HE SAID NO
EPISODE 50
Amifel woke up to a persistent phone call early the next morning. At first, she ignored the call but when the presumed caller did not act like a civilized person by trying to reach her later, she decided to switch off her phone.
On seeing that the caller was Grace, the dizziness that laced her eyelids veered off and she sat up almost immediately, but it was rather too late. She already hung up.
She tried calling her back, she picked at the first ring.
“Young lady, were you assigned the role of sleeping beauty?” Grace mocked.
“Married baby girl!” Amifel hailed her friend while trying to normalize the tempo of her voice.
“My love! You missed me?”
“Plenty! I missed you so much that I had to put on my home training graduation gown to make sure that I don’t call you up till now. Especially yesternight.” She chuckled.
“Awwwwwn… I missed you too.”
“What of Hubby? and this one that you are calling me so soon, is the honeymoon over?”
“Is the honeymoon forever? We’ll be doing the rest at home abeg, I have a job to resume to. Anyway, Mike is fine. What’s up with you?”
“Nothing is up with me oh! But something is definitely up with Blessing.”
“Blessing? What do you mean?”
“Last night before I got home, my parents had staged a praise concert, at first I thought they saw Daniel drop me off but nothing in the world could have prepared me for what I heard.”
“Stop all these suspense stories already and tell me exactly what it was that they said.”
“My mom said she heard that George has just been sent to jail for multiple cyber-crimes and money launderings.”
“Ehn!!! Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!!!!”
“See ehn, I couldn’t sleep. I was just tossing to and fro the bed.”
“Oh my God! Cybercrimes? Unbelievable! How long is the jail term?”
“We don’t know yet. That’s not even all… Blessing just gave birth to twins!”
“Ahhhh!!! But the wedding is not even up to a year yet!”
“I think she was already pregnant before the wedding. The shock has still not left my body.”
“This is such terrible news to wake up to! Blessing has finally hit her rock bottom. Her escapades have finally landed her in trouble.”
“To be honest, I feel for her.” Amifel sulked.
“I do too… But when God says no and you say yes, it always ends in premium tears!”
“As in… Where would she start from like this?”
“Ummm… It is well!” Grace sighed.
“I should have been the one in her shoes, you know?”
“You see what I was telling you then… None of you should have landed in such a trap. Blessing had been playing smart all the while, till she was cornered.
God sees the things that are hidden from human eyes and even though we find it hard to understand initially, it pays to obey God. Thank God for you dear, you should be doing thanksgiving. I am just not happy that Blessing found herself in such a mess.” Grace concluded.
“Me too.”
“Let’s keep praying for her.”
“What prayer point can we even use to address this muddled up situation like this?” Amifel asked, sounding concerned.
“My dear, me sef I don’t know, pray in tongues for her.”
“I pray God brings out beauty from these ashes.”
“That is a strong prayer point o! It is only God that can perform such a miracle. Meanwhile, you should come to say hi to us when we move back home.”
“Sure thing!” Amifel smiled at the thought of seeing her friend again.
“Take care of yourself, dear. Talk to you soon and extend my greetings to mummy.”
As soon as they ended their conversation, Amifel knelt at the side of her bed, her heart overflowed in thanksgiving to God as it dawned on her all the more that she would have been the one married to George, the one whose husband would be convicted for money laundering and multiple cyber-crimes and worst off, she would be a new mother of two bouncing baby boys.
“Thank you, father, for not taking your eyes off me.” She managed to voice out.
Her heart also went out to Blessing as she spent a couple of minutes praying for God’s mercy over her and George.
There she was, unmarried but surrounded by God’s matchless peace.
There is no substitution for obedience to God, well except you want to go through an excursion in the wilderness.
*****************************
It was a sunny Saturday afternoon and the dusty harmattan had come to prepare the way for the long-awaited Christmas. Daniel had gone to pick Amifel up at home, he said there was something that he wanted her to see.
“I hope this sight-seeing is not going to take too long. I am supposed to see a client later today and I won’t want to keep him waiting.”
Daniel started humming a tune as he jingled his head sideways. He was excited and she could see that, but she couldn’t tell why and he has refused to spill the beans.
He brought his car to a halt in front of a three-story building complex. The building housed a lot of classy stores and Amifel could not help but marvel.
He got out of the car but she remained seated.
Maybe he dropped by to see someone.
Obviously not, because he stepped right to her corner and opened the door for her before helping her down.
“Daniel, what is going on?”
“You are about to find out, cmon.” He winked.
They walked straight through the entrance and strolled down the hallway before using the stairs at a bend.
The building was even more beautiful outside than it was inside. Clean and classy paintings, silver glistering railings, glass doors, and expensive furniture everywhere.
They got to a room right on the middle floor and Daniel opened it.
“Wow!”
Amifel was amazed at the sight that greeted her. The room looked like a ready-made office. The tables were gallant and fashion trendy, two soft cushion chairs faced each other and one rolling leather chair which was supposedly meant for the owner sat comfy opposite them.
“You like it?”
“Like? I love it! It’s beautiful, well-done Daniel. Boss move, you didn’t tell me that you were opening a new office!” She grinned.
He chuckled.
“It is actually for you.”
“For me? Like, are you saying…” Amifel widened her eyes in amazement.
“Yes, Amifel. This is your new office.”
“Oh my God!!” Amifel screamed as she jumped on his neck so hard that he staggered.
She was short of words.
“So I no longer have to meet up with my clients in random places! Thank you, Daniel. This blew my mind.” She managed to say as she released him from her grip.
“You are welcome Nifemi. I am glad that it made you happy.” He smiled.
She took some time to assess the whole place after her excitement waned a bit and she was beyond impressed, Daniel must have spent a fortune to secure her a place in such a classy complex.
As they drove back, Amifel could not hide her excitement as she tried asking him when he kicked off the office plan.
“A few months ago.” He grinned.
“Before you asked me if I wanted an office?”
He shook his head in disapproval.
“I should have guessed that you had such plans in embryo since you started asking me strange questions.” She giggled.
“Are you still seeing your client?”
“I am almost tempted to tell him to come to see me in my office tomorrow!” She said with an air of pride.
If there was anything that she was sure of apart from the fact that God loved her unconditionally, it was the fact that the young man beside her, steering the wheels, cared for her to a fault.
To be continued…
Written by Sodamade Olamide Tolulope.
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