₦airaland Forum

Writeditor:
I'm not sure why you left out the inverted commas for direct speech. Might sound quaint but it can cause problems of its own. Not bad but I'd say you need to pay attention to clarity and punctuation.

Thank you very much for the observations. They are duely noted.

Hello Nairalanders. I want to advertise my book which is a motivational work that I feel will come handy to every person that reads it. Terese990@gmail.com. 08066459317. That is my email and phone number respectively in case of any demand. Looking forward to hear from you .

hopelink1:
verbose

How so sir?

lukunini:
Mtchwwww. Wise up

Can you say something more constructive so that I can take the correction you are offering me?

That's the ending.@ Seyi. Hope you enjoyed it?

HAPPY READING.

HER DECISION.
If your mum, dad, elder sister and brothers insisted that you should take him back, would you? I asked her in my mild and depressed tone.
What did you say? She asked back.
I said if…
I didn’t ask you to repeat the question. She interrupted; cutting me half way through my speech. I can’t believe you just said that. Is my family the ones to tell me who to stay with? Or are you indirectly telling me that you have…
No! I didn’t let her say those words. I had not given up on her; not for a single minute of our brief but memorable moments together.
She had been through a lot and I was committed to getting her back to her original self. Her formal relationship was nothing but “abusive”. She had fallen “blindly” in love with a guy that didn’t deserve her by any means at all. She had loved him but the guy kept flirting with other girls right in her presence, may be because he felt she had nowhere to go to. She kept enduring it hoping things will get better even though that didn’t seem to be coming in a long while. It was in the midst of this emotional turmoil that I came into the picture.
Me and Pamela had been mates back in school and been the shy kid that I was then, I couldn’t go past the official “hello” we said to each other every day we came to school even though she was my biggest crush back in the day. We graduated and lost touch with each other for over six years until three months ago when that part of my life which she dominated but I had tried to keep latent came back alive when I finally saw her again after many years a public function which we both happened to make the guest list. Seeing her in that purple gown elegantly dressed cleared every doubt in my head of her not been her. Of course she was the one. How could I even doubt it in the first place? She looked as adorable as I last remembered her and the air of confidence that usually surrounded her still persisted on. Without even thinking much, I headed straight to where she was seating and I reached the canopy she sat in, she met my gaze and… she had not forgotten me either. We exchanged compliments, caught up with time and seemed to have forgotten what actually brought us there probably due to the excitement of our reunion. We got talking afterwards; very frequently and one thing led to another so we decided to give each other a chance and see where this feeling leads us.
That was when the Ex-boy friend remembered he also wanted her back. He suddenly became the gentle man she never knew all the time they stayed together.
Within this short while with her, she poured out her life to me like an open book and I made up my mind to return the favor in full measure by doing everything possible within the realm of sanity to make her happy again.
I thought I was trying my best but actually she was the one actually taking the heat from the guy’s pestering and every time I looked into her eyes, I saw her sincere need for a true friend; someone who would genuinely listen to her innermost cravings.
So when she heard me ask her that question, she felt I was giving up already and it hurt me badly when I discovered I didn’t convey my message properly. She had proven countless times to me how she would rather take her stand with me by her side and I understood what that meant for her especially due to the fact that she was a woman.
Sweet heart am sorry, I didn’t mean it that way please. That was the best I could get out.
It’s all right. She replied. But I knew it wasn’t. She was hurt by those words I said and I hated myself for it.
He is coming to the house this evening and I intend to put an end to this madness once and for all. She continued.
Sweet; don’t you think… but she cut me half way.
Just come to the house at 5pm please. Will you? She asked but I was sure she already knew my response. Of course I will. I answered.
Knock! Knock!
Yes come in. it was her elder sister’s voice I heard. So I walked in through the gate and elegantly moved towards the building in front of me as I “scanned” through the neatly arranged compound.
Good evening Erdoo. How are you doing? I greeted her.
Very well thank you. You are welcome. She responded. Her sister was as beautiful as she was; a little more, I think more like the Rachael and Leah kind of “comparism” in the Bible.
Please make yourself comfortable. Pamela went to get something at a shop close by.
As we got talking, the mum walked into the parlor and I quickly stood up to greet her.
“Msuur da vaan Wan Wam”. She responded warmly.
As we got talking, Pamela walked in almost at the same time with Jeremiah.
An outburst of jealousy and excitement came alive within me and I understood why. With the way she talked to her elder sister, it seemed to me like the whole thing had been planned out and I was the only person who was not in the know of what was going on.
I want to thank you all for coming. She started in her usual tone.
Jerry, do you love me? Why wasn’t that question directed to me? I wondered quietly. She didn’t wait for his response and continued. Will you do anything I asked you to do?
Of course I will. Anything for you my baby. That was his response.
Opening the cup of liquid milk in her hand, she spilled it on the green rug that overlaid the floor of the room and watched everything soak into it leaving the white patchy stains over the area to the amazement of everyone in the room.
Please can you help me pack back the milk into this cup?
Haba! That’s not possible; it’s soaked in the rug already. It’s all but lost. Jerry answered with a frustrating look on his face.
That’s my point exactly. All this time, I have been with you, I gave you my heart without any reservation yet at every instance you made a fool of me and now that you have spilled your “milk” away, you want it back? How is that possible?
I have finally found a love that is willing to treat me like a lady that is worthy of it and I won’t let you or anyone destroy it for me. You once had your chance, yet you blew it away.
All the while, I look in her eyes as she spoke on and I saw the pain that words couldn’t express, she couldn’t hold back the tears and at that moment I knew she needed a shoulder to lean on.
I made for her, wrapped my arms around her and held her close to me feeling her heart beat against my chest.
Never leave me please. She said over my shoulder and I didn’t need to look in her eyes to know what that meant to her. She had made a decision; and it was me. I was proud of her.
I love you and I am proud of you. I replied. I had made mine too but at that moment, I saw the need to reaffirm it too.

The decision to travel to Abuja had come so suddenly even though I thought I had carefully planned it out for over a month prior to the day. I had mentioned the idea and planned in that light with a sole aim of going there to unwind after a very demanding semester that almost left me breathless.
Yet the urgency in my plan came as a result of one thing: No! Not a thing but a person. That one lady that had captivated my soul and brought back the tingles to life in me.
I had not seen her and when I finally realized that I was going to be away without seeing her for that long, the thought was unbearable therefore I took a decision on the eve of my journey.
I am a regular jogger who jogs twice a week: Mondays and Saturdays. The choice of days was informed based on my psychological attachment to what i will achieve from them. I believed that jogging on a Monday morning was a perfect way of starting my week. It will relieve me of unnecessary tension and free my mind of less productive thoughts thereby making me entirely efficient all week long. Saturday was informed on the basis that it gave me an opportunity to reflect on the just concluded week as I pace on, correct and learn the lessons and also celebrate any successes.
But Friday wasn’t on my jogging agenda. I had decided I would use it to achieve my mental objective and most of all pay her a surprise visit since her house was close to the path I usually followed when jogging. More so, I personally have a strong attachment to surprises; pleasant surprises, because it makes romance more romantic.
All through the night I kept thinking of one thing: 5:45am. It was the time I usually started dressing up to hit the road. The night extended unusually for me and since I barely even slept I was terribly irritated by the noise the stray pigs made in the refuse dumps close to my room as they dug up garbage to eat. The tom cats seemed to be actively searching for their mates and seemed to be getting lucky about it as I head the meowing sounds from the pussy cats. Back in my room, I realized for the first time that a supposedly spoilt clock which I had abandoned awhile ago under my table was actually still ticking. My awareness that night seemed to rather annoy me as I rolled from one end of the bed to another.
“its time to get up, the time is 5:45am”. That was my alarm clock alerting me. I quickly sprang out of bed because to me it had taken “forever” to arrive. Making for my wardrobe, I brought out my sporting outfit and dressed up almost immediately.
As I stepped out of my room, I did the unusual. I carried my phone along. I never did that before and at the moment I didn’t know or have any explanation for the action, yet the excitement of seeing her in a couple of minutes overwhelmed every other sense in me.
I walked eagerly to my starting point at Terguma Street. As it was expected, others were also performing the drill. The business minded ones where also setting up their places to kick start their day.
I got on the road with the right motivation. At that moment, I reminded myself of my athletic years back in secondary school and how I could cover distances with amazing speed and time. I wanted to do same today. Every step I took mattered to me as I overtook fellow joggers like a speed train. I was quite impressed with my ability and without realizing I was almost at the turn that led to her house.
Suddenly a hand grabbed my shirt from behind and on turning to see who it was, what happened seemed more like a James Bond movie. The hooded guy that grabbed my shirt placed a revolver pistol right on my “belly button” and immediately cocked it. In the bid to understand what was going; to be sure I wasn’t dreaming, his accomplice appeared by my side with a cutlass in hand at a ready position as though I was a threat.
“So na you the claim Don One abi”? “Where you comout from”? He questioned on.
I am coming from Terguma Street; Am just jogging. That was my response.
After searching me he retrieved my Techno L3 phone that was in my back pocket and ordered me to vanish out of sight.
Of course I did. Happily sef. Because at that momoment, I thought that was it. Am not sure what I was supposed to be thinking about at that moment but her thoughts were what flooded my mind and when I was set free I wished I could immediately fly to her embrace for the comfort felt no one could provide for me at that moment.
Knock! Knock! Knock! The dead silence from her room irritated me. I knocked again and this time I heard her voice. The voice I was willing to pay any price to hear before traveling that morning.
Who is it? She asked.
Dooshima it’s me. I answered.
“…come in”. that is what she said or probably what I thought I heard her say. But on pushing the door to come inside, I felt a resistance. Just then I realized that what she had said was “am coming” and not “come in”
Who I saw on the ground wasn’t her friend. No! It was a male figure. Was this the assignment she told me she had to attend to? Was this why she didn’t care even though she knew I was travelling for a while? The questions kept coming yet no corresponding answers.
The pain in my heart overwhelmed me because until now I had not realized that I was in the rain. The pain from the cutlass the other guy hit me with before I left them came alive in my back. I couldn’t bear the sight. I turned around and walked away as she called behind me: Terese, please I can explain please.
Explain? Did she just use that word? Is that what she said? A moment ago, I was willing to risk anything; even my right leg to see you. All the pain I took in because I felt you deserved even more. Until now you had been a secret I couldn’t hide anymore. Dooshima; how could you possibly explain that to me? That why I had thought I we were both in love with each other, I had actually been in love alone. All this, I said in my mind. She saw the tears in my eyes and I saw the regret in her eyes too. But it was over. Our hopes; or maybe my hopes about “us” were all dashed away. The damage was irreparable; at least to me. She would never know what I went through to get to her ‘cos I wasn’t prepared to tell her but deep down in my heart I knew that all the things that a man would do for the sake of love, I would have reserved none just for her sake but the reality before my eyes shattered those dreams like a mirror crashing on the ground from the top of a building.