Coolval Family drama

Grim episode 5

1 year ago

#Grim Episode Five © Omotayo Olukemi Aiyemo Is Tade not the dragon chased out of heaven? Or must he be with horns before anyone of you would be able to identify him as the devil himself? Before I dropped off…I thought of how I didn’t deserve this not even at the later part of my

Grim episode 4

1 year ago

#Grim Episode Four © Omotayo Olukemi Aiyemo Would it not be for my advantage if she becomes truly mad? As in, living with a crazy wife would be less detrimental to my person than being a convict….or what do you think? * * * I found myself trying to let my voice be heard among

Grim episode 3

1 year ago

#Grim Episode Three © Omotayo Olukemi Aiyemo Before I could say Jack, for the very first time in my life, I received a terrible slap that sent out all signals off my head from the man I vowed to spend the rest of my life with. He didn’t even give me the chance to regain

Grim episode 2

1 year ago

#Grim Episode Two © Omotayo Olukemi Aiyemo I stopped for a minute only to behold my husband’s motionless body resting on the wall. “Jesus!” I mumbled with my hands covering my mouth. I rushed to him shaking him in a bid to resuscitate him. ” Tade please stand up, please” I cried silently. Many thoughts

Grim

1 year ago

#Grim Episode One © Omotayo Olukemi Aiyemo Staring at my wife as she laid innocently beside me, one part of me considered myself lucky…but the other part, I still can’t define. She’s so admirably peaceful in sleep, I find it so damn difficult to resist the urge of planting a soft kiss on her forehead,

From Nysc To Nowhere: Life After Youth Service 6

1 year ago

I still sit by the gate sometimes, fixing phones, but things aren’t the same anymore. The hustle is harder, the roads rougher, but my spirit? It’s stronger. The Hard Truth Life after NYSC is no fairy tale. No magical job offers. No overnight riches. Just struggle. Waiting. And fighting every single day to be

From Nysc To Nowhere: Life After Youth Service 5

1 year ago

It was just another Monday. I was seated outside my parents’ house, under the faded umbrella by the gate, battling with the backlight of a customer’s Infinix screen. My little plastic table had burn marks from my soldering iron, That was my routine — fixing phones right in front of the house, gritting my teeth

From Nysc To Nowhere: Life After Youth Service 4

1 year ago

One thing about Lagos? It can humble you today and uplift you tomorrow—with the same energy. After getting robbed, I had restarted my phone repair hustle with pure survival mode. I wasn’t smiling, I wasn’t playing. Every ₦500 mattered. I was chasing referrals like they were oxygen. I thought I had seen all kinds of

From Nysc To Nowhere: Life After Youth Service 3

1 year ago

The Day I Got Robbed at Gunpoint… And Still Fixed a Phone That Same Evening If there’s one thing NYSC didn’t prepare me for, it was the unpredictable madness of real life after service. Just when I thought things were picking up—my phone repair hustle growing slowly, referrals coming in, even a few people calling

From Nysc To Nowhere: Life After Youth Service 2

1 year ago

The Day My Destiny Came in a Spoilt Phone I’ll be honest—when NYSC ended, I didn’t think the small repair skill I picked up back in 300 level would ever matter. Back then, it was just a side hustle. I’d fix classmates’ phones—mostly changing screens, flashing phones, or resetting passwords. It helped me buy data and

From Nysc To Nowhere: Life After Youth Service

1 year ago

EPISODE 1: The Passing Out Parade Was Just the Beginning I remember that day so clearly. Standing under the hot sun in my starched white-and-khaki NYSC uniform, smiling for pictures, hugging friends I’d come to see as family. Our Passing Out Parade (POP) was filled with energy, promise, and hope. People around me were already

Between Hope and Hustle episode 6

1 year ago

Episode 6: A Future Worth Fighting For When the fellowship began, I felt like a tiny fish in an ocean of brilliance. We were thirty young Nigerians from across the country—tech founders, grassroots mobilizers, social media influencers, medical missionaries. The kind of people you see in Social Media & TV But I reminded myself—I had

Between Hope and Hustle episode 5

1 year ago

Episode 5: Building a Name, Brick by Brick Returning to Enugu after NYSC felt different this time. I wasn’t just another graduate looking for direction—I came home with something to offer. With my new role as a Community Youth Ambassador, I began working with schools across the state, organizing sessions on mental health, financial literacy,

Between Hope and Hustle episode 4

1 year ago

Episode 4: Graduate With No Guarantee Graduating from a Nigerian university is a strange mix of joy and quiet panic. On the outside, there’s celebration—photos in gowns, friends hugging, “we made it” chants echoing through hostel corridors. But inside? Inside, most of us were asking the same terrifying question: “What next?” For me, the celebrations

Between Hope and Hustle episode 3

1 year ago

Episode 3: The Sickness That Almost Broke Me Final year in UNN came with its own kind of madness. If you weren’t battling departmental project delays, you were fighting to meet up with fees, feeding, or chasing your lecturers for signatures. But I didn’t expect the biggest battle to come from my own body. It

Between Hope and Hustle episode 2

1 year ago

Episode 2: School Fees and Stubborn Faith If there’s one thing UNN taught me faster than any lecture, it was that survival on campus took more than brains. It took grit, grace, and sometimes, a well-timed miracle. After my mother’s health scare in 300 level, my hustle went from necessity to obsession. She had barely

Between Hope & Hustle

1 year ago

A Coolvalstories Production — Episode 1: Born Into Broke They say poverty teaches wisdom, but in my case, it taught me survival. My name is Chidera Uzo. I was born in the heart of Enugu to a father who fixed cars under a mango tree and a mother who sold vegetables at Ogbete Market. Life

The Narcissist Pastor episode 19&20

1 year ago

Narcissistic Pastor Episode 19: The Breaking Point Daniel sat in the church office, staring at his reflection in the glass window. He barely recognized himself. For years, he had been the one in control—the one giving orders, the one deciding how things should be. He had built his authority on power and submission, convinced that

The Narcissist Pastor episode 17&18

1 year ago

Narcissistic Pastor Episode 17: A Man at War with Himself Daniel couldn’t sleep. For years, Ruth had been predictable—obedient, quiet, always seeking his approval. Now, she was different. Stronger. She no longer looked at him with fear. She no longer tiptoed around him. She was slipping away, and he didn’t know how to stop it.

The Narcissist Pastor episode 15&16

1 year ago

Narcissistic Pastor Episode 15: The Storm Before the Calm Ruth stood her ground, her chest rising and falling with each deep breath. Daniel had never seen this version of her before—the woman who refused to be silenced. For years, he had controlled every part of her life. But now, that control was slipping through his