Agur's Missing Puzzle
They were all friends
Eight of them
They met in the university choir when they were undergraduates and formed quite a clique
He was closer to some than to others but they all had a special bond
They were three guys and five ladies
Their bond was unusual, they were all aware it would eventually crash sometime but somehow it didn’t through the years
When one of them travelled to the UK to further her studies, somehow, they all found themselves in the UK too
It was quite strange but they were the clique that defied the odds
He started developing feelings for one of the ladies
They would talk all day, and call all night like lovers usually would
The bond between them grew so strong that he felt she was the one with whom he would share the rest of his life
One day she was with him at the airport, they were both traveling to different destinations but they waited together at the airport’s lounge
When her flight was called, he stood to embrace and wave her farewell
Then something odd happened, something he didn’t plan
His eyes locked with hers and he bent his head to kiss her
Just as their lips were about to meet, she turned her face away and he found himself pecking her ear
She smiled and waved as she sashayed away from him
He got her message loud and clear
Or so he thought…
After the kissing mishap, he tacitly withdrew from her
Not too quickly that it would cause them to become awkward but deliberate enough to give him the room to meet other people and pursue other interests
Out of the eight, three got married in the same year
All three are ladies and they got married to guys outside the group
The last five comprised of himself and one other guy plus three ladies
The one other guy was dating one of the ladies and their relationship was so strong it was destined for the altar
He was pursuing his Master’s in Structural Engineering by this time in Germany
He didn’t have much time for relationships in between studies and his job at a spaghetti factory
Then he got the invitation they had all been waiting for
The other guy and his babe were getting married
They were the only couple coming out of the clique
Everybody had to be there
They even planned to do an Acapella and tell the story of their friendship to the whole world
By this time they had all been friends for nine years
He bought his ticket and travelled to New York for the wedding
He got there five days to the event as they all planned on their WhatsApp group
They did a tour of the city and had dinner
They also visited Ellis Island and created some awesome memories
The wedding was a blast
The day after the wedding, he got to the airport early (He had checked in online)
When his bag was weighed, they informed him he would have to pay for excess luggage on one of the bags
Just as he was dealing with that, he heard a familiar voice
He turned around and saw her
She was one of them, one of the eight but the one that seemed a bit distant from the rest
She sang well and looked awesome all the time but there was something about her that always made him feel unwelcomed in her personal space
He knew her name and what she studied while they were in school but every other thing about her was shrouded in mystery
She carried herself like she was a class above the rest of them
He was definitely not in her league
She breezed into the situation with a smile, sorted the extra luggage thing with the flash of her loyalty card and got his bagged tagged “Premium”
It was divine help
He could afford to pay the excess luggage but that would stretch him a bit
He had spent a lot already on the trip
He checked in and found her waiting for him
They eased into each other with an embrace, he was all joy and gratitude and she was all sunshine and rainbows
They talked about the wedding, the clique, their adventure on campus and what they had been doing since then
He found her easy to talk to, she also had a wicked sense of humor
She made him laugh so much, he had tears in his eyes several times
He had to tell her at a point that even though they had been part of the same clique for eight years, it felt like he was just meeting her for the first time that morning
She was flying back to France while he was heading for Germany
At a point during their discussion, she said one of the things on her to-do list was to visit Germany but she didn’t have anybody there and she didn’t just want to fly there and wander through like a wayfarer
He Invited her over, gave her his address and phone number and encouraged her to visit at her convenience
She stood up, went to the counter and bought a ticket on his flight immediately
She said she hated to postpone when she could just get things done and off her list
They flew to Germany together, he didn’t ask her about hotel details and so on
When they landed he took her straight to his house
He felt she should be the one to insist on going to stay in a hotel if she wanted to
As long as he was her host, the best he could offer was for her to stay in his bedroom while he would sleep on the couch of his studio apartment
She obviously came from money or had made money; he was still trying to find his feet, the Rubicon he needed to cross was not so far away
When they got to his apartment, she acted as if she had always stayed there
Moved into the bedroom, showered and changed while he quickly rustled up something for them to eat
She moved his bags into the room while he was still in the kitchen
She said she wouldn’t inconvenience him in anyway because of her impulsive visit
He stayed in the sitting room all day, even when he felt like using the rest room which was in the room, he excused himself and went to the coffee shop not too far from his apartment
He had never had a lady stay with him before and he didn’t know what was and what was not appropriate
Later that night, they watched a movie together and slept off on the couch together
He was so tired that he had not even taken a shower or slept all day
Later that night, she woke him up and led him by the hand into the room
He showered, changed and crashed on the bed without thinking
Early the next morning, she slid over to his side
He held her
In that twinkling of an eye, Aaron’s staff which had been an ordinary stick for many years found itself in the tabernacle
It shook here
It shook there
It groaned here
It moaned there
It took almost an hour
Suddenly, flowers appeared everywhere!
It was so good, that it happened again a few hours later
Like a volcanic eruption, the bellows were glorious and the fragrance of the fire was heavenly
They became an item that day
He knew she was the one
He was so sure of it
She knew he was the one too
They had a sync
An unspoken understanding that he couldn’t explain
He took her everywhere
They took pictures and splashed it all over their social media handles
She introduced him to Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok
She showed her how to use X
She planned to spend five days, but she ended up with him for a month
The day she left, he cried like a baby
She wept too, as they clung to each other at Munich International airport
She had left his orderly life in a glorious wreck
He needed to get another job, he had barely attended his classes and he had spent almost all his savings
When he got home, his house didn’t feel like it should
Her essence was everywhere
He missed her terribly
He cried and cried until he slept off
Her call roused him from sleep
As soon as he picked up her calls, she said “You had forgotten me so soon, I had to be the one to call you when I got here”
He started laughing
The sound of her voice and her nutty accent was both a relief and a joy
She told him she had sent him some money to cover her accommodation for one month with him and her feeding too
He protested
She laughed
He checked his phone
Ha!
She has sorted out one of his headaches
He caught up with his classes as much as he could
He also got a job with the local newspaper
It was the same pay but this time he started working all night so as to have time to prepare for his final examination
They were talking all the time
Her voice was the highlight of his day
He was a quiet, reserved guy who rarely caught the eye of anyone of note
She came into his life and it was as if she brought him out of his shadows
Everything felt good and sounded like music in his heart all of a sudden
He missed her too much for comfort
And then he got the mail
She said she was sorry but she would have to take a break from him for a while to pray about their union
She wrote, “I have been reading a lot and talking to some more experienced people and it seems this relationship didn’t start the right way
You didn’t woo or court me properly
We had sex too soon and I am afraid you will end up taking me for granted and then acting as if I am just some cheap thing
I find myself thinking this cannot happen but everyone I have spoken to and shared what happened between us told me it was just a fling
This has made me so sad! Can we pause for a while and figure things out?”
It almost drove him crazy
What was she talking about?
Can the sun take a day’s break to figure out if it must shine on the earth or not?
She was his breath!
He called and called
She declined all his calls and refused to reply to all his messages
He didn’t know what to do
How can strangers determine what is good or not good about other people’s relationships?
Why did she read or listen to such people?
And what is the definition of “break”? Or the duration?
It was all so confusing and unnecessary
He reached out to his old friend, the one he had developed feelings for one time
In tears, he told her everything that had happened and how devastated he was to be shut out of the relationship without any warning
His friend listened and told him she would call his girlfriend and see how she could mediate
Three days later, his friend called and started asking him some strange questions
Did you guys pray about this relationship before embarking on it?
Did you inquire from the Holy Spirit if she was the one?
Have you guys become sexually involved?
He found himself facing the firing squad as he answered the questions
His friend spoke to him as if he lacked good judgment and deserved the pot of pain he was getting cooked in
It was worse than being dismembered by a gladiator in the arena
The wound of a friend indeed ran deep
He told his friend off in tears
Like Job, he was like, “If you cannot be kind to me or care for me you should do well not to add to my pain”
The call went badly from there
He had not only lost a lover, he had also lost a friend
Life returned slowly to its drabness
The sunshine was gone and the long night had come with its cold winter
He graduated and got a better job
He also began to ease off missing her as terribly as he once did
He found ways to cope
Watched a lot of action movies, Action and law-related novels
Avoided romantic movies and books like a plague
Blocked her on social media and other fronts
One year later, his friend called him to inform him that she had landed in Germany and was staying at a hotel in Hamburg
It was not too far from his house
They met and had a long chat
They apologized to each other
She said she came for a conference
He took her all over the city
They took pictures and laughed a lot together
Three days after she arrived, he took her to dinner
He asked his friend why she was still single
She said she was not ready to be married because she didn’t want to make a mistake
She said she had taken her time to pray and God had finally spoken to her about her life partner
He asked her who it was
She said she wouldn’t say it to him but she would give him hints
She began to talk
He listened and halfway into the conversation he realized she was describing him
Of course, it could have been another guy too but it definitely fitted him to a T
It was at that moment it dawned on him
A woman he liked but never really loved flew down to Germany under the cover of attending a seminar to hint him into starting a relationship with her and he never had the presence of mind to go to Paris and convince the love of his life that what they had was worth fighting for!
He gave up on the love of his life too casually
He allowed her to dictate the beginning, middle, and end of the relationship
He acted like a passenger, not like a copilot
He felt an urgency in his heart to act but he didn’t want to seem rude to his friend
The next morning, he bought a ticket to France
When he got to Charles De Gaulle Airport, he took a taxi straight to his babe’s apartment building
He pressed the buzzer and she picked
He said calmly, My name is so and so and I am downstairs. Please can we see and talk?
She buzzed him in
When she got to her door, it was open
He stepped into the room and there she was
His sunshine, bright and shiny
He just hugged her and cried
She said “It took you a year to come for me. I was almost tired of waiting but I knew you would figure it out sooner or later if we we're meant to be together
I am a woman, I want it to be written that you came for me and not that I threw myself at you
When I read all the books and listened to all the stories of broken relationships and marriages around me, I realized in most cases the woman was not ferociously loved by the man and this lack of love exposed her shortcomings so easily to the man in the long run
Love is supposed to cover a multitude of faults!
I have to be sure you love me this much otherwise I will never have the confidence I should have in our relationship or the assurance that you truly love me”
Wow!
It was weird that she would wait a year for him to get it
If he was in her shoes he would have dropped hints or even written it as a letter or something.
What if he never got it?
She said, “It would simply mean you never really cared enough and we shouldn’t be together”
PS: They got married six months later
He said the marriage was everything and more
She said he was a bit slow on the uptake when it comes to understanding her but he had kept his eyes on the ball since day one
They have two children
He said his friend got married two years after his wedding and relocated to Canada with her husband
They all remained good friends
Proverbs 30: 18 “There are three things that are too amazing for me,
Four that I do not understand:
19 the way of an eagle in the sky,
The way of a snake on a rock,
The way of a ship on the high seas,
And the way of a man with a young woman.
There was a puzzle that Agur didn’t mention in Proverbs 30, it is the puzzle that men worldwide are still battling to solve, it is the puzzle of the “Way a woman’s mind works.”
-GSW-
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