Chapter 1
You have to stop seeing Daniel!”. My mother had said
as a matter of fact. Every part of her being meant it. This conversation was happening over dinner. My father sat there saying nothing as usual. He was
not the type to meddle in matters that wasn’t a matter
of life and death. He believed everyone had the
common sense to make the right decisions, but my
mother was the Queen Mother of making life
decisions for her children. She had successfully married off my two elder sisters
to men who were her choices for them, but as for me
Nwala, as always, she was not going to succeed in
doing that. Not that she had done a bad job with my sisters, I just was not ready to follow my sisters’ pattern. I wanted a different love story. I wanted something
out of the pages of a romance novel. I wanted the typical love story of ‘How a rich girl fell
in love with a poor boy from the ghetto, and married
him without regarding family status’. Truth be told, I would say my story was coming up
nicely like a romantic novel. My name is Nwala Nelson, third child of Nelson
Okorocha of Okorocha Motors. My father is not enormously rich, but rich enough to
be called ‘very rich’, so you would understand the love
dynamics when I tell you about Daniel; my love.
.
Daniel is the child of one of my father’s long serving
mechanics. As a car dealer who imported fairly used
cars from abroad, my father has an assemble of
mechanics of whom Daniel’s father was one of them. He wasn’t one of the best mechanics my father had, but what made him stand out was his humility. Daniel was therefore a frequent visitor in our house
from as early as I was eight and he was ten. I have two
younger brothers who loved Daniel’s company hence
we became friends as well. However, we started becoming aware of each other
emotionally, when I was in Senior Secondary 3 and he
was awaiting admission. Daniel was the best maths
student in the public school he attended and I, Nwala
could not stand the sights of crosses, and minuses and multiplications. It just infuriated me. “You better tell Daniel to help you with Maths before
you fail it in your final exams” my younger brother
John had advised.
I took to his advice, asked for my mother’s permission. At the time she saw nothing wrong because it was a
known fact that Daniel was a maths guru. Daniel
started coming everyday after school to prepare me
for my final exams and that was when the little light
was lit. I passed gloriously in my final exam, not only did I get
an A1 in maths, I got A’s in 5 subjects and 3 B’s, all
thanks to Daniel who made it a duty to cover all my
subjects. It wasn’t a hassle getting into the university
immediately with that kind of result and as a way of
my parents showing their gratitude to Daniel, they
ensured he also got admitted into a Federal University
promising to pay his fee all throughout his five-year
study. He wanted to be a Mechanical Engineer, while I
just went for something very easy on the brain, no
offence. English language was just a course I felt was
easy cheesy ‘FOR ME’. I didn’t want some big course
As soon as we were in the university, though separate
institutions, we became highly inseparable, Daniel
would come to my school every weekend. No guy
thought it wise to make a move, because it was
obvious Daniel and I were going to get married. My mother found out during one of the holidays; she
wasn’t shocked and she wasn’t excited, neither did she
look offended. All she said to me once was “The bed
undefiled”. We were presently in our third year and our court- ship had been sailing smoothly except for a few lover’s
riff that cropped up anytime Daniel realizes a rich guy
was asking me out. Daniel had a terrible insecurity problem especially
when rich guys made a move or asked me out. He felt
I would leave him for some rich guy if I had the opportunity.
I therefore was ready to fight mum for Daniel and I. “Mum, why do I need to break it up with Daniel? Did
he offend you?” I said laughing so as to make the issue
a no issue. “Because He is not good for you?”
“Says who? or by whose or what standards?” I looked
bemused & amazed. “God says He is a broken man, and Nwala you cannot
marry a broken man” My mother said like the Alpha
and Omega of my life. “God said that to you about Daniel? About one of his
creations? Wow!” I asked
“Yes! Nwala, God didn’t create him broken, He got
broken someway, somehow, maybe by himself and if a broken man is not fixed before marrying a woman, he
will break the woman too.”
“If he is broken, why can’t God fix him?” I asked
“God can only fix the broken pieces brought to him. When was the last time Daniel went to church?” My
mum asked. “Mum, Daniel has his reasons for not going to church, but He is a good person”
“You don’t need a good person, you need a God
person, Nwala” My mother said with the tone of
motherly concern in her voice. “Mom, why do I have a feeling this is not just about
church, this is also about money, mummy you want
me to marry a rich husband like my sisters”
“Nwala, this has nothing to do with money, I have
never had problems with you and Daniel until I
prayed enquiry prayers about you both”
I kept quiet, and all I could hear was my father’s fork
clashing with his plate as he scraped the last grains of
rice from his plate. “Mum, Daniel is the only guy I have known and loved
all my life, if I leave him, you have a better option for
me?”
“Reuben!” Even my father’s fork took a pause. ” Reuben?” I asked
” Reuben Acme!” My mother said seriously
I couldn’t help the eruption of laughter that flowed
out of my belly. My mother was definitely a joker!
Reuben, the son of the rich General Overseer of our
family church… I laughed till my belly hurt and I
started choking on my food. Suddenly, all the anger I
felt towards my mother for trying to separate Daniel
and I suddenly fizzled away…
“Oh my mother! My dear mother, and you said this
has nothing to do with money? Mummy, Mummy, out
of all the Godly men you could suggest, somehow the
son of Bishop Acme is God’s perfect will. Mummy, I
doff my hat for you. Queen Mother!”
I stood up clearing my plate and my father’s plate. I
laughed to the kitchen, left the dishes for the maid
and laughed all the way to the room…
Rueben Acme indeed!
God forbid bad thing! I laughed so hard; I was tearing
up. I couldn’t wait to share the joke with Daniel. To be continued… To follow our series, follow the author on Facebook @Opeyemi Akintunde Tv, Instagram @Opeyemiakintunde, and to Watch our movies, follow us on Youtube @DEEP THOTS FILMS. God bless you abundantly. Feel free to share but please do not tamper with the credit of the Author. DEEP THOTS NOVELS
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Written by Opeyemi Akintunde +234-8151103646