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N.b: This is a work of Fiction



He broke up their 2-year relationship on a Saturday. The day before Valentine’s day.

That fateful day, She sat down at The Food factory- a restaurant at Ikeja, waiting for him.

He had called earlier that day to set a date. And they both decided on The food factory.

She wore her special dress, the red one he bought for her in their first year together. He said he had been smitten by it, so he got it for her.

This was the first time she’d wait this long for him,he was always the one waiting for her.

Just a glance at her watch and she realized she’s be waiting for close to an hour. Because she sat close to the window,She watched the ongoing activities outside the restaurant.

She turned her gaze back to the restaurant as Lovers trooped into the restaurant in their pairs, it seemed they wanted to celebrate early. She watched them stroll in and She smiled, her own lover will be here soon.

Picking up her phone from her bag, she placed a call to him, smiling sheepishly at the bold caller ID ‘My crown’ on her phone’s screen- the name she fondly called him. She mouthed the words ‘My crown’ as she waited for the call to go through.

Line busy.

After three failed attempt to reach him, She gave up.

Something was definitely up.

Was he planning a surprise? Or wait.. Maybe it’s a surprise marriage proposal?

The thought of that made her very happy. It’ll be a dream come true.

Being Jide’s wife will be bliss, they’d live at ikoyi with their four kids and enjoy life like no man’s business.

“Good afternoon shade,” Jide’s familiar voice jolted her out of her thoughts.

She had been so lost in her euphoric thoughts that she didn’t realize he had walked in, although she backed the entrance.

His familiar scent filled the air, that Manly scent that felt like tangible strength enveloping her.

And then the realization hit her. Jide just called her ‘Shade’ in a not-so-romantic tone.

Shade?!

Really? What Happened to Darl? Or Vanilla? Or my queen?

The only times he called her by her actual names were times he introduced her to formal persons, like his boss or his colleagues , but he’d always use words like, “Meet my love, Shade Adeniyi or meet my Queen Shade Adeniyi”. Either ways he maintained that masculine sweetness.

Shade looked up at him as he sat down. Oddly, He looked like someone who just ran a marathon race.

“Welcome my crown, You don’t look well”, She reached out her hand to inspect him but he avoided her touch and her gaze.

Still avoiding her questioning looks, Jide turned his face and stared at the adjacent window.

She turned to follow his gaze, just to see what caught his full attention asides her.

There was nothing of fancy, just individuals at the other side of the restaurant’s window transiting to their various locations.

“My crown,what’s wrong?” She was concerned. Maybe he was ill.

“Shade I want us to separate” he blurted out , looking directly into her eyes now.

Those words sounded like gibberish to her.

It had to be a prank. But she knew Jide, he doesn’t even know how to prank.

“Co…com…come,again?” She stammered, blinking her eyes.

“I’m not convinced about us anymore Shade,” He paused a little. “I’m not sure we have a future together and I feel it’s best we part ways for good”. He continued, He was frowning now as he spoke those piercing words.

Her hands which had been on the table dropped to her sides – a wave of diaphoresis hit her instantly. She blew at herself with her hands.

Then the tears came, she knew she was weeping because she felt it in the way her body shook and in the way her voice shook.

“Just like that jide? Just like that?!… Why?! What did I do?,” She asked him gently and firmly, her voice a combination of fear and confusion.

Jide seemed to be more concerned about the people in the restaurant who were now stealing questioning glances at them, than her questions.

He bent closer to her and whispered, “I’m so sorry shade.”

Then he did the most outrageous thing, he stood up, placed his left hand on her right shoulder, looked into her eyes and continued.

“I didn’t intend to break it to you this way”, he said, then he walked out of the restaurant without looking back.

Shade watched him go, too dumbfounded to speak. or beg. Or scream.

Many thoughts invaded her mind space.

Like nothing happened, She picked up her purse and stormed out of the restaurant, feeling like a ghost.



****************************


The first person Shade met at home was Gbemi. Certainly Gbemi. Who else would she meet anyways? Gbemi was her roommate and they both shared the rent payment of a three bedroom flat at ikeja.

As usual, Gbemi stayed glued to her personal computer, skimming through the keypads like an expert that she was.

“Yeye web developer,” Shade thought in irritation for the first time ever.

Gbemi noticed Shade’s entry and raised up her head, she flashed her signature smile at Shade.

“Welcome Oh,How did it go? miss lover girl!”Gbemi greeted.

Shade didn’t look at her and she badly wanted to hiss at Gbemi’s cliché compliment ‘miss lover girl’.

Shade ignored her and walked to her room, she was not in the mood to pay any courtesy. At least not now.

In her room, She bolted the door as she entered and right at the door, her back facing the door, she slides down slowly. Her eyes glued shut with tears. She threw her bag to a corner in the room.

As her butt hit the ground. She let the wails out without reservations.

The same wails She have locked in as she transited in the uber that brought her home, Even as the driver chatted away, oblivious to her moodiness and Short paced ‘hmms’ to his outrageous questions.

Gbemi was at the door now. knocking endlessly.

“Shade! please open the door. Please! , Don’t hurt yourself,” Gbemi pleaded from the other side.

All her pleas remained ignored.

Gbemi didn’t relent, She continued.

Shade didn’t know where the energy came from but She yelled at Gbemi with all her strength.

“Leave me alone!!!!”

The knockings stopped.. and then it continued and after a while it decreased until it stopped finally.

“I’d be in my room if you need me, Just don’t hurt yourself, Please,” Shade heard Gbemi say from the other side, noting the way she prolonged the ‘Please’

After a minute Shade heard footsteps. Gbemi had left the door.

“Whatever”, She muttered in response to Gbemi’s last sentence.

How could he? How could Jide drop her?

Was she not woman enough?
Her? Shade? This beautiful Lady with prospects of a bright future!

The Prayer coordinator of their youth province.

This promising Chartered accountant.

Does he know how many suitors she declined because of him?

Oh! What shame! What a great loss to him!

She stood up,walked weakly to her bed and knelt down.

She intended to pray, she wanted to pray.

On impulse, she looked up at the wall clock.

It was precisely 9’o Clock.

She returned her gaze to her bed and resumed her thoughts.

On no other day but Valentine’s eve. Was he punishing her for something?

Such a beast he is!

She longed to pray now, but the words couldn’t form.

All she could mutter in tears were, “Help me Jesus, Please help me.”

A throbbing ache caressed her forehead and tears blurred her vision.

She laid her head on the bed, still in the kneeling position, as she succumbed to the gentle hands of Sleep.

******************************

An unfamiliar but pleasant scent filled her nostrils as she woke up.

It smelt like freshly prepared food.

She opened her eyes for a start and felt a presence in the room.

She wiped off the drool on her mouth with the back of her left hand. The drool Happened everytime she didn’t sleep in an appropriate position.

Someone was there for sure, but who?

She had bolted the door before she fell asleep.

Why will anyone come into her room uninvited?

Anger rose up in her but slowly and strangely it faded away, As quickly as it came. Within seconds.

What was happening…?

Could it be Gbemi? Did she break in while she slept?

The thing was, this presence brought so much unexplainable peace, so she wasn’t afraid whoever it was was out to hurt her.

She raised up her head from the bed and her eyes caught the wall clock.

9pm on the dot.

How come? She fell asleep around that same time.

The clock was probably faulty.

Her eyes still hurt from all the crying but the headache was gone now.

“Its not too late for a date night, is it?” The stranger spoke with the calmest voice ever.

There was something about that voice. It sounded like pleasant music in her ears. Like music she’d pay millions to buy. Like music she’d store in her archives of fantasies to think about later.

She turned her head and before she noticed the man, she noticed a table and two opposite chairs in the middle of her room. The man sat on one of the chairs.

Wait.. Who was this and how did he get into her room in the first place?

She didn’t know it was going to be a special night for her.

….........

SpiritPen(f),
TemidayoRiches(f)
aved29(f)
Fayodamilola(f)
Faithfulwrites2(f)
TheEdenPlace20(f)
treasuretaiwo(m)
omeizadeborah(f)
trophygracie(f)
Oluwamarytalabi(f),
PeculiarInspiro(f)
Botapreneur(f),
ASHSALT(m),
Olajhidey22(m)

A SPECIAL NIGHT


CONTINUATION

“Date Night?”, Shade stopped and peered at him intently, a quizzed expression clouded her face.

Maybe it was all a joke.

“Yes, my dear”, a wide smile remained plastered on his face. It was quite obvious he could hardly contain his delight.

Still puzzled, she cleared her throat. She needed to ask the right questions.

“Can I know who you are please?”

He chuckled, “Shade, you asked me for help and I’m here to help you” he explained calmly.

“Help me? how? ” she shot her questions at him immediately.

But then. In a few seconds,the memory poured in and she got her answer.

Just before she slept, she had asked JESUS to help her.

Wait. Wait a minute. JESUS!!!

SHE ASKED JESUS TO HELP HER!!

She looked up at the man again.. and did a quick inspection. Her eyes widened.

He smiled like he knew what was running through her mind.

She gazed at the floor like she needed an explanation from it.

But. This was not the Jesus expertly drawn on her Sunday school Bible book, the one she was so fond of while growing up.

This was not the Jesus she imagined in her mind while singing about him in church.

The man chuckled again and Shade looked away from the floor. She stared at him, waiting for an explanation.

“Come and eat and drink Shade. I can come to you in any dimension”, he didn’t give her the well detailed explanation she needed but she’d roll with it.

She couldn’t take it all in.

She stood up and tried to straighten the creases on her wrinkled dress.

He held out his hand to hold her, He made sure to hold her firmly but lovingly as he led her to the seat.

Shade sat down and he sat down after her.

“He seems like the perfect gentleman” she thought.

She’d just cooperate and watch how things unfold for the night.

As he started to serve her, she took that moment to really notice the surroundings.

Her eyes scanned the room. It looked bigger and wider and it was still dark outside. Her eyes caught the lightbulbs, the lights were off, she looked at the scented candles she brought recently. They weren’t lit.

She looked through the windows again. The moon wasn’t out.

She searched the room to find the source of the room’s illumination and found nothing. Her heart skipped a second.

She turned her gaze back to the dinning table, the table and chairs were made of well polished mahogany. Beautiful roses well arranged in a glass vase decorated the table. The cutleries spoke elegance.

She watched him delicately pour wine into her glass.

She wanted to look at him and study his features but she couldn’t, she didn’t want to do that.

“How do you feel now?” his question halted her thoughts

“How do you mean?” she inquired.

“The breakup” He looked into her eyes.

“You know about the breakup?” Her eyes bulged with surprise.

“Yes my dear. I know.”

She sighed. “I can’t describe it,but I really don’t feel pain. I’m just numb”.

He reached out his hand and wiped a visible tear on her right eye.

She didn’t know she had gotten that emotional.

“It’s okay to express how you feel, I listen all the time.”

She broke into tears and placed her head on the table.

He patted her back lovingly.

“I honestly get so sad when I see you cry,it hurts me deeply” He said.

“Really?”

“You don’t seem too convinced but I mean it”

“But why did Jide break up with me,he was all I had”

“Hmmm.. All you had?” He quizzed her.

She realized too late..

“No.. I meant.. we were to get married” She paused a bit and continued, “We were meant for each other”.

“Hmmm.. you seem so sure about it”

“Yes of course.. I’m a prayer coordinator, he’s an usher at our Church.. what else?” it sounded stupid after she said it but that was what came to her mind.

“How come I was never involved in the relationship?”

“Uhn.. you…” She stammered.

“You didn’t tell me about it.. for two whole years.”

“I didn’t?.. I thought..”

” I’d show you something, then you’d tell me what you think about it,okay?”

“Okay”

He clicked on the blank air and a 3D hologram flared up. Shade gasped at the sight and realized light erupted from him to give illumination to the projector.

Now she knew how come the room was illuminated. He was the light!!!!!!!!!!!

Images started to form on the projector and within seconds she could make sense of it.

A middle aged woman in her late 50s, sitted on the bare floor In a place that looked like a bathroom,her hands her cupped her knees,she was crying.

A man stormed in screaming, “where is that goat?” He looked like he was also in his late 50s.. maybe 58years old thereabout.

When the man saw the woman, he charged at her and beat her up.

“I regret the day I married you!” Those were the last words Shade heard before the Hologram folded up and disappeared into thin air.

That voice rang in her ears. It sounded familiar in a way she couldn’t explain.

She looked up at her host for clarification.

“That’s the future Shade, Exactly 30 years to come, that’s you and Jide”

Shade gasped and covered her mouth in horror. Emotions welled up in her and she badly wanted to cry but she was too embarrassed.

“How could that be?” She asked him.

“It’s all over now my dear” He was smiling widely like he just won a trophy. A calm and genuine smile.

“Thank you” she meant it with all her heart.

She returned her gaze to the food quickly, she wasn’t the one to be shy but she couldn’t grasp the idea of her saviour having a date with her.

Her of all people?

At that moment, she scrutinized herself.

Yes! She attended church, was a prayer coordinator but all that ended at church.

At home, at work and at any other place apart from church, she was a different person.

She had accepted Jesus as her Saviour but at that moment she realized now that She only wanted him as a saviour, she never really allowed him to be Lord over her Life.

She felt open and vulnerable in his sight.

Like she was dirt and he was pure.

“I love you shade. More than your human mind could ever comprehend”

“But I’ve not been good enough, I’ve been a hypocrite” She explained.

“It’s not about you being good enough Shade, it’s about me being good enough”

“I don’t deserve you” she said again.

“All I want is your heart..the whole of it” he said.

She looked at her chest region,what she saw surprised her.

She could see through but there was a large space. Emptiness… she reached to touch it.

“I can fill that emptiness, Shade” he reassured her.

She looked up at him with tears. she felt so undeserving.

“Okay.” She surrendered.

He reached out to her heart

And placed his hands gently.

She felt a surge of electricity pass through her boby. It felt overwhelming and pleasant at the same time.

He took off his hands and when she looked at her heart,she saw a pure heart, pumping, red and full of life.

The sight gave her so much Joy, she looked up and hugged him over the table.

Her phone started to ring, she was familiar with that tone. It was an alarm.

She looked at him to gain his approval. He nodded.

She stood up and picked up her bag, the bag she had flunged away in anger.

Without warning,As she was about to stop the alarm, a great marvelous light flooded the room almost blinding her, she covered her eyes, looked back to behold him in all his glory.

“MY JESUS!!” She gasped in adoration.

Shade fell at his feet and couldn’t look up to behold him. The light was too great.

She felt his hands on her shoulder as she broke into diverse tongues.

****************************************

The alarm kept ringing as Shade woke up. She was still praying in the spirit.

Her head was still laid on her bed whilst in the kneeling position.

The whole encounter had been a dream.

She couldn’t explain the force that kept her tongue going but she knew she was a bit paralysed by joy to even get up to put off the alarm.

It had been a dream that felt so real and she had met with her savior.

She still felt his presence and his scent still filled the room.

THE END.





*************************************

A lot of people know Jesus as their saviour and while that is true He is our Lord too.

It’s high time we move from just having a knowledge of him to actually knowing him personally. For ourselves.

You may find it hard to give him all of you but just ask him to help you and you’d be surprised.

That loneliness overwhelming you could be Jesus calling out to you.

The materials of the world cannot fill that emptiness, Money cannot. Fame cannot. Social media cannot. Sex cannot. Only Jesus can make you whole.

I know you’ve heard it time and again that Jesus loves you.

But I bring it to you again today.

He loves you.

Yes, he really does.

He cares for you deeply.

Speak to him today, Invite him back if you’re far away.

Renew your relationship with him.

And if you know nothing about him.

I’d give you a summary.

See. This world is temporary, it’s so obvious we need a savior and it’s also sad that the world would only get worse.

Who then can save us?

Can money save us? Oh! Maybe our presidents can? What about the goodies of this world? our wealth? Or our families?

You know the answer, of course these things can’t save us?

However you and I know we need a saviour, we have everything but something seems to be missing?

You may feel you have all you need already and do not need Jesus.

But are you at peace? Are you joyful? Are you guaranteed of eternal life? Don’t pretend there’s no void.

You know deep down that something is missing.

How can we have a guarantee of this eternal life that our soul longs for?

Jesus is our savior.

More than 2000 years ago. He came to die on the Cross for our sins

Of course you know we’re sinners right?

You’re fed up with your sins and you long for a savior.

Jesus the son of a perfect God who created us left his throne and came to earth to deliver us from ourselves.

Now we have assurance of eternal life.

Hallelujah!

Say this prayer:

LORD JESUS I BELIEVE YOU DIED ON THE CROSS FOR MY SINS. TODAY I SURRENDER MY LIFE TO YOU TOTALLY. COME AND BE MY LORD AND SAVIOUR, I ACCEPT THE ETERNAL LIFE YOU GIVE ME. GIVE ME GRACE TO LIVE FOR YOU NOW AND FOREVERMORE. THANK YOU JESUS, AMEN.



CONGRATULATIONS!!!! YOU’VE BEEN ADOPTED OFFICIALLY INTO THE FAMILY OF GOD, NOW YOU CAN HAVE A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH THE CREATOR OF THIS WORLD.

wow.. this is very interesting... God bless you more