Valentine’s Day 

It was the morning of 14th February and I was a bit excited about it cos my boyfriend was around and I was looking forward to having an amazing day with him, with lots of gifts of course . Waking up, I saw a message notification from him, my heart jumped, did he wake up by midnight to send a Valentine message? He likes romantic gestures and doing extra on special days so I wasn’t suprised. I opened the message ” it’s not you, it’s me… You deserve better than this” my first thought was to reply the message but I thought, why not call?   “Hello, good morning” I said, morning he replied with a voice like he was still sleeping. ” I was thinking, if you wanted to tell me something like that, wouldn’t you have called? Or waited to see me first? ” I asked him..I know it was wrong to send a message but that’s exactly how I felt.. He said with no atom of care in his voice.. “have a good life” I replied and cut my call… I wanted to sit and think about it all, what happened? What went wrong? Why today? And all those things that will make my day sad.. But no!! I went on snapchat, posted something hilarious, told my friends and they all told me how stupid it was for him to do that.. Next thing I found myself laughing, I laughed so hard I almost choked.. When I stopped I felt so light, it was like something had left my shoulder, like a weight had been removed from my back and I started to Thank God.        

   It was a beautiful relationship until it turned sour a long time ago but I was still holding on and struggling to make it work, a relationship that made me lose almost half of my self confidence? That made me sad most of the time? That made me lose sleep? That made me shout and argue like a mad woman? I dressed up and went to church.. I couldn’t be more thankful.. 

  I was walking to the car park after church when I heard my name , I turned and saw my nursery school crush “Micah” , hey, Dodeye, do you still recognize me? He asked.. Why not? Micah, you look so big now I told him.. Why are you alone on Valentine’s Day he asked. This is church na, I should have brought my Valentine to church? I answered. Well, I’m just saying if you were mine, we would have gone somewhere exotic for valentine, far away from friends and family..he said… We can still do that I said jokingly and smiled… I’ll be honored he replied laughing. We exchanged contacts and left. 

   On my way back home, I couldn’t stop thinking of what Micah said. Someone looked at me that way? Someone will want me in that manner? Don’t get me wrong, I know I am pretty, hardworking,I know I have brains and I know my character isn’t bad but when all i got from someone who I thought loves me and had my best interest at heart was pure negativity, being talked down on , never appreciates whatever i did. I started to feel like i couldn’t do anything and as i struggled to please him in order to get validation for everything i did, I lost almost half of my self confidence. 

    Lying down, going through Instagram, Facebook and snap chat . All I could see were people exchanging gifts and expressing how they felt for their partners. I wanted to cry , I wanted to be sad, why didn’t he send the message yesterday? Why didn’t we break up a week ago? Why didn’t I see it coming and call it quits long ago? Is this him trying to ruin every Valentine day for me? What did I do to deserve such treatment? I struggled to cry or express some sort of pain but all I could do was smile, or laugh sometimes. 

  It was already 4pm and I had slept and woken up almost 5 times, this time my phone woke me up..hey, Micah I said as i picked up.. Hi, Dodeye I’m sorry if I’m disturbing something he said.. Nah, it’s fine I replied, I was actually sleeping. I added… Why didn’t you tell me you didn’t have a Valentine in church so maybe I would have asked to be considered? He asked me .. That is not the first thing you say to someone you just met after a very long time I told him. Ok, can I be considered now? I just want to treat you nice that’s all.. I was going through your pictures and I see you like to eat, dress up and eat he said laughing . That’s true, sad thing is I already kept a dress to wear today , I’ll be sad if it goes to waste I replied. I’ll pick you up by 6pm, you still live at the house in federal housing yea? Yea I replied. 

   You look absolutely stunning Dodeye, Micah said as I got into the car. Thank you I replied with a smile. So where are we going for this dinner? I asked him. “All you have to do is follow me love” he said and placed his left hand on mine. I couldn’t remember the last time anyone had done that to me.. It felt new and I just couldn’t understand why I stayed in a relationship that was draining me.. I shook the thought off, it was about Micah and I now.. Good radiance to bad rubbish I said in my mind and smiled. 

   When we walked into the private restaurant in Hacienda, it looked different and beautiful.. Maybe it was the roses poured on the path I was walking on, or the decorations with balloons all over. I looked at the people and surprisingly I knew all of them , I didn’t understand what was going on, well, this is Calabar, Hacienda is new so why not? I hugged my friends and my exes friends. Then Micah led me to the seat in the middle that had the most decorations and scented candles around it. Why are we sitting here? I asked him . I think this is for a special couple or something.. I said.. Aren’t we special he answered then asked to be excused.. 

   Micah had been gone for a while and I was uncomfortable cos my exes friends were looking at me a certain way or so I thought, I started fiddling with my phone.. I guess I was carried away by what I was watching cos the next thing I felt was a tap on my knees and when I turned it was my “ex” kneeling on the floor , looking intently into my eyes… I was shocked, what is happening here? Why is this one kneeling down? Where is Micah? Why is everyone bringing out their phones? Why are my friends smiling? 

   Baby, I’m sorry about the message this morning, it was all part of the plans for today, this 2 years with you has brought nothing but joy to me, I want nothing more than to call you my wife. You are my sunshine, my light in the dark, my companion and most importantly, you’re my friend” Dodeye, will you Marry me? At that moment, with tears in my eyes, I couldn’t think straight. If this had happened without the message in the morning, I would have been kissing him right now with his ring on my finger, but it made me think about the whole relationship. Is this what I wanted for myself? Is that the kind of Man I will want to spend my life with? Everyone was screaming ” say yes” ” say yes” ” say yes” I looked down at him, he looked so innocent, so sweet like the man I fell in love with. Honey I said as I touched his chin, your message was right, I deserve better and of course it’s not me, it’s you.. Closed the box with the ring, gave him a peck on his cheek and walked out.

How did your Valentine day go? Was it the kind of happy day you had in mind? Pls share with me as a comment. Thank you ….