I was already beginning to take my mind off the whole thing when my dad got back from the post office on that day and handed me an envelope. I immediately knew where it came from because of the Royal Mail stamp.
In the letter, Bayo apologized for being incommunicado for so long…he had gotten into some kind of trouble and had to sort himself out. However, he didn’t give details.
He also told me about electronic mail (e-mail)…how it would make communication easier between us and how to open an account at a cyber café.
The e-mail thing actually made it easier to reach him and once in a while we would even chat on Yahoo Messenger.
There was a day he asked if I was still waiting for him…I was shocked at the question and got very upset; because I had not dated any other guy.
I had a lot of guys disturbing me but it was as if Bayo took my heart with him and this was in my final year. I was so angry that I stopped chatting with him, logged out and left the café.
He called me that weekend and explained himself…
How the trouble he got into wouldn’t let him come to Nigeria anytime soon and how he didn’t want to make me wait indefinitely.
How it was a very hard decision but he didn’t want to be selfish and how he loved me too much to waste my time and life by making me wait without a clearly defined time frame.
He sounded like he was gonna cry as he talked and kept asking if I understood his standpoint. It was as if something sharp pierced my heart…I didn’t know what to tell him.
He wouldn’t hang up…so I told him not to worry about it; that I’ll be fine.
“I promise to put marriage on hold just for you…I will not get married until I am sure you have been taken”
“You don’t have to do that” I told him
“Let me bear that burden of waiting, hoping to meet things the way I left them…and if I don’t, you have no reason to feel guilty.
That’s the best I can come up with” he responded, as I hung up.
I didn’t totally get over Bayo…he was that good. I tried dating this guy in my class but the moment he mentioned his plans to travel abroad, I broke up with him. I gave one flimsy excuse and just dumped him.
I graduated and proceeded on Youth Service.
I was posted to Rivers State and didn’t really date anybody during the program.
I was being very careful…although my mum kept pressuring me.
“You’re not getting any younger…if one Bayo will not 'do', a thousand and one others will” she would tell me.
I was lucky to get a good job in Lagos and I moved there.
GSM phones had started operations in some parts of Nigeria by this time…Bayo would call once in a while and we’d catch up.
I started attending this Church that introduced me to a different kind of Christianity…we were just nominal Christians in my family but the moral standards were very high.
I gave my life to Christ and became a worker at the Church.
It was during my workers’ training that I met Seun. He was the class president…I noticed his smile because it reminded me of Bayo. He must have felt the same way as he walked up to me after the class and introduced himself. We talked for a while and he asked for my number, which I gladly gave to him.
There was this thing about him that made me wanna see him again. He called later that evening and that was it. It was as if, God sent me another Bayo. All the qualities I loved in Bayo was in him, plus some more…a complete gentleman and a genuine child of God. We started dating and I could tell he was serious and knew what he wanted.
We courted for about a year and after he had met my family, Seun popped the question.
It was such a well thought-out, romantic proposal that I just couldn’t say no. He had arranged with my boss (they’re friends) to schedule a fake meeting at a high brow hotel on the island. It was supposed to be a dinner/meeting with some of our big clients, so my boss told me to be dressed for the occasion. I had spoken with Seun before leaving for the meeting…I wanted to know where he would be later in the evening and he told me he was headed for the mainland because he had to meet with the president of the Youth Group at the church. I promised to call him after the meeting. I got to the hotel and as I entered the room for the supposed meeting, I saw my friends, Seun’s friends, my boss, my immediate elder sister, our marriage counselor and some people from the church. They all dressed formal and as I was still wondering what was happening; Seun stepped out of another room, went on his knees and asked if I would marry him.
“Yes I will” I responded with tears in my eyes…and the party began.
It was a beautiful night and the engagement ring? Wow.
How he was able to pull this off without spilling kind of baffled me because he never kept any secrets. There’s nothing about his life that he hid from me…even all his past relationships (when he was still a bad boy). I also told him about Bayo but I noticed that anytime I got an SMS or a mail from Bayo (we were still friends) Seun’s countenance changed, so I stopped talking about Bayo altogether.
I had also told Bayo about Seun and he would ask about him anytime we talked or in his messages. He even told me he was happy I found love again.
