CHRONICLES OF A RUNS GIRL EP2

The Game must change

Deòlu sat in Teni’s one-room apartment in Apapa, scrolling through Instagram, her eyes burning with envy.

Slay queens were flaunting designer bags, sipping champagne in Dubai, posing beside Benz and Range Rovers, all paid for by rich men. But here she was, still managing space with Teni, sharing a tiny bed in a room that smelled of cheap perfume and sweat.

She wanted more.

Teni was comfortable in her small hustle, but Deòlu? No. She didn’t leave Ìlorin just to be another random Lagos girl begging for urgent 2k. If she was going to do this life, she had to do it big.

“Babe, you no dey think am?” Deòlu said, dropping her phone. “We suppose don move from here. See this girl, Blessing Billionaire, she no even fine pass me, but she dey ball. Wetin she get wey I no get?”

Teni sighed, chewing her gum loudly. “She sabi wash head.”

Deòlu frowned. “Wash head?”

Teni leaned in and whispered, “Babaláwo. Juju. You go do soap, do tying, make men no fit forget you.”

Deòlu’s heart raced. She had heard stories of girls using jazz—spiritual work—to trap rich men, but she never thought she would consider it.

Teni laughed at her hesitation. “Babe, you think say all these big girls just dey lucky? Abeg, wise up! Na who sabi road dey make am for Lagos.”

That night, Deòlu couldn’t sleep. The hunger for wealth burned in her chest. If juju was what it took, then so be it.

Two days later, Teni took her to a small shrine in a hidden part of Badagry. The place smelled of herbs, smoke, and something darker.

A short, wrinkled man in red beads—Baba Kòfó—welcomed them.

“My daughter, what do you want?” His voice was deep, almost like thunder.

Deòlu swallowed hard. “I want men to love me. To never leave me. To spend all their money on me.”

Baba Kòfó chuckled. “You don’t just want men, you want power.”

She nodded.

He told her to buy a white chicken, red oil, and black soap. That night, she bathed with the soap under the moonlight, naked, as Baba Kòfó chanted incantations. The wind howled, and for a moment, she felt something shift inside her.

“It is done,” he said. “Any man who lays with you will be yours. But be careful—there is always a price.”

Deòlu didn’t care about the price. All she knew was that she was ready to collect.

That weekend, she stepped out for her first big test. Victoria Island. High-class club. Short dress, glowing skin, and confidence dripping like honey.

Men stared.

Chief Birds saw her and nearly lost his mind.

She smiled. The game had changed.

(To be continued in Episode 3: Money, Madness & Men)