Perfectly Imperfect

~8~

Shout out to my love savvy for the cover above. I love it. Thank you 🤗💗

                                   ~Kunmi~

It was a Yoruba period and our teacher, oluko was explaining the topic- Oruko in Yoruba land. Names in Yoruba land. I was listening with rapt attention because Yoruba was my favorite subject.

Well, after music.

'In Yoruba land, we accord names with great respect and honor and we don't joke with it. Our fathers used to take lots of things into concentration before naming a child. And there's this saying 'Ile la n wo Kato so omo loruko' which translates to the house a child comes from determines the kind of name he'd be given. When you hear Adeyemi, what kind of family do you think the bearer comes from?'

'The king's family.'

Gabriella answered in less than a heartbeat and Oluko nodded at her.

'And it goes on and on. Egunbiyi from Masquerade's family, Ogungbenro from Ogun's family. Esudaisi from the family of Esu.'

The whole class burst into laughter at that.

Seriously. Esudaisi? God forbid and May he save all these traditionalists.

'I sha hope you remember to laugh like this during your exams too.' Oluko said, using all of us. 'And Ayanbiyi from the drummer's family.'

'Another important thing in the naming system is Yoruba is the strong belief that Yoruba have on the impact of names on a child's future hence the proverb 'Orúko omo ló ń romo' We believe a child's name will go a long way in determining the future of that kid. Look at....'

He glanced around the class and his eyes landed on Adam.

'Okay, Adam, tell us your Yoruba name and its meaning.'

The whole class their attention to him and he cleared his throat.

'Akóredé and it means a child who brings wealth.'

'Good. That's the kind of names we're talking about. Can you someone else tell us another deep Yoruba name.'

'Oluwaseyifunmi; God did this for me.'

Another person answered and he nodded in approval again.

'Good! Names like that breed good fortune. They're not like the names you guys are giving yourselves this day. Sinzu? Please what's the meaning of Sinzu?'

The whole class burst into laughter again.

'Sinzu Money. Oluko, you don't know what's in vogue.'Ezekiel said amidst laughter and Oluko glared at him in mock disgust.

'Who knows if it's even the stupid names that you're calling yourselves that's ruining your generation. Imagine calling each other Santos, Marlins, Spending, Kabex, and the likes. Aye, ma ti wa ba Je oo.'

Then he clapped his hands together in a feminine manner and the whole class laughed again.

'Oya, Come and read out the love letter you've been exchanging ever since I got to this class.'

Oluko said out of nowhere, his attention now on one of the guys in class. I turned to the guy who was trying to hide a paper in his hands but oluko had already seen it. Oluko beckoned to him with his hand.

'Just come and read it to us. We're all interested in knowing what the content is anyway, abi?'

He turned to the whole class and almost everybody chorused yes except me and Sophia who had a bored expression on. I just don't understand how and why she is always so lifeless. She hardly talks at lunch, hardly smiles, hardly does anything. The only few times I've seen her talk, laugh, and smile were whenever she was alone with Adams and Kunle. I was starting to associate her aloofness to whenever Aminah was around but then, the latter had been nothing but sweet and nice to her.