
06/24/2025
Part 1: Danfo Driver's Girlfriend đĽ°đ
My boyfriendâs name is Nathaniel, but people often call him âNathaâ in the garage. My name is Gloria. I am 21 years old. I live with my parents in a small face-me-I-face-you house in Mushin, Lagos. Life has not been easy for us. We struggle to eat two times a day, but we still thank God.
Natha is a danfo driver. Danfo is a yellow bus that people in Lagos use for transport. You see them shouting âOshodi! Oshodi!â or âCMS straight! CMS!â in the traffic. That is what Natha does for a living. He owns his own danfo and drives it by himself. He is very hardworking. He wakes up before 5 a.m. every day, prays, and rushes to the garage to hustle. Sometimes, he drives from morning till night before coming back home to rest.
Natha doesnât play too much. He doesnât party or hang out with people who donât have plans for their life. He doesnât even talk much. People in the garage respect him because he minds his business and doesnât fight like many of the other drivers. Natha went to university. He studied Logistics. He wanted to work in an office and wear nice shirts with a tie. But after many years of looking for a good job and getting nothing, he decided to use the money he saved from his NYSC allowance to buy a second-hand danfo. And that was how his journey started.
He told me six months ago that he loved me and wanted me to be his girlfriend. I didnât say yes, but I also didnât say no. I told him, âIâve heard you. But give me some time to think about it.â And since then, he has been showing me love in different ways.
He buys food for my family when things are tight. He helps my dad when his own work is not moving well. He comes to our house to gist with my mum and sometimes helps her carry her amala cooler to the bus stop. My dad likes him too. He always says, âThat Natha boy is a good boy. He will go far.â
But me, I donât know how I feel.
I like him. Yes, he is kind. He respects me. He never touches me anyhow or talks to me rudely. But I donât know if I love him. And the biggest problem is this â I donât like his job.
I know it may sound bad, but I am just being honest. I want to be proud of my husband. I want to tell people that my husband works in a big company or wears suits to work. I donât want to say, âHeâs a danfo driver.â It feels somehow in my chest.
Sometimes, I see other girls whose boyfriends or fiancĂŠs are bankers, engineers, or even working with oil companies. I know those jobs are not easy to find, but I always hope someone like that will come my way too.
I donât even know what direction my life is going. I only have SSCE. I passed my exams, but thereâs no money to go to university. My mum and I work for a local food vendor. We hawk food on the street. My mum sells amala, and I sell rice and beans. We donât even have our own shop.
My dad also doesnât have his own bus. Every day, he goes to the garage to look for any bus owner who wants to lease out their danfo for the day. He drives it, pays park fee, buys fuel, and after giving the bus owner his own share, the money left is usually very small. Thatâs our life.
So, when Natha said he loved me, my parents were happy. They said he has his own bus, he works hard, and he respects people. But me, my heart is not yet sure.
I remember one evening. I was coming back from hawking when I saw him waiting for me at our street. He had parked his bus, bought small ice cream, and was holding it like a child waiting to share. When he saw me, his face lit up.
âGlory, how market today?â he asked.
I smiled. âWe thank God.â
Then he stretched his hand and gave me the ice cream. âI know you like this flavor.â
I took it from him. âThank you.â
We sat on the bench in front of my house.
âYou donât like my job, abi?â he asked gently, looking at the ground.
I was shocked. âWho told you that?â
He smiled small. âNobody. But I can feel it. And Iâm not angry. I just want to know.â
I didnât know what to say.
âI know I drive danfo,â he continued. âItâs not a shiny job. But I do it with pride. I didnât choose it because Iâm lazy. I chose it because life forced me to find a way to survive. I have plans, Gloria. One day, I wonât be driving danfo forever. Iâll have my own transport company. Iâll hire drivers. Iâll open a small logistics office. But I need someone who will walk that journey with me, not someone who is waiting for me to change before they accept me.â
I looked at him. His face was calm, but I could see pain in his eyes. I wanted to cry. But I just nodded.
âI understand,â I said.
But the truth is, I didnât fully understand.
Every night before I sleep, I think. What if I say yes to Natha, and he never becomes rich? What if he remains a danfo driver forever? Can I live with that?
And what if I say no, and I never find someone who loves me like he does?
Itâs not easy. Iâm not trying to be greedy. I just want more for my life. I want to be better than this poverty we are living in. But maybe Iâm also afraid. Afraid of making a mistake.
Thereâs this other boy, Kayode. He works in an office in Ikeja. He wears nice shirts and smells of perfume. He has a car. He has been looking at me lately. He even stopped me once and said Iâm beautiful. But he hasnât said more than that. He doesnât know my family. He doesnât know how we struggle. What if he finds out and runs?
But Natha knows everything. He sees the suffering and still stands beside me.
One day, I fell sick. It was malaria. I was so weak I couldnât get out of bed. My mum was at the shop, and my dad had gone out to look for bus work. Natha came to visit and saw me lying down, shivering.
He didnât ask questions. He just told me to wait. He rushed out and came back with a nylon full of drugs, oranges, and malt drink.
He cleaned my face with warm water, gave me the medicine, and sat beside me, fanning me gently. For almost two hours, he stayed there, just caring for me.
I wanted to cry. Not because of pain. But because someone who I havenât even agreed to be with loves me like that.
My mum came back and saw him. She smiled and said, âThis boy is a gift.â
That night, I cried in my pillow. I cried because I felt guilty. Guilty for not loving him the way he loved me.
But can love be forced?
Iâm still thinking.
Natha still comes around. He still brings fruits for my mum. He still plays draft with my dad. He still prays for me. But he doesnât pressure me. Heâs waiting for my heart.
Maybe one day, Iâll wake up and realize that love is not in perfume or car keys. Maybe love is in the one who shows up when the world walks away. Maybe love is in the one who doesnât have much, but gives you everything.
I donât know what Iâll do yet.
But Iâm learning something.
Sometimes, a danfo driver has more dignity than a man in suit.
Sometimes, the man that everyone ignores is the one who will carry your future with respect.
And maybeâŚ
Just maybeâŚ
Iâll become the danfo driverâs wife. I am feeling like I should drop this guy called Nathađ¤ˇ
To be continued in Episode 2đ
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