It's the end of summer 2010 and Wura had just started college at Thomas Adams, where Tayo had been a year prior. She sees him and instantly says out loud "I know him" and runs to embrace him. Tayo, a little uncomfortable, but having been given a heads up by their mutual friend Toowo to take care of Wura, reciprocates the affection. Despite going to the same secondary school, ISL, they never spoke before this and this was really the start of what turned out to be a great friendship.
Wura and Tayo (alongside Tomi, Seki, Demola and Tom) would sit down and just have random conversations.During a particular half-term, Tom and Tayo's cousins, Jamal and Aralola, began to insist that Tayo liked Wura. Tayo agrees with this, but not in the way they describe it. However, he becomes curious to see if he underestimated it.
‍
Tayo calls Wura over the phone, this time paying close attention to details and not just having a random conversation; he realises he enjoys speaking with her. It starts to dawn on him that his friend and cousins were right and that there may be more to it. Half term ends, and they plan to board the same train and head back to college. Wura comes with her hair done and Tayo just keeps staring at her; at this point, he knew he was in trouble. There was a genuine friendship and Tayo liked it just as it was. So much so, that he called his friend Debola to find out if it was just a crush or he actually liked her, as he didn’t want to ruin things. When it became obvious he did, there was only one thing left to do #GetOutOfTheFriendZone
‍
Tayo braced himself to tell Wura how he felt. He also had to navigate telling Tomi who was part of the group and knew would make a fuss, so he arranged to meet and said he needed to talk. In their usual spot in the common room, Tayo then proceeds to express his affection for Wura. Thereafter, a moment of silence ensues, with a swift change to laughter. Wura and Tomi think this is one of Tayo’s silly jokes. Tayo wishes the ground would swallow him up at this point. They realise he’s serious, stop and Wura’s first but not last awkward question is ‘Why?’. Tayo’s response is “I don’t know, I just do”. This remains the response till today.
‍
Retrospectively, Tayo suspects that if there had been a reason he liked Wura and that reason ceased to exist, they may not be together today; they might not have even made it this far.A week passes and Wura as awkward as ever keeps avoiding Tayo. He believes she’s not interested and requests a conversation to carry on as friends. Turns out he was wrong and Wura was interested but just scared.She sends a message which reads ‘hey Tayo, so are we?’ to confirm and this was the start of our #WusCupofT journey.
‍
We wouldn’t describe our relationship as a product of the length of time, but rather the consequence of conscious or deliberate decisions to always choose each other. A shorter time may also have been easier, as over time, you experience different versions of the other person; coupled with the fact we started young.
‍
Our story is not one of romance or fairytales, it’s a story of love and friendship in one. It’s a story of preference and constantly choosing someone hence the hashtag #WusCupOfT