In the name of love, I had lots of surprises to give the love of my life a romantic treat in my own small way. I wanted to do it on his off day because of his busy schedules even on weekends. The plan was to arrange candles from the hall to the entrance of his room; I again decided to arrange a series of red heart-shaped lights on the bed, turn off the main lights in the room and watch the edifice on the bed glow. The thought of it alone made me smile.
Two days before one of the biggest surprises could be unwrapped, I asked that we meet at the Marina Mall.
Traffic In Accra
At almost 5pm, I finally finished my rounds and went towards the bus stop to get a car. As if nature wanted to be cruel to me, I stood at the bus stop for 30 minutes without any luck of getting a moving trotro; all the trotros that passed were either full or not heading my direction. I wanted to call my love to cancel but I was hesitant cos that would have been unfair; he had to stall at the office just so I finished what I was doing.
When I finally got a car, I spent close to one hour from ridge to airport which I could have used to trek; Finally, I got to the venue and apologized repetitively. I could feel the tension, tiredness and aura of anger all over him. All efforts at cheering him up failed as I couldn’t get him to come around; I left him because I didn’t know what else to do.
When we got to the bread aisle, he always did the picking. But for the first time, he asked that I pick.
The surprised me asked: “Since when”.
He simply shook his head and turned away, while I pick what I needed. We finished shopping and went towards the car. Opana (our boyfriend) was so pissed to the extent that he didn’t want to walk by me.
“So, this is how it’s going to be?” I asked.
He was all cool, acting like he didn’t know what I was talking about. The mere thought of him feigning ignorance got me mad; he had succeeded at making me look stupid. “No worries”, I encouraged myself.
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Troto Corner
For the first time, he dropped me off at the bus stop without even a ‘goodbye’ or see you later. He sped off like no one’s business. I saw a trotro approached and I noticed the front seat was the only seat available. As conscious as I made it a point not to occupy trotro-front seats, today wasn’t one of those days; I just wanted to get home to my bed.
Soon after I took my seat, I was so lost in thought that I didn’t hear the drive talk to me.
He asked, “what are you thinking about”.
I wasn’t in the mood for small talks so I just smiled. After some time, he came back again to make another joke; I faked laughter to get him off my back, dismissing any chance of me being rude to him; I nodded to everything he said—true or not.
My Love Vex
I finally got home and called my baby boy to settle everything but things didn’t go as planned; he still didn’t want to talk. To avoid venting my anger on the next caller, I turned my phone off.
After a while, I turned it on and realized he had sent me a message; I replied and called back but he didn’t answer; the ‘good me’ guessed he was sleeping.
I simply couldn’t sleep; I tried watching a movie and that too didn’t help matters. Eventually, I closed the laptop, tossed and turned on the bed till sleep took me.
Morning finally came and the first thing I did after praying was to check if he has called back. There was neither a new message nor a missed call from him. As is my custom, I call him every morning on my way to work but this time I was waiting for him to call; I wanted to call badly but I decided to use this argument as an opportunity to see something.
Afternoon soon came and he still hadn’t called or texted. I texted to check up on him and he was fine, but I wanted to hear that sexy voice (you know what I mean).
Around 2 pm, he called me (it was my turn to be stubborn too). With no malice intended, I said things I didn’t mean; I realized this cos at a point his voice was shaky. Though what I was doing was quite silly, I wanted to keep going.
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What A Man Can Do, a Woman Can Do Better
He asked that I call him if I wanted to talk and then I hang up snappishly without saying bye (so unlike me). I saw an incoming call from him and I gladly picked.
“Where have you taken my girlfriend to,” he asked in a disappointed tone.
This one pierced me hard and I started crying. I hanged up again, put the phone on silence and went to the washroom to cry some more. On my way, I gave the whole thing thought and realized I was hurting him and myself too.
When the washroom episode was over and I was now back to my desk, I picked my phone to see five missed calls from him. His sixth call came through and I picked. Something took over me as I moved the phone closer to the mouth.
“Tomorrow God willing, I will come for my stuff from your place so kindly leave your key with your mum on your way to work.”
There was silence at the other end of the line (I just scared the scrap out of the young man). “What’s going on here?”
I retorted “none of your business”.
“Wow!” said the young man as he started thinking through everything. “I will call you back.”
He called back about his mum needing explanations on why I was coming to the house when he was not there; I told him I will call her mum when I closed from work.
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More Love Questions Than Answers
I went to Melcom after work to get what I needed for the following day (romantic things). I got home, called Auntie Julie to explain the details of the surprises I was arranging for his son.
As I laid on my bed that evening, I gave my conversation with Kelvin a thought. Though I felt bad about the turn-out of the event, I was encouraged about the bigger picture (surprises).
I was lost in thought then my phone rang. It was the predictable Kelvin.
“Nicole, why are you doing this to me,” he said in a very soft, shaky voice which melted my heart.
I didn’t say anything.
He poured his heart out on how I really hurt him; “The things you said today made me ask if it was really you or your phone had been hacked.”
I burst out in tears.
Thankfully, we resolved everything but he still couldn’t come to terms with what I did. I enquired of his plans for the following day to know how to put things together. Summary of the whole matter was that Kelvin had other plans in the evening.
By morning, he was at my door to pick me to the office (a romantic guy!). Although Kelvin mentioned he didn’t know when he would be home that evening, I still went to his house. Being tired and famished, I got something to eat and slept.
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Love In Action (Surprises)
Kelvin’s call woke me up.
“Are you still at my end?” he asked.
“You woke me from my sleep so what does that tell you,” I said.
He laughed. “I’m coming home now to spend time with you; the programme can wait.”
I decided to prepare assorted fried rice for him. By twenty minutes, he called that he was at the gate. Opening the gate, I was happy to see him and so was he; I hugged him so hard that I would have carried him if I could.
I excused myself to go shower then the idea of a candle-lit dinner in his room crossed my mind. Though it was a smaller version of the surprises pack, I loved it. #Improvisation101.
To draw Kelvin further, I decided for us to have dinner in his room. I called him to come and do something for me inside. The look on his face when he entered was priceless; I wish I had captured that moment. Frankly, my heart was filled with joy.
We sat, ate, talked and laughed more than ever. Raising his glass, he toasted to more sweet moments with me, more love, to strong love, to long life and prosperity, to a Happy marriage and living together happily… “To my brown sugar (that’s how he calls me?), to always and forever.” Oh, and we kissed in the name of love. Very necessary.
Ladies, pulling surprises are not meant for the gentlemen alone; let’s try our best to be surprising them in our own small way. In the name of love, it’s more romantic coming from us….
Questions
Do you think Nicole did right (given the circumstance)?
Could she have lost Kelvin in the process?
Send in your comments…
In the name of love Story by Judith Ankomaah Dei
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