"Come in," he said.

And I did.

I wish I could tell you that I knew what I was walking into that afternoon. I wish there had been something, anything, that prepared me for what I was about to witness. 

There are certain experiences you don't necessarily have the words to describe when they happen. 

It was an ordinary afternoon. I needed to charge my phone, and his room was one of the places in the compound where I could get electricity from the solar installation.

Let me take you back a little.

I had barely spent two weeks in AAUA. I was still new to Akungba, still learning my way around and trying to find my feet in an environment where I hardly knew anyone.

My arrival hadn't exactly gone as planned either. I had travelled with my mum, carrying my bags and expecting to settle into the accommodation arrangement we had made.

Unfortunately, that fell through. The person I was supposed to stay with couldn't accommodate me because of the size of the room and the discomfort it would create.

The thought of arriving in a town where you know practically nobody, only to discover that the place you thought you would call home wasn't available anymore.

I was stranded.

Eventually, I reached out to someone I had been chatting with online, who was also in my department. Through that connection, I found somewhere to stay temporarily. I was squatting with some friends in the same compound where this particular incident would later happen.

There was another guy living in a different room within the compound. We weren't sharing accommodation, but we were neighbours, so to speak.

And that brings me back to that afternoon.

I walked into his living room to charge my phone after he had ask me to come in. I was about to get it connected when he stepped out of his bedroom.

Completely naked.

I wish you could have seen the confusion on my face.

What?

Wait.

What exactly am I looking at?

For a few seconds, I was trying to reconcile what I had just seen with the ordinary reason I had walked into that room in the first place.

I was shocked. Disgusted. Frightened.

 And, most importantly, completely caught off guard.

Then I noticed what appeared to be an attempt to make an advance towards me.

That was it for me.

I wasn't interested in finding out what he wanted or waiting around to understand the situation. The door was open, and I took my exit. I ran out.

I just wanted to charge my phone.

How did I end up in this situation?

But apparently, the incident had another chapter.

After I got back to my room, he somehow obtained my phone number and sent me a message expressing how much he liked me. I read that message with even more questions than I had before.

You liked me?

When did that happen? What exactly was I supposed to make of the encounter? Was there an intention behind what had happened earlier?

I had so many questions, but no satisfying explanations.

What struck me most was the timing. I was barely settling into university life. I was still navigating a new environment, building familiarity with people and trying to understand the dynamics of living away from home.

And here I was, processing an encounter that left me feeling unsafe and deeply uncomfortable. I don't think people always understand how disorienting an unexpected experience can be, especially when it happens in an environment you're still learning to navigate.

The questions that follow. The mental replay. The discomfort of remembering. The attempt to understand what happened and why you were suddenly in that position.

Even now, this remains one of the strangest encounters I can remember from my first semester.

I went there to charge my phone. I certainly didn't go there to become part of an experience I would still be trying to make sense of years later.

And that's one of the many unexpected chapters of my four-year university journey.

ODD REALITIES is a 12-part collection of lived experiences drawn from my four year university journey, documenting some of the strangest, most unexpected and uncomfortable experiences I encountered.