I first saw her at a bus stop on Western Avenue in 2018 where I waiting to pick bus and straight away, I thought we were different as night from day.
Here was the little spoiled girl, rich and beautifully dressed, her hair shining and was giving me a quick wave only to show that she has definitely fallen in love. I got closer to her while she was busy watching me, I was already faintly irritated by her. Both of us picked the same taxi to Ikeja, from there I began to watch her without saying a word.
To my utmost surprise, when we barely dropped, behind me I heard a little giggle. "I don't hate you really" she admitted. "I have once known you somewhere. Don't you remember me?" she asked kindly. Slowly I looked at her up and down as much to embarrass her as to if I had known or seen her. She was tiny, slender and very beautiful, as sleek as stainless steel. Then I quickly remembered Charity Donald.
Her father was one of the wealthiest man in our society. For a while Charity and I had been seeing, but our ways had soon parted because we live in different places. "Yes, I do remember you", I told her. "Very well. I've been lucky enough to secure a job somewhere. Extremely fine." I added."And what are you doing?" She asked quickly. " I'm a poultry farmer by profession" I replied with a silly smile.
Charity's smile faded automatically, she said, " I'm sorry. I thought perhaps you were working in Lagos as a bank clerk and oh, Remali, I'm making a terrible mess of things, aren't I?"
She looked upset and it was very obvious that I could not help feeling ashame of myself for having being so sarcastic. "Yes, I replied, I suppose both of us are on the same way. Look, let's start all over again, shall we... Charity?"
Charity and I started dating each other. We talked and talked until there didn't seem any subject left, but we'll try to find a new one. Our opposite point of view of view didn't seem to get on the way at all.
"What do you want to do with your life, Remali" Charity asked me one certain evening as we sat together in a quiet place.
"What I'm doing already", I answered with a surg. She moved closer, resting her head on my shoulder and asked, "isn't there something you like more?" I replied, " I do what I do best".
But Charity meant business and wouldn't be put off so easily. "Think, Remali, think for yourself. What do you really enjoy doing?" She pressured. Glancing at her, I wondered if the young beautiful girl had ever been hiding around the corner from the farm in my bad days, watching me serve costumers without a smile because I wanted to be somewhere else. I used to think about having my own place, and being my own boss. I would love to be my boss - working the way I want and not the way other people want me to.
Charity smiled, "you see, Remali, you knew all along what you wanted all by yourself" she told me happily. I felt extremely sure that she didn't have any interest in the farming business, but at least we could share our dreams. One of my friends suggested however that he thought Charity was putting on an act. "Why don't you find someone you can get serious with?" He asked. " Charity won't stay with you. Try to be adequately honest to yourself, you're not her type. And what can you offer anyway?"
" Plenty!" I retorted but his words worried me. What could I offer a girl who had everything. Charity has grown up in a house where money has never been a problem. With such obvious different backgrounds, wasn't it a matter of time before we split up?
One night, Charity and I talked about our families. My dad died when I was only three and I told her that my aunties and mum helped in bringing me up."You're lucky to have people like that" she said, "with me, there was only me" she sounded forlorn that I couldn't help smiling.
"I promise I'll share my family with you. But I'm not energetic at-all", she said in slow voice, " I'm really a lazy person".
"You're lying! People who speak and display like you can't be lazy, never!" she laughed at that and I kissed her. Looking back at her, I remembered all the decent things we shared but not until she's took me to her place where I met her father and learnt about grey undercurrents...
Her mother made me feel as if I were something that crawled out under a stone. "My daughter told me you work as a poultry farm attendant" she said. I felt Charity who was sitting beside me go suddenly tense, but she ignored her mother and said quickly, "Remali is saving to buy his own business daddy".
" Really?" Mr Donald said. " I admire ambition. I started from nothing, you know". I looked at him warily, he convinced me that he was making fun of me, but his eyes were quite serious, that made me confused.
There was a moment of silence, then Mrs Donald said briskly, "Charity my dear, let's leave Remali and your father to talk while we get some food" and together they left the room leaving Mr Donald with me wondering what he was going to say next.
He came straight to the point, but not the one I expected. "Charity tells me she wants to marry you" he said. "Then tell me, how well do you think you know my daughter".
"Really fine" I said carefully. "Then you know the state of Charity's health. Are you prepared to take on an invalid for a wife?" He asked.
I felt my stomach lurch. "An invalid? I don't believe you", I managed to say. Mr Donald would say anything, made up any lieb to get rid of me, I decided. But it was no lie, he told me - it was as serious as much as stark truth.
"When Charity was seven, Remali, she had rheumatic fever which left her with a chronically weakened heart. Superficially, she appears reasonably healthy, but her strength and stamina are limited. So Remali, what are your hopes for the future?"
But I could not answer him - I was definitely stunned, and later that day as I walked with Charity I still felt as if I had been kicked in the stomach. Oh! Charity's eyes were flashing. " I'm so angry with that old man. How does he think he can lift his little finger to stop me from marrying the man I love so much! She thought."
"Charity", I said wearily, taking her hands into mine. "Don't be too hard on your father. He is only thinking of you honestly!"
" Nonsense!" She said. " He is only thinking of himself and his position in this society, I want to marry you because of your beautiful sense of humour, and I don't intend to let him stand on our way" and with that she slumped into my arms and kissed me passionately.
In the days that followed, there was a constant battle between Charity and her father. Personally, I hated such moments and tried to desperately calm Charity down, but she bluntly refused to listen to me.
"No, Remali", she said. "I must win this battle because if I don't, I'll never get another chance, and that man will have to win them all, and I can't let that happen, never!"
Then one day,Mr Donald called my attention and I complied. "Remali, do you honestly love my daughter?" He said bluntly. I looked his straight in the eyes and said, "Yes". "Then without further ado, how much will you need to start yourself a business, don't be embarrassed. I'm suggesting a loan to be paid with interest" he said. And I ignored such.
Charity won I thought and stunned. "With a wife to support, you'll need a business and a house." Mr Donald said, and I drew the line there.
"If I can't pay for a house of my own, Mr Donald, then I can't afford one of the first place" I told him bluntly. " When your daughter marries me, she will have live my kind of life and not yours. That means staying in an apartment with some second hand furniture to start with and having to eat stew instead of steak."
There was a long silence while Mr Donald stared at me hard and then suddenly smiled as much as extending his hands to me. "I don't step on anyone's pride", he said. "Fair enough, but do see to it that my daughter is being taken care of properly, and I want it that way" he concluded.
"I promise Mr Donald", I told him and returned his smile. " There is an adage that says, a man's achievement becomes a a woman's good fortune", but this time, I believe it is'a woman's achievement'"
Charity and I are yet to do so until much later, and I promise hundreds of my guests who will be around enough champagne and sumptuous meal on the stipulated day.