"Don't worry, I know I am not living a very good life, but that is why I have you to pray for me, and when I want to marry, I will go to the church and find a very spiritual woman who will cover for me spiritually. Life is too short for me not to enjoy it." Those were the words Shola had spoken to his mum almost 1 year ago when she complained as usual about his reckless lifestyle.

Mum died barely 4 months after they had that conversation, and now, Shola knew he needed another woman as strong as his mother had been to fill in the gap in his life. As he had told his mum, Shola's search for a wife took him to the church. First believers assembly was a well respected church in the neighborhood, the members of the church were known to be very pious and spiritual, so Shola became a member of the church.


It had occurred to him earlier that a proper christian girl would only want to marry on of her own kind, so Shola had tweaked his life a bit to fit into that mold. He started going for all the church programs. He disassociated from his club friends and made new friends in church, to avoid raising suspicions, he even became a worker and never missed a single workers'meeting. He kept his eyes wide open in those meetings, and before long, those eyes fell on sister Mary.

Sister Mary was so holy, always dressed modestly, cheerful, but quiet. She had such a calm spirit, and even that her name, Mary, it reeked of holiness -after all, that was even the name of the mother of Jesus! Shola had made his choice, and in accordance with the guidelines of the choice, he informed the pastor of his intentions. Nine months later, they were married.

Shortly after their wedding, Shola went back to his former lifestyle, the months of pretense had been torture. He was pleased with his newly acquired 'spiritual'wife, and confident that she would be down on her knees praying for him around the clock. After work one day, he went to pick up one of his old friends who just came in from abroad. They were going to hang out at the bar together and catch up on old times.

On the way to the club, Jide started raving about reuniting with a former girlfriend, about how the girl had come to see him yesterday and he realized she was still as hot as ever. When they got to the club, Jide was still raving about this super hot wonder girl he called Cathy. Shola got intrigued and asked Jide to invite the girl over to the club, so he would see what the hype was all about. Jide sent Cathy a text and told her to com over.

Three drinks and a couple of cigarettes later, Jide tapped Shola that Cathy had arrived and he was going to get her outside. A minute later, Jide was coming back with a lady on his arm, she was hot indeed in a very short provocative gown and stiletto heels, as usual, Shola started looking at her from her legs and his eyes moved slowly and appreciatively up her body as they approached. When his eyes reached her face, it took him a second to realize what he was seeing.

Shola wondered if it was the alcohol at work, he rose to his feet unsteadily and looked again at sexy Cathy. His eyes widened in surprise, surprise became shock.

"Mary?!" he said.

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following

I had not even wanted to attend the conference. The boss just walked on Wednesday morning and said "Seun, you and Tobi will be attending the attending the conference tomorrow". "Ahnahn, Oga, but the plan was that you would go to that conference yourself with Tobi, what happened?", my boss said with a shrug "well, the plan changed, I won't be able to go tomorrow again and I don't want Tobi to go alone."

I tried, but I couldn't hid the disappointment on my face. I already had plans for Saturday, since I thought the boss wouldn't be around, I had planned to close early and take myself out to some place nice to just relax, now my plans were ruined. There was no way I could go from our office in Abeokuta to the venue of the conference in V.I and get back in time to be able to do any relaxation. It was so disappointing.

That was the story of how I got to be at the Landmark centre, V.I on Thursday morning with my colleague and friend, I had decided that I would stay for a while and then leave him there (since he was interested), and go to the V.I Shoprite to enjoy myself a bit, and look around, I might as well have a feel of Lagos since I was there already. I knew Tobi would cover for me, that's the good things about guys.


So, after I had sat through the opening speech feeling very bored, I whispered in Tobi's ear that I would be back shortly and got up to exit the hall (I had chosen a seat on the edge of the row at the back for easy exit). I strode to the car, jumped in and cruised to the popular mall. I was still wondering what exactly I would do at the mall, and since I was a bit hungry, the first place I found myself was at the food lounge. After tucking in a plate of chicken and fries with pepsi at KFC (I also got some takeaway for Tobi, as a good friend, lol), I decided to look around the stores at the mall.


I was still going round, stopping to see things that caught my attention when I remembered mum's birthday was in a week. I decided to buy her some African fabric at Da Viva as she is a big fan of ankara, kente, etc. I knew Da Viva usually sells some nice ready made things to, so I walked into their store to see what I would find. Immediately I walked in, a pretty woman walked up to me and and asked how she could help me, I told her I wanted to get something for my mum, and then her phone rang. She asked me to excuse her and I heard her call out as she walked away from me "Susan, please help me attend to that man, he wants something for his mum."

I had continued looking through the bolts of fabric they had hanging and I was studying a particular one that was draped over a mannequin when I heard the soft, well modulated voice behind me, "hello sir, do you like what you see?" I turned back and my eyes fell on the most beautiful woman I had probably ever seen, I knew she must be the one called Susan.

I know it sounds very cliche, but I know in my heart that I fell in love with her the moment I laid eyes on her, maybe even from the time I heard the sound of her voice.

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