Coming home from work one afternoon, I was about to open the door and enter the house when I overheard my parents talking. They were discussing and arguing about the outcome of my possible union with Ola. My father was beginning to get fed up with the numerous appointments Ola's father had been cancelling.
And it was all due to Ola not staying much in the house. This made my father arrive at the conclusion that Ola would certainly disappoint me.
I felt saddened hearing him say that, as I couldn't imagine Ola disappointing me. But it made me remember the past, especially that episode at the restaurant when he left without telling me.
When I thought of that particular moment, and how Nancy had distanced herself from me-due to my not being harsh about it, I came to agree in part with my father.
"Fola, I think this young man will disappoint my daughter." My mother didn't want to hear that.
"Papa Tola, I don't like the way you are spoiling my daughter o." She pointed out seriously.
"Me and you who is the one spoiling her?"
"Is she a man? Don't you know she will soon be clocking thirty? Who will look at her then?"
"Well until then, she still has time to look around since this young man is not reliable."
"And how do you know he's not reliable?"
"Don't you see the number of appointments his father has cancelled? And all because he is never in the house. Where does he go and what does he do?" My mother couldn't answer that question and this worried me.
Where exactly does Ola go? It touched me that I had no knowledge of what he was doing and where he always went. And yet I was telling myself I loved him.
I quietly opened the door and went in and greeted my parents. They saw the sadness on my face and looked at one another. My mother asked me if I was hungry. I told her I wasn't hungry, that I was tired and needed some rest. I went to my room and lay still on my bed.
I was lying down and thinking of what to do. I had to take a decision. This was going to be a painful one as I had already given my heart to Ola and didn't know if I could withdraw it or not. But I had to make an attempt, after hearing what my father had just said. I knew relying on Nancy to help me out could prove difficult. And I knew I couldn't rely on any of Ola's other friends to help me either.
This meant I was somehow on my own and had to make my own decisions. Lying in bed, I decided in that instant, that as painful as it was, I just had to forget everything about Ola and move on with my life. I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but I had to make an attempt.
This decision seemed to have lifted up my spirit. The sadness that I had, when I entered the house, had magically disappeared. I got up from bed and went to meet my parents.
"I'm hungry mom is there anything to eat?" My mum looked at me surprised I was asking for food.
"Tola, didn't you say you were not hungry just five minutes ago?" I sighed as I came and sat next to her.
"I know, but I was tired and wanted to rest my head."
"Do you have a headache?" she asked
"No." She observed me quietly trying to figure out how I could have changed my mind so suddenly. I knew soon she would be asking questions. But I reasoned she wanted to do it when my father wasn't in the house.
Instead, she got up and told me to follow her to the kitchen. When we got there, the first thing she did was question me.
"Tola tell me the truth. You came in when we were having a discussion. Did you hear what we discussed?" I sighed as I knew I had to tell her the truth.
"I heard you and...," I paused trying to decide if I should give my mother the bad news or not.
"Go on say what you want to say." Telling myself I didn't want Ola in my life had lifted up my spirit. I was free and only needed to tell my mum that it wasn't going to work between the two of us. Standing in front of her, I knew one word uttered wrongly could cause havoc and chaos.
But telling the truth was much stronger than inventing a lie. And I tried to tell her the truth.
"Yes, dad thinks his friend's son is unreliable...,"
"Wait o, Tola? The only thing you could hear is what your father said?"
"No, I mean..., "
"So as your father now concluded that that boy is unreliable, you have also concluded it as well?" My mum was angry and left the kitchen. I closed my eyes and sighed when she left. Soon I heard her shouting at my father.
"Papa Tola, you see how you have brought up this girl to disrespect me? Tell me what I did to deserve all of this insult from her?!"
"Fola, what is it? What has she done?"
"You see this useless girl that I carried for 9 months, insulting me? Don't worry, if you people have ganged up to destroy me, I will make sure...,"
"Shut up there?! What has she done that you want to start destroying everyone in this house!"
"You better warn her o, before I get it hot with her!"
"Tola? Tola?" My father called me. I answered and went to the sitting room. I sat down and looked at my mother. She was breathing heavily from shouting and the anger on her face seemed to have turned into a fierce hatred for me.
"Tola, your mother said you disrespected her. Why would you do such a thing?" I sighed as It was going to be hard telling my dad what had transpired. But I mustered enough courage to tell him how I had heard them discussing about the meeting with Ola's family, and how he thought Ola would disappoint me.
My dad looked at my mother and then looked at me. It was going to be hard siding one person and not the other. But he came up with something that was quite diplomatic enough for me to tell them how I was with Ola.
"Fola? Your daughter said she only quoted me as saying that boy is unreliable."
"And how does she know that? Has she even seen him before? Does she know what he looks like?" I couldn't thank my dad enough. His statement had got my mother asking the very question I could answer. And here I had to tell them my story.
"Mum if it is Ola I know him quite well." She looked at me shocked. My father nodded.
"So finally things are becoming serious." He said
"Mum, I hate to disappoint you. I have over the past few months of knowing Ola, learned to love him. I love him and he is the man I want to spend the rest of my life with. But here is the problem..., " I paused to reconsider what I wanted to say. I didn't want to make the sitting room the setting of another battle scene. I looked at both my parents.
" As much as I love and respect both of you as my parents, I cannot hope on someone who takes me to a restaurant and abandons me there and leaves without telling me. I rarely see him. Even his closest friends complain they don't see him much."
It seemed I had poured ice cold water over my mum. She was silent almost to shrinking point. She couldn't utter a word, while my dad observed me carefully and nodded.
"When dad says Ola is unreliable, he has a point." My mum sighed and placed her hands on her chest. I could see the look of disappointment written all over her face.
"Interesting. And I've been wondering why my friend keeps cancelling all our appointments. it is a sign from God." My mum looked at my father angrily when he said that, even though she was hard of words.
"Fola, let's not force this girl into a marriage that has not even started but is already showing signs of disappointment." The look on my mom's face wasn't pleasant and I figured continuing this discussion was only going to worsen things. I asked them if I could leave and go to my room.
"No, Tola. This discussion has not finished yet. Your mother is here, I am here. So I want us to understand the situation as it concerns your future." My father adjusted his voice and continued.
"Fola, your daughter loves this boy as they have already met. You've heard of her experience with him and how he abandoned her at the restaurant and left. She might still be in love. I mean, I believe she still is. But if this boy is not showing interest in her, then she has every right to look for someone else."
Finally, and after what I considered a long silence, my mum started talking.
" Why do you want to believe all that she has said? Why can't you understand that her reason for saying all of this is because you fixed into her head the idea that, that boy is not reliable."
"Fola didn't you hear her say she was abandoned at the restaurant? I mean if I went to the restaurant with you and left without telling you, how would you feel?"
"So you have poisoned her mind so quickly, she cannot reason properly anymore. No problem, continue." My mother got up and left us and went to her bedroom. I told my father I wanted to go to my room and he told me not to take my mom seriously. I agreed with him and went to my room.