You meet someone one day and suddenly you feel there’s fairness in this world. The world is fair because the two of you are in the same place where you can make magic happen. That’s how I felt when I saw Juliette at the event that day. I didn’t know her. It was my first time seeing her face but I said to myself, “It’s a fair world. It’s the reason I have a chance to meet someone like this.”

I took my chances very well. At every given opportunity, I said something to her. When we were put into groups I told her, “Join my group. You’re the only person I know around here.” She joined and that gave us more time to talk. When the event was over, I took her number and gave her mine. In the evening when I called, she asked, “Who am I talking to?”

I whispered under my breath, “Wow, she didn’t save my number.” I patiently introduced myself and she went like, “Oh that’s you. I thought I had your number or this is a different number?”

We talked. We laughed. We made plans. She said yes to a date. The world is fair indeed, if not, I wouldn’t had a fair chance to be with someone I loved from the very moment I set my eyes on her.

The first date was good so we planned another one. By the third date we were so close to each other it felt like we’d known each other in another world before this one. I saw interest in her eyes and maybe she saw love in my eyes because it was difficult for her to look into my eyes.

When I proposed to her she told me to give her time to think about it. It’s cliché and I’d come to expect it but little did I know giving her time meant consulting her pastor about me to see If I was the one God wanted in her life. One day she told me, “I like you too but I don’t want to rely on my heart and say yes. All the ones I relied on my own intuition and heart failed. I want to get it right this time so please exercise patience.

I went to a shop and bought myself patience because it’s one thing having patience and another thing exercising it. I had patience in abundance but when it came to what I was feeling in my heart for Juliet, having patience wasn’t enough. I asked how long it would take to get an answer and she told me, “That depends on the response I receive after prayers and what my pastor will also say.”

Two months later, there was no response. She kept telling me, “I feel right about you but that’s not enough. I need to hear confirmation.” I didn’t give up. We kept going out every now and then until one day she told me, “We can be friends. I’m sorry. I wanted it to be right but…”

“But what…?” I asked calmly with the voice of a beaten man.

I was beaten. I never expected that to be the response. “Do you have someone already and you’re not telling me? I thought you liked me?” She responded, “I liked you but he said you’re not the one and it’s the reason I haven’t heard anything from God all these months I’ve been praying about it.”

I’m a Christian but I won’t wait to hear God’s voice in my love affairs. I didn’t believe that but I didn’t want to upset her beliefs. When she made the final conclusion, I told her, “Tell your pastor he’s wrong. God doesn’t choose for us who to love. We choose and present to him for his blessings. We are all sons and daughters of the same God.”

I couldn’t change her mind to love me and she also couldn’t change my mind to keep her as a friend. We talked but slowly we faded. I still loved her. I wanted her to change her mind and I said it often but she told me it would fail if God didn’t speak on it.

We lost touch at some point. For close to a year we didn’t talk to each other. We saw each other’s posts on Facebook but walked past them as if they didn’t mean a thing to us. One day she called; “Can we meet?”

When we met she asked if I was seeing someone else. I nodded. I was talking to a girl but she wasn’t sure about me so she was giving me mix-signals. I told Juliet, “I’m trying with someone I met not long ago but we are still at the talking stage.”

She sat quietly, the way I sat when she told me we could be friends and not lovers. I asked what the issue was and she said, “I’m sorry about what happened. I might have gotten it wrong. We all do. You have someone now so I guess it doesn’t matter any more.”

I was looking at her, still beautiful and still the lady who made the world a fair place for me. I asked her, “What did you see? God spoke to you finally?” She answered, “It’s not about that. Maybe I shouldn’t have involved Papa. It was too soon but it’s all good. Have fun.”

I thought about her when I went home. I thought about how much things would change in my life if I gave things a chance. I still loved her but I wasn’t sure if her faith in her Papa won’t interfere again. I put her to the test. I called one morning and asked her to travel with me. “It’s a weekend trip. We can use it to iron out the fog on our way so we see the way forward.”

She said yes.

It was a small town where good hotel facilities were scarce. The one we had lacked romance and luxury but it was all we had so we took it. We spent the whole night outside talking and getting to know what we’d lost in each other’s lives while we were away. Around 11 p.m., we said goodnight and went into our rooms—small rooms adjacent to each other.

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It started raining around dawn. I heard it but I was too far gone. I heard a knock on my door. She might have knocked forever because the sound of the knock was swallowed by the sound of the rain. I heard her voice so I woke up. She said, “Come and see something.”

I went into her room and her roof was leaking right where her pillow was. We went to the reception to complain and the guy said, “The rest of the rooms are occupied so we have to change the position of the bed.”

I held the bed at one side and she held it at another side and we pushed. Where we put it was also leaking in the middle. I said, “Forget it. Let’s use my room.”

We got into my room and saw the roof leaking at three different places. It falls and it splashes into tiny bubbles. She said, “It’s worse here.” I responded, “At least, it’s not on the bed.”

We sat on the bed and started laughing at how awful the night had been. The rain kept falling, making it difficult for us to hear each other talk. Our legs were on the floor while sleeping on our backs and talking. We slept that way until the morning came.

By the time we got back home, a chord had been struck in us and it played a love song. I was ready to try again and she was ready to choose and allow God to bless her choice, even if it was wrong.

A few months later, he took me to meet her Papa. The man said, “You look like a good person from first impression. What do you do? Are you a Christian? Where do you fellowship? Are you prayerful? Where do you go first when you encounter problems, your knee or your friends?”

I answered all questions as honestly as I could. He said, “I’m praying about you but don’t stop being the reason she chose you.”

We were planning our wedding when her Papa sent a message for us to meet him. When we went he told us, “It kept long but finally I got an answer. He’s the one. Hold each other tight. You’re made for each other doesn’t mean you won’t face problems. The devil will test you but his words on your life won’t fail. Stay true.”

When we were leaving I asked her, “What if he told us we were not meant for each other? What would you have done?” She answered, “I’ll risk it and see what will happen. If I fail, I won’t be the first to fail and I don’t believe God will fail me because I failed.”

Reason Why Women Don’t Propose To Men

We’ve been on this marriage journey for five years. It’s true what the pastor said, problems won’t cease just because we are meant for each other. Problems won’t stop coming just because it rained on her bed so we could share mine. We still have many problems but because we are determined to make things work, we look at our problems and smile. We know the strength in us and we know we can conquer.

—Marvin

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