Well, it
wasn’t easy coming by the answer to that question. “There’s only one way
to find out” I thought to myself. And that was attending Ogechi’s house
party with disguised looks. There I would ask her some sensitive
questions that would clear my doubt on whether or not she still truly
loved me like back in the days. YES!! That was indeed a wise one.
I summoned
Cynthia and told her I needed to take a trip to Oklahoma City. “Why do
you want to go there? Are you tired of seeing me around? Cynthia asked.
“Not all.” I replied. I think I need to change my environment for a
little bit. Who knows? I might regain my true self if I do so” I said,
acknowledging Cynthia’s suspicion of me not being alright. Cynthia
wouldn’t prevent anything that would put me in the state she wanted me
in, so she consented, though she insisted on coming with me. After a
little argument about that, she let go. Three days later, I left for
Oklahoma.
Looking out
from the cab that was taking me to a hotel from the airport, I saw a lot
pretty things about Oklahoma City, one of them being Ogechi’s pictures
on billboards. I saw about three of that before I got to the hotel. I
arrived a day to Ogechi’s house party. After checking in and freshening
up, I decided to take a little tour around Oklahoma and take some
pictures. It was a wonderful time out. I visited the zoo and museum
briefly and then proceeded to Ogechi’s residence so that I wouldn’t find
it difficult knowing my way around the next day when it was time to
party. We got there and I was stunned by the magnificent building Ogechi
had purchased for herself. It had a garden and a swimming pool. Well,
those were all I could see from outside. I’ll get to see more when it
was time for the party. The taxi driver drove me back to my hotel. I got
to my room and changed into my pajamas, after which Cynthia crossed my
mind and I called her.
“Hi J” she greeted.
“Hello Cynthia, how are you doing?” I asked.
“I’m sick” she replied.
“What’s wrong?” I asked
“I can’t stand your absence” she replied.
“C’mon Cynthia, I’ll be back before you know it”
“Promise?” she asked,
“Promise” I replied.
She then
cheered up and we engaged in a very long conversation like we hadn’t
talked to each other in the last two years. As a matter of fact, I slept
on the call. Even at that, her call woke me up by 8am the next day and
we switched to skype while freshening up on both ends. It was a really
cool thing to do. After 9am we stopped our call and I started preparing
for Ogechi’s party like it was set to begin the next hour, though it was
set to begin by 4pm. I was nervous till 4pm and had talked with Cynthia
five times for not less than thirty minutes before it was 4pm. I
disguised myself with Fela Anikuti’s kind afro and covered my eyes with
dark shades. Put on an old school suit and carried a staff as though
supporting myself with it. When I consulted the mirror and found that
even I couldn’t recognize myself I was convinced Ogechi would also not
be able recognize me. I borrowed the disguise strategy from Cynthia.
It had been
three hours into Ogechi’s house party and the whole place was fool of
superstars, some of which were present at the movie premier I and
Cynthia attended back at Regina. It was a good thing I disguised myself.
Ogechi was just welcoming people as they came, and out of all who went
there, I never saw anyone who showed up solo. I was the only one who
went there alone. She came the moment she saw me and welcomed me, not
knowing my true identity. I thanked her and she left immediately because
she had many people to welcome and would not spend a longer time than
necessary with one person except an exceptional big shot.
When it was
11pm some people were left outside to continue partying while Ogechi and
her superstar friends remained at the VIP section. During her last TV
program she had promised to talk about her relationship and other
personal matters to some set of people. The VIP section was where that
was going to happen and not all were allowed in. Not all even knew that
something like that was going to happen there. Everyone involved had
gotten in and the security stood firm at the door post to make sure that
not even a spirit entered in again. Nevertheless, I went to the
security and tried to sweet talk them into letting me in to no avail. I
suddenly forgot that I was in America and brought out some tips to give
to the security so that they would allow me in, and that pissed them
off. They pounced on my and I screamed because of the pain they
inflicted on me. That caught the attention of the VIPs’ and they rushed
out to see what was going on. Ogechi didn’t come out with them. She had
been taken to a safe zone like she was the president of the United
States, to keep from her from harm in case it was an attack on her. When
they found it was just a poor loner like I appeared, they relaxed and
sent me away. But I refused to leave, explaining to them that I was
Ogechi’s fan from the start and traveled all the way from Regina to be a
part of that discussion. They thought I was from the press and wanted
to come and get her private life details and publish on the newspapers
for the sake of money but confirmed otherwise after they searched me for
wires and the likes but couldn’t find it, yet they didn’t let me in.
Ogechi finally showed up and I explained everything to her in a way and
manner she could not resist. She was my girlfriend. I knew the right
words and actions she stood helpless against. So I narrated to her how I
took a long trip down just to see and hear her talk about her
relationship after years of longing to see her unsuccessfully. “It would
be unfair to send me away after all I’ve been through to be here” I
said. There was something strange about me to her which she couldn’t
figure out. If I had knelt down, she would have suspected or even known
it was me, so I didn’t. However, she told them to let me in but keep a
close watch on me.
She began her
talk with jokes about how she used to be afraid of having an affair
because her mother told her that boys would only come and steal her
heart away. She didn’t understand what her mum meant by that. She
thought the boys were going to murder her and pluck out her heart from
her chest. She dropped that fear after she graduated from secondary
school and got admission into the university. She told everyone she had
longed to have an affair with a guy who truly cared about her all her
days in secondary school but was afraid because of what her mum told
her. So when she got into the university, she promised to find herself
just the right guy who was going to give her the treatment she desired
without taking advantage of her. It wasn’t easy to find such guys, she
continued; stating how about seven guys she willingly gave her heart to,
proved to be undeserving of it by seeing her as a little girl that was
perfect for nothing more than s*x. “It was a good thing they didn’t have
their ways with me” she said. Even the guy that finally gave her the
kind of love and care she needed still had a flaw. He cared about
Ogechi, was always there for her, couldn’t bear to see to see her
unhappy and all that. But he was discovered to have been double dating.
Ogechi said his explanation was that he couldn’t bear not making out
with Ogechi, so he had to find himself someone to serve that purpose
while Ogechi remained his queen. Ogechi never mentioned that she
excluded making out from her relationships, neither did she affirm that
she permitted it. But the guy thought she wouldn’t go well with that
idea, probably because of the way she carried herself.
I was just
sitting there listening and waiting for it to get to my turn so that I
would hear what she was going to say about me and judge if she’s been
telling the truth all along of if she was just telling them super
stories. Finally it got to my turn.
“All I have
told you were just to make you understand why it took me that long to
find myself the right kind of guy for me. Now is time for the real deal.
The prince charming you all want to hear about will be my topic for the
rest of the night. Like I said, it is a long story, and a whole night
is not enough time to say all there is about it. But I’ll try to mention
the most important aspects of my relationship with my prince charming
whom I have so missed.” Ogechi said that putting her right hand on her
chest and smiling as though reminiscing on a good experience. She then
started talking.
“He’s a
Nigerian like me but from the southern part of the country. I met him
one night under a chaotic atmosphere sleeping. I was supposed to look
for a way to get out of there before I got caught by the police who were
randomly arresting people. But a force stronger than I could resist
compelled me to stop and wake him up. Of course I shouldn’t have left
him there like that but I sure was going to if not for the force that
stopped me. To my greatest surprise, he started weeping when I woke him
up, thinking that the reason for the chaos was the end of the world. He
begged God to forgive him and it struck me that he was a Christian that
was expecting the second coming of Jesus Christ. But the environment was
too hot for me to try and get acquainted with him like I longed to. I
brought it to his notice that the world had not ended, but that it was
the police. He rejoiced greatly on hearing that and thereafter devised a
means by which we escaped, after asking for my name” the crowd laughed
and clapped.
He took me to
a hotel room, she continued; where I had expected the animal in him to
awaken when the hours of the night got ungodly. All I could do was pray
in my heart that he should be knocked out by the kind of sleep that
visited Adam when Eve was created. That guy refused to sleep. Instead,
he was up watching TV endlessly. When I saw that he wouldn’t stop
watching TV, I turned the TV off and asked him to join me in prayer and
he consented immediately. I was surprise, but I hid all my emotions in
order to appear brave.
All through
the night, I slept with one eye open in case he got curious and decided
to find out what my body could do to his system. Honestly, I had
expected him to do that. He looked like someone who would want to do
that. In the middle of the night I woke up and turned on the light to
check him out. He was deeply asleep with his face pressed against his
pillow. It was clear that the guy was more interested in catching a good
night sleep than anything else in the whole world. It was later that I
got to find out from him that he had not slept in a bed for the past one
month. Then I understood why he slept that much. While I was still
looking at him that night and wondering what made such a rough looking
guy with beards all over his face sleep with such calm on a bed with a
girl like me, I heard a voice say; “DO YOU WANT ME TO HELP YOU RELAX?”
Oh my gosh!! It was his voice. The guy wasn’t sleeping!!!
To be continued.
