I suddenly felt shy and responded with a pout, “Well, I didn’t like you because you were always so arrogant and would make fun of me whenever there was an opportunity”. He laughed and turned to look into my eyes and said, “I wasn’t arrogant, I was always shy of you. I have always liked you. I just never understood why you were always so harsh to me”. I blushed and was about to respond when a knock on the door interrupted. Kola asked quietly, “Are you expecting anyone?”, I responded, “No”. As we contemplated what to do, a voice from the door, said, “Sola! It is me, Adiba. I saw you enter a while ago. Please can we talk? I am sorry about the other day.” I became confused. I wondered if Adiba knew Kola was in the room with me. I asked Kola to excuse me and went out to meet Adiba. She wanted to come into the room, but I prevented her. She thought I was still upset with her, and that was why I didn’t let her into the room. She apologized again, and I told her everything was fine. After she left, Kola and I chatted for hours before he left.
Kola became a frequent visitor and we started to like each other more. After 3 months, Kola asked me to be his girlfriend and I agreed. We were in his room one evening, after making love, and he asked, “Why did you come to the bar that night to look for me?”. The question was unexpected, and I contemplated if I should tell the truth. I told him all about Adiba and what happened that evening. He laughed as I told him, and commented that it was a funny story. I asked if he knew Adiba and he said he might have met her but could not recollect who she was. Some weeks later, on my way back to my dorm, Adiba rushed to meet me outside. She was upset and started to yell that I stole her boyfriend. She was about to fight with me and people were beginning to form a crowd around us. I was very embarrassed. She told the crowd, I had “snatched” her man and she was determined to teach me a lesson. I had always lived a very quiet life in the dorms and this is how most people would remember me, I thought.
I struggled out of the crowd and ran to my room. I was crying and felt my reputation was tarnished. As I sat on the floor in my room, I heard a bang on the door. I thought it was Adiba again and decided not to respond. Then, I heard Kola’s voice from the other side of the door. I blamed him for the disgrace I just experienced but decided to open the door. He was very concerned and worried. He hugged me immediately and started to apologize. He said some guy came to tell him there was a fight about him in this building and immediately he knew I had to be involved. He informed me that he saw Adiba among the students standing outside the dorm and she came to introduce herself to him. When he heard her name, he remembered all that I had told him. He also remembered that he had met Adiba a couple of times on campus but never spoke to her. Kola then said he told her that I am his girlfriend and he would appreciate if Adiba left me alone. I felt relieved knowing he resolved everything like a gentleman that he is. He stayed with me till the next day and made sure I didn’t lack anything. From that day, Kola and I were inseparable.
Five months after the Adiba ordeal, Kola proposed to me and I accepted. We both had hidden our relationship from our parents. We decided we would tell them about our wedding plans at the same time. The semester was coming to an end; we studied for our exams together and spoke about spending our lives together forever.
A week after we got home, I went into mom and dad’s room, and asked if I could talk to them. I told them about the engagement and my mom was thrilled. She immediately started dancing and praying around the room, but dad sat quietly. Mom continued to dance and pray before dad suddenly yelled at her to be quiet. Both mom and I were shocked, and he continued to say, “There is no way I will let you marry at this age.” I responded back with confusion, “Dad, I am not young at 26”. He yelled again, “You cannot get married till you graduate from University and get a job. That is final!”, then stormed out of the room. Mom immediately started crying. I told her not to worry. She responded, “I don’t know why your father is acting like this. I haven’t seen him this angry in a while. He means what he is saying. (sobbing) This is something I have been praying about”. She continued to cry, and I tried to console her. I left their room very confused.
When I got to my room, I had eight missed calls from Kola already. I thought about how unhappy Kola would be when I informed him that Dad was not in support of the wedding. I delayed calling him back till late that night. He picked up the phone at the first ring when I called. He was very worried. I told him all that had happened but before I could finish, he informed me that his mom opposed the marriage too. I was shocked. I didn’t know when I blurted out, “I thought your mom liked me. What did I do to her?” He responded, “ She does. The only explanation she gave was that she didn’t want my marriage to affect the great relationship we have shared with your family. And that, problems always happen in marriages.” He said he was very confused because usually, her reason is supposed to be a positive to the marriage. We both decided to meet the next day.
Kola and I met for lunch at a restaurant in downtown. During our conversation, Kola suggested we should go see the pastor at our church and he would give us an idea of what to do. Pastor Kevin has always been a great man of God. We had known him all our lives; he is caring and supportive. After lunch, we headed to Pastor Kevin’s office. He was very happy to see us and welcomed us very well. We narrated all that had happened with our parents to him. He listened without interruption. He advised us to pray about it and while praying, we should also go check if our genotypes are compatible because the church would ask for the result before letting us get married. We thanked him and left his office.
When we got home, Kola called at night as usual and we both felt good about Pastor Kevin’s advice. We knew God would help us. I asked Kola if he knew his genotype and he responded, “No, but I know both mom and dad are AA, so I have to be AA”. I told him my mom is AA but my dad is AS, and I wasn’t sure what mine was. We discussed about the wedding some more.
The next day, Kola and I met at the hospital and had our blood taken. We were told to come back the next week for the result. When we got home that night, we also decided to start praying together every night about the wedding. We were building our empire together now and we knew no one could stop us.
As each day passed, my parents argued more about the marriage issue. My mom was very unhappy. It was different at Kola’s house though. His dad left it to Kola and his mom to figure things out. My mom and Kola’s mom were not talking either.
A week had passed, Kola and I went to the hospital to get our results. It turned out, I am AA and Kola was AS. Kola said he thought he was AA but since I am AA, we had nothing to worry about. That same week, we completed our one-week nightly prayer about our marriage. One night, Kola and I were discussing on the phone. He suddenly stopped during the conversation and said, “Babe, I have been thinking.” I responded, “What’s on your mind darling?” and he said, “There is a way we can resolve all these issues and make everyone agree to the marriage without issues”. I got excited and attentive, “That will be great o”, I said. Then, he said, “Babe, let’s get pregnant”.
Shiiit Happens!!! 