After her
bother left, we resumed visits to each other’s houses again, but we
never got to spend any nights together. One of those days we got
talking, and this is the record of our conversation;
‘So what made you decide to join the choir? She asked. Thought you said you weren’t good with high pitch?’
‘I’m not. But
I’m ready to learn. I can do the tenor part till I’ve learnt how to
pitch high. There’s no need having a talent that can’t be used to the
glory of the giver of the talent in the first place’
‘You’ve
already done so with your songs haven’t you? By the way, ever since I
listened to your song ehh, I play it more often that you can imagine.
That track is really breath taking. You’re really talented you know?’
‘I do. Thanks
for the complements. I don’t get that often. But you see, there is no
limit to what a man can do to honor ‘God with his abilities. I figured
that doing my own tracks doesn’t require more than me to get it done
except I want to feature another singer. But with the choir it’s
different. The ideas are collective, and I’ll get to the chance to do
more live performances than I would with my own songs, especially now
that I’m not yet lunched into stardom. And this will also act as an
opportunity for me to get conversant with singing before a multitude of
people, so that when I become a star, I would do so with ease’
‘So now, is it about glorifying God or rehearsing for the future?’ She asked with raised eyebrows’
‘Both my dear. Both’ I replied
‘May it be onto you according to you plans’
‘Amen. What
about you and your dream to reach the world through music. I promised to
help out, remember? Or have you given up on it?’
‘Of course not. A lot was going on which didn’t permit the pursuit of that dream’
‘So what about now? Are there still things going which still don’t permit you do it now?’
‘I guess not’
‘Then let’s
get started! On Saturday I’m taking you to the studio so you can see how
things work there. Maybe you’ll be challenged when you see some people
doing some pretty nice songs and will be inspired to do something too.
Just tell me what you want to sing about and I’ll create suitable lyrics
for it’
‘You’re so enthusiastic about this whole thing’ she said
‘Sweet heart, it’s called LOVE. I love music, poetry, and writing. But definitely not as much as I LOVE YOU’
She was
shocked beyond measure to hear me say that to her. She just kept staring
right into my eyes with utter amazement and had a countenance on her
face that depicted something like ‘SERIOUSLY?’ She was short of words.
She just smiled softly and looked away from my face to the ground in
slow motion. Perhaps, that was the time for me to empty my heart of its
content, so I began;
Swiftly was my heart glued to you,
When my eyes got a glimpse of your hairdo,
Earnestly, my mouth longed to say a thing or two,
Even if it meant just giving you a clue,
That all of me agree with all you do.
Honor would it be for me, to untie you shoe,
Enter my heart and see if all I say is true,
Access my soul, search it all through,
Rate what I feel for you and see if it’s not true,
Truly speaking, I love you. I wish you love me too.
Ogechi kept
staring at me as I expressed my true and sincere feelings towards her
endlessly. All through that time, she was smiling unceasingly. When I
was done, she didn’t say anything. I believed she needed more time to
ponder on all I had just said to her, so I expectantly waited for her to
be done with that and maybe, give in. Or was she going to carry this
over, in other to have much time to think it over? There wouldn’t be any
need for that. She knew all there was to know about me already. I
didn’t know whether or not to place my hopes high since she had been
very unpredictable since her first and last visit to my house. I just
kept whispering tender loving words which caressed her emotions to the
point where her body started moving to the rhythm of my voice. Then she
asked;
‘How long has your heart nurtured this truth?’ she asked
‘The moment
you walked out of the bathroom fully made up on the first day I set foot
in your apartment. I was watching and admiring you from behind as you
left for the market. Ever since then you’ve occupied the better part of
my heart.
‘Why did it take you so long to say something?’
‘I don’t know. Let’s just say I was waiting for the right time’
‘And you think now is the right time?’
‘I couldn’t think of a better time. My heart may explode if I try to hold it in any longer. So tell me, do I stand a chance?
'We’ll see about that’ she said as she turned her face away
I and Ogechi
started pursuing our dreams. We visited different studios, went for big
and small show, and did a whole lot of stuffs aspiring singers do. With
time Ogechi was ready to start recording her own songs. I was not really
ready to record more songs since I had a couple of them already which
had not been adequately promoted. Besides, Ogechi came first in
everything. So she would just give me an idea on what she wants to sing
about and I would write lyrics for it, and she records. It was just a
matter of time before she started writing her lyrics herself. In our
course of doing all these, we met a number of singers who were making
waves already in the music industry. One of those days we were in the
studio recording her song when a male singer by name, Ck walked in to
buy studio session. Ck got impressed by Ogechi’s wonderful voice and
started to inquire about her.
After talking
a whole lot with Ogechi, he proposed to make her his backup singer in
his new song, the very song he came there to do. Ogechi was so glad to
be a backup singer to Ck, who was very close to his prime. I was also
happy because the part I lead her to walk in was taking her exactly
where she wanted to go. So she started meeting with the Ck more often
than not for rehearsals. At a point it got so much that I became
uncomfortable because she barely had time to spend with me anymore. It’s
either she was with Ck rehearsing, or she was with Ck’s manager
deliberating on her costumes and makeup for the video of the song, since
Ck intended to shoot the video of that song as soon as he was done with
the audio recording. I couldn’t say anything. I couldn’t even tell her
how bad I felt about her directing all her attention to Ck’s song. I
just waited and prayed for the whole thing to be over so that things
between I and Ogechi could return to normal. Soon enough the song was
recorded and the video was shot, but it didn’t end there.
Whenever Ck
had any invitation to sing, Ogechi would go with him because he always
sang the song Ogechi backed up. And that Ck guy had gone a long way to
the top. He had almost become like the singers at the top and had a lot
of fans, so there was no end to the invitations he got to sing at
different places in Nigeria. This is exactly what Ogechi wanted. Just
that it wasn’t her own songs she was showcasing. But at least, she was
very close to that. Ogechi became known to be a good backup singer and
other singers called on her to back their songs up as well. Soon enough,
her voice was heard on quite a number of songs and she was very close
to signing autographs. Ck even went ahead to get Ogechi to do an
international passport, reason being that she would have to go with him
if he was invited to sing abroad. That was done before anyone could say
J.A.C.K! I was happy for her since her dreams were finally coming true,
and I helped in making it happen but at the same time, I was missing her
company because she was either in school receiving lectures or
somewhere performing. The only time we had for ourselves was when none
of those were happening, and that was rare. While she was doing all
those, I was always in front of my computer on FOREX transaction, making
cool cash.
The next academic
session began and I was with Ogechi in the same department. Remember
she had suggested to me to apply for direct entry and continue year two
in her school? Well, that’s exactly what I did. This way, we got the
chance to be close to each other again on a regular basis. She was so
excited at that. She really wanted to be close to me. As a matter of
fact, she loved it, and it was more obvious than ever. After this
somewhat ‘REUNION’, everything went well between us and we were ready
for everything. I and Ogechi were now formally ‘DATING’.
To be continued.
