It was 2:03pm on a regular Thursday afternoon in B.Babzville. Going through the regular task of juggling work, blackberry pings, and a million thoughts when suddenly, I got a call from a number I could not recognize. It was Darius, someone I had met in passing a few times but never really had a heart to heart conversation with. After the usual pleasantries, he finally got to the heart of the matter and boy was I in for a surprise.

Darius wanted my help to pull off a master plan to woo a mutual friend of ours – Jola. Immediately I accepted! Knowing the task ahead of me, I had to pray for strength!  Once I uttered the words “SURE”, Darius went for it!.

Darius quickly gave me the brief: a nice bouquet of fresh flowers, with one or two cards with thoughtful but not pushy wording, red candles to light up the room and of course Mr Brian Adams crooning on the stereo. As a special memento of the evening he also wanted a beautifully wrapped gift for her.

After I took all the instruction in, I went to work. From grocery shopping, to dress hunting, to the floral shop, and the electronic store to find Brian Adams, it was an adventure across town that had to end in 5 hours just in time for their arrival….speaking of speed racing…

So I managed to get everything done. Although Jola is not the easiest person to convince a dress is good for her; she did well. I was sworn to secrecy so I could not give away the surprise.

At about 5pm, at the electronics store, I found out Brian Adams was not available, so I had to send a blackberry ping to Darius to find out what other options he would consider. After about 30 BBM messages, and 6 tries later, we agreed on Back at One by Brian Mcknight, and John Legend’s CD. At about 5:30pm, I checked in with Jola to see if I could voluntarily get a leg shave out of her and maybe treat her to an eyebrow waxing and pedicure session.. Oh boy! It was like trying to move a ship on dry land I tell you. I wish I could tell her why but I couldn’t.

At around 6:00pm, I got back to my house and had to start unwrapping, wrapping, arranging, cooking, cleaning, and setting…yes, all the “-ing” you can think of. And at the same time try and keep Jola engaged in the process of looking her absolute best to fit into this master piece Darius was painting.

It is now 7:00pm, and I had failed in getting eyebrow waxing out of Jola, but was determined to deliver a dress I bought her. Knowing her? She will show up in a simple T-shirt, and Jeans. So, at this point, I rushed out of the house and headed about 40 miles to go find her and deliver my own gift to her. We met for a few minutes and convinced her that I had to go.  On my way back home, I couldn’t help but to have a moment where I really had to take it all in that such a wonderful evening was about to unfold and I was part of it. As I started creating the scenes in my mind of how wonderful it will feel for Jola to experience such, how surprised she will be once she walks in the door, I was interrupted by a ping from Darius to find out the status of the plan of which, I told him I needed about an hour to wrap things up.

Around 7:45pm, I was back in the house, finishing up the cooking, and setting the stage for what was going to be by far a lovely evening. As I set the appetizers of various fruits, meal of her favorite; jollof rice and Tilapia fish, red velvet cake for dessert on the table, as I turned on the candles, and turned off all the lights, I started getting goose bumps, I moved towards the stereo, and hit play. Brian Mcknight’s CD was playing every so softly in the background. For a moment, I was lost in the sight and the feel of everything.

Around 8:50pm, I got a call from Darius: “good evening, I was just calling to confirm my reservation for 2 and to let you know we are about 10 minutes away” I replied: “Yes sir, we do have your reservation. We will be expecting you”. I picked up the flowers from the refrigerator and ran out the door, and drove away leaving the key as instructed under the floor mat in front of the door.

As the night went on, this concierge delivered flowers to the door, bottles of non-alcoholic wine, and took pictures for 2 people that are so deserving of such a beautiful evening. For once in my life, I forgot everything about the unromantic complaints of the African man, and Darius became the standard!

Wisdom of the week: Being submissive is close to virtue. A submissive but yet independent woman will always have an edge in a pool of many.

Oluwapelumi