I was a bit shy. But I managed to regard him: He is tall and handsome, above all, he is kind hearted, caring and has a good job. These are the qualities desirable in a man by a woman. “Will you mind if I think about it?” “No problem, Jessica. But do not forget that I am wholly in love with you.” We talked for a while, then parted ways.
For well over five days, we did not see each other but he often called me on phone, though he never reminded me of the marriage issue whenever he called. One pretty hot Sunday; Richard visited me in my dreary looking house and he brought up the marriage proposal again. I eventually accepted his proposal and he engaged me afterwards. I packed into his well furnished apartment, and we lived together as a prospective husband and wife. At first, things started quite well between us. We seemed like a perfect match, like a union made in heaven. We were enjoying each other’s company and I was particularly looking forward to our wedding day. But then, after a whole year, the relationship had not even progressed beyond a mere engagement.
But that was not bothering me that much because we had at least started making plans for our marriage ceremony. There was one thing that I thought was wrong in the relationship, and that was the fact that Richard had no time for me. It was always work for him. He goes to work very early and comes home late in the night, sometimes I had to spend the nights alone when he must have travelled out of town for one office assignment or the other. In fact, the relationship was characterized with lack of seriousness and total dedication. I did everything I could to make Richard see things my way and change for the better, but all of my efforts yielded no results. It soon became a matter of time that I would lose interest in the relationship. I easily got irritated by most of Richard’s attitude.
We were often piking quarrels at each other. In the heat of my frictions with Richard, I ran into Emeka. He lived in the next street and owned a big supermarket somewhere around Oshodi. We agreed that I would be the one to visit him occasionally in his house and that would be when my husband must have gone for work .”You are such a beautiful lady. I wish you were not engaged, I would have married you.” He told me during one of my visits to his house. “Are you sure?” I had asked. “If I am sure? If anything is far better than sure, then that is what I am.” I felt a sudden tingle of excitement in me.
Emeka is also tall and handsome, he had some advantages over Richard. He is more caring. loving and romantic than Richard and he had time for me, we often played together when I visited him in his house. Emeka and I became even closer and we began to see more of each other. Soon, I became fond of him and lost total interest in Richard. One particular day, Emeka and I were together in his house, sitting in a lounging chair in his sitting-room, when I decided to have serious discussions with him”Honey …. •
I started. He turned sharply to look at me. “What’s the matter?” he asked me, I studied him for a while, and then I continued. “Are you aware that I love you so much?” “Of course, I do”. He smiled lightly. A moment of silence passed. “If I quit my relationship with Richard, are you going to marry me?”. His face grimaced. He seemed shocked and puzzled at the same time. I knew he never expected this from me. “Why would you want to quit your relationship with him?” his face-hardened as I watched him. I hesitated.
“Because I don’t love him any more, you have stolen all the love I had for him, and I can’t find anything interesting in him any more”. He was quiet for a while, his gaze steadily on me. ‘Are you sure you are ready to quit him to marry me?” “Of course, with all sincerity” I responded sharply. We talked for long and examined the prospects of our intentions critically before we parted again, and 1 returned to our desolate apartment waiting for Richard to return. While I waited, I had tried to form up a reasonable excuse to leave him but I couldn’t find a good reason. I gave up on that thought that moment. Our relationship went on without any change but my love for him had depreciated beyond resurrection.
And each time I visited Erneka, he would always ask me when I would finally pack into his house, I would tell him to be patient with me. This continued until one Saturday evening. Richard and I had had one of our usual rows and we had started barking at each other as expected.”I can’t continue like this with you! I am quitting this relationship!” I screamed at him at the top of my voice. I removed my engagement ring from my finger and dropped it on the centre table. Richard stared at me for long. he seemed perplexed at my decision. “You are quitting?” he’d asked quietly; his voice trembling slightly. “Yes, I am quitting!” He nodded his head, and shrugged his shoulders heavily. , “Then suit yourself!” That day, I packed my belongings into my suitcase and left at dawn. He did not even try to persuade me to stay or to change my mind. “You are about to make the biggest mistake in your life.” He said to me as I opened the exit door. I turned to look at him, I didn’t say anything, and I left.That marked the end of our relationship. Richard did not call me, neither did I call him. Gradually, I had lost all memories of him. I began living with Emeka and I thoroughly enjoyed his companionship.He engaged me barely two months of our living together, and this was around March.”Our wedding will be coming up in June. We should start working hard towards making it a success:’ he told me. I nodded happily.
To Be Continued
