The Best Day

Today is about to be the greatest day of my life. I can feel it in my guts. Today is the day that marks the beginning of the rest of my life. A lot of things are going to change today and I can feel it! I can feel it!

I woke up with a huge smile on my face this beautiful Saturday morning and I could feel the freshness of the air right in my lungs. I felt light and free, so free! The sun seemed to shine brighter and even the scowl on my mother’s face as I wished her a good morning did not even put a damper on my mood like it usually does. Nothing could ruin my mood today, absolutely nothing. The toilet seat my younger sister left open without flushing her pee almost got close to ruining it but I decided not to let it. Instead, I flushed the toilet, closed the seat, and walked out still whistling.

You might be wondering why I feel so excited? Well, the reason I feel this giddy is because my boyfriend is going to propose today!

Don’t ask me how I know because my reasons would not make sense to you. But if you must know, I’ll tell you. You know how they always say that ‘when a woman knows, she knows’? Well, this is one of such moments when I just know this is going to happen but I have no concrete evidence to back it up.

My friends thought I wouldn’t notice the way they had been hovering over me the past week. They made me braid my hair, fix my nails, and even scheduled me for a spa session in an expensive place on the Island. It wasn’t my birthday or anything and at first, I didn’t understand what all the fuss was about. Not until Chioma, my one friend who did not know how to keep a secret spilled the beans, unintentionally. I’ll tell you how it happened.

So, I was lounging on my mother’s 15-year old couch one lovely Wednesday afternoon when Chioma called me. Mind you, this was three days after they had made me braid my hair for a ridiculous price. The fact that they even offered to split the costs among themselves when I complained about how expensive the charge was, was enough to raise my brows. My girls never offer, and I mean, never offer to pay for anything.

When I picked her call, she told me she was in the middle of Balogun market, and she was desperately looking for a prop and decoration shop. She asked me if I knew of any stores that sold those items around since my mother had a shop there too, but I told her no. Chioma never goes to the market, not even when she is about to collapse from hunger. She didn’t like going to the market for food, not to talk about props and decorations. Online stores and dispatch riders are in business only because Chioma exists. Knowing this about a girl I’ve been friends with for ten years, I had to ask,

“Babe, what are you doing at the market?”

“I’m looking for a prop and decoration store nah! What have I been saying since?”

“It’s not like I did not hear you the first time oh. It’s just that I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that you are in the market, willingly.”

“It is urgent jare. Couldn’t find a vendor online.” She sounded so frustrated, that I thought she was going to burst into tears any second.

“But, what do you need props and decorations for that urgent?”
“I’m organizing a proposal…” I noticed how she cut herself off mid-sentence like she had just said something she shouldn’t have but I was too excited at the thought to even care.

“Are you serious? For who? I want to help. Pleeeease. You know I love things like this. Why didn’t you tell me? I would have followed you to the market oh.”

“Ehn…”

“Who’s it for? Do I know her? Tell me nah.”

“Ehm, babe, I have to go. I’ll give you all the details later…love you, bye!” and she hung up, just like that. This is evidence one.

Then there’s Titi, my friend who never calls. She’s one of those friends who would never lend you her charger but could give you one of her kidneys. I believe everyone has one friend like that, always around for the big and important moments and then drifting away until the next big moment. Recently, precisely two weeks ago, she called me. It wasn’t my birthday or hers and nobody had died. It was very strange. She told me that she just called to check up on me to make sure I was doing great.

We had a little chat and updated ourselves on the changes in our lives since the last time we met. Now that was not even the surprising part. She called me the day after! Usually, we gave our calls at least one-month intervals in between, and there she was calling me less than 24 hours later. In her defense, she said she forgot something (a song we used to enjoy in the University) and she called me to remind her. That was just a sorry excuse and I even had to ask her if she was dying. That is evidence two.

Then, there is my third evidence, provided by the man of the moment himself. Joshua, the love of my entire life. When I met Joshua three years ago, we were fresh graduates still trying to find our bearings in a society that didn’t favor fresh graduates. When he asked me to be his girlfriend, I took it as a joke because nothing about our situation then pointed to a relationship being a reasonable course of action. He was broke and I was poor. There was simply no good reason for us to go into a relationship, but he promised me that he was working on something big and everything would fall in place in no time. True to his words, everything did fall into place but before that, we had to handle our relationship in unorthodox ways. Because of our financial situation, we never went on dates. Instead, we would just find a quiet spot at my estate every evening to talk and catch up.

During those days, he used to squat with four other guys and he hated having me come around because of his living conditions. When things started looking up, we discovered that we had both become so accustomed to not going on dates, that it never even became a suggestion. So, tell me why Joshua has been telling me we have to go on a proper date? Tell me why he picked the most expensive restaurant on the Island? Why is he asking me to wear a dress, especially in a color that he likes? The obvious answer, if you haven’t figured it out by now is that he’s about to ask me to be his wife.

But there is a problem. My mother. Going into school, my mother had advised me to only enter into relationships I knew were heading for marriage. When I brought Joshua home, she gave him a thorough once-over and decided he didn’t look like someone that was ready for the responsibilities of life yet. She also took her sweet time to tell me how good I am at making bad decisions and how Joshua was just one of those bad decisions. Oh, we had a fight. A big, long fight that made me relocate to another side of town. It took our extended family’s intervention to get us talking again, but the tension between us never left.

Fast forward to one year later and my mother still doesn’t like Joshua or even want to talk to him when he comes around to pay her a visit. Regardless of the fact that Joshua sends her a monthly stipend and pays some of the bills in our house, my mother always gives him a cold shoulder every time he comes around. All that is about to change. When we finally get married, we’ll probably leave the country for good and visit once in ten years.

“Hey, baby. Are you ready? I’m about to come to pick you up.” Joshua said as I picked up his call that Saturday evening.

“Yes, yes. You can come.”

It was at this point that the full implications of what was about to happen to me started to dawn on me. Then my palms got sweaty and I could no longer walk in the beautiful silver pumps Chioma made me buy the day before.

“Where are you going dressed like this?” My mother asked after looking me over a hundred times.

“I’m going out with Joshua.”

“One of those fruitless outings again.” She said as she hissed and turned her attention back to the evening news.

“Don’t worry, mummy. I will soon leave your husband’s house. Very soon.”

I walked out in anger and decided to just wait for my charming prince outside my gate. I only had to wait for about ten minutes before he pulled up in his new 2019 Nissan Altima, looking all dressed up.

“This has to be a very special date oh. You even wore a suit.”

“It’s a very special one. Don’t worry, you’ll see.”

As we drove to the restaurant, I couldn’t speak because I was too nervous. I began to wonder if I would find all my friends there and if the ring would fit. Subconsciously, I started to rub on my ring finger, preparing it for its new friend.

“This place is beautiful, Joshua. Oh my God.”

“And very expensive too. I heard you even have to pay for your water.”

“I hope you came ready sha, because I don’t want to wash plates.”

He laughed out loud and led me to our reserved seats. I noticed a third seat was propped on the table and I got confused.

“Babe, are we expecting someone?”

“It’s a surprise.” He said as he smiled shyly.

Okay, I don’t get why he would need a third seat to propose to me but I was not going to complain. I wonder what concept he had planned in his head. It better not get to Instablog9ja.

Moments later, he told me he had to go get something, just after receiving a strange call. As he walked away, all I could think about was, “It’s about to happen! It’s about to happen!” I became jittery and started cleaning my fingers in anticipation. I checked that my makeup was intact for the pictures and I adjusted my dress for the umpteenth time that night.

‘Babe.’

I was bent over, adjusting my shoe strap when he called me. I looked up and found him standing with an older woman, as opposed to being on one knee with a ring.

“Babe, meet my mother. She came back from America last week and I told her she had to meet you. I didn’t tell you because I wanted it to be a surprise!”

Excuse me, what?!

All pictures are from Pexels and no attribution is required.