《Loving You》


 The Proposal

    CHAPTER ONE


    I walked into the church that evening quite befuddled. I had no idea what Segun wanted or why he urgently wanted to see me. I just hoped this meeting was of value. I got to the church right on time, so I sat on a chair in the church but he was nowhere in sight. Being an orphan as far back as I could remember, with no relations or siblings, I had many problems. One of them was being single whilst approaching thirty, another was paying my bills with a low-paying job. The other was losing a lot of money to a lottery game which my friend Becky introduced to me. Having a conversation with Bro Segun was the least of my problems right now.


    I picked up the Bible which lay on one of the chairs. Unknown to him, that was the actual reason for me answering this odd request; I forgot my bible. On no other account, will I ever honor a fixed appointment with this brother in the lord. I decided to kill two birds with one stone and wait patiently for the ¡®stories¡¯ he had for me. I never admired him nor did I think he would say anything important. In a short while, I could see the short brother limping across the hall, heading towards my direction. I couldn¡¯t hide my disgust. I didn¡¯t know if he noticed my snarl, because he smiled. Even with my biased mindset, I couldn¡¯t deny that he had a good smile. He sat and then stretched his hand quickly, I received the hand shake. He smiled broadly again and said,


    ``Thanks for honoring my request.¡±


    I put on a very fake smile and said in my mind;


    Bros, I only forgot my bible.


    He coughed repeatedly. I took my time to examine him, he looked very dark skinned and I didn¡¯t like dark skinned men, his height was not even encouraging. He smiled again and then I noticed that he had a very bad set of teeth with big ¡®bulging¡¯ lips. Although he had pink colored lips which was an impressive sight to behold, I didn¡¯t admire that large nose and big unattractive eyes. His clothes where neat and properly ironed but he dressed as if he were in the 80s, he wasn¡¯t in vogue. That he had a small Volkswagen car (1994 model) didn¡¯t mean anything to me, or that he lived in an old rented apartment. I just noticed from the look in his eyes that he noticed I wasn¡¯t paying attention. I briefly apologized. He smiled and continued,


    ¡°My dear sister, I guess you were so distracted by this beautiful shirt of mine. It was a gift from another sister who now resides in Port-Harcourt.¡±


    That shirt is a disaster.


    He smiled and continued;


    ``The reason I called you here is because God kept on urging me in repeated visions and dreams to ¨C he told me of the vision he has been showing you.¡±


    ¡°Which is?¡± I asked,


    Then he narrated a vision which I felt was only known by me. God had showed me a ladder and someone was holding the Ladder for me while I climbed. This vision kept on reoccurring, I was bothered. I never told anybody about this. Then he told me about another personal vision which God showed me where I was walking hand in hand with a stranger in a beautiful garden and the last one where the same person saved me from drowning. I was scared, because I thought I knew what he was going to say next and I never saw the helper¡¯s face while dreaming. He smiled.


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    ¡°Don¡¯t be scared my dear sister.¡± He said.


    Maybe I am just overreacting, it wouldn¡¯t happen.


    Then he threw the bomb shell;


    ¡°My dear sister, Kevwe Thomas, the woman with the glory of God, God said I am the man.¡± and he dropped to his knees;


    ¡°God said I should marry you.¡±


    I didn¡¯t know whether to laugh, cry, shout or run. I just sat there while he quoted all the scriptures about marriage on his knees. Then I realized I had heard enough and burst into a short wicked laughter.


    ¡°You of all people! How can you say this now? Brother Segun, out of all the sisters in the choir why didn¡¯t you pick one that befits your status? What have I done wrong?¡± I pointed at him in rage. ¡°Look, don¡¯t ever in your life say that rubbish again. I am leaving this church! In fact, I have had enough you, just because you are the prayer leader and can see into other people¡¯s private lives, doesn¡¯t mean you should take advantage of me.¡±


    I took my bag angrily, put my bible inside and stormed out while I turned deaf ears to his pleas.


    As I walked home angrily, I kept putting my hand to my eye as if to push back the tears that were about to run down my cheeks. Today I felt so humiliated. How could Brother Segun of all people want to seek my hand in marriage? What did he take me for, a piece of trash? I concluded I had overstayed my welcome in that church. I swallowed hard and discovered I had almost collided with a tricycle driving along his path. As the man raised some strange curses, I turned the other way, what I had heard today was worse than all that. My phone started buzzing;


    Pastor Matthew Calling


    I was at Obalende market and it was quite noisy so I walked into an empty stall which was quieter, but as I tried to receive the call, a thought ran across my mind.


    Your pastor could have orchestrated this meeting.


    I felt a sharp pain in my chest, not entirely physical, it was more of an emotional turmoil. I stood there watching my phone ring again, while different thoughts ran across my mind.


    Did he know about Bro Segun proposal? Was it a planned work? Was he trying to marry me off to an old time member?


    Then I did something almost impulsively, I received the call;


    ¡°Oh Sister Kevwe, I didn¡¯t think you would answer the call¡±, he said in his husky voice. ¡°I know you might be quite busy, but I felt in my spirit you needed this information.¡±


    ¡°Yes Sir¡±, I responded, quite relieved that it wasn¡¯t what I initially thought.


    ¡°Sister Kevwe, God said that a new package would present itself as a new blessing unto you, but you should think twice before embracing it. Be careful, might lead you away from the presence of God.¡±


    I didn¡¯t understand, but I knew better than to question him.


    ¡°Thank you Sir¡±


    ¡°Also Sister Kevwe, I don¡¯t know if Bro Segun has talked to you about it yet but he told me earlier on concerning his proposal and I know God¡­¡±


    I watched myself listen to all his prophetic utterance and all I could feel was disgust but I didn¡¯t say a word. After a while, I just hung up. This was when I received the shock of my life. It was a call from my roommate Becky, and she was screaming;


    ¡°Baby, your numbers were correct! You¡¯ve won the lottery; this is good news. You are now the latest millionaire! This is the happiest day ever.¡±