So this is my first time writing on Nairaland.
Hope you guys enjoy the story.

Through Teary Eyes Chapter One

I glanced at my wrist watch one more time as I approached the Church premises.
Although I had walked very fast and even said a prayer at some point, it didn't change the fact that I was running late.
If by any chance my parents were to find me walking into the church an hour after the start of service, there was bound to be chaos at home.
Surely they would drain the life out of me by constantly reminding me how the university had changed me and how I was slowly taking after my elder brother, Segun.

From the moment it became clear that Papa wasn't going to send Brother Segun to the university due to his career choice, Brother Segun had embraced a life of sport betting and cyber crimes in order to survive and prove to Papa how wrong he was. He wasn't that good in written English, so whenever I was home on holidays, I reluctantly helped him in interacting with his international unsuspecting clients who were usually online at night due to varying time zones.
I still felt dizzy from the previous night's chat but I pulled myself together.

At the entrance of the Church, a thought came to me - what if I returned home and acted like I had actually gone to Church, probably pull my shoes at the entrance of the house and leave my Bible carelessly on the center table where everyone could see it and remain in my church clothes till everyone got home...
I considered the thought for a while before rebuking it.
Papa could ask me irrelevant questions like what had been preached or the color of the pastor's suit. It was damn too risky.
It was bad enough that I didn't wake up early to leave home with them. Missing Sunday service would be disastrous to my existence in that house.

I strolled into the church while praise and worship were still going on and I felt a little bit relieved. At least I was sure that majority of the Church members would be deep in the spirit with eyes definitely closed. But just as I stood close to the entrance scouting for a seat to chuck myself into, one of the ushers approached me, signaling me to come forward.
I looked at him like " you and who de do that one?".
I pretended not to see him and began walking in the opposite direction. From the corner of my eyes, I checked to see if he was following me. He was.
"What's doing this one na?" I thought to myself.
''Na him first become usher abi shey this one body de reject anointing ni?"
I doubled my pace, still searching for an empty seat.
I kept passing through crowds of people lifting their hands to the Most High and fortunately for me I saw one girl of about 5 years, sleeping comfortably on one of the chairs.
Senior man de find chair, this girl balance spread leg.

"So sorry to do this but we have to do this for the sake of world peace" I whispered as I picked her up and stood in front of her seat.
She stirred back into reality and her eyes opened to behold a total stranger. Totally shocked, she immediately began to cry and I tried hard to pacify her. The more I patted her back, the louder she cried.
Instinctively I dropped the child and walked away. In as much as I couldn't risk going to sit at the front where I could be easily sighted by my parents, I couldn't also risk being called a kidnapper by the congregation. Although I had grown up in that church, one would be amazed at what they were capable of.
I went to the last pew which was usually reserved for late comers and I found an empty space there. It wasn't the best of places to sit but it was manageable.
Soon the prayer session was over and the choir was called to take charge. I could see my younger sister, Damilola step to the microphone. Papa must be proud, I thought to myself. Her voice was very melodic and everyone danced along to the praises she sang. Not me though, I was too exhausted and I had heard her voice too many times that I had already gotten used to it. It still sounded amazing, but not amazing enough to make me dance.

When the praises were over, the minister stepped to the podium and began administering the word.
He wasn't the Pastor in charge, yet he sounded familiar. Probably some changes had been made while I was away.
His sermon was rather slow and less energetic and I caught myself half asleep twice.
The third time I dozed off, someone tapped me and I opened my eyes to see the usher I had earlier absconded from. This man had found me.
"Stand up" he said sternly but I didn't budge.
"I said stand up" he said once again, this time in a louder tone.

"I no de sleep guy" I replied him, blinking my eyes, so it doesn't betray me. People were already turning to stare at us. He looked at me for about 2 seconds and left. He seemed hurt.
"The things we see in the house of God" I thought as I heaved a sigh of relief.
In other to avoid being "used to shine " by the ushers, I decided to bring out my phone in order to keep myself busy.

I was trying to open my Facebook app when I felt a light tap on the shoulders.
"What is it with these people?" I thought as I squeezed my face in preparation for a confrontation.
As I turned to look at my admonisher, I stared into the most amazing brown eyes I had ever seen. I was captivated by her beauty and I couldn't bring myself to take my eyes off her. She wasn't smiling but it didn't really matter. Her hand was still on my shoulder and I didn't want her to take them away. There was something familiar about her but I couldn't place my finger on it. I was so carried away with her beauty that I didn't seem to hear her when she said
"Can you please put your phone away".
Her stern politeness (if there was anything like that) made her even more intriguing to look at.

She walked away, looking a bit confused and angry and I wondered why. Didn't she know she was this beautiful?
How come Damilola or my childhood friend Osas had never said anything about this goddess of an usher?

The rest of the service was uneventful and sleep had vanished from my eyes as well. I wasn't the type of guy who took unnecessary interest in ladies but this particular girl was an exception.
Immediately after the service, I walked over to the choir stand where Damilola was disrobing and greeted her with a smile.

"Hmm Tj
this your smile is really mischievous, is there something you're not telling me?" She asked as she searched my face for any signs of mischief."
"How many times will I tell you to add Brother to my name wherever you're addressing me?" I asked through gritted teeth.
"Come and force me na" she said with a grin.
Damilola was everyone's favorite but she was actually a handful. I was older than her with 5 years but simply because her and I had almost the same height, she stopped giving me my maximum respect.
"I don't blame you sha, because you led praise and worship today, we won't hear word again" I said shaking my head. I shouldn't have. Her comeback wasn't what I was expecting.
"Because you managed to come to church today we won't hear word again, you didn't even come early sef" she fired back, laughing.
"Or you think I didn't see you when you entered? I saw you from where I... "

I instinctively rushed to cover her mouth. This girl will put me in trouble one day.

"Look there's something I want you to help me with"
"And what would that be my Great Brother?" She asked freeing herself from my hold.

"Okay I'm listening" she said as she and I could see she was serious now.
"Okay there's still girl..." I started to say but before I could complete my sentence, she burst into another bout of laughter
"Chaii... This is just amazing" she managed to say.
"How?" I quizzed
"Whoever thought the two sons of Elder Mayowa would turn out like this?
One a chronic gambler, the other an upcoming womanizer" with that she began laughing again.
I was getting fed up with the way she was teasing me. I grabbed her throat and started to playfully choke her.

While we were at it, I noticed a group of 3 persons walking towards us. I immediately let go while she readjusted herself.
"Ah Pastor, Good morning sir" she said with a countenance that oozed confidence.
One thing I loved about Damilola was her ability to conform to whatever scenario she found herself.
"Good morning ma" she said turning to the man's wife
"And good morning" she said without even looking at the third person. The couple replied her while I looked to see the lady my sister had stylishly snubbed.

Lo and Behold... It was my mystery girl.

To be continued...

Chapter Two

Everywhere came to a stand still the moment I set eyes on her again.
This time I had the chance to observe her properly.
She was really beautiful, not too fair, not too dark and she wasn't even putting on make up.
There was nothing artificial about her, yet she looked appealing to the eyes. I wished the crowd would just excuse us for a minute or two.

"Your performance today was inspiring, hope we'll see more of that" the pastor said with a big smile on his face.
It seemed a bit off to me that a pastor would come with his family to commend my sister for leading praise and worship. Usually everybody just carried on with their affairs like no one else mattered. It assumed that the Pastor was newly transfered although he looked slightly familiar.

"Yes sir, I will" Damilola responded, trying to suppress her excitement.
"And you, hope you'll be coming over to assist in our weekday activities" the pastor's wife suddenly said as she turned to me.
I didn't know what to say. I wasn't really a church kind of person but I didn't want to openly tell them. I knew Pastors had a sermon readily available to convince any unbeliever they met and I wasn't ready to go down that road. Besides I didn't want mystery girl to think ill about me. All the while she had remained silent, expressionless, watching what was going on. I looked at her and for the first time since the conversation started, we saw eye to eye. I smiled but she didn't.
I couldn't say no. Besides, what will Papa say if he heard I turned down an offer to spend time in the vineyard of the Lord?
"I'll try" I finally said to the Pastor's wife.
"Please try and you'll experience the wonders of God in your life" she said.
Of course she was right, her daughter's presence alone was working wonders in my life already.

As the Pastor and his family walked away, I sighted my childhood friend, Osas walking towards us.
Osas and I had been close during our primary and secondary school days, in fact he was more like a family friend to us.
But after graduation, I began to see less of him, especially after he got admission into a private university while my own admission got delayed.
He suddenly stopped picking his calls and replying his WhatsApp messages. Sometimes his number wasn't even reachable at all.
Whenever I went to his place to ask after him, their security man would always tell me he wasn't home, even during the holidays.
Sometimes I would run into him in public places like the football field or in church and I would complain to him about not picking his calls and his inability to reach out. He would apologize and tell me how stressful his school was and I would understand with him. We would exchange numbers there and then but within a period of about three to four days, his number would become unreachable.

"Hey Tj what's up" he called as he approached us.
Damilola naturally didn't like him so she pretended to arrange the hymn books while he offered me a handshake.
Sometimes I wondered why they never really seemed to get along.
"Bro what's up na" I replied him, partially surprised he had remembered to say hi today.

"What's up with you and the new Pastor, hope you didn't commit?" He asked, his voice sounding like we've been on good talking terms.
"Of course not, he just came to greet Damilola for a job well done" I said, trying to understand where he was headed.
"Are you sure that's what happened, or you were observing his daughter? I saw you oo"
I laughed. Osas could be funny sometimes.
"All join, she's really cute".
He shook his head
"What is it? Abi you sef get intention?" I asked trying to keep the conversation going.
"Me? No na, I don't do church girls, but I can bet, you wouldn't have the liver to ask her out. And even if you do, she won't even agree."
His last statement threw me off balance and I felt a certain kind of anger towards him. This was one of the things I disliked about Osas. He was so full of himself and he always acted like he alone deserved the best things of life. Always showing off trying to prove that he was better than I was.
I looked him in the eyes and I could see the look of mockery. He was daring me, silently taunting me, looking for signs that would make him call me a coward. I wondered how we got here, we used to be best of friends.
I was still thinking of what to reply him when Damilola broke the silence.
"I think we should start going home now before the anger of the Lord descends on us here, you guys couldn't even exit the church before you start talking about girls and how to devour them"

I forced a laugh, thankful for the intervention but the tension was still there. As we walked out of the Church, I thought about all the times Osas had tried putting me down. He was better than me in so many things, especially in academics. I still remember how Papa would compare his results with mine and ask me if he had two heads. Even when it came to ladies, Osas was known for dating the high class girls. Rumour had it that if one had a girl friend and Osas as much as winked at her, he was to abandon her and start looking for a new one. She was already his.
The only thing I was better than Osas at was in football and even at that, whenever we were both on the pitch, he would do everything possible to make us I was put in the goal post.

"Don't tell me we're going to trekk home" Osas asked as we exited the church premises.
"See question, Did you drive here?" Damilola fired back. She wasn't as tolerant as I was. She believed in responding to people" as e de hot".
"Dami take it easy na, I can pay our bike fare if you wish" he said, trying to reach for his wallet.
"Don't worry, the distance is not that far" she replied, almost immediately.
"Na poor man de say trekking na exercise and road no far", Osas said laughing.
"Are you calling us poor?"she stopped to ask him. She wasn't having any of his shenanigans.
"Why would I do that, it's just an expression" he said with a disgusting smile on his face.
She didn't say anything but she increased her pace, forcing us to increase ours too.

As we walked on, I felt proud of my sister. She could do things that I didn't have the courage to do. She really put Osas in his place and I was willing to do the finishing touches.

"Your praise and worship session was fire" he said, trying to ease the tension.
"I know, the pastor already said so" she said trying to hold back her smile.
The key to every woman's heart was money and compliments.
Even Damilola couldn't hide her reaction.
"Thanks for the compliment anyway" she added.
"Very soon they'll make you assistant choir mistress oo"
She laughed
"That's not possible, you have to know how to play a musical instrument before you're eligible for the position"
"Really?"
"Yep" she said absent mindedly
"I could teach you how to play the piano you know" he said and we both turned to look at him.
"That won't be necessary" she said
"Don't worry I won't charge you for the service"
"Even if it's for free, I don't want Osas"
"Are you scared that you won't be able to learn?"
"Look Osas it's not by force, I'm not interested" she said, gradually raising her voice.
"I don't think it's a bad idea" I suddenly cut in and they both turned to look at me.
"Yeah, it's not a bad idea if he teaches you" I added.
Osas always considered us cowards and I wanted to prove to him that we weren't scared of him. I trusted Damilola. She was a fast learner. It would look good on us if she learnt and surpassed him in the art. I would definitely get the final laugh.
"No problem then, whenever you're ready, just let me know" he concluded before Damilola could raise any further objections.

We had finally gotten to the junction that led to his house.
"I'll see you around" he said as he began walking away.
"Osas wait" I shouted and he stopped.
I walked over to where he stood and hugged him. I brought my lips close to his ears and whispered.
"Remember what you said concerning that girl in church? Challenge accepted "
"50k if she says yes" he said and tapped me on the back.

To be continued