Finally the day of graduation came and I was extremely happy. I had finally finished my studies and was about to go into a world where I would have to measure myself with a lot of other graduates like me.
It was a day I wanted to spend so much with Nancy as I didn't know in what direction life would take us to. But Nancy didn't feel the same way as I did. She preferred to hang out with Ola's friends. I guess I knew why she was acting that way. She was still angry over how I behaved towards Ola when he met us at the restaurant.
I found this quite strange because it was something I had completely forgotten. So why was she still making an issue over it? Since she preferred the company of Ola's friends, I had no option but to leave her. But I wanted to see them and stay with them a bit before leaving.
They had all gathered at the same restaurant where I took Nancy to. As I went in, I greeted them. They were all there-Anita, Funke,Dele, Nancy and Lanre.
"Fine baby." Dele hailed
"Lady Chanel." This was Funke
"Smooth criminal." Anita said.
"My only friend." Lanre greeted.
"Ola's baby." Nancy hailed
"Wait o so you people gathered here because of me, abi?" I asked as I took my seat next to Lanre.
"Tola, you wan set fire between Lanre and Ola, again?" Anita asked.
"I'm a graduate now o. So I can do things the way I want."
"Abi, my sister?" Nancy said. They all hailed me at once using different names to call me.
" And by the way where is he?" I suddenly asked. To this nobody answered my question, they all kept quiet. I looked at each of their face and tried to figure out what their silence meant.
"He said he had some important engagement." Lanre finally replied.
"So if you are going to wait for him, you might as well sleep here." Dele said. They all laughed. In that moment, I felt like the only outsider among them. And so after staying with them for a few more minutes, I got up to leave.
Lanre asked if he could see me to my car to which I gladly accepted. We walked slowly to my car and on reaching it, he asked me how life would be from now on.
"Well, we have graduated. Now we have to face life itself." Lanre looked at me in such a way that I had a feeling he wanted to tell me something.
"Yeah, so after everything we finally made it."He remarked
"True." I said looking at him.
"And I was able to settle my differences with Ola over you." He grinned as if this was the most important achievement he had obtained.
"So Nancy told me." I replied
"So how will it be between you guys?" He asked
"You mean me and Ola?" He nodded. "That I don't know. I mean I know what I want. But if its not what he wants then I guess... " I paused. It was hard for me to think of any other man that could replace Ola.
"You'll look elsewhere?" I nodded and stared at him. He stared back at me.
"I might."
"Sincerely?" He asked surprised. It reminded me of him not telling me about the girl he intended to marry. Since it came to my mind, I decided to ask him why he never told me about her.
"Lanre? Why were you not sincere to me?" I asked him.
"About what?" He asked
"You never told me you had a girl you wanted to marry." To this, he bent his head and looked away.
"I never knew until the rumors about us started spreading." I said.
I then remembered what my mother had told me, 'get used to Ola so you have a man of your own. Do so before you find yourself sharing a man with another woman.' Being reminded of my mother's words, I asked myself how sincere Lanre would be to me in what he was going to say.
"Tola we were friends. There was no intention to commit to each other." I folded my arms as he spoke. But his reason didn't convince me enough.
"You know, Lanre? Recently, my mother had a feeling I was seeing someone."
"Does she know about you and Ola?"
"No. But coincidence would have it that his father and my father are old friends."
"So you already knew you were destined to be with him."
"No, but she insisted I hook up with him. Because for her it was better that way before, as she put it, I ended up sharing a man with another woman." Lanre looked at me attentively trying to figure out what I meant.
"So what are you implying?" He asked. I Looked deeply into his eyes.
"Lanre, I had often wondered if it made any sense being with someone closer to me or someone I rarely see. And you were closer to me than he was."
"I guess you should have known earlier that I had a girlfriend, is that what you're saying?" I nodded.
"I would have been happier knowing it from you, than from Nancy." I replied.
"Okay I get where you're annoyance is coming from." He said. I shook my head in disagreement.
"No you don't. And I'll tell you why." I told him. He was silent and just stared at me.
" At a certain point in our friendship, I was beginning to get comfortable with you, Lanre. Ola was so distant from me I wasn't expecting much from him. In fact I was of the opinion I wouldn't get much committing to him. And so I had almost decided I didn't want to waste my time with him anymore."
I saw his eyes widen in surprise. He probably wasn't expecting me to say this.
"And then Nancy opened your eyes." He said. I nodded.
" Only then did I realize that if you couldn't tell me about having a girlfriend, you would never be sincere to me." Lanre folded his hands and looked at me.
I guess he was probably thinking of what to say. Or he wasn't expecting such a revelation from me. But it didn't matter how he took it. This moment was probably the last time we would ever see each other again.
And so I allowed him to spend as much time with me as he wanted. I wasn't in a hurry to go home.
"Tola? What if you had really decided to forget Ola back then, would you have considered me?"
"It was a possibility. I mean I was happy around you. Look, here I am with you now. Where is he?" Lanre slowly nodded his head in agreement.
"And now?" That question hit me like a rock to my head. It nearly took me off balance, and I had to lean on my car for support. Lanre was about to hold me when I stopped him.
"Hope you are alright, Tola?" he asked
"I'll be fine." I said regaining myself.
"Then maybe you need to come back in and relax a bit before you go home."
"No. I'll go home instead." I opened my car and got in and started it. I closed the door and wind down the glass. I stared at Lanre as if it was the last time I would see him.
"Tola? As much as it is hard for me to say this, I have to say it." I looked at him like he was about to make a confession.
"I always loved your company and wondered what it would be like if we hooked up." I smiled at him.
"And would it have worked?"
You mean us?" I nodded. He smiled.
"It could have been worth trying." He replied.
"And would you have really wanted that?" I asked him.
"In fact, now I realize you were not sincere with me either." I frowned when he said that.
"Well at least I told Ola I couldn't lose you as a friend. You, what did you tell him?" He sighed when I said that. He stood back from the car.
"Okay, drive home safely and if we meet again, perhaps we can think of hooking up." I couldn't contain my laughter as I tried to imagine how that could even happen.
"Okay, but then we'll have to clear up the sincerity problem between us, first." I said
"Right. You are totally right." He said.
After we said goodbye to each other I went home, finally free from school. Now I had to think about what to do with my life. I wanted to work immediately.
Luckily for me, my dad owned a company I could rely on if I wanted to start working. But I didn't want that right away. I wanted to work somewhere else so I could have enough experience before working for him.
I discussed it with him and through his connections, I was able to secure a job at the Human Resources Department of a security company. The company was owned by one of his associates and so it wasn't hard getting employed. I started to work.
During this time, my mother was preparing me for what she described was going to be the wedding of the century. Her only daughter was going to get married. Since I had finally bagged my degree, this to her meant I had pleased my father.
Now I had to please her too, by getting married and having her grandchildren. The only problem here was that, my parents had never taken me to see Ola's family. My mother's optimism about how the wedding would be like, the list of people to be invited and how it would all go, surprised me.
But as much as it surprised me, I was equally surprised to notice that nothing was being done to make it a reality. What was delaying them taking me to see Ola's family? What were they waiting for? I soon found out why.