Those jeans are cheap! That was what Mama Nkechi shouted when I passed her thrift stand in Yaba market.
I stopped. I looked at the jeans. It was Okrika, bend down boutique. But this one was different. Designer. The label said Balmain. Real Balmain, not Aba Balmain.
"How much?" I asked.
"5k last," she said. "Those jeans are cheap! If you go Zara for Ikeja, na 45k."
I laughed. 5k for Balmain? In this Lagos? Something must be wrong. Maybe the zip don spoil, maybe the pocket get hole.
I carried it. I checked. No hole. Zip dey work. No stain. It was too clean for Okrika. Too perfect.
"Madam, who bring this one come?" I asked.
She looked around and whispered, "One big woman for Lekki. She pack all her boyfriend things comot. She say make I sell am anyhow. She no want see am again."
Ah. Heartbreak jeans.
I bought it immediately. 5k. I wore it that evening to go see my own girlfriend in Surulere.
As I entered her compound, her gate man looked at me and said, "Oga, this jeans fine oh. Where you buy am?"
I said, "Yaba, 5k."
He shouted, "Those jeans are cheap! Na my oga own! Na that madam for Lekki throway am yesterday!"
My leg cut. The world is small.
That cheap jeans was my girlfriend's ex boyfriend's jeans. The boyfriend that she said had travelled to Canada.
I left the jeans for gate man that night and waka with my boxers inside my trouser.
In Lagos, cheap thing no dey really cheap. Every cheap thing get story behind am.
IMAGE IS AI GENERATED
Prompt: Daily Prompt 3262 - those jeans are cheap! #freewrite #dailyprompt
Community: Freewriters
5-minute freewrite