I Can't Look in the Mirror.

This was 2021, I was 28, living in Jos, and I had fallen for a man who barely knew I existed. I was working at a small pharmacy, he was a customer who came in once a week. Fine boy, light-skinned, always smiling. I convinced myself if he just noticed me, everything would fall into place.

My friend took me to a babalawo in the old market area. The man said I needed to prepare a special meal and put something inside it. I paid 15,000 naira. I cooked the rice myself, mixed the thing inside, and served him when he came to pick up his medication. He ate it right there in front of me.

Omo, two weeks later, he started calling me. Every day. He wanted to see me all the time. I was happy at first, but then something shifted. He became obsessed. He would show up at my house at midnight, crying, saying he couldn't breathe without me. He stopped going to work. His family started calling me, asking what I had done to their son.

I broke it off after three months. He still calls. Sometimes I wake up and see missed calls from him at 2am. The babalawo said it cannot be reversed. I am not the same person I was before. I used to think love was something you could force. Now I know , if you force a door open, you might not like what is on the other side.