Louise II

Sundays were nice, really nice. A day to thank the Lord for all His blessings and also thank Him in hard times. Some preferred to sit home and thank Him, while others enjoyed worshipping Him in the assembly of His people, I fall into this category. I personally liked Sundays, the peace of it, the serenity. I liked going for Mass at St. Thomas, the chaplaincy in my school. The choir was heavenly, the priests were awesome and gave wonderful homilies. After Mass, I’d go back to my room and cook rice and stew. Growing up, it was a tradition to eat rice on Sundays. Yeah, I’m Nigerian. So, even when I’m not home, I keep the tradition.
So, this particular Sunday was oddly special. I bought meat to cook with and instead of my normal rice and stew, I decided to cook fried rice. I even bought more cokes than I needed. All because I was supposedly expecting a visitor. Don’t sat the name please. I could hear my mother ringing advice into my ears, “Ekpereamaka, hapu kwa umu nwoke, na gu akwukwo gi.” I let Onyinye talk me into this. She had forcefully followed me to the market the previous day, made me spend money on human hair weavon and made sure she was there when the hairdresser was fixing it. She inspected the hair and said I looked beautiful, like a lady should. She also convinced me to buy brown powder and a lipstick. “Powder won’t kill you”, she had said. When we got to the room, she ransacked my wardrobe looking for something nice for me to wear. I had told her, “Onyinye, I’m just expecting a visitor, that might not come, I’m not going on a date.” She had replied, “Not just any visitor, someone you like, and he might actually ask you out on that date, so, you’ll wear this.” She brought out a blue gown slightly above my knee I had forgotten I had. She said it was good enough to wear indoors and also good enough for a stroll, in case the need arose. In her words, “It’s not a ghen ghen dress like that, so you are safe.”
I agreed so I could be left alone. I hadn’t had time to study and I felt like all the drummers in the world decided to have a concert on my head. I slept and woke up around 3am, I studied till 5am then prepared for church which was at 6am. Another reason why I liked Sundays was I always had time to study, so I finished cooking the fried rice around 11am and had enough time to study and even see a movie before Onyinye came to disturb me at about 4pm. “Has he called you?” she asked as soon as I opened the door. “No”, I said as I went back to my bed. My mind wasn’t there anymore, I just wanted to sleep. “Louise, you know I’m doing all these because you are my friend, you are nice and you deserve a good guy to treat you well. Heck, those guys deserve to know you are a lady and a beautiful and intelligent one, not just their pal”, Onyinye said looking very serious. I couldn’t help but be touched. “Awwn, thanks baby”, I said, giving her a hug. “Ehen, now that that is settled, give me small fried rice and meat let me taste what you cooked”, she said. Onyinye would never change. I gave her some food and we talked for a while, studied a little, continued talking and we were interrupted when my phone rang. Onyinye jumped up to bring me my phone and asked who it was immediately she handed me the phone. “I don’t know”, I replied with a grin, “it’s a number.
“Hello?”
“Hello, is this Louise?” the voice asked.
“Yes.”
“It’s Obinna”, came the reply.
I gave Onyinye a thumbs up as I smiled.
“Oh, Obinna, hi, what’s up, happy Sunday.”
Seriously Louise, shut up, are you also shy on the phone.
“Happy Sunday to you too”, he replied, “uhm, I’ll be in your place in 15 minutes, is it OK by you?”
“Yes”, I tried to hide the excitement in my voice and told him he could come.
Immediately I dropped the phone Onyinye brought out the gown and I wore it. She also powdered my face to brighten abi to lighten my face, whatever she said. “Goodluck”, she said leaving my room. Good luck with what, I asked myself. I wasn’t going for an interview, I was just…. Before I could give myself a headache, I heard a knock. “Who is it?” I asked. “It’s Obinna”, came the reply. I drew in a deep breath and opened the door. “Hi”, I said, ushering him into the room. He looked really good wearing a simple black Polo, a pair of blue jeans. “Hi”, he replied, “wow, you look different.” Omg, “bad different or good different”, I asked, he had noticed, maybe the hair was a bit too much, or maybe the dress. “Not bad”, he said, “definitely good, you look good.” I tried not to blush. We both dat down and he handed me my note. “Hope your friend found it useful?” I asked. “Yeah, she did”, he replied, “thanks.” So he borrowed the note for a girl, hmm, I wonder who she was. “Good to know”, I said, “would you like anything?” “Nah, I don’t want to bother you, I should be leaving”, he said. “No, it’s not a bother”, I tried to hide the panic in my voice. He couldn’t just leave so soon, my fried rice won’t waste. I finally convinced him to stay and I offered him the rice and coke. He smiled as he saw the food and I told him to enjoy.
As he ate, we talked about a lot of things, like movies, football, studies and a little about family. He asked intelligent questions and I tried to reply intelligently. He was funny and I really enjoyed his company. Finally, it was time for him to leave. “Louise, I had a good time here”, he said, “I wish I could borrow another note from you, just to find an excuse to come back.”
“You don’t have to find an excuse, you can come whenever you want, just give me a call to know whether I’m in”, I told him. He smiled, “I’ll keep that in mind. So, do you mind walking with me for a while?” “Oh, sure, I’ll walk, let me just lock up”, I said. I was grinning from chin to chin as I arranged the room and we walked out the door. Onyinye would be pleased, everything went according to how she wanted it. Right now, I had more time to spend with Obinna and he even wants to see me again. That’s a good start, it’s gonna bring more opportunities.
“Alright, I’m done, shall we?” I said as I locked the door and we both left for a stroll that wonderful evening.