Yes he did
it. He walked close to me with a smile of accomplishment, held my both
hands and got to his knees. Oh my gosh! I knew exactly what he was going
to do, but what was I supposed to do to stop hi?. I just stood still
like a stature and watched him as he went on his knees and popped the
big question; WILL YOU MARRY ME? There was no stopping him. I didn’t
have to think on whether or not I wanted to marry him, even though
seeing a guy on his knees for me had a way of softening my whole being
in every way possible. But then my answer to CK’s proposal was a big NO.
Ck tried to convince me to change my mind, but that choice of mine
wasn’t made amidst confusion. I wasn’t indecisive at all. And I didn’t
try to get him to understand the reason for my choice because he wasn’t
going give thoughts to it anyway. That night ended with me demanding
that he opened the door for me to go to my room and retire for the day.
He did and I got to my room. At that point, I knew I had to get back
together with Prince Charming ASAP.
We returned
the next day. It happened to be that Ck had informed everyone about his
intention to propose to me at the Bahamas. So the news of my turning
down his proposal couldn’t help but itch the ears of all who had
expected to hear what would have seemed good news to them. Because of
that, their treatment towards me changed. They all felt disappointed at
me and considered me heartless for turning down a marriage proposal from
the very guy who helped bring me to where I was. When I couldn’t take
it anymore, I decided to go back to Nigeria to be with my Prince. I
didn’t mind what was at stake. I had always wanted a perfect life, and
to the best of my knowledge, that was only obtainable with my Prince.
After my
contract with the label expired, I refused to renew it because of my
plans of going back to Nigeria. Everyone then saw me as bewitched. They
said they thought the whole witch craft thing said about Africa was a
myth until my actions proved otherwise to them. They all thought I was
under a spell. Only I knew where I came from and where I was going. They
didn’t know, so I didn’t blame them for anything they said about me. I
took the trip to Nigeria only to coincidentally meet my Prince at the
airport on his way to America. Gosh!! I couldn’t believe it!
He said he
had everything in place to come over and continue his studies in
America. I found myself in a state of dilemma as I didn’t know whether
to stop him from going for his studies which was very important, or
allowing him to leave. But then, it was definitely because him I came
back. How could I let him go just like that and subject myself to
loneliness again? If that happened and my folks abroad got to know about
it, it wouldn’t be good for me. I earnestly tried to persuade him to
stay, but for some really good reasons, he had to leave. Even though I
knew the impact staying back would have had on him, I still wanted him
to stay back. I begged him and cried my eyes out but to no avail. He
definitely would have stayed back anyway. In fact, he had changed him
mind already. My prince charming couldn’t resist me that much. He can
even take a bullet for me, but I wouldn’t let him do that. Just when he
changed his mind to stay, the guy he was to travel with rushed to where
we were and screamed at him for delaying and nearly missing his flight.
He didn’t pay attention to him until the guy made a striking statement;
DO YOU WANT TO DISAPPOINT MY COUSIN? It was then my Prince retreated
himself from the warms of my hug and bade me goodbye as he followed the
guy. How I wish he was there alone.
Even at that,
he stopped at several intervals as though he had changed his mind
again. I really prayed he did. The only problem there was that guy he
was to travel together with. He was the only force contending with the
will of my Prince. Finally, they both went on board the flight with the
guy holding onto my Prince’s hand and pulling him in. The flight to
America took off and my tears flooded the earth like the waters did in
the time of Noah. If not that God had promised not to destroy the earth
again with water, my tears would have served that purpose that day.
I went home
afterwards all sad and disappointed. It felt like my world had crumbled.
I couldn’t go to the US anymore because they might mock me and say that
the guy I came back for had dumped me. Coupled with the fact that the
press were present on my arrival at the airport and witnessed all that
happened, it didn’t take them 48 hours to document the story on the
papers. The rumor so spread that the superstar Oge got dumped by a
common man at the Abuja International Airport. I was so afraid the story
would find its way to my folks in America, especially Ck. But after
three months without a call of mockery from any of them, I concluded
that the rumor was limited to Nigeria. I was wrong.
Prince
Charming called me afterwards, probably when he arrived at his
destination. I was angry and bitter that I could have voiced out some
disgusting words if I had picked up his call. He tried and tried but I
didn’t pick up. He had always known me to be a kind, sweet, gentle,
loving, caring, and tender being. I loved that impression he had of me.
In fact, I am indeed all that to him, even if not to anyone else and I
didn’t want that to change. But it indeed would if I had picked up his
calls that day because of all the things that were running in my mind.
My thoughts were like; THERE IS SOMETHING HE VALUES MORE THAN YOU AFTER
ALL, PROBABLY SOMEONE. CK IS GONNA LAUGH HIS HEART OUT WHEN HE FINDS
OUT. YOUR PRINCE IS HEARTLESS! HOW COULD HE FORSAKE YOU LIKE THAT, NOT
EVEN CARING AT ALL THAT YOU CAME BACK FOR HIM. Those thoughts and the
likes flooded my mind and I hated my Prince temporarily. Of course I
couldn’t hate him forever.
Like the
bible says; after the rain comes the sun, and sorrow may endure for a
night, but joy comes in the morning, so was it with me. Waking up the
next morning in my hotel room, my mind, spirit and soul was so
refreshed. It seemed like nothing happened at all. I picked up my phone
and put a call across to my Prince but got a prompt to leave a voice
message. I didn’t. I wanted to talk with him for real. As I made my way
for Enugu, it seemed like the whole of Nigeria had known I was back
home. The crowd that waited to see me at the hotel in Abuja was mind
blowing. Even the hotel manager came to me and urged me to stay a little
longer, as my presence there attracted more customers. He was taking
advantage of my presence to make money. I however consented and agreed
to stay a day longer and attend to the people and the press. It was
indeed a lovely feeling and it made me forget all my worries. But then,
the press started talking about the airport scene, how I got dumped by
my Prince and suddenly, all the anger and bitterness returned. I told
them it was personal and that I didn’t want to talk about it, after
which I spent just a little time with them and left to my room.
The next day I
was at Enugu. It also happened there like it did at Abuja. I had to
sign autographs and attend to the press with their questions. The press
at Enugu however, did not bring up the Prince Charming dumping me issue
like I thought they would. Instead they kept talking about how proud
they were to have a star like me hail from Enugu, where most of the
press people also hailed from. The next thing I got was calls from the
various singers in Nigeria, both famous and upcoming, asking me to
feature them in their songs. At that point, I had no manager anymore and
there was no one to refer them to. Nevertheless, I told them to talk to
my manager.
My manager
over there at the US was getting numerous calls from Nigerian musicians
asking to feature me in their songs. He was so pleased I still
acknowledged him as my manager and continued with the normal
arrangements as though he was still my manager. He then called me and we
talked about a whole lot of things including my Prince’s issue.
Amazingly, that was of no interest to him anymore as all he saw and
could think about was the money he could make from the singers that
wanted to feature me in their songs. When he saw that my fame continued
all the more in Nigeria, he kept aside our differences and urged the
other folks to do same as we were all humans and entitled to our opinion
and choices. He didn’t say that because he meant it but because he
sought for an occasion to keep making cool money through me. He later
told me that no one over at America still held a grudge against me
anymore and that my label was ready to renew my contract if I returned
to America. I told him I was going to think about and give him a reply.
One day I got
a call while in the bathroom having my bath. My Ipad was just there in
the bathroom. My face was covered with foam from the soup I used so I
couldn’t see who the caller was. I ignored the call with intentions of
calling back when I was done bathing but the caller just wouldn’t quit
calling back. I got pissed off by such a disturbing call and reached out
for my Ipad to turn it off until I was done bathing. As soon as I
touched a button on the Ipad, it stopped ringing. I wasn’t sure if had
turned it off because my eyes were closed while trying to do so to
prevent soup from entering into my eyes. But after waiting two munities
without hearing it ring again, I was sure I had turned it off. I
continued bathing until about two minutes later, when I suddenly heard
someone’s voice say’ Hiiiii. Where in the world did that come from? I
asked myself. I stilled my movement and listened carefully to be sure I
actually heard something. When I didn’t, I thought of suspending my bath
temporarily to check if there was someone around but there was no need
for that because no one shared the house with me. So I continued with my
bath. But again, I heard that same voice say; Hiii in like manner as
the former. At that point I was frightened. Was there a ghost in here? I
washed off the soup on my face immediately and checked around if I was
going to see anything but saw nothing. It wasn’t until my eyes strayed
to my Ipad that I found I hadn’t turned it off but picked up the call
that came in when I tried to turn it off. I was shocked! So this call
had been on all the while??? Gosh! I couldn’t believe that just
happened. Guess who called; Ck of course. Oh my gosh! It was Ck on the
line. What in the world just happened? It wasn’t just an ordinary call.
It was a Skype call. JEEZ!!!!!!!
To be continued.
