SHE COULDN’T EAT (A Valentine Day’s experience).

The first month of the year is obviously January. It comes with it hurdles and lengthy days (longer days and shorter nights) . I always look forward to its ending. For two good reasons:

1. I’ll enter another month. That means progress for me.
2. My dad would receive his salary and I’d have some percentage from it.

While I have two (2) reasons for wanting January’s ending, a good number of my friends have a 3rd reason; they get to celebrate valentines’ day.

I don’t celebrate February 14th. I have never found a reason to celebrate it. I have been a celibate all my life. My friends have always pressured me to do something different and try finding love. I have always declined and thought it would not favour me. Apart from being a celibate, I am equally a social vegan (I don’t do meet 😂), and introvert and a very shy person.

2021’s February 14th seemed a bit different. Instead of picking hotels and lodging with their girlfriends, my friends thought it wise we all went out together and had mutual fun. I didn’t find it interesting since I’d have to break my custom of always sleeping and dreaming of love on this particular day. They pressured me so much that I had to give in. We went out together; four (4) ladies and five (5) gentlemen. I made the number odd.

The venue for the hangout was a low budget restaurant. Our arrival was greeted with a raucous cheer of beer drinkers drinking beer and laughing in loud coarse voices about every single thing. While some ate quietly and observed table manners, other spoke and laughed so loud. “I should have stayed at home and slept,” I thought to myself.

Fast forward to two minutes later, everyone except me of course was busy enjoying the warmth of the partners’ comfort and talking in low tones although they were sneaking into a building at night. While they had their fun, I fancied my cold bottle of coke and secretly wished I had a partner too. I made up my mind that I’d try my possible best to get one before 2022’s February 14th. The oppression was way too much.

As I sipped my coke, a made a serious face. I did this to scare away any boy or girl who would want to come close and ask why I was not with a girl. I somehow feared my face was not serious enough. I looked up to see if anyone had noticed my being bored and alone . There she was.

She wasn’t looking at me. She was busy with her food. I stared at her for so long. She caught me looking at her but didn’t yield in. She was dark, not like me though. She was way dark. Like she had bathed in charcoal. That’s my favorite complexion, the kind of dark complexion that’s forced by too much exposure to the Makurdi sun. Immediately I could feel butterflies in my belly. I became excited too, not because of her but by the way and manner she ate with her cutlery. She struggled to put grains of rice on her fork and lift into her mouth. She suffered more when she need to cut a piece of chicken from the big chunk that was on her plate. I couldn’t help but laugh at the scene.

My friends didn’t not

ice my sudden mood swing. They were so engulfed in their love profession that they barely gave a thought to me.

I brought out my phone and decided to make a video of her from a distance. I intended to post it on my Instagram on my reaching home and make a fun of her (she couldn’t eat with cutlery). This was supposed to make me gain a lot of likes and followers but things didn’t go as expected. She caught me.

Keziah noticed my camera was pointing in her direction. She equally noticed I was laughing both at my camera and at her direction so she knew something was wrong. She stood up from her table and came to mine in a hurry and almost slapped my phone out of my hand. She brought back my friends to the realization that I was still with them.

“Who you deh video” (who are you videoing?) she asked. I was too shocked to answer a question. She asked continuously as she made relentless efforts to snatch my phone from me. My friends interfered and asked her to calm down. She refused to be calm and insisted I was videoing her. The attention of the battalion of couples at the venue was called. Almost everyone who was there dropped their cutlery and glasses of beer and juice and looked in my direction. I, who was a nobody, suddenly became a somebody, and a center of attraction.

It was so embarrassing. 😰😬😩

As a result of her shouting and ranting, people came close and demanded I brought out my phone. I had put it in my pocket for fear that she’d snatch it from me. While my friends protested and supported me, the crowd insisted. The pressure became too much and I had to bring out the phone. Some “feminist ladies” insisted I opened my phone and deleted the video. All this while, I had not admitted that I videoed her. I brought out my phone from my pocket and unlocked it. She snatched it and moved away from my table in anger.

I buried my face in shame.

35 seconds later, she brought it back and looked like she wanted to apologize. “Oya tell him sorry” a man from the crowd shouted. Two other men supported him. I didn’t understand what they were saying. When I looked up, she stood there with a smile; a half smile. The kind of smile you give someone you’ve accused of theft when his innocence is proven. I tried smiling back but the confusion wouldn’t let me. I sort answers but got none.

She stretched her hand and dropped my phone on the phone and murmured some words. “I am sorry” she said. I needed to hear those words more clearly. But they didn’t come out again. She actually said she was sorry. What for?

One rich man from the crowd insisted since she was alone and I was alone, she should join my table. She said she was alone while I was with friends. She insisted I joined her table. I didn’t hesitate. The rich man said he’d sponsor our outing. He promised to pay our bills in full. Everyone laughed in excitement except me. I still didn’t understand what had happened.

I moved to her table, ordered a plate of fried rice and the rest is history.

NOTE: While trying to put my phone in my pocket when she was trying to snatch it from me, my phone minimized my camera app and since I had not saved the video, nothing was found on my phone.

I found love that day. I level being single and joined the likes of @bestkizito, @samhenrytenplus and @peterpezanix who already had tons of girlfriends. 😂😂😂

Love ❤️ and Light 💡.