Being Single and unhoused.

Hello everyone.

Irrespective of the a number of advantages to comes along being single. Sometimes I wonder if its a crime being single.

Hello dear readers. My name is Abdulrahman and I have been searching for a modest accommodation for almost three months now without success. After I completed my university education, I began to live with an elder cousin who has a two room apartment and its almost three years now.

No doubt my cousin is generous and he was actually the one that brought the idea of us living together since he had been living alone for a long time . By the way, he's a banker, he leaves for work very early in the morning and comes back home around 9:oopm. So I usually have the whole apartment to myself.

My cousin actually have a fiancé who studied at a university in a neighboring city. She had just completed her education this year. Any moment from now, she would return to my city where she would definitely be staying with her fiance.

As soon as I became aware of this fact, I have been desperately searching for my an apartment within the city but to no avail. I must say, securing an accommodation in my city is very difficult particularly, when you are an unmarried young person. I dont just know why, but alot of landlords and landladies have this mentality that you would be irresponsible.

Two weeks ago, I saw a decent apartment and I paid the rent upfront. I came around the following day to have another look at the place before I finally move my things in. As I was still observing the room, the landlord walked in. He was obviously an elderly man. I greeted him and I engaged him in a light discussion. We talked about this and that, then he threw an unexpected question towards me.

He asked me about my wife and weather I had a kid. I smiled and replied that I was single. His contenance immediately changed and he left me without saying a word.

Later in the evening when I had returned home, I got a message from the housing agent that the owner of the house have returned the money I paid for the accommodation. According to him, the landlord does not admit single men amd women into his property.

I later learnt that he had series of bitter experiences with former tenants who were also bachelors . I was told about a former tenant who always come late at night drunk after spending hours at a club. In this drunken state, he would puke all over the compound and sleep in his vomit till day break. The landlord found this very disgusting and had to send him away in less than a year.

I also heard of another unmarried tenant who was a chronic womaniser, he had different ladies visiting his room almost on a daily basis. he literally turned the house into a mini hotel which of course made the landlord very furious. He couldn't tolerate such level of immorality so he send that one parking too. No doubt, he would definitely be a bad influence to his young kids.

He probably thought that, as a bachelor i had the same way of living but God knows that I am totally different. I was well brought up by my late parents and would never live a corrupt and dirty life like the rest. Although , I don't blame owner of the property for nursing such thoughts about me..... As the saying goes.. Once bitten, twice shy.

The following week I got another accommodation which was just a few streets away from the previous one. The owner of the house was an elderly widow. no doubt she inherited the property from her husband. As soon as I mentioned that I was a bachelor, she started listing some stringent rules that I should always adhere to if she were to allow me to have an apartment in her house.

Do you smoke? She asked me. Of course i am not a smoker and I gave her a No. She also said that consumption of alcohol won't be tolerated in her house and I agreed. She warned me that wherever I go, I should always return back to the house before 10pm, I readily agreed to this too.

She also said that she wouldn't want me to be bringing too many friends to her house. I readily agreed to this, by the way I am an introvert who only have a handful of friends. Finally, she insisted that I would always join the other tenants in cleaning the environment around the house every weekend. As a matter of fact I agreed to all her terms and she was surprised by this.

Two days later, I came around to the house again. Ladies and gentlemen, I was once again discriminated against just because I didnt have a wife. The old lady told me that she had given the house to another person ( obviously a married man). According to her, he was willing to pay twice of what I was offering for the property. I knew this was a lie but there was nothing I could do. Maybe she thought that I wouldn't stick to the terms and conditions she gave earlier . she thought that i might later disappoint her after she let me in. I walked back to my cousin's place feeling dejected and cheated.

Just yesterday, I was directed to another apartment which was up for rent . This apartment was also owned by an old lady. I introduced my self and as expected she too had her reservations about single people. But this time around I was determined. I tried my best to make her realize that I was far more decent than most kids in the area. By the way, I wasn't born or bred in this hood, so it would be very wrong to judge me based on what you see other young people around you doing.

I further asked her weather she had any children and she told me her grown up son was about the same age as me. Then I asked her how would she feel if her son was in the same predicament as me. Would she be Happy if her son was always being cruficied or denied opportunities because of the sins of others? She considered this for a long moment. She told me that her son was a good boy and wouldn't want him to pass through difficulties.

Then, immediately, i told her that she should see me as her son and I would treat her as my mom and I Meant it. I promised her never to cross my boundaries. I would also pay my rent on time, even earlier than the other married folks living in the house. This made her laugh. She looked at me for some moments then smiled and handed the keys of the apartment to me.

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Thank you so much for taking your time to read my story. I am actually new here and I pray to make as many friends as possible. Pls do like and subscribe to my account if you believe in me.

Thanks

o