When we started, we were inseparable and the talk of the town. Everything was rosy, mouth watery, beautiful and the frangrance of the atmosphere of our love calm many calamities that could have emerged into our abode. I was his Juliet waiting to be taken away to a place where we could be alone and, he was my Romeo.We beat the air together along the expressway. Each time I close my eyes, all I see was him. Laughter ruled my world, courage was the wrapper I tie day and night. Tomorrow seemed to me like an endless time.
I was only waiting for him to carry me to his people and both of us, to my people. I really know that I have finally found that special one in my life. We moved on and on,
we carried each other's heart in peace, his heart was in my palms and mine was on his palms also. The butterflies that came out of his laughter reminded me of the love between Romeo and Juliet. An endless tale was our love, an egg which must be handle with great care was I to him. Love beckon and we answered immediately to protect that which we were made of.
After some months he took me to his mother and father. When we got to his parents' house, it was heaven on earth. The mother was happy to see me and the father, was excited too because he was the first son of the house and to them; he needed to get married because his younger brothers had all gotten married and he was the only one left in the family. In the house, the mother hugged and kissed me severally; to her I was the perfect woman for her son, she took my hand and kissed it again to tell me how much she loved me. Later, he took my hand and formerly introduced me to his parents. After the introduction, the mother said she wanted to go and get us something to eat; so I followed her into the kitchen. Behold I saw another heaven, the interior decorations were fantastic, the doors were another thing entirely. The deep freezer in the kitchen was "Wow"and the gas cooker was something I could not decribe how it was built. I have not seen all this beautiful arrangement of a house in my young life, I was overwhelmed of the house, the ceiling, the paintings on the wall and the tiles laid on the ground; I mean the entire house. The mother took me to the kitchen where both of us prepared the meal. Although she said I shouldn't worry but since it had been part of me not to sit and watch my mother do the house chores, I insisted that I must assist her to do the chores. After preparing the meal, I carried it to the dinning and everyone came to the dinning as the dinner was served. I sat with Ikenna, and his parents sat together and we began to eat. After eating, we sat in the living room watching the news, the protesters of Biafrans, later, the media chat of the President and the reactions of the public as was covered by the television house. We remained silence, a deep silence that could kill someone craving for attention. I watched from the face of ikenna' father to his mother's; how happy they look and back to the television.
"Nne, where did you come from?" Ikenna' father said finally as he cleared his throat. " I am from Uli in Anambra state" I replied.
"Oh, oh,you are the daughter of the soil. you are welcome to my humble home, Uli is a nice place to marry, my immediate younger brother' wife is from Uli. Their ladies are caring and kind but not as caring as my wife". He giggled while Ikenna's mother laughed out so loud at the appraisal of her.
"It my pleasure sir" I replied smiling
" You see Nne, Ikenna will make a good husband to you. A husband that will not allow Tears to drop from your eyes" his mother said facing me. I think she discovered I was a little bit shy and she removed her face from mine and faced the television.
After the dinner we left and I promised to come and see them later on my own during the weekend. On our way home, we drove past the silverbird Gallary at Ahmedu Bello way, victoria Island, Ikenna said he could have wanted us to park in the parking space and go inside to see a movie that was sheduled to be shown by that time but I insisted that we go home because it was already late. At the Third Mainland bridge, we were hooked up by traffic and the traffic lasted for about four hours . As I watched through the window, I could see hawkers here and there, those selling one or two things. I remembered when I was like them, hawking satchet water on the street, not because we were poor but because I wanted to know what life is all about while in school. I needed not to depend on my parents for this and that, I believed I could do one or two things to assist in paying my school fees. I sold so many things on traffic which my parents didn't know, this was just to make sure I survive and taste what life was all about to the ordinary people, living an ordinary life. We were worn out that night when we got home after we left the traffic that night.
The next day being sunday, Ikenna took me to his church in the evening after the church service. There we began talking about life, confessing our love to each other; our love that would not bring pains to us. He told me how much I mean to him, how he could not leave me for any other woman. He kissed and hugged me tight in the church. In his arms, I watched the crucifix on the altar, the status of Mary on the Altar behind the priest pew. I watched the pictures of the twelve disciples on the wall, the picture where Jesus was washing their feet look strength into my face and I remembered my pastor' words, a statement he always make on the pulpit.
" You must be humble, you must be humble like christ; you know, he was humble that was why he could became so low as to wash his disciples feet."
I allowed Ikenna to hold me tight to his body, I wanted to feel him more, I wanted to feel his heartbeat and the frangrance that came out of his body, I wanted to go into him and see what his heart was made of but could not. He kissed me passionately on the seat we sat on. I was afraid that the members of the church would come in and see us in that position but none came because fate was in agreement with what we were doing. I was shaking but he didn't mind, he sucked my lips and deep his tongue into my mouth and swept me off my feet. After this, he stood up from where he sat and deep hand into his pocket and brought out a handkerchief tied together and asked me to untie it which I did. Behold, there was a golden ring inside the tied handkerchief. He collected it from me as it surfaced. I couldn't believe my eyes as he put the ring in my finger. We fixed the date for the traditional marriage and the wedding. We planned to do wedding and traditional marriage the same day as to minimaze cost.
The date was fixed on the 30th of novermber. That day, I was in another world; the glamour, the atmosphere was great. I was finally getting married to my heart throb. No place was enough for me, the make up artist tried as much as possible to calm me down including my chief bride's maid was also doing her homework. She was also happy and excited. She would fan me and wipe away the sweat on my face and said:
"Nne, your day is finally here. Ife bara aba abago"
After the make up and the arrangement, we were set; the next thing is to wait for the bride groom. We waited the bride groom and his people till 6 pm in the evening but they were no where to be found. Around 6:05 pm, my phone rang and I picked it. Behold he was the one. I tried to talk but before I could open my mouth to speak he hang up on me. I tried the number again but it was busy, busy and busy; which got me upset and I smacked the phone on the ground. Thank God nothing happened to it but just a minor crash. some minutes later it beeped again and my chief brides maid pick it up. " Nne nene! Nne okwa nu Ikenna! A message from him" she said opening the message.
" What did he write?" I asked anxiously
" I am very sorry Chekwe, I can not be able to hold this traditional marriage any more due to some unforeseen circumstance. I am very sorry for this, I thought you were the special one in my life but you are not, I have found another whom my heart beat for. I have no actual reason for this rather than seeing another whose smile wake me up from sleep. You can marry when you found another love. Don't bother calling because it already too late. Ikenna"
I fainted immediately I heard what was written on that message. The next morning when I woke up from my unconsciousness. I saw it on the wall, the truth about love. It was posted on the exact wall opposite me and I read it out loud to myself...
"Tears will come when you put all your trust in men"
Then I closed my eyes again and visualised how it all began and decided to keep moving and forget about Ikenna. When tears comes, love comes after it.
(C) John Chizoba Vincent.
Another Voice From The East
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