Fred and Ana had been friends for eight years. Within those eight years, they had nothing but a wonderful friendship going on. After all, Ana had a boyfriend in the second year of their friendship. Her relationship with her boyfriend didn't go well because he had cheated on her with her best friend. After that relationship, she resolved to be surrounded by only friends; besides she had Fred. Somehow, he always understood her. When she had her bad days and just needed to vent, she'd dialled Fred and let it all out on him and he always knew the right words to say that made her feel better. There were times when she felt like doing nothing. Those times, she went to Fred's house and colonised his bed while he slept on the sofa in the living room. Everyone who saw them together assumed that they had a wonderful relationship going on.

Ana was a twenty four year old debonaire model. One who saw her afar off would say she was a choleric because she walked with a confidence that was common to cholerics. Plus she had a way to get people to do her biddings. But a close friend like Fred would say she was a sanguine because she was fun to be with. Fred on the other hand was twenty-six year old businessman. He was melancholic and didn't talk much even though he was charming. Ana referred to him as Phleg Fred. When it was time for Fred to settle down and have a family, he pondered on which of his few female friends would be best to be his better half. Tina had been his friend for two years. She always put up an act whenever he was around her. She was never real to him. To him, she was not an option. Nina had been his friend for four years. Their friendship was as unstable as the waves at the seashore. Even though he liked her as a friend, she was always unavailable. To him, she was not an option too. Eva had been his friend for about five years. Even though she was a lady's man, she wasn't good when it comes to tidying a house. To him, she was also not an option because she wasn't a wife material to him.

When Ana crossed his mind. He had to do a serious brain exercise. She was all shades of a wife. She was one of those few ladies who couldn't pretend. She always said things the way they actually were. He had seen all shades of her and for every of his weaknesses, she was a perfect complement. He remembered one of the days she came over and he hadn't prepared any food. She went into the kitchen and drank a cup of cassava flakes with pride. She drank it as if it was a cup of ice cream. She was always herself. He thought hard for reasons why she wasn't a perfect candidate but he found none. Since he didn't have an idea on how she'd wanted to be proposed to, he came up with a plan.

When she came over during the week, he stylishly asked her about how she'd want to be proposed to. The romantic Ana woke up. For ten minutes, she talked about how she'd like him to take her out on a date to an exquisite restaurant or to the cinema. She went on to describe how she wanted everything to play out. Immediately she left, he set out to begin the arrangement. About two weeks later, he did exactly what she said. It didn't dawn on her what was going on until she saw her name with the question that followed on the big screen at the cinema while everyone was seated and awaiting the commencement of the movie. To Ana, it was a dream come true. When Fred appeared from nowhere, went down on one knee and opened the small box, she immediately said yes. The crowd applauded and soon it was all over the net.

Since he had Ana, he didn't bother about the wedding preparations. She did all the arrangements. The only thing he did was to get the progress report from her. He had already given her his Master card to ensure that everything was in place. Their wedding ceremony was epic. They had a wonderful honeymoon. Two months later, they discovered that they were expecting a baby. Everything was going fine until twenty five months later. Because their baby, Jeff had begun walking, he always helped Ana to 'tidy' what she had tidied. Her chores had multiplied. As a result, no matter how much she tried to keep the house clean, it was never always clean except when Jeff was asleep. Even though Fred tried to overlook this, it got to him.

Ana on the other hand constantly complained to Fred that he had become too busy with work and she needed his help once in a while because she could not single-handedly take care of things. After some time, Fred termed her complaints as nagging. Soon, it seemed that their love had turned cold. Slowly, things began to fall apart. One day, she paid a visit to one of her mentors who had just returned from a summit in the United States. After they exchanged pleasantries, her mentor, Mrs Smith asked her about life as a married woman. At first, she was hesitant to respond because she didn't know the response to give her.

After much persuasion, she finally opened up to her and said she wasn't sure if it was what she bargained for. She went further to tell her about the recent developments concluding that she didn't know what to do. Mrs Smith paused for a few seconds and asked her what had attracted her to her husband, Fred. She thought hard and said that he was virtually the only one who could tolerate her excesses; she knew she had them in abundance. Plus he used to be supportive. Mrs Smith asked her if she was aware of any stress he'd been experiencing from work or any where. She replied in the negative. Therefore, Mrs Smith told her that since he hadn't stopped doing what attracted her to him from the onset, then she should exercise patience because when love is not enough, the initial attraction will keep the relationship. She said Fred definitely loved her too much not to get her involved in the stress he could be experiencing at work since he knew that she had enough chores at home. She concluded that to keep her marriage, she had to choose to make it work because for every action, there's a consequence.
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