©️Opeyemi Akintunde
I was Mad! Extremely mad… How could F.D dump me after all I did for us to be together? I had to read his text over and over to be sure I got the meaning.
Already, I had sent my angry reply, but I couldn’t help but read the text again a few times.
My name is Promise, and I believe at this point in this story you would have called me names you think I deserve. Do I deserve to be labelled a bad person?
Well, It depends on who is judging.
Let me take you back a few years before meeting F.D…
If I can remember clearly, I was fifteen when I noticed I was not getting the attention every other girl my age was getting. At fifteen, not even one boy had told me I was beautiful and wanted to go on a date with me. I was in my last year in secondary school when I realized it.
My friends had dated a minimum of three boys in our six years in school but I had not gotten one boy who showed me the slightest interest.
I remember crying at home on that year’s Valentine’s Day. Most girls in my class got teddy bears and chocolates, but I got nothing, not even from a secret admirer. My mother had seen my swollen face, and all she needed to do was call my praise name to make me voice out my pain…
“Aduke Mii… what is wrong? Tell me who quarrelled with you and I will get the strongest warriors to fight them”
“Mummy… Am I ugly?”I asked without holding back
“Ugly ke? Who said that to you?” My mother’s fury was red hot as she was ready to rip the person apart.
“No one, but I know I am ugly”
“Why would you think that about yourself? You are specially created by the Almighty in His image and likeness” My mother tried to give me hope.
My mother took me to the toilet mirror,
“Promise, check out your pointed nose, your small lips, your small eyes… Your beautiful neck… What on earth is not beautiful about you?”
“But Mummy how come I didn’t get Valentine’s gift?”
My mother was dazed and dumbstruck for a few seconds
“You said what?”
“Mummy, all the girls in my school got Valentine’s gifts from boys, except me”
“All the girls?” My mother queried
“All the beautiful girls, the ugly girls like me didn’t get” I said
“Well, that’s because God is preparing better men who will give you better gifts in the future. For now, He is making you invisible to those boys in your school, so you can concentrate on having good grades that your future man will be proud of…..”
“Mummy, please don’t feed me fables, the future man is for the future, I need a boyfriend for now” I remember saying to her and she couldn’t hold back her laughter.
“Promise, You don’t need a boyfriend now, let me be your boyfriend, for now, let Jesus be your boyfriend now, let your books be your boyfriend now.”
My Mother decided to make my day by taking me out and celebrating Valentine’s day with me. I picked up a teddy bear and a box of chocolate which my mum paid for…
Thankfully, I came out with good grades since no boyfriend was distracting me from studying. There was therefore no delay in gaining admission to the university,
For the first two years I spent at the university I held on to my Mother’s words, hoping the future man would show up, but no he didn’t… By the end of my second year, I was angry and I challenged my mum.
Typical of her, She told me to be patient as she was praying for me.
I was done being patient, so I decided to ask for help. I had a roommate whose name was Sandra, she had boys in her palm, always flocking around her.
I wanted that too!
I engaged her in a conversation that birthed the new me…
To be continued…
