Defiance

She told the cook she wants two lunch packs

During break she gives him one

He will in turn tell her stories as they eat, he had a very vivid imagination

They also study

Most times she just wanted to be beside him

He was 9, she was 8

Both in primary 3, Army Children School Ibadan

They didn't break this ritual until secondary school

She got Ikolaba grammar school

He got Loyola College

He waited for her at her school gate every morning

She gave him his lunch pack after which he dashed off to school

Only to return to Ikolaba after school and walk her home everyday

They are just for each other

When she turned 16, her father revealed his plan

He had started shopping for a husband for her

Their culture and religion demands it!

She begged him to let her go to the university

He condition; only if you pass your WAEC and Jamb at one sitting.

She told him

They studied

Both gained admission to study law.

He is a Christian, his father was a teacher.

She, a Muslim, her father, a Colonel in the Army

He is poor, she is rich

How do they navigate these treacherous waters?

She: I have been very worried lately

He: Why

She: We will soon graduate and I have to get married.

He: I will inform my father, we will come and do the needful.

She: My Father is more likely to shoot you people than welcome you

He: Don't worry. He will welcome us

She went home and told her parents about him

They both went berserk

What!

A Christian? No surname? No societal standing? A teacher?

Her mother cried

She begged them, they refused to listen

Her father commanded that she should no longer leave the house without military escorts.

She is to talk to nobody, meet nobody

This lasted two years

They graduated

Her father told her his decision

She is to marry so and so, the son of such and such after NYSC

She had no choice

She wrote to him

She was posted to Adamawa

He got his passport and Visa, left for Germany.

NYSC over, wedding preparations began.

Two months to the wedding, she went shopping with her mother and siblings in Paris.

They hailed a taxi in front of their hotel.

Taxi drove them round Paris, from shop to shop.

Her mother paid taxi driver handsomely.

She: Mum can the taxi drop me off at the hotel? I am not feeling well

Her mother: Ok. We will see you soon. Go and rest.

He was the taxi driver!

They disappeared.

Interpol, French Police, Polizei etc couldn't locate them.

Twenty years later, she won an international award in Canada, their faces surfaced on magazines and newspapers.

Her parents flew to Winnipeg

They saw Prof and Prof (both are now Pastors) and their 5 grandchildren

Forgiveness was sought and given.

The reunion was a blast

Love won!