It’s part of our evolution I think. Anytime you’re being watched by someone, you feel it. Their eyes don’t scorch your skin like the sun does but instinctively, you feel you’re being watched. Instinctively, you’ll turn to the direction where the gaze is coming from and you’ll notice the eye looking at you. Mine was coming from that lady. I was at the burial service of a friend’s mother when I felt being watched. She was sitting at the extreme left end of the seat in front of me.

I got a notification on Facebook Messenger. I opened and the message said, “Are you currently at a funeral in Suhum? I see someone like you.”

I looked sideways and saw her looking back at me. I responded, “I see you too. The girl in black right?” She responded, “Everyone around here is in black. Look up, I’m the one waving at you.”

Her name was Peace. That’s her real name. She waved with both hands with a wide grin. I waved back and watched as she stood up and went outside. I followed her outside and the first thing I noticed was how tall she was. We had been friends on Facebook but I hadn’t taken her seriously, serious enough to notice her outside of Facebook.

I saw her post often because she was that girl who made eleven posts in an hour, always talking about something that didn’t need that much attention. We had interacted before but wasn’t that intense. If she didn’t see me, I doubt I would have noticed her.

We talked about what brought us to the burial service, we talked about our activities on Facebook and then talked about life. We were at a funeral but didn’t talk about death. I don’t know why death didn’t feature but I guess we loved to talk about the beauty of life than the death of it.

We sat next to each other when we went back in. At the funeral grounds, we sat next to each other. She took a selfie of us and the next thing I knew, it was on Facebook with the caption, “Guess who I met today…” I was the first person to comment; “Why are we smiling at someone’s funeral? We look heartless.”

We were seated next to each other while chatting on Facebook. Around 2 pm, I told her I wanted to leave. “It’s far from where I came from. I should set off early to beat the traffic.” She gave me her number without taking mine. She said, “I want to have your number when you call me. Let me know when you arrive safely.”

The conversation was non-stop for a week. I caught myself falling in love with her depth and how easily she took life. One day we had a video call. The network was very jiggy. Her image would get stuck on my screen with her mouth wide open or with a face she wouldn’t like to see on my screen. I was laughing at her. I took a screenshot of one of those images and sent it to her. She was like, “Is that how I look on your phone? Let’s cut the call before I scare you away.”

That’s her, always un-boarded and making jokes out of situations. I proposed to her. She said it was too soon to fall in love. I asked if I should wait for a year before I fell in love. She said five years was better. She made it look like a joke but my heart was in love with her. I wanted her to be my girlfriend and I was ready to prove what I had for her.

At first, she said she didn’t like distance relationships. “It’s draining,” She said. “You don’t get to be with them when you want to be with them. It’s hard and I’m not good at that.”

I assured her I would be closer. I would travel the three-hour journey each time she wanted me to. She laughed at me. She said, “Prove it. Tomorrow is the beginning of the weekend. I’ll need you.”

By 10 p.m. on Friday, I was in her town. I called her phone and told her, “I’m here. The bus has stopped at a station they call the last stop. Where do I go from here?” She didn’t believe me so I sent her a photo of me with my bag pack; “Doesn’t this place look like somewhere you live?” She answered, “Why are you dressed like a tax collector to visit a girlfriend? Where do you come from, the home of Zacheus?”

The weekend was good. I slept in a hotel close to her house. She came early morning to take me to her place. In the evening, I came back to the hotel to sleep. She needed to see how serious I was and I proved it to her. But there was something not right. Sometimes she didn’t look present. She would be on her phone typing and making angry faces.  When she typed, the speed was sublime. It was like she was fighting with someone through text. I asked what the issue was and she responded, “It’s my ex. He’s annoying me.”

She had broken up with him but the guy was refusing to accept the breakup. According to the guy, there was no way he was going to let her go because she was his everything. That night when she was typing speedily, the guy had been admitted to the hospital and was begging Peace to visit him. When she wasn’t going, the guy tried to use his family to coerce her to visit. That was the reason for the anger. At one point, the guy asked her, “So if you were the only one who could give me healing, would you watch me die?” She responded, “Start preparing your will. You’ll be resting in peace so you leave me in peace.”

That part of their conversation saddened my heart so I added my voice; “Go and see him just for old time’s sake. He’s sick, just help him heal.” She looked at my face and asked me, “When are you leaving? This evening?”

I realized she needed time to handle her ex and also put her heart in shape to love again. When I left her place, I reduced the time I spent with her on the phone. I wasn’t calling as I used to. She was the one initiating all the calls. At one point, she noticed the change and asked me, “If you need your space, tell me. I will leave you alone. It looks like you are off and I’m the one trying to light you up. It’s frustrating.”

I didn’t want to lose her so I started doing my best while reminding her to resolve the issues with her ex. She told me, “He’s the reason I didn’t accept your proposal. I didn’t want you in this drama. It’s bad I let you in. He’s a solved problem but I’ll bury him very soon. Give me some time.”

It took a year and some months. At a point, we stopped talking. When she texted she asked if I was still in love with her. When I texted back I said I wasn’t sure because of her ex drama and how the whole family of her ex were in the picture.

We didn’t say goodbye but one day I woke up and realized we hadn’t talked for over two months. I wasn’t seeing her on Facebook. I thought she had even blocked me. I sent her a message on WhatsApp and it ticked only one. I called her line and she didn’t pick up. When it continued for a week, I thought it was over between us, whatever existed.

READ ALSO: Anytime I Visited My Side Chick, My Wife Got A Message. 

One evening, she called me. She said she was in town and wanted to see me. “Is it possible? Or your girlfriend will beat me.” I thought it was one of her jokes but it turned out she was in town for a wedding. We met that night and it was like we never left. Before we parted she told me, “If you’re not doing anything tomorrow, would you attend the wedding with me?”

The next morning, I dressed like a groom in my favourite suit and attended the wedding with her. Wherever we went, she held hands with me. When the couple were exchanging vows, I dreamt it was us standing there. She pulled my hand and said something like, “This could be us but you’re allowing someone who doesn’t matter to steal our happiness.”

It was after the wedding when I got the drift. All the clinginess during the wedding was because her ex was around. He also came to the wedding. At the reception, she pointed a finger in his direction and said, “See your rival. He didn’t win and you also gave up. Both of you are losers.”

Of course, I wasn’t a loser. There was a method to my withdrawal. I wanted her to resolve her issues and on that day it looked like the issues had been resolved so I picked it up from where I left off. This time she said yes. She said the distance was her problem so I should abide by the promise to be closer.

We were chatting around 9 p.m. one night when she said, “I wish you were here.”

I don’t know what came over me, I picked up my shirt and wore it over the short nickers I was wearing. I picked up my backpack and headed straight to the station. I didn’t even know if I would get a car. I got there and there was a trotro loading. I paid and sat down. The mate was still shouting into the night. I asked how many people left. He counted the empty seats and said, “Four.” I said, let’s go, I’ll pay.”

I got there around midnight. I went to knock on her door. I think she got scared. I called her phone. I said, “I’m here. At your door. Open.” She came to the door and instead of opening the door, she kept asking questions. “Are you sure it’s you? Why would you do that? It’s dangerous. Anything at all could have happened to you.”

When she saw my face she got frozen. “I’m here,” I said. “I don’t even know what to say,” she responded.” I told her, “You wished I were here so here I am.” She leaned at the door with folded arms and asked, “Tomorrow is Friday. Won’t you go to work?” I responded, “We are not going to work tomorrow. Tell your boss.”

We woke up around 10 a.m. that day. I looked at her face and messy hair and I knew I would love to wake up next to her every morning. And because dreams sometimes do come true, I’m here today waking up next to her every morning for the past three years.

We’ve gotten pregnant and have had a baby who sleeps in our middle but nothing has changed. I still wake up next to her and tell myself, “It’s no longer a dream. It’s a reality now.”

I Told Him To Go Ahead And Do It

Each year, Facebook shows us the photo we took at the funeral that day. The one we were heartlessly smiling at someone’s funeral. The caption was, “Guess who I met today…” The last time the photo appeared on our timelines, Peace wrote the most perfect response to “Guess who I met today.”

“I met my husband.”

—Jeff   

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