Bro Code 101
How far must a bro go to protect his bro?
Sometime last year, I wrote a story for a competition and titled it “Bro Code” but unfortunately, it didn’t make the longlist so I left it in my archive because I feel it wasn’t good enough.
Honestly, it wasn’t one of my best because I rushed it— a day to the deadline. And writing is like making love. You go easy with the strokes lest your words turn out forced.
Here is how it begins: The first rule of the bro code: never snitch on your brother. But what happens when your brother crosses a line? When you hold the power to save or destroy him—will you choose justice or loyalty?
Justina is dead and the country is mourning. The street of X is filled with tweets of how men are God’s curse on earth. Gabriel is in deep thought, he couldn’t believe that his longtime crush has eventually kicked the bucket. The quote about love being a double-edged sword crosses his mind and he can’t help but rue the day she met his friend— Paul.
I don’t have much belief in the way I told the story so like many others, it’d probably die a natural death in my archive. But that’s not the gist.
To the main story:
This morning, I woke up to a trendy news on Facebook shared from X (I’m not a fan of the app but somehow I always manage to know what’s trending there but sometimes late). A man was arraigned as the prime suspect of a murder case— his friend’s, allegedly. And he comes out to give his own side of the story.
According to him, his friend who happens to be a married man ask to use his apartment to host a sidechick and because he’s going out of town for work purposes, he (the suspect) obliges him.
The married man, on the other hand lied to his wife that he’s going to work and would not be back for a couple of days.
To short the long story cut abi how una dey talk am, the friend after days at work goes back to his apartment only to find his friend’s lifeless body.
Side chick? Gone!
He insists that he spoke to the friend a day before he went back home to inform him of his pending arrival…
His alibi checks out but the wife, family and the Nigerian police (always after their pocket anyways) are getting none of it. Well, I wish him the best in the legal proceedings that would follow.
Now, to the rationale behind this post.
The male friendship is quite unique. You always want to be your brother’s keeper. Of his secrets. His shortcomings.
But how far must a bro go to protect a bro?
How thin is the line between loyalty and betrayal?
Lately, I have been going over these things in my head while trying to justify imagined scenarios.
Why a bro doesn’t want his bro to hit on his sister. Because at that point, there is a conflict of loyalty.
To stay loyal to a bro till the end or protect familial bond?
In the midst of this internal conflict, I ask myself: if I were in that man’s shoe, would I have turned down my friend fully aware that he’s married?
If I had known the wife beforehand, would I have warned her against marrying my friend? Or in fact, would I have told her about the husband’s sexcapades?
Would she have believed me and not say “Oh, maybe he’s interested in me...”
The answer would always be “NO”.
But that’s the problem.
We’re all one bad decision away from being the suspect… or the victim.
Maybe I’d share a personal experience soon. Or maybe not.
P.S. That abandoned story, Bro Code? It might need a rewrite. The ending just got clearer.