Am I Going to Wait in Vain for Your Love?

It’s been years but whenever I sit down to reminisce it feels like it was just yesterday. I was in my second year in college and she was in her first year. I was with a couple of friends that evening when I first met her. We had closed from an evening class and we were walking to our place of residence. She had also closed from an evening class, and since she had no company to walk with she doubled up behind us to walk in safety with us. She greeted politely with a soft feminine voice when she caught up with us. “Please I am going to my hostel, I am alone so I decided to join your company,” she added after greeting. “Oh, no problem." My friends and I responded in chorus as if we had rehearsed it. That's the power of a beautiful lady you may say. We were caught up in a hot football argument as we walked on so none of us bothered to talk to her. Although I was arguing with my friends, I can’t deny that I kept stealing glances at her majestic steps and curves. And as I kept looking, my heart urged me to follow through. All too soon she had gotten to her hostel. She thanked us and said goodbye. She was almost walking through the hostel’s entrance when I called her back to ask of her name. When we got to the hostel that night I could barely close my eyes to sleep. I thought of her all through the night. When I closed my eyes to sleep, I could see her majestic walking all over again. Where is this feeling coming from? Could this be love at first sight? I questioned myself. “I will befriend this girl,” I appeased my heart to sleep.

The next morning when I got to her hostel on my way to class, I fixed my eyes to the entrance wherein she entered the previous night as if I was expecting her to come through the same entrance to meet me. There she was, I couldn't believe my eyes. She was walking out of the hostel. What a coincidence! I stood and beamed with a wide smile as she drew closer. “Please good morning,” she greeted. “Good morning, how are was your night?” I responded. After exchanging pleasantries it came out that we were both heading to the same lecture complex, so we agreed to walk together. “This must be a divine connection,” I said to myself. I had the opportunity to know her quite better as we spoke along the way. When we were about parting to our various classes, I took her phone number. "I will be calling you," I said, as I hurried off. Oh, what an unspeakable joy. I have never been that excited. Just last night I said to myself, "I will befriend this girl." I didn't even know where I would start from, but now it looks like it’s going to be easier than I thought.

Fast forward, the semester ended with our friendship growing appreciably. I had come to know her more. She was a quiet, respectful, and a God-fearing young lady from a humble home. She wasn’t perfect but had admirable character. I had overcome the initial infatuation, but I knew I was falling in love with her beautiful character. I was so much into her and my friends couldn’t understand. It wasn’t my first time falling in love though, I had ended my first relationship about a year ago. And until I met this charming lady, I was looking in many directions. Upon meeting her it was as if every girl around me became too dark. I could only see her. I think it's because I shifted my whole attention and focus  towards her.

We went on a long ‘vac’ and I kept playing a nice friend all through the vacation period with regular calls to check up on her. I conceived an idea one night, “I must propose love to this lady.” I spent a couple of days rehearsing the lines. Unfortunately, I never got the courage to speak the same words I had long rehearsed. School reopened, and it was a delight seeing her again. I spoke to my friends about my struggle to propose to her. The guys boosted my morale greatly. "Boy, you for look sharp and man up o," they said. A few days later, I was man enough. I proposed to her one evening and had the shock of my life. She bounced me without thinking twice. It was as if she had long prepared her answer too. She wasn’t ready. And she wasn’t interested also. I couldn't get over the shock. My guys advised me to forget her and move on.  The incidence also created some kind of friction in our friendship. She began to withdraw bit by bit. I managed to bridge the gap as she tried to widen it.

Four months later, when the semester had ended, I said to myself, "I try this again." I met her a day before we left campus and proposed love to her the second time. The story was not any different from the first one. It looked like she had made up her mind and she didn’t have to do much thinking before giving an answer. The later disappointment was greater than the former. Thankfully, my friends had already left campus so I was going to be free from the teasing. That night when I went to bed I appeased my heart once more, “I am going to wait on this love however long it will take. I must win her heart.” Again her attitude towards me changed. I had to manage to salvage the friendship. A year passed and I still couldn’t see myself making any progress with this lady. Although I was determined to wait for the right time, many times I felt like waiting for something that wasn’t going to happen. “There are many nice ladies all around, why should you waste your time on a girl who doesn’t like you?” My friends kept asking.  Many times when I met her I would question her in my mind, “Am I going to wait in vain for your love?" I felt like giving up along the way. Twenty-nine months into our friendship, she accepted my proposal. During the time of courtship, I still had to wait for romance. She would never allow me to kiss her nor touch her in any sexual way. "We are never going to build this relationship on the foundation of fornication. If it is love it must wait.” That was her philosophy. My friends ridiculed me for being in a relationship with a girl I couldn’t even kiss. They said, “This lady is just playing with your heart. She doesn’t truly love you.” Exactly two years into courtship, we got married. Our union has been all lovely and beautiful for the past eight years. Today when I look back, I can’t help but smile. During the times of waiting, I didn't know I will have to tell a love story someday (one that I will be proud to tell my children and other young people). So will you.  Will it bring you tears of joy or tears of remorse? Will your love story be one you will be proud to tell? Will it be a story of patience, self-control, purity and selfless love? Or will it be a story of impatience, lustful passion, selfishness, compromise and fornication? 

The choice is always yours.