The Year I Saw A Man Naked For 7 Months

While my mother was praying for me, someone was showing me penis everyday. 😭

Trigger warning: Sexual Harrassment.

I put that warning there because I shared a brief version of this story on X and someone brought it to my notice that it was some form of sexual harassment. I didn’t know it at the time because I simply did not see it that way but I do now.

Okay, let’s get to the actual story.

It was a few years ago and I had just moved to Turkey to complete my masters degree. Most of the time, when people go abroad (especially for an advanced degree) they have some kind of survival savings. I didn’t.

In my defence, my father gave me some money to travel with but what I did not envisage was how quickly that money was going to run out. And although, my bachelors was also completed outside of Nigeria, I was still pretty new to paying huge amounts in rent every month as my dad always paid my hostel fees.

Anyway, I got to Turkey and reality hit almost instantly when all the apartments I wanted to live in (alone) were just too expensive.

I ended up moving in with and becoming flatmates with one of the best man I ever knew, Erhan. Erhan was gentle, kind, soft-spoken and didn’t make me pay for my dinner for the first week (even though I assured him many times that I could pay for my dinner). His answer every time was - as a Muslim, your guests should not have to pay for their food for three days. How that extended to a week was just a reflection of what a kind man he was. Now, this story is not about Erhan but you’ll know why I had to talk about his character in a moment.

The house we lived in had three rooms, one living room and a kitchen. The living room was the largest space in the house and it was converted into a bedroom for Erhan while the three other rooms remained for his ‘tenants’. Tenants kept going and coming but when I moved in, only Erhan and an Omani man, Ahmad, were living in the house.

And everything was fine until the day Marco* moved in.

I remember telling my bestfriend over the phone that an Italian guy just moved in and he asked if some sort of romance was going to brew between us. I laughed and dismissed it but what I didn’t know was I would come to see this man naked, everyday, for 7 months.

I was not even the slightest bit attracted to Marco. Maybe if I was, it would have made things easier but I just wasn’t. In fact, it wasn’t until Marco moved in that I realised I probably may not be attracted to men that are too white. How will every part of you just be bright? Me that I enjoy darkness. You mean I’ll just be seeing your white body up and down? No plis🫸🏾

We invited Marco into the house, gave him his free three nights dinner and every now and then, all of us gathered in the kitchen and had great conversations over scalding hot Turkish tea.

Everything was fine and dandy until one night, at around 12am, I walked out of my room with sleepy eyes, groggy brain and a parched throat - in search of water. I didn’t find water, instead what I found was Marco, standing in the kitchen, stark naked. I stood there frozen, unable to speak.

Who let mad man enter our house?

You might say “oh but it is just a naked man”. It was not just a naked man to me. It was a naked man in my apartment at 12am. He saw me standing there and nodded in greeting before retreating back into his room. 

I ran back into my room. Thirsty AF (No, not in that way, you dirty minded fellow)

When I woke the next day, everything was back to normal, Marco was wearing clothes and I dismissed last night as a mistake. Surely, he must have been as embarrassed as I was since he didn’t expect me to come out at that time.

Oh how wrong I was.

It became a constant thing and even during the day. Remember, I was studying but Erhan and Ahmad were working so while they had to be out of the house everyday, I didn’t.

And as a result, I saw penis everyday.

I would walk out of my room, manhood.

I was in the kitchen frying eggs, Marco would come out naked and sit in the kitchen balcony to have a smoke.

I was coming out of the bathroom, Marco was on the phone in the hallway, laughing and playing with his schlong.

I was coming back from school after hearing my supervisor tell me my thesis needed to be redone, Italian penis.

Marco what cause this one now?

I was not sure if he wanted to sleep with me or not. The fact that his penis was always flaccid made me believe he probably didn’t want to. Plus, he had a girlfriend. I know this has never stopped men but he honestly never showed any interest in me. Or was the constant penis a sign of his interest? But that’s what a mentally unstable person would do now. Imagine them asking how your husband toasted you and you say “he showed me his penis everyday for one week until I said yes”. Is that not madness?

Or was he bragging about his penis? In truth, it was huge but what was I to do with that information now?

*confusion and penis exhibition*

One day, Marco showed up naked at my door and asked me how he could watch porn since adult sites were restricted in Turkey. I told him to use VPN and shut my door as quickly as I could.

One day, after too much penis, I mustered up the courage to ask him why he was always naked in the house (note that he was also naked during this conversation but I was truly exhausted. Because even if I was attracted to you and you were showing me this much penis, I will run away). In response, Marco said in his culture, people were always naked. He also said something about being a nudist that I could not make sense of before I ran away because why am I having a conversation with a naked man?

One day, I knocked on Erhan’s door and asked him if he had ever seen Marco naked, he said no. I told Erhan I saw him naked all the time and Erhan asked if we were sleeping together, I said no ooo. Help me. Just free penis all the time.

It soon dawned on me that he only did it when I was around. Erhan promised to talk to him but Marco did not stop and Erhan could not ask him to move because finding tenants was hard and he needed the money.

Remember, Erhan was kind to me and if I has asked, he probably would have asked Marco to move but times were tough.

So I started to stay late at the library and only come home when I knew the others would be home. On some nights, I stayed in the library until 2am and walked home in the cold hoping Marco would be asleep but sometimes that backfired because while everyone else was asleep, he could come out in his ‘white glory’ and meet me at the door.

God have mercy.

I almost went insane.

I wish I could tell you I did something to make him stop but there was nothing I could do but wait it out. He eventually went back to Italy after 7 months and I sighed a huge sigh of relief. I went on my knees to thank God.

Let him go and be showing his mummy his preeq.

During my years abroad, my eyes actually saw things. Maybe in the next newsletter, I’ll tell you about how this babe was sleeping with two men in the same house. 

But for now, cleanse your mind with this song that I recently fell in love with.