THE FIGHT FOR LOVE Episode 7 – LIZZY OYEBOLA OYEKUNLE
It had been two months since I last heard from Emmy!
There was no call, no text, nothing!
His social media accounts were all not reachable- he seemed to have suspended or deleted his accounts.
“He must have even returned to Germany. He said he had less than a month or so before” Mola had told me.
I held on to the promises of God. He had said a ‘yes’ to Emmy so all the battles that was rising up, which was confusing me, I had handed over to the Lord.
I had gotten a slot at the Indian Consulate and my job had been going on well. I was determined to block away all thoughts of love, marriage and relationships until God would work things out by Himself.
Bro. Dada wouldn’t stop sending me messages anyway. Whenever I got any of his messages, I would laugh, delete them and move on. I never replied any, neither did I ask him to stop.
I was before my desk one day when someone knocked on the door.
“Who is it?” Mola who was reading a novel on the bed asked.
“Can I come in?” Was the response. Mum!
“If you want to o” Mola said and well, the door opened.
“Good evening ma” I greeted, turning back slightly to look at her.
“Evening my dear” She said, looking cool in her evening gown.
“Good evening Mummy Mo” Mola greeted casually.
“Evening o, the sister of Mo” Mum replied spitefully, her nose raised at her. Mola gave a witchy laugh and turned to her side to continue reading.
I pressed the enter key so my mail could get delivered and I turned the swivel chair to face mum.
I wondered what she had come to do in my room.
She dragged a chair and sat in it, directly in front of me.
“Mo, I want to discuss something with you”
“Okay ma”
“Let’s pray before I start” She said and prayed briefly.
“Amen” I said to the final prayer point and she sighed after the prayer.
“Mo, are you angry with me?” She asked all of a sudden and I gasped.
“No mum”
“So, why have you not been free with me again?”
“Hmmmm” Mola let out as she turned noisily in bed.
“Mola, please don’t say a single word while I am here. Just keep quiet! If you are not satisfied with any of my words, you can get out of here! I am not here to discuss with you, I want to…”
“Iya Mo! You can shout ehn! Did you hear me say anything…Ah, nawa o!” Mola exclaimed angrily, jumped down the bed, started wearing her slippers and walked out of the room, banging the door after her.
Mum let out a long hiss, eyed the door as if it was Mola and faced me. She quickly wore a fine smile and repeated her question.
“Free with you what way mum? I wake up in the morning, report at my workplace and get home in the evening. I barely have time for myself too”
“Hmmmm….maybe sha! But you are not angry?”
“No”
“Okay. I trust you for that. You are a very special child to me”
“Thank you, ma” I said, feeling very uncomfortable with the discussion.
Mola walked back inside and I chuckled silently. I trust that she would not want to stay out of the latest gist. I knew her anger wouldn’t last.
“How far now?” Mum asked and I feigned ignorance.
“Mummy, what is the matter?” I stressed, looking disinterested.
Mum broke down into tears at once.
“What is my offence? Why? What is it?” She cried on and I raised my hand to my face, not really interested in any drama.
“I am going to be 62years next month. I got married late and had you children late! Just you two! Why are you the same set of persons the devil is using to torment me? Why?” She wailed on.
I did not say anything.
Mola chewed at the gum in her mouth noisily like she wasn’t concerned.
“Even if nothing, for the fact that I bore you girls, aren’t you supposed to make me glad and happy? Aren’t you supposed to pay me well?”
“What is the problem?” I asked her again, not knowing what to say.
“Why are you placing Dada on a hold? Why are you telling him that you are praying since over two months and you aren’t saying anything about the matter?”
“Mummy, you want us to talk about marriage matter?” I asked calmly.
“Yes! That’s what I want! I want to see my grandchildren! Even people that are not my agemates have grandkids!” She stood up and raised her hands to the ceiling, wailing again. “Lord Jesus, when will my own joy also come? When?”
“Mo’s mum, abeg, don’t turn this place to a mourning room o. I am trying to read over here” Mola said and I winked her to stop.
“Mo, can’t you give this Dada boy a chance? Can’t you?” She asked, obviously disregarding Mola.
“She said she is not doing o! Na by force? She doesn’t want Dada!” Mola shouted into her face. Mum frowned all of a sudden and faced Mola squarely.
“I have lost hope over you! I warned you not to interfere in this whole thing, why are you? If you don’t want me to place curse on you, shut up! If you don’t want to go, let the person that wants to go to go”
“But mummy pastor, can I ask a question?” Mola asked
“Hmmmm”
“Why do you love to curse? I thought a Christian shouldn’t curse. I thought you should bless only with your mouth and not curse”
“Shut up!”
“It’s when you are cornered that you remember that someone should shut up! Ah, these days ehn, you’ve just been weighing cursing on different people that come your way! Ah, is it now curses you sell?” She asked again and gave out a witchy laughter again.
Mummy suddenly picked up a pillow and threw it at her. She dodged it and started laughing, singing a weird song.
They want to kill me o
But God will not allow them o
They will keep failing as they try o
They don fail patapata!
Both of them continued in the fight until Mola eventually had to leave the room. My head ached really badly.
“For my sake Mo, can’t you say ‘yes’ to this brother?”
“And for your sake mummy, I will live with him, right?” I asked, trying really hard not to be angry.
“Can’t you get married in the church so as not to put your father and I to shame?” She asked and paused again. “I know it might not be rosy but can’t you just obey your mum?”
I sighed deeply when the depth of my mum’s stubbornness dawned on me.
“Mo, it is better to marry a demon in the church than an angel outside the church!”
“Mummy, let’s stop!” I screamed all of a sudden. “Mummy, why? Why? Why are you this adamant and determined to destroy my life? Why for crying out loud?” I screamed and looked into her eyes. She looked really shocked.
“It is until I am 40 years old that you will allow me marry right? Let’s go ahead with it! I need your consent to marry, right? No problem! Since you have said no, I am not getting any married! I am not!”
“All because of this Emmy, right? You are being disrespectful to me because of this Emmy, right?”
“I am sorry. I didn’t mean to be disrespectful but can’t you check it too mum? Check you motives well! Check your intentions well! Check your desires well and check your behavior of late well mum! Is it godly? Is it biblical?”
“Na you sabi that one! Where is this your Emmy? Emmy this, Emmy that! Shior! Where is he?”
“You chased him away!”
“Oh really! Well, let’s assume that I chased him away truly. Is he supposed to just give up and throw in the towel? He doesn’t know what he is doing! Just give Dada a chance! Just trust your mother’s instinct! Trust me!”
“Mum! Please let’s stop! I plead with you by the mercies of the Lord to let’s stop ma. Please” I almost started sobbing.
“God knows how much you have threatened him! God knows how much you have cursed him! God knows what you did to him to make him send me that kind of message! Ah, mother! You didn’t try for me! You didn’t!”’
I had gotten to the breaking point and I knew I was going to go all emotional. She stood before me looking all shocked.
The day Emmy came to visit, I got to the egg supplier and realized she had left. When I called her, she said I should stay in front of the gate as she would soon join me. The soon turned to over thirty minutes. When she arrived and gave me the five crates of egg, a message entered my phone. I placed the crates of eggs in the car and checked my message. It was from Emmy.
Let’s not do this any longer, please! I have met almost everyone in your home already and sincerely, I don’t want to go on any longer. I don’t even have any explanation to give but my spirit wouldn’t agree with this whole arrangement again!
I thought I was dreaming until I drove into the compound and realized that he had really left. I even met my mum crying profusely as I entered.
“That boy is not for you o” She wept on but nothing made any sense to me.
“What did you do to Emmy? What did you say to him?”
“Shae we were only seeing a movie o, after a while, he said he was leaving!”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that o”
“You didn’t collect his phone to send me a message right?” I had asked and she looked up at me suddenly.
“He sent you a message? Let me see. Show me” She had said, collected the phone from me and wailed.
“Why would he send you this kind of message if he truly loves you…ah…”
“Mum, you were not the one that sent the….”
“How could it have been me?” She shouted angrily at me and I had to go in that day to start calculating what could be wrong.
Mum’s reactions were a little too exaggerated for me and I found it difficult to believe that Emmy was not the one that sent me that message but what would I do? I couldn’t reach him! I couldn’t!
“You are raising your voice at me?” Mum asked and I blinked hard as I came back to reality. Even I was shocked at myself. It was the first time I would raise my voice at my mum or anything. Even though she had been very funny in the past months, I still asked God for more strength to understand and submit to her as my parent.
“Mo, have I pushed you that far? Too far for you to shout at me?”
“Yes mummy! You didn’t only push me. You have pushed me to the wall, held my neck in a strangling manner, taped my mouth and pulled my legs and hands backwards in a slavery mood. Mum, you have tried! I really throway salute!” I shook my head though I found it impossible to believe that I was the one talking.
“All I am doing to you; you think is slavery? Some people are looking for godly parents like mine to guide them but…”
“Mum, you are doing more than guide already! You are doing too much mama and it’s killing me! You met the person I love and that God approves, you refused him and didn’t care if I cried my whole eyes out. Afterwards, you tricked him to meet with you and use that opportunity to kick him out of my…”
“If he is for you, he wouldn’t be kicked out no matter what”
“Who knows what you used to kick him out? Who knows mum, who knows? No matter how huge a molehill is, if an ocean rushes at it, it will bring it down!”
“Is he a molehill? You shouldn’t marry a molehill but a mountain. A mountain is what you need for a man! No matter how much ocean runs at a mountain, it stands tall and it….”
“Mum, it is well ma. Even if it is at 60 years I am able to get a man that you will accept, let’s wait till then, mum!”
“Over my dead body! You can’t even wait till thirty. I won’t let you do that.”
“Okay mum. You will force me and drag me to a man’s house, right?”
“If that is what it takes, I will do it for you”
“Then, I will even have a marriage that is worse than yours mum. Your own marriage, is it heavenly? The obvious answer is ‘No!’ If you want me to have a monstrous marriage, keep pushing me ma.” I said and bowed my head in total obeisance.
“Mo! You are saying too much!”
“Mum, you are doing too much too!”
The room opened suddenly and Mola entered, clearing her throat. Her eyes glittered with some excitement and I wondered what it was.
“It looks like mother and child are still engrossed in some discussions” She said and there was silence.
“Anyway Mo, this is for you.” She faced me and I nodded in anticipation. “There is a man in the sitting room, waiting for you”
“A man waiting for me?” I asked but with the excitement in her eyes, I thought I could guess. “Emmy?” I asked excitedly but she shook her head, waving a finger at me.
“He says his name is Mr. Dada Ariyo” She dropped the bombshell and I squinted as I looked into my mum’s face.
“Mum, what is all this?”
“If Mohammed will not go to the mountain, the mountain will carry itself and go to Mohammed please” She said and I shook my head as tears rushed to my eyes again.
“Mum, you have been determined to sacrifice my life on the altar of ego, religion and pride, right?” I asked with tears.
“I hope you are not leaving the room to see the guy though” Mola asked, arms akimbo. “The guy is fine and tall and he smells nice but I don’t like him. The aura around him stinks” She added.
“I know you are the one! You are the one entering her head and coming out! You won’t bring a man home because of course you lack the character! But the one that I ready for something, you will not allow her…” She continued, fuming with anger
“Continue mummy! Sing on!” Mola clapped, a shrewd smile on her face.
“Leave my daughter alone and stop making choices for her!”
“Mum, she is not making choices for me! The Lord made the choice for me but you are intentionally throwing the Lord’s choice into the bin for your own choice!”
“I have the Holy Spirit in me, so whatever choice you say I make for you is Spirit-controlled” She said and started searching through my wardrobe.
“They are already searching for what you will wear o, Mo. And you that like fine boys now. I hope your mum won’t succeed in making you fall for this guy o”
“The Lord of Hosts rebukes you in the Mighty Name of Jesus!” Mum screamed into her face.
“And you too mother” She replied as mum started chasing her out of the room again. Mola seemed to be enjoying the whole thing but mum looked so frustrated.
“Wear this gown quickly my dear. Your hair is well brushed, I just need to help you using edge control to hold this place and this place down. Do you still have enough perf?” Mum started asking as she surveyed me from head to toes.
“I am not leaving this room, mum!”
“You lie! You will leave this room for the sitting room because you have a visitor waiting for you!”
“Mum!”
“Daughter!” She exclaimed back at me as she started forcing the gown down my body. I felt very hot from my inside.
God, have mercy!
“Follow her” I heard the Spirit tell me.
“Sir?”
“Follow her” I heard again and I sighed. I reluctantly allowed her do whatever she was going to do on my body as a song formed on my lips.
Shepherd of my soul
I give You full control
Wherever You may lead
I will follow
I have made the choice
To listen for Your Voice
Wherever You may lead
I will go
As I sang, tears rolled down my face and as it did, mum mopped it for me.
“You will be fine! You will love him” She said and I nodded.
“Continue mum! Continue!” I said with a finality as she eventually pushed me out of the room.
Straightening up as I walked into the sitting room, I looked round and couldn’t find him. When I did, he was seated in front of my piano, playing a tune.
I sat down and as soon as I did, he changed the tune and started playing ‘Shepherd of my soul’- the exact song I was singing in my room!
What a tricky coincidence!
“My baby was singing that song in her room just now!” Mum said, clapping her hands as she entered the sitting room.
“Oh really! Thank You Holy Spirit.” He said and stood up. “I didn’t even notice that Angel has entered the room. Oh, my angel, good evening” She said and bowed slightly.
Angel?
It sounded so ‘salty’ in his mouth! Like when something is over salted and poisonous to one’s health.
“Hello” Was all I could say.
He settled down and wouldn’t stop looking into my face.
“Mum, I must confess that the Lord loves you ma” He said and mummy started laughing.
“Why?”
“See the beauty He gave to you, mummy. He made sure you transferred it to your beautiful daughter. See her glowing like a well-done oil painting” He said and I cringed at that.
That sounded somehow obscene in my ears but my mum laughed, so I smiled uneasily too.
“I think I should leave now so you people can have your time” Mum said and soon, she was on her way.
“Mopelola, I must say that you are fully endowed! You are indeed complete in beautiful riches as your name implies” She said and I smiled absurdly.
“To God be the Glory” I said through my teeth.
“I am blessed” He said and I shot him a quick, dangerous look.
“What do you want here?” I asked, somewhat harshly.
“Let’s pray before we start talking” He said and before I could answer, he was on his feet, singing loudly, his hands raised to the sky and soon, he was speaking in tongues.
“For this wonderful beauty that You have given me, I worship You Lord! What else do I need in a woman? Lord, this is my satisfaction! Where else do I have to go to find a virtuous woman, here is my final bus stop Daddy! I adore You! I praise You! In the Name of Jesus” He continued and as he did, I kept shaking my head.
There was something off in the whole conversation!
He looked and sounded like a dangerous person to me. I didn’t want to believe that but anytime I looked at him, I felt a strange kind of fear enveloping my heart.
“Mopelola” He said when he was eventually seated. I followed his eyes and realized they settled on my breasts, his tongue, massaging his lower lip slowly. I froze.
What do I do Holy Spirit?
What do I do?
I picked up a hand fan from a stack of books and placed it in my front so as to distract him. He looked up into my eyes then, smiling shrewdly.
“I am so sorry that my eyes strayed.” He smiled. “I am a man and there is no way you will be before a beauty like this and you won’t be shaken!” He said and I nodded.
“How can I help you, Mr. Dada?”
“I want to marry you.” He said and I chuckled.
Such a disrespect!
“You want to marry me? Just like that?” I asked, obviously irritated. He laughed loudly.
“I know you need all these fairy tale proposals and I will give you but at least, let us fulfil all the righteousness of the church first. You know what I mean?” He asked and winked at me. My heart skipped a beat and the next and the next, till I choked.
“I cannot marry you Bro Dada.”
“Because you love a guy that can’t fight for you? That can’t suffer for you? A chicken kind of man?”
“My mum told you that?”
“Sure!” He said and paused. “And I must tell you that these kinds of men do not fit you! You deserve better! Someone like me, Engr. Dada Ariyo!” He said and I shook my head.
“Do you even know Jesus? Since we have been talking, you have been speaking and speaking and boasting!” I said and he gave a loud laugh again.
“If you want us to go spiritual, the foundation of your house is not strong enough to hold it, my sister. I decided to start this way so it won’t be that I am boasting of my spiritual prowess. But are you looking for a man that will protect you spiritually, here he comes” He said and I shook my head.
If Emmy was the one saying all these, I would be tumbling and rolling in laughter but the more the guy spoke, the more irritated I felt. He seemed to me like a talkative, loose, uncultured, lustful and worldly guy!
“So, what gist do you have for me today?”
“I have no gist for you today, nor will I have one tomorrow or next, so stop coming around?” I said and he squinted calmly and looked deep into my eyes.
“Why are you this harsh? Why are you different from what your mum has said about you?” He asked, his eyes suddenly turning red- dangerously red.
“I don’t know o. If it is my mum you want to marry, go on! Is it any of my busi…”
“Is it because of the Emmy guy that you are like this? What is the assurance that you will get him? I am in this case already and no one….” He moved closer to me, breathing heavily. “No one can take away from my claws, what I have laid my hands on” He said scarily and sat back in a chair, smiling like he was not the one that had just threatened me.
“Claws? Is that a threat?” I asked, shaking from the inside.
“Threat? Never! I can’t threaten you o. Who am I? I am just telling you what the Lord has placed in my heart.” He said and I smiled.
“My brother, thanks for coming but let me tell you something so you get it clear. I am not led to you! I don’t know what my mum has told you or whatever but should I tell you? I am not and cannot be interested in you” I said, looking into his strange eyes. He rubbed his forehead and nodded severally, smiling mischievously.
Mola entered then and started clapping.
“For the first time ever, my sister is making sense! Ah, Father I am grateful o” She said as she moved closer to him.
“I am a police! I saw you clearly threatening this lady seated here” She said, pulled a stool and sat directly in front of him. “We all have the freedom of choice. Forget it if her mum has said whatever about her to you, that is her own. She is over 28years and she knows what she wants. Leave her alone!”
“Who are you?” He asked, raising his nose at her. Mola started laughing.
“See your comportment sef! How can you raise your nose angrily like that at your supposed sister in law? Ah! You are just not it! You are not it at all”
“Who are you, I ask?” He shook in red anger and I had to stand up.
“Dada Ariyo, thanks for coming. You can leave now” I said when I realized that he was looking dangerously at my sister.
“Dada Ariyo?” He asked as he faced me. “You dare call me Dada Ariyo?”
“Sorry o, is that not your name?” Mola asked and he gasped, obviously very annoyed.
“When I introduced myself to you, this god-forsaken lady was not here with us, so….”
“You are so rude. You need to go now please” I said hurriedly. I knew how dangerous my sister could be too. She had a gun and anything might happen.
“I will go! I see you lack respect! You to me? Dada Ariyo?” He asked again and I was transfixed.
Is that not his name?
Am I not pronouncing it well?
“Leave now!” Mola ordered, opening the door for him.
“I will leave, of course!” He said, standing up. He turned to look at me. “But tell your mother that she made a mistake making me step into this house because when I have set my eyes on a thing to have it, I must have it!’ He said, laughed mischievously and moved out through the door.
“Get out! You lie! You cannot get this one, lailai!” My sister shouted at him and he suddenly turned back to face her.
“The way the Lord will deal with you ehn, you will understand why it is dangerous to put one’s mouth in someone else’s business!”
“I don’t know the wicked God you and Mo’s mum have been talking about in the recent times. The God that I know, that Mo and Emmy serve will not just do something unworthily! Carry your wicked god away from here, omen of evil!” She said and banged the door after him.
Just as soon as the gate was jammed, mummy looked downstairs almost immediately, her face looking milky, making it obvious that she had been in the bathroom all these while.
“Where is your visitor?” She asked
“He just left” Mola replied.
“Left? Why? He didn’t even bid me goodbye?”
“No, he couldn’t wait to do that. Just like Emmy couldn’t wait to say goodbye to Mo, this one you brought was not able to say goodbye to you too”
“Whaaat!” Mum’s eyes widened. “You people chased him away? Mo, you allowed Mola to influence you that you…”
“That guy is a negative influence mum. You wouldn’t believe that he kept looking down at my breasts and licking his lips as if….”
“Shut up!” Mum screamed and all of a sudden threw one of her slippers down. As it travelled down, aiming at me, Mola pulled me and we dodged it. “Why won’t you see his eyes travelling down when you don’t like him? Why won’t…”
“He has left sha o. And we are not marrying him” Mola said again and mum threw another slippers at her. Mola started laughing and dancing.
“Throw more! Throw the whole shoe rack down at me!” She laughed on.
“You are the one! It is you! If not because my mouth is anointed ehn, I would have placed a large curse on you. You are….” Mum said on, looking all frustrated and marching down the stairs.
Mola gave me a knowing look, picked up my hand again and pulled me. We started running as far as our legs could carry us into our room with mummy throwing throw pillows, shoes and any object she could find at us.
Mola jammed the door as we entered. We breathed so heavily and gave each other a ‘high five’. Mola laughed noisily as she turned the door lock twice.
Mummy started banging the door as if she would bring down the whole house.
“You children will regret this. You don’t do this to visitors. That is very rude.”
“Why did you do that to our own visitor then?” Mola asked and she banged the door again.
“I am not talking to you Mola! You are obviously not my child! I don’t know where I got you from! Mo, won’t you say anything?”
“Mola is wrong!” I said and Mola looked into my face questionably.
“You see! You are wrong Mola! Who are you to….”
“She is wrong because she said you sent our visitor away! You didn’t! you sent our visitors, plural, visitors, away mummy! Till date, you have never mentioned to me that Pastor Mensah came here, have you? The gift he asked you to give to me too, you haven’t given me. Why are you being this vicious mum?” I paused to swallow. “And on meeting the almighty Bro. Dada that you have been talking about, I just discovered he doesn’t even deserve the ‘Bro’ appellation! Whaaaat!”
“Mo!”
“Mum, please wake up!” I banged at the door as if to say how loudly I did it would determine how fast she would wake.
“Mo!”
“My sister ‘yaff wake up’ oooo” Mola started dancing and I shook my head because I really didn’t need her to add more petrol. I wanted mummy to really wake up and see things for herself.
I was seeing an entirely new mum! A mum that was very different from the one that I had had before the issue of marriage came up!
“I love you mum, but please wake up for me! For me Mo! I need you to wake up so you wouldn’t endanger our lives and family! Mummy, please” I cried heavily, falling down to the ground and weeping profusely.
“Mo!” She exclaimed again, but weakly. I wept on as I sat on the ground not knowing what to do. Not knowing with which strength, I had shouted at that moment.
Lord, help me!
Father, protect our home!
Savior, have mercy!