On Sunday during the sermon, we chatted on 2go and I asked her if we should meet after the sermon but she suggested we meet after the announcement and I obliged. After the announcement, I went outside only to meet her waiting for me. When I was about talking, she suggested we postpone the discussion till after service cos it wasn’t appropriate for both of us to be alone outside during service. I saw sense in what she said, so I agreed.

After service, we excused ourselves from others, I told her to look into my eyes and she looked away smiling,

“Why are you looking away, aren’t you the one that asked me to look into your eyes and tell you I love you?” I asked, “So, I want you to look into my eyes too while am telling you.”

She looked at me and I told her about my feelings for her all over again. She asked me if I was coming for the vigil the next day but I told her I couldn’t cos I had started working. Then, she said she was going to call me and give me her reply. So, I proposed to her for the second time on her birthday, Sunday 27th Nov, 2011.

                     ***

“So you still met her again even after she said you guys can’t be lovers?” Tosin asked, puzzled.

“Ofcos I did, what were you expecting?”

“But why, not every guy will go back to a girl that tells you, you guys can’t be lovers, you know?”

“Yes, you are right, but remember I told you that she was the first girl I ever fell for in my whole life?”

“Yeah, you did.”

“How do you then expect me to leave such a person, someone that made me feel what love truly is?”

“That’s actually true, it will be very hard to give up on such a girl easily, especially after not been in any relationship all through school, moreover girls can’t be predicted nowadays, she might just be testing you,” reasoned Tosin.

“Exactly, that was what I thought too which made me approach her again,” I replied.

“So what was her reply?” He asked anxiously.

Instead, I told him that it was already getting late and I needed to go home. But he pleaded with me, telling me that he should be the one complaining cos my house was close but his wasn’t, and that he was anxious to know where my story was headed and he couldn’t wait for another day.

“Fine, I will, but you have to promise me that my story is the one you will first publish.”

“I promise you Segun, I cross my heart,” he said making a sign of the cross across his chest.

“No man, let’s just make it another day, maybe tomorrow,” I said teasing him.

“Come on man, don’t do me like that, pity this heart of mine, it might explode from waiting and you know there might not always be a tomorrow,” he pleaded.

“Hahaha, is it that serious?” I asked him laughing.

“No jokes, bro.”

“Wow, I was actually joking though, let’s dig in then.”

“Now you talking.”

                     ***

On Tuesday I called her during night call and asked her for her reply. She sighed and told me it might make me sad but I told her to just tell me. She said her answer remains the same, that it can’t work because she doesn’t share the same feelings with me. I was really sad because for a girl to tell you she doesn’t feel the same way for you, it will be difficult for a relationship to work out between you two.

But I still made up my mind to not give up yet cos there’s a saying that ‘it’s not over until it’s over’ and I held on to that.

I went to visit Shola the next day and he was seeing me back home when he asked me about my case with Shade.

“Guy that girl dey fall my hand o,” I replied, feeling a little sad.

“Wetyn happen?”

“Omo, the girl dey form hard to get for me and e no funny, she dey tell me say she no get small feelings for me, you dey hear talk?”

“Hahaha,” he laughed, “no mind her jare, you know say na so some girls dey do na.”

“I know baba but this one no dey joke o.”

“Forget that one, no be girls again, how many times you don follow her talk sef?”

“Two times o my brother.”

“That one serious o, she suppose don give you better answer na.” he replied with a straight face.

“You sef don see abi.”

“But nothing spoil baba, try talk to am again, she suppose consider you then when she see say you really serious,” he said, assuring me.

“Na my plan be that, I no go give up easily, I go talk to her again but if she still say her answer na no, e don finish be that. I no fit kill myself on top one girl wey plenty dey out there.”

“Yes, just try your luck for the last time, you sef know say plenty of the girls wey dey outside no be better girls.”

“I know, na why I wan get this girl at all cost and she don do me something wey I doubt say any kain girl fit replace.”

“Omo, padi mi ti hook o (my guy has been hooked), good luck my guy, you don get her, mafo (don’t loose guard).”

“Mofo ti (I can’t loose guard), you always make me feel better anytime I talk to you, thanks for everything bro.”

“You welcome man, what are we friends for? You’ve always gat me too, so the least I can do is reciprocate.”

We got to the junction of my street and we hugged and parted ways, talking to him gave me a renewed spirit and I started plotting ways to pitch my proposal to her again.

        ***

I devised a new strategy and I immediately called her and told her I wanted to come to her house and give her the gift I bought for her birthday but she told me that she couldn’t allow me come to her house.

“You mean you can’t allow even me to your house, Shade?” I asked her feeling sad.

“Yes, Segun, am very sorry but my mom is very strict and I will be in deep trouble if she sees you at our house.”

“Okay, I get you now, no problem then, this is what will happen, I’ll meet you at the junction to your house and give you.”

“Are you serious?” she asked me.

Surprised and a little bit angry, I asked her “what do you mean by if am serious, have I ever joked about such before?”

“Am sorry, I thought you were just joking.”

“Well, I’m not.”

“Alright, when will you come?”

“On Friday.”

“Okay then, see you on Friday.”