Honouring Agreements

They had a working arrangement

He was working with a manufacturing company in Ilorin

She was working as a temporary teacher in one of the secondary schools in Ibadan

Her goal was to raise enough money to further her studies abroad

For this reason, she didn't want to get into any complicated relationship or employment

She kept her eyes on the goal, she was determined never to get bogged down in a country where she was sure her dreams would not be fulfilled

After three years of working and saving, she realized her goals in life were far from coming together

She had applied over and over for scholarships and grants and whatever else that could help her achieve her goals

Most of the offers she saw were for PhD and a second Master's degree

She didn't know how others were doing it, so she decided to do her master's degree

She felt by doing this, she would be better qualified to achieve her objectives

This was what led her to the University of Ibadan and this was how they met

She was the class representative of her MSc class

He was a student in the class who needed information constantly as he was juggling his busy work schedule with the school program

He asked for her phone number and she obliged him

He would send her messages constantly, nothing romantic or even remotely close to it

She would reply to his messages promptly regardless of when she got them because she knew how busy he was

Whenever he came to campus for lectures, he would give her some money as a form of thank you

He would copy his notes and sometimes she would be the one to explain assignments, projects, and other tasks to him so that he could catch up

On some days he would have to spend the weekend in Ibadan, he usually would lodge in a hotel and they would meet at the restaurant of the hotel to discuss so that she could bring him up to speed with what he had missed

He was single, easy on the eyes, focused, dedicated and he was smart

He rarely attended class but by the time she was done explaining things to him he would have gotten it and would even be the one teaching her or showing her simpler ways to get things done

She liked his mind, and she liked his ability to multi-task

He has an easy way with words, and she found him easy to talk to

She even understood his dark humour and sometimes would lay on her bed thinking of their time together long after he had returned to his base in Ilorin

They started having sex in a way she could not describe

She remembered they were on campus and it started to rain, she was wearing a sleeveless gown and the cold was pretty much

He gave her his jacket and by the end of the lecture he had left

She walked to his hotel to return his jacket

When she got to his door, he opened it and turned away

She followed him into the room and saw that he had an injury to his left leg

He had been bleeding and was treating the wound

She asked him what happened

He said he hit his leg against a nail that was jutting out of a locker in the lecture hall

She immediately swung into action

He had bought penicillin, iodine, gauze, plaster etc

She just helped him treat and bandage the wound

He had lost some blood and when he fell back on the bed, he slept off immediately

She cleaned up the room, called up room service to deliver some food for both of them, ate and then laid down beside him and slept off too

By the time she woke up, she was facing him, and his hands were doing some crazy things to her

She opened her eyes and looked at him

His hands moved from the south upwards and she heard a pop- it was one of her buttons

She held his hands for a few seconds trying to catch her breath

He gently removed his hands from her hand and unclasped her bra

She knew there was no going back at that point

He was not her first

It had been a while, her body screamed for it badly

When they were done, she wanted to dress up and leave

He pulled her back into the bed and even though she resisted him in her heart, her hands and body just surrendered without a fight

When they were done, she had some energy left

She sat up and decided to leave

He pulled her back a third time, and this time she allowed him to spoon with her for almost an hour

When she was done with him this time, he slept off and so did she

They woke up the next morning with her head on his chest

She was in trouble and she knew it

Her mother had told her when she was younger that nothing kills the dream of a young woman faster than the sweet tongue of a man and her weak knees after making love to him

Her knees were weak, and she could practically see her dreams fading away

She could see another thing replacing the old one, she could see a husband and children

She was popping babies every year and was called Mrs. somebody

She could see herself waiting for him to come home every night from the office and helping him to draw his bath

She panicked! She wanted to get up, pack her things, and run but his hands were roving again and her body was betraying her again

It was as if she had no will of her own

She did not even recognize herself at all

It was as if the reasonable, measured, and sensible woman had been replaced by a senseless tramp

That was where they spent the whole of that Sunday- on the bed, doing see-saw and Jack and Jill

When it was midnight on Sunday, she woke him up

She said "I cannot pretend I didn't like what happened in the last two days, I cannot also say I do not want it to happen again. I really would like to be this happy all the time. So, this is my condition to continue seeing you. We will never talk about marriage, children or settling down. You can never leave me or cheat on me. I will be the one to walk away on my terms when I am ready."

He didn't know what to say

He was thinking in another direction

He had been out of any form of relationship since his ex-girlfriend left him five years before then

He decided he would work hard and make money so that the same fate would not befall him twice

The MSc programme he got into was in a bid to improve himself academically

Professionally, he was right where he ought to be in terms of his career

He was ready to get married

She was the only woman he wanted to be with

He would have had the talk before they became intimate

The sex was just instinct and needs but the things she said afterwards were confusing to him

He expected her to say, "Now that you have slept with me, you have to marry me"

He had never heard a woman say the things she said before

He told her he would have to think about it

She dressed up and left

When he got back to his station, he took time to consider her terms again

Then he called her and asked her for context

What was it she wanted out of life and how could he be of help to her in achieving this goal? She told him she wanted to relocate to the United Kingdom and the first step was for her to get her Master’s degree

She did not want to lead anybody on by getting into a relationship and for this reason she had avoided going into a relationship for years

What happened between them made her realize she needed to be in a relationship but she wanted an understanding partner who would not hurt her or dump her but would support her and be willing to let her go when it was time for her to move on

He thought about it and agreed

She became his exclusive babe

They set a two-year target for her to travel out of the country

He felt the two years would also help him sort out some life goals and prepare him for his future

They worked hard together

She got the admission and the scholarship she wanted in a year

He supported her financially until she travelled

When she got to the United Kingdom, he called her once to be sure she had settled down, then he cut off all communication with her and nursed his heartbreak

He had fallen deeply in love with her and her absence was a big gulf but in Nyesome Wike's voice "Agreement na agreement"

He took his annual leave from the office and decided to travel out of the country

It was exactly three months since she left

He was just getting over her and settling into life without her

He had a stopover at Doha, a lady approached him

She asked him for directions on getting to the next flight

He discovered they were both on the same flight

They got talking

By the time they landed in Belgium, they were friends

She was a medical student at a Romanian University

Her family lived in Belgium

She volunteered to be his tour guide and they had a good go of it

Then he decided to visit France and Italy and she said she would pay her way but she would like to tag along

It was a month of sheer bliss

They took loads of pictures and their friendship was platonic

He told her he was just getting out of a relationship and she did not want to be a victim of a man trying to sort things out after going through so much emotionally

So they kept things at bay even when sometimes they both knew it could head in another direction

When he returned to Nigeria from the trip, he posted the pictures all over his social media and status

Two days later, she was in Ilorin

Not the one in Belgium,

The one that just went to the United Kingdom

He got home from the office and saw her sitting on his balcony wearing a pair of black sunglasses with travelling bags piled up all over

He was alarmed

What happened?

She said, "You couldn't even wait for me to be gone before you discarded me like some trash. I returned from class and saw you all over Europe making a fool of yourself all over social media. Did you share pictures of the two of us this way in the two years we were together? Did you celebrate our last trip abroad this way? I couldn't believe it. So you are capable of loving a woman like this? You are capable of public display of affection? You are capable of being romantic? I kept wondering what I didn't do right and why you would treat me like someone you do not want to associate with in public. I bought a ticket immediately and decided to come here. Let that woman come here and meet me. Let her come and claim my man while I am still alive. I dare anybody to come and tell me any form of nonsense. You have really hurt me and It is unfair."

He held her as she cried

He didn't know what to do or what to say

He dated her the way she wanted

Everything was on her terms and now everything was his fault!

He explained to her that the lady was not in Nigeria

He told her the full story and assured her he had not been with another woman since she left She said she was not doing the PhD in the United Kingdom again and that she would do it in Nigeria

She said she now wanted to get married and have children

He was just looking at her as she went into the room, changed her clothes, and asked him if he would be coming to bed

He shook his head and followed her

The End

PS: They were married three months later

She recently completed her PhD program at Unilag

She shared their story with me while I sat with the family to celebrate her graduation with her, her husband, and their two children

She said she couldn't explain what happened to her but the moment she saw him with another woman she realized he was her husband and if she did not marry him, she would most likely never get married

He said he had never been able to tell anybody the story because it would make people think his wife was irrational, I laughed

Irrationality is an emotional quality

Feelings are irrational

Men are all learning to understand women daily

-GSW-