My roommate carried our business money and left me with the debt

Second year at UNN. My roommate Chidi and I started a small business we called Exam Runs. We'd gather past questions, type them clean, print and sell to 100L students before exams. Small money, but it was moving.

I was the one doing the legwork. Chidi handled the money because he had a better phone and a UBA account. I trusted him like a brother. We shared the same bunk, ate from the same pot, even borrowed each other's shirts.

Then one morning I woke up and his side of the room was empty. Mattress folded. His box gone. His number wasn't going through.

Omo. The customers started calling me. People had paid for materials we hadn't delivered. Over ₦180,000 in total. My name was the one on every WhatsApp broadcast.

I had to refund from my feeding money. Sold my laptop. Took me almost five months to clear that debt and I still owed my aunt ₦40,000 till this day.

What pained me most wasn't the money. It was that I vouched for him to people. I told them Chidi is correct guy, Chidi is my guy. And he just vanished.

I don't do partnership business with friends anymore. Not because I hate them. But because money will show you who somebody really is, and sometimes you're not ready for what you'll see.