by Kelechi Abonyi

     “I began to pour out my vexation, disappointment, anxiety, depression and all the emotions I felt on him.”

Before we left for the mall, I quickly searched his bag; I still couldn’t find the ring. Is this some sort of joke? I thought to myself. Our introduction had been fixed and still he hadn’t done a formal proposal. We were already searching for a wedding reception and Godian hadn’t even given me a plastic ring. No! this was too much; He isn’t gonna get away with this, I said, pacing all over the room. I tried calming myself down, believing that everything would somehow sort itself out but; Things seemed to get worse.

Our ride to the mall felt longer than usual. Neither of us said a word and then I decided to come out clean, “ Where’s my ring?” I blurted out; Godian turned to look at me, surprised. “Uhh…I was thinking I’d give it to you in Lagos” he managed to say. What? Lagos? After the introduction? Was it April 1^st or something? I sat up in the car seat, doing my best to keep my voice down. “ No Godian, No! Lagos? That’s after the introduction, you should give me the ring before then” I insisted. “Okay”, he replied, “We’ll buy the ring when we get to the mall”. Case ended, I had won; Or so I thought.

On getting to the mall, I headed straight to the section for rings. “ Hey! Where are you going?” Godian called after me; Was this dude suffering from amnesia? Weren’t we supposed to pick a ring? I thought to myself, wondering why Godian wasn’t trailing behind me. I stopped. He walked over to me, “Actually I don’t have the money here, I just told you we’ll buy it here so you’ll keep quiet.” Those words made me loose whatever patience I had left. I couldn’t believe it. Did he just tell me that? A wave of emotions came over me, No way! He was gonna hear it, NOW!

I began to pour out my vexation, disappointment, anxiety, depression and all the emotions I felt on him. As we shopped, I angrily tossed the items into the trolley. Godian had definitely picked the wrong girl to play around with that afternoon, I complained about anything and everything he did as we walked past the shelves in the mall; Not minding people were present, I raised my voice. I felt terrible. Godian didn’t react , he just kept quiet, calmly following me around the mall.

As we approached the counter, I and Godian paused, facing each other as I began to complain about nothing for the umpteenth time that afternoon. In the middle of my sentence, Godian interrupted “ Look up, what’s that?” he said, looking surprised. I quickly put my face up, there were pipes around the roof area, “Is something leaking?” I asked. I didn’t get a reply. Putting my face back down, my eyes met a pleasant surprise; Godian was on one knee with a little black box open in his hand.

“Will you marry me?” he said, smiles all over his face. Sounds of “awww” and “say yes, say yes” filled the atmosphere. People around stopped their shopping and began staring, those on the queue took out their phones to take pictures … it was an incredible moment. I was speechless, I couldn’t stop blushing; I had always told my friends that I’d want my proposal to be at a mall in front of a lot of people and here it was, my dreams had come true. I said yes and we gave each other a warm embrace.

As I looked at the lovely ring on my finger, I couldn’t believe how stupid I had been. I gave Godian light smacks on his back for successfully tricking me that afternoon. Everyone around us smiled, I was elated. I was in the arms of the one I loved; It was perfect.

——————————————————————

Kelechi Abonyi is a fresh graduate of Economics; She is a beauty inside and out. She loves cooking and dancing.

30 Days, 30 Voices series is an opportunity for young Nigerians from across the world to share their stories and experiences – creating a meeting point where our common humanity is explored.

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija