Men will disgrace you!

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon; I decided to branch the mall on my way home from church. I was in the parking lot of the mall trying to organize my things and decide which I wanted to take with me into the mall, finally finished organizing and came out of my car almost 15 minutes after I arrived the parking lot. I walked towards the mall with a straight face knowing I was about to swipe my debit card in a few minutes but then the baby girl treatment is necessary once in a while. I got to the entrance of the mall and the security guy there opened the door and also his 32(teeth), “good afternoon madam, happy Sunday o, how church and family” he greeted in the Nigerian pidgin language, “if you like ask after my imaginary husband and unborn children, I don’t still have any money to give you” I thought but replied his greetings with a bright smile which was the exact opposite of the countenance in my head. I stepped in and the first thing that hit me was the breeze from the air conditioning of the mall, it was a different feeling from that of the sun on my skin.

I headed for a basket to start my shopping, got one and started down the aisles, looking through the shelves to see if anything would catch my eyes before I went for the things I had preplanned to buy. Walking and minding my business, I suddenly heard a voice from behind “smile now, I bet you have a pretty smile”, I looked back to confirm if that was directed at me or maybe it was coming from a familiar face who was trying to make their presence known, “taleleyi? Who is this one?” I thought, I bet my facial expression must have given off the thoughts on my mind, as he continued quickly “I’m Wale” he said smiling. I looked at him keenly from head to toe, hehad an afro haircut with a bit of curls, a nice facial structure, sharp eyes, slightly pointed nose and plump pink lips, he was wearing a tight white shirt which was buttoned midway revealing his finely built chest, the shirt fit was in such a way that his well-built body was perfectly announced, he had nice biceps and shoulder. He complimented the white shirt with a pair of navy blue pants and a white Nike air force 1. “Lade” I quickly replied after my detailed but quick assessment. He stretched his hands as if to initiate a handshake, I quickly stretched mine too to accept his handshake, “nice to meet such a pretty lady on a fine Sunday afternoon” he said, “it’s nice to meet you too, thanks for the compliment” I replied. He initiated one conversation after another, he was good at it, we connected easily and quickly and did the rest of our shopping together, I enjoyed every bit of it, I was glad I decided to swipe my debit card that afternoon.

We finished shopping and it was time to pay, there was a long line of customers, “one of the reasons I hate coming to the mall” I lamented, “it’s okay, see it as the universe giving me more time to spend with you” Wale said, I gave off a shy smile looking away from him, “this guy is good” I silently thought, “I knew you had a pretty smile” he abruptly cut into my thoughts “thank you Wale” I replied sharply as if to insinuate that the sweet compliments were getting too much. Our turn finally came, I dropped my stuff on the attendants table and handed her my card, he quickly asked her to return my card and take his instead, “I’ll be paying, it’s the least I could do to appreciate your time” he whispered softly, “thank you” I whispered with a smile. We finally got out of the mall, we were approaching the parking lot when he said “I haven’t had lunch yet, it’ll be nice to share lunch with you, there’s an eatery just around the corner…” I cut in before he could finish “it’ll be nice to share lunch with you too but I’m tired and I think I have had enough for one day, I should head home now, maybe some other time”. The look on Wale’s face made me know that I might have hurt him with my reply but that wasn’t making me change my mind either, I really wanted to go home, take off my clothes and sleep. “Some other time then, trust me to take you up on that” Wale said with a smile, we exchanged cards, I thanked him again for the things and we said our goodbyes.

It was about 6 o’clock in the evening when my phone started ringing, “who is that now” I complained, as the noise from the phone had disturbed my sweet sleep, I struggled to reach for the phone “hello” I said with a tone that made it easy to tell that I was just waking up from sleep, “were you sleeping? Did I wake you?” said the voice on the other end of the phone. “Your call did, good evening, who is this?” at this point I was fully awake and had realized that the call had come in from a number I didn’t know and I didn’t seem to place the voice either. “It’s Wale, we met at the mall earlier today” I didn’t even know how to respond, I was a bit embarrassed, I had just picked his call with a sleepy tone, I wasn’t expecting him to call so quickly. “You must have forgotten about me so fast” he added jokingly, I was glad he was joking around, that made me feel at ease a bit, “ahn ahn, are you insulting my memory?” I replied and the conversation continued.

It was 8am Monday morning, I had just clocked into the office when Nini ambushed me by the door of my office, she had some kind of sweet gist that couldn’t wait or it‘ll get cold according to her. Nini is an old friend from the university and we happened to be working in the same organization, we weren’t so close back in our university days but working in the same place has made us grow really close. “This gist better be worth it” I said as I dragged her into my office, “you remember Kemi from school? I heard she’s coming back to Nigeria soon, she’s getting married to one Nonso guy she met in the UK” Nini blurted out. How in the world would I forget Kemi, I really hated her back then, she was never minding her business and was always up in everyone’s shit, she felt like the whole world belonged to her just because she came from a very wealthy family, such an arrogant bitch! “So what if she’s getting married, you know how much I dislike that girl” was my reply to what Nini had just told me. “Toke is helping Kemi plan the wedding, expect her to reach out to you…”, “why would she reach out to me” I cut in, “…I recommended you as a really good event planner when Toke asked if I knew any, she didn’t say why she needed an event planner, I already recommended you before she mentioned Kemi’s wedding” Nini continued.

Event planning was my side hustle, it was something I really loved and enjoyed doing, I always loved the recommendations I got from friends and family but this recommendation wasn’t sitting well with me, why should I be planning Kemi’s wedding? I didn’t let it bother me too much as I was about to start my day and needed my head to be straight to perform well. Later at lunch, Nini brought up the issue of Kemi’s wedding again and asked if I’ll be taking the job if Toke contacted me “thank God you said if, let’s see if I’ll even be considered, you know miss wealthy might want a celebrity event planner” I said sarcastically.

I got home from work really tired, I had stopped by an eatery on my way to have dinner knowing that I’ll be too tired to make any food when I got home. I entered my apartment and headed straight for my bed, I needed the comfort it gave as my whole body was aching. I had just laid on my bed when my phone started ringing, it was Wale calling, he asked if I had gotten home from work and how my day went, he also gave me details of how his day went, we talked for a while before I slept off on the call.

I got a call from an unknown number on a Wednesday afternoon at work, it was Toke, she was calling to arrange a meeting concerning Kemi’s wedding. I honestly wasn’t expecting her call, 3 weeks had passed since Nini told me about the recommendation, I thought she’ll never call and I was glad at the thought of that because planning Kemi’s wedding was a lot for me anyway. I told her I had a busy schedule for the rest of the week and that I’ll inform her when I had free time, I really hadn’t thought of the matter since Nini mentioned it at lunch 3 weeks ago, I needed to buy time to think hence the busy schedule. I went immediately to Nini’s office “Toke just called” I said as I entered, she was on a call so she gave me a sign to wait using her hand. “I told you to think about this thing before she called, what will you do now” she said as soon as she got off the call “I’ll advice you to set up the meeting, get the details of the event and hear how much they’re willing to pay, that might guide you in your decision” she continued. “I think I’ll just do what you said, it sounds like a nice plan” I left her office and headed for mine.

I came back to missed calls from Wale as I had left my phone behind in my office. It was unusual for him to call by that time as it had become a custom for Wale and I to always talk every day after work, we gave each other the details of how each day went and went to sleep from there, it might be important I thought so I called back. He was calling to ask if I was free later that evening so we could go out to dinner, “I have a meeting with a client at a hotel not too far from my office, the meeting should last for about 2 hours, after that I’m free to go home.” He asked if the hotel had a fine dining which I affirmed, “Great! Send me the address, I’ll meet you there in 2 hours”. I dropped my phone and started to pack for the meeting as I was to leave the office by 3pm and it was almost time.

It was a few minutes to 5 when we rounded up the meeting, my client was about leaving and offered to give me a ride, I told him I had to meet up with someone else and wouldn’t be leaving anytime soon, I thanked him for the offer and let him be on his way. Mr. Jude had barely left when I got a text from Wale stating that he was at the hotel’s fine dining already, “I’m on my way” I texted back to put him at ease and let him know that he wasn’t going to be waiting for too long. I headed for the ladies first, I needed to fix my look, this was the first time I was seeing him again since our meeting at the mall. I entered the restaurant and stylishly looked around from the entrance to locate where he was sitting, he noticed me first and walked towards the entrance to get me, he was wearing a pink fitted short sleeve shirt which was buttoned midway again, a pair of wine pants and brown Chelsea boots, “this guy sabi this fashion thing sha” I thought as he approached. We hugged and greeted, “you’re even more beautiful than I remember” he said as he walked me to the table, “are you sure you’re just coming from a work meeting” he added as he pulled out the chair for me to sit, I was wearing a peach-silk-tiny-hand dress and a pair of nude heels “I’m dressed like this because of the meeting I just finished, he’s one of our top client and my boss treats the top clients to the best” I said defending myself, “I absolutely love what you’re wearing, it’s as if you knew I had plans to ask you to dinner” Wale said as he complimented my dressing, I returned the compliments and added that I really loved his sense of fashion. We began to share how the day went and I somehow brought up the issue of Kemi’s wedding planning, his advice was similar to that which Nini gave and now I was sure that was what I was going to do. We ate, drank and talked about anything and everything, he was so open anytime we talked, and there was no question I asked he didn’t provide answers to.

The waiter had just brought the desert when I got a text from Nini, she was asking how far I had gone with the proposal she asked me to help her with, I had completely forgotten about it until that text, I quickly checked the time and realized it was almost 8pm, “we should leave soon” I said aloud unconsciously, Wale understood and called for the bill almost immediately, he sorted it while we had desert. “I had a nice time” I said as we stood up to leave, “me too” Wale replied smiling. We got into the car and he paused for a while before starting the engine, “I have something to say before we go” he said holding my hands. He started by saying that he was always happy anytime we talked and always looked forward to it, he continued that his happiness knew no bounds when he saw me walk into the restaurant that evening, he said he was sure of his feelings for me and before another man steals me away from him he wanted us to seal our relationship. My heart was racing, I could feel the sincerity in his words, I told him I felt the connection too and wasn’t going to play hide and seek or try to deny it, I further said that I liked the fact that we vibe so well and I didn’t see a need to rush things, “the most important thing is that the feelings are mutual, we have our whole life ahead of us and I don’t see a need to rush anything” those were my exact words. He planted a kiss on my forehead and squeezed my hands tightly, “I like you so much Lade” he said looking into my eyes, he released my hands and started the car engine.

Wale’s call was what woke me the next morning, I must have missed my alarm as my body was really tired, I didn’t sleep so well because I had to finish Nini’s proposal. I was glad he called else I would have been late for work, I told him I had to prepare for work and would call him back as soon as I got settled at work. I got to work and went straight to Nini’s office as I had to explain some details on the proposal to her, I went to my office after and placed a call through to Wale as soon as I got in. We talked for a really long time, I almost forgot I was in the office, he reminded and reassured me of his feelings for me and said he would be patiently waiting till I was ready, I was happy he was expressive about his feelings and that he was willing to wait till I felt ready. We said our goodbyes and I ended the call blushing.

Lunch time came and I took the opportunity to reach out to Toke, I arranged the meeting for Saturday by 2pm which she agreed to and also informed me that I’ll be meeting with the couple as well, Kemi was meant to fly in by Friday morning and her fiancé was already in the country, we concluded the arrangement and I got off the phone. “I’ll be seeing Kemi on Saturday” I said to Nini as I go back into the office dinning. “She is in Nigeria already?” Nini asked confused, “not yet, she arrives on Friday” I replied. “Make sure you dress well because you know how Kemi can be, before she embarrasses you in front of her man” Nini advised, I nodded in agreement and we continued with our food.

Saturday came and I woke up with cold feet, I wouldn’t have gone ahead with this arrangement if I had known that Kemi would be there, I wasn’t expecting her to be at the first meeting. I remembered what Nini had said about the dressing and quickly started looking for what to wear, simple has always been classy to me so I decided to wear a black-turtle-neck top, fitted blue jeans and a pair of black boots. I left the house around 12:30pm so I could beat traffic, it was better to be early than late, I prayed so much for patience before I left the house, I was determined to avoid any drama with Kemi at all cost. I got to the venue around 1:30pm and sat at a random table waiting for others to arrive, about 15 minutes later Toke arrived, I could hardly recognize her but she spotted me immediately, she sat with me and we chatted and tried to catch up a bit while waiting for the couple to arrive. Kemi walked in about 20 minutes later and headed right for our table without confusion, she must have spotted us from the entrance, she greeted nicely and even complimented my look, I was surprised. She sat and asked that we begin the meeting, she said Nonso was close and he would join us in a bit. 30 minutes into the meeting and Nonso arrived, I didn’t see him walk in as I was engrossed in the venue ads I was looking through, Kemi stood to welcome him so I raised my head to say hello, to my greatest surprise I saw Wale standing right in front of me, I lost balance for a bit, I definitely wasn’t day dreaming, neither was I thinking of Wale too much to be seeing him in Nonso, what exactly was happening? Did Wale have a twin I wasn’t aware of? But the names are from different tribes, or maybe it was just a simple coincidence and they actually just look alike, but I know Wale when I see him, something wasn’t right. I completely lost focus and the ability to concentrate, I kept stealing glances at Nonso which always resulted in eye-contact meaning he was looking at me too. I couldn’t contain myself again “I’m sorry I’ve been stealing glances at you but you look exactly like my boyfriend” I said and brought out my phone to show him pictures of Wale. Yes I referred to Wale as my boyfriend as that was the only way I could think of addressing him as at that moment, though we weren’t official yet, we certainly were more than just friends. Kemi quickly snatched the phone from my hands and started looking through the pictures, Nonso had the kind of face that told me there was about to be a problem. “Did you say your boyfriend?” Kemi asked, now I didn’t know if to answer that question or not, “these pictures are from our visit to Wales, I took these pictures myself” “how does she have these pictures?” Kemi asked angrily turning to face Nonso who was already sweating. First I was confused, later I started to catch on, Nonso and Wale were the same person. I was shocked, I sat there watching the whole drama unfold but at the same time lost in my own thoughts, isn’t this the guy who was professing love to me in the most sincere way just 3 days ago? So it was all deceit? So the past 4 weeks have been a lie? I was heartbroken, I felt so stupid and was so ashamed, I felt so sorry for myself but more than anything I felt pity for Kemi. I picked my bag and dragged myself out of the restaurant without saying a word to anyone, I just wanted to get home and cry myself to sleep.

Monday morning came and I honestly wasn’t the best person to show up at work but I had no choice as baby girl still has her bills to pay, I dragged myself out of bed and straight to work. I wasn’t surprised when I met Nini at the door of my office, definitely Toke must have given her gist of my embarrassment and she was either here to tease me or sympathize with me. “Nini Good morning” I greeted as I opened my door and entered, Nini quickly followed me inside but remained quiet. “Toke already told you what happened on Saturday, isn’t that why you’re here?” I said breaking the silence in the room, “Lade are you okay?” she said with so much concern, “I’m fine love” I replied. “But when did this guy happen, you never mentioned anything about him to me” she added with prying eyes. “I just wanted to wait till I was sure, I wanted to be sure he was the one” I answered almost bursting into tears, Nini comforted me as I relayed the whole incident with Wale or Nonso or whatever his real name was. After a moment of gloomy emotions, the room was filled with bright smiles again as Nini made jest of the situation.

3 weeks had passed when Nini walked into my office with a mischievous look on her face and her phone in her hands, she was scrolling through instagram when she stumbled upon the wedding pictures and video of Kemi and Nonso on a popular wedding blog and that was what she had come to show me. “Whatever he has on her must be good” I thought as I looked through the post, I couldn’t imagine how she was still able to go through with the wedding, I wondered why the almighty Kemi was sticking to a lying swine. Well, it was her decision and not mine.

As for Nonso, that Saturday was the last time I ever heard from or saw him again and honestly I never want to hear from or see him ever again!