MARRY ME

“I know I’m supposed to go down on a knee,” I said pulling out the box from my pocket, “but that would seem contrived. My throat is a little dry, and if my racing heart is anything to go by, then I am doing the right thing.” I tried to look her in the face, eye to eye, but I couldn’t bring my eyes to rise above her chin.

You’re taking too long.

“Will you marry me?” I finally looked up at her standing there with her hands on her chest and a smile playing on her lips.

If you’re going to let me down, please do so gently.

***

After I interviewed for the job with Muna’s father, I didn’t expect to get it because off my history with Muna.

Two weeks later I got a call from someone from HR who sounded really excited to be speaking with me. It turned out the panel “absolutely loved” me.

They were looking for managers for their Lagos and Port Harcourt lounges, and with my skill set, I was a good fit. They wanted to know if I had a preferred location to work at.

I asked for a few days to think it over and I got two days.

I called Max and told her about the job offer and we talked about what it meant for me. She asked me to go for the Lagos position since it was a city I was familiar with.

“Abeg choose Port Harcourt jare. This is your opportunity to leave this town and start afresh somewhere else.” Scar said when I raised it at Camelot.

“But this town has been good to me,” I said.

“True that,” Sly said. “But things look like they are about to get complicated and you might need the space and time to sort out your feelings for Max.”

“Who said anything about feelings now?” I asked. “How is Max a factor here?”

“You see how defensive you got? Even you know that things just aren’t the same with you and Max since you broke up with Cynthia.”

“She broke up with me.”  I was exasperated. “How is it hard for you to wrap your head around that?”

“Because,” Sly said, “if we keep telling you broke up with her it would keep you from going to seek her out. Think am nau, positive reinforcement, bro. You have a good thing going with Maxie, heaven knows, but I believe you need to take a step away from her to see it.”

“Which kain upside down logic be that? Apart from my love life, what other reason is there for packing my bag and relocating to a new city?” I asked.

“Girls,” said Phantom. “I hear the girls in that town are something else.”

“I know girls cost money, I heard PH girls cost plenty money.”

“Shut up and do this for the culture. I can’t go anywhere without discussing it in advance with the Mrs. You still have your freedom to just up and go. Do it” Sly pleaded.

“On the real though,” he continued, “I like that you have options and the fact that you’re asking whether to stay or go means that you acknowledge Lagos may not be enough for you. Why not go to PH? Travelling is an important part of education, and someday in the future, you might find the experience invaluable.”

“And there’s the chics,” Phantom chimed in.

Such an idiot.

I took the job in Port Harcourt and made the move there. Max threw me a going away party at which she told me she would miss me.

“It’s not like I’m going to die,” I joked. “We will visit. At least I will visit you. I still know my way home.”

She kissed me on the lips, for the first time, and I wasn’t weirded out by it.

***

“Are you sure this is what you want? What you really want?” She asked me.

“Yes Cynthia, with all my heart.”

“Yes,” she whispered. “Yes Bobo, I will marry you.”