Don’t get married’ said Mila as she rushed out of the restaurant and disappeared into the crowded street. This wasn’t the brunch date I expected to have with my best friend whom I hadn’t laid my eyes on in three years.
Though Mila and I go way back to our undergraduate days, over the couple of years we seemed to have drifted apart. My nickname for her back then was ‘the love doctor’. If there was a stormy cloud in your romantic life, Mila knew just what to say to make your sun shine bright again. I remember the time I fell for Mahmud… the bad boy every
Mother warns her daughter about and I tried to hide it from the love doctor but to no avail and trust me when I say that she did not mince her words when she warned me that he would only bring bad news. Sure enough, he brought terrible news. Parties, alcohol and obscenities I cannot mention became my way of life. My first- class grades went to barely crossing the border of third class and second class lower in a span of 2 semesters. I woke up one day and it was as like the ‘jazz’ had cleared from my eyes, I sent Mahmud a text message that I was no longer interested. All this while, Mila had never stopped reaching out to me and was still there when I had awakened from my destructive slumber.
From then on, our friendship became unbreakable because I knew I had she would always tell me the truth. So when Mila found her beau, Jide during our final semester at the university, I was excited to meet him knowing that the love doctor herself could do no wrong when it came to her own love life. We had lunch at one of the school hangout spots and trust me when I say love was in the air. It was blatant to every observer that Jide was totally smitten by Mila. He refused to take his eyes off her and I was pleased because I wouldn’t have had it any other way for her. Fast forward a year and a half later, Jide popped the question right after our closing ceremony at the Lagos NYSC camp and this came as no surprise. He organized a lavish proposal which left every girl including me wishing we could take Mila’s place. He flew her to Seychelles, lodged in the most beautiful hotel with a breath taking view of the ocean and over a cozy candle lit dinner he popped the question with an exquisitely crafted sapphire ring.
Her extravagant bliss only continued. The wedding happened six months later was termed a ‘regal event’ by the most popular wedding magazines and blogs in the country.
During our quick chat before she walked down the aisle, Mila voiced how she felt like Cinderella saying her happy ending was more beautiful than she ever imagined.
I was truly was elated for my best friend because like I said earlier, she did deserve the best.
Not quite three months after their wedding, Jide got a promotion to oversee the entire Sub- Saharan Africa division of his company’s operations which meant him moving to South Africa along with a huge pay check to accompany the position. They both agreed that he take the job and they relocate. I was sad to see my support system leave but I understood that her status as a married woman meant that her husband was priority and I could live with that.
I chose to get busy with my own life and fortunately for me, things had never been better. I got my dream job as a counsel in a Lagos leading firm. I was excellent at the job and I loved the shape my life was taking. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any better, Demilade walked into my life and I knew I did not want to live another second without him. Thankfully he felt the same way and the relationship blossomed. Mila was so far away and I was not current on the happenings in her life as a best friend ought to have been. Our communication began to dwindle and at first I thought I was the problem with my busy schedule so I made deliberate effort to call twice a week but as time went on I realized I wasn’t the problem. Mila never returned the courtesy. I did the the calling and whenever I called we barely ever spoke for five minutes before she made some flimsy excuse to hang up. Whenever I asked to greet Jide she would always give one reason or the other for why he couldn’t come to the phone and he promised he would call me back but that never happened. Although I wasn’t as confident in matters of the heart like Mila, I still sensed something was wrong but I shrugged it off and concentrated on my life.
After two years of courtship, Demilade proposed. His own approach wasn’t as mind blowing as Jide’s but to me it was perfect. He threw a surprise bash on my 28th and afterwards proposed to me in front of my family and friends with a flawless diamond ring. This was the happiest moment of my life and of course I posted the pictures on all my social network accounts which is most likely where Mila must saw it.
A local number appeared on my caller ID, I picked up the call and on the other end I heard someone say ‘Hi Temi, this is Mila’.
‘Mila?’ I re-echoed. This was quite a shocker for me because I had no idea she was back in the country.
‘Congrats on your engagement that happened yesterday’ she said, ‘but I would not be a terrible friend if I keep silent and let you walk down the aisle with that dude. I have to go now, let’s see tomorrow at noon in L’Afric.’ then she hung up.
To be continued…
Oluwaseyi Lawal
Oluwaseyi@s19080.p615.sites.pressdns.com/en
