LOVE AT WORK: MADE IN HEAVEN (NONFICTION)

Back then when I was working with a company, I met a lady I loved so dearly and we started a relationship. It wasn’t an easy one because I made several advances at her before she agreed.

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The funny thing was she always has a way of keeping me around without agreeing to my advances. “I’ll be going to the mall today. Can you please escort me there?”

Mercy would always find a way to drag me along. “Sito, I have confessed my feelings to you, won’t you at least give me a positive response?”

Most times, like a man denied love by his crush, I was frustrated at how she would act like she doesn’t want me but later act like she can’t do without me.

“Can’t this lady just say yes to me?” I would always lament in front of my uncle whom I stayed with back then.

Uncle Taiwo would always smile. “You see that woman, my wife, that always clings to me like our love is made in heaven or second to none, was not always like that. I chased her so much before she accepted my proposal.”

I opened my mouth and was looking around as if I was expecting someone to help me close it. “Uncle Taiwo, are you for real, you mean Mummy Fortune was like that?”

In response to my question, Uncle Taiwo nodded his head in agreement. “Just keep pushing and don’t make the mistake of representing your intention to date her every time she asks for help, she’ll use it against you.”

As I smiled and thanked my uncle for his advice, I couldn’t get over the fact that my uncle’s wife was once acting like she wasn’t interested in my uncle’s advances towards her, from the story I heard she was even worse than Mercy.

My uncle told me there was a time, for no particular reason, she got angry and sent him out of her father’s house. I smiled and said to myself “Mercy dare not try that with me.”

Another part I felt uncomfortable with was how I and Mercy kept getting closer and our bond kept getting stronger. Yet, she wasn't accepting my request.

“Does she want me to hold on and just make more attempts like my uncle said?” As I ruminated on the thoughts, I decided to give her some time and stay away. I did my best to avoid her at work.

“Why is it so difficult for you to just be nice without having any affair with me? It shows that you are not a gentle man and you are not nice as a person, you only want to be nice to me because of what you’ll get in return, right?”

As Mercy confronted me after avoiding her at work for a while, like a dumb man, my mouth wanted to speak but words were absent as I looked at her face filled with emotions I couldn’t interpret. “I am sorry,” I said.

Like a cold water cooling a hot surface, Mercy’s countenance changed and it seemed she wasn’t expecting me to apologize. What she didn’t know was that I was like a microwave whose inside is hot and hidden, but on the outside, I maintained my calmness enough to apologize and that was where the whole story changed.

My colleagues at work noticed the period we separated and just like any other gist lover, they came around to ask what was wrong. But I didn’t respond to their questions as I knew they were only finding things to backbite about. “Have you not seen her, ask her," I answered.

After the short break we had, Mercy decided to, like her name, show some mercy and funny enough I began to understand what my uncle said gradually.

Like a man gradually winning over his bride, I kept showing more patience in all our conversations and my dealings with her. In no time Mercy took me to her sister who said what really sounded funny to my ears.

“So, you are the guy Mercy is always talking about.” Mercy gave her sister a sharp look, which I can only interpret as “don’t expose me! Not cool!”

After shifting my gaze off Mercy, I was surprised to see that a number of gifts I gave her were well arranged in a section of her room. Watches, necklace, bracelets and a frame, were all well arranged like medals.

“This lady had loved me right from the day she met me.” As I looked at the corner of her room my thoughts were confirmed! There was a fine picture of mine hanged on her wall.

As I turned to look at her for explanations to confirm my suspicion. “Yes, I accept your proposal.” She said. As I narrated the whole scene to my uncle, he replied “I knew your love was made in heaven.” I couldn’t have agreed less.