Tuesday, April 03, 2012

Life’s Surprises

Interestingly enough Ebun had been waiting for his call. He was the love of her life or at least had been the love of her life for the last three months. The calls had been abundant were not coming in small trickles. To make things worse, the idiots she lived with were constantly hounding her about him, asking when they were going to meet him.


 Of course, they weren’t idiots in the sense of the word, but really good friends who looked out for her well-being. Frustrated, she tried his number again, but as usual, Lawal’s number wasn’t going through. Fuck! She really hated loving him. She hoped that he would have a reasonable excuse as to why he hadn’t replied any of her missed calls.

***Three months ago, her flat mate Melissa had introduced her to this really nice guy on twitter who liked her dp, which was a clumsy but really nice picture of Ebun in her pajamas. He seemed nice, and Melissa decided to introduce the both of them***…. Shit! She really hated how it seemed like she was the one stalking him now.
“Bet he will tell me that there was no service in Ijesha”, she thought to herself. Melissa entered the flat beaming. Her fiancé of 4 years had finally agreed to a date that soothed them both. A geyser of jealousy erupted in Ebun’s heart because she knew that Hers and Lawal’s relationship was still in its baby state.

***Their romance had been awesome; he knew all the spots in Lagos and made their outings not about the “effizy”, but about the content. They had joked about eating ‘brokoto’ and surprisingly, he took her to the White house, Yaba. He had wanted to take her home, but she decided to follow him as he ran a few personal errands which included sending a laptop to his kid brother in France, yeah; she loved how thoughtful he was. In evening, they went to see a movie at Genesis and then went home to watch a Nigerian movie (which he had hated, but she made him watch with her anyway). ***
He had updated his twitter status to “Thinking about my ex-“about 2 hours ago.

**When Lawal told her that he was in love with her, she almost shouted YES!!!  And decided to play it cool, so she pouted like she was thinking about it and asked for a couple of days. The next morning, he called to say hello, and she smiled, knowing that he was calling her because he thought of her first thing in the morning. She sent him a heartfelt text telling him that she loved him too and then called immediately after to explain that she found it easier to express herself in writing. **
It had been three straight days, yet no answer. If only she had his brother’s number, ooh wait, he was in France.

*She was to leave for Australia to complete her nursing training in 2 days. He was already missing her, and decided to take her on an evening date. Ebun had been surprised when she got to the restaurant and noticed the handsome gentleman in the tuxedo was her Lawal. If only she hadn’t worn jeans and a simple top. He made her smile when he took off his tie and folded the arms of his tux to make her not feel bad. He  was the person who brought chaos to her orderliness, the only person who made her mad simply because he burped after he ate to say thank you(only when they were alone), the only guy who she had ever let go down on her. He was clumsy, smart, cute and funny. He was hers*

“Hello? “, the person at the other end of the phone seemed to be crying.
“I saw that Lawal stored your phone number on his phone as my love. That is why I am calling you now. I am so sorry to inform you that he had an accident on his way to Ilesha. I just got in to the country for his burial. I had been updating his status cuz I had his laptop. I am so sorry but he is in a coma here at the Intensive care of LUTH. Please join us in praying for him. Hello? Hello? Are you there? Hello?”
Ebun was trembling as the phone went silent. It wasn’t as if she didn’t want to answer, it was as if she had been paralyzed then shot in her heart. She had been so upset last night that she had sent him an email breaking up with him, calling him a dog for going back to his ex; cursing the day she had met him….

*Each asterisk represents a week…
Author’s Note: Sometimes in life, we forget that most important thing is happiness. Happiness brings about satisfaction, and once a person is satisfied, greed is usually not a problem. In a society like ours where a person is defined by their bank account, work place, house size and pedigree of the wife they marry, true happiness is overlooked. So, appreciate whoever makes you truly happy and cherish their presence.

Dedicated to Alexander Kwanashie (R.I.P Nov’2011)

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