"I'm so sorry, I will have to leave you for sometime, two weeks I guess." He said as he held Elizabeth hand while both were in his room. Elizabeth became sad, listening to these words from James, James could see it. "Just two weeks, Elizabeth. I won't stay longer than that."
"Where are you going?" She asked, tears almost filling her eyes. "I will follow you, please."
"Elizabeth, you can't." He said as he pulled her closer to himself, hugging her tightly. "I won't stay long, Sweetheart. I want to go to Nigeria to see my mom because I know how worried she would have been ever since I lost contact with her."
"Let me keep your company please." She begged.
"Elizabeth please! Stop this. I won't stay long, I promised you. Don't get emotional, you are not the only one that will miss your lover, I know how much I will miss your as well. Please, let me go alone."
"Okay." She nodded in sorrow, tears covering her eyes.
"Don't cry please. I always get hurt when I see you like this." He kissed her forehead and hugged her tightly.
Elizabeth kept her company to the airport the second day. Since it wasn't time for departure, they say down together, discussing.
"Did you have a girlfriend before you left Nigeria?" Elizabeth asked, playing with James's fingers.
"Why did you ask?" James asked looking into eyes with a smile. "Don't tell me you are jealous, Lisa."
"Just answer my question." She smiled and faced the table shyly.
"I had." He said frankly. Elizabeth was shocked and looked at him in the eye immediately, she wasn't sure she heard him clearly. "But, I'm so sure she would have been married by now." Elizabeth was relieved.
"Did you break up with her?" She asked curiously.
"No, Lizzy." He affirmed. "But would she continue waiting for my arrival for years? Distance kills relationship, Lizzy. She would have gone away with someone else."
"What if she is still waiting for your arrival?"
"She can't, Lizzy." He said sadly. "I lost contact with her even before I left Nigeria."
"How did it happen?"
"You are being too inquisitive, Lizzy." He smiled. "Why are you asking these questions?"
"I just wanna know na." She smiled, looking at the table shyly.
"It's a long story, Sweetie." He said, caressing her hand. "It will take time if I decide to tell you now. Don't worry, I will take my time to tell you everything when I'm back from Nigeria."
"Promise?"
"Promise." He said just before a woman on the speaker announced that it was time for departure. He kissed her deeply and then bid her goodbye before boarding the plane. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she waved her hand.
James soon found his seat, 18c as he entered the plane. There, he was lucky to sit beside a Nigerian girl. He was sure she would be a Yoruba girl, her beauty couldn't be described in words. She was to beautiful to be ignored.
"Hello, Miss." He said reaching his hand forward for an handshake. "English is a very funny language, the ones we are not supposed to miss are called miss. My name is James, can I meet you?"
"Hi! I'm Maryam." She said, accepting his handshake.
"Oh! She is a Muslim." He said to himself. "Well, that does not stop me from wooing her.
"You are a Muslim?" He decided to confirm from her.
"Yes, I am. What of You?" She asked.
"Hmm, sadly, I'm a Christian." He said, pretending to be depressed.
"Why did you include the word; sadly? Are you sad that you are a Christian?"
"No, I'm not. I'm proud to be a Christian. But I'm sad because I will lose the chance of marrying this pretty lady beside me due to the difference in our religious beliefs."
"🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣." She laughed. "You are too funny. If at all I'm a Christian, will you just decided to marry the girl you meet today. You don't even know anything about me, You don't know where I come from, and infact I don't know anything about you as well."
"It's a gradual process, my dear. Once I decide to marry you, I will agree to meeting all your family members today and in one or two weeks time, our marriage will be fixed."
"As soon as that? We're you looking for a spouse before this time?"
"No, I must tell you I've made a promise to myself that I will never marry anyone but I had to break that promise, seeing this beautiful face beside me.
"Wow, I'm blushing." She smiled. "But you don't expect me to just accept you into my life just like that. I need sometime to think about it."
"What is there to think about, my dear. What matters in a relationship is the love a man has for the woman. I'm in love with you, that is enough. Do you still have to think about it?"
"And, are expecting me to just jump into a conclusion? There are some factors you also supposed to have considered before proposing a marriage to a girl. The first and foremost is the relationship status of the girl. What if I already have a boyfriend? You should have think about that before asking me to marry you."
"Do you actually have a boyfriend?" He asked immediately.
"Not a boyfriend, man. But a fiancee. I'm already engaged." She said, showing James her ring. "Marrying a Christian is not a big deal, in as much as he loves me, but you don't expect me to break up with my fiance because I found someone else who loved me at first sight."
"Wow!" James said to himself. He was only thinking about having s£x with her and dumping her afterwards. Marrying her wouldn't be possible as Janet was still available. How would he tell Maryam that he only wanted s£x from her? That's not possible. He could only lie to her that he wanted to marry her and grab the opportunity, but that was no longer possible as the girl already had her fiance.
"I must confess I also fell in love with you, but I already have my fiance. I'm so sorry." Maryam said, waking James up from his deep thought.
"I should be sorry instead. Forgive me." James said. "We should change the topic then.
"But, did you actually promise yourself that you will marry no one?"
"Of course, I did." He replied with a smile. "I will have to go back to my decision since marrying you is no longer possible."
"You have to think twice, my dear." She said, looking at James in the eyes. "There is nothing to gain in staying al one for a lifetime. You need a companion."
James fell in love with her immediately and felt like having a taste of her pink sweet lips. He now realised how much beautiful she was as their eyes came in contact with each other. He continued stairing at lips.
They became more intimate throughout their journey to Nigeria. But James had no opportunity to kiss her not to talk of having sex with her, he managed to collect her phone number. They bid each other goodbye when they arrived The Muritala Airpot, Lagos. Each of them were going in a different direction. James was going to Ibadan while Maryam lived in Lagos.
Even, after parting with her, he couldn't stop thinking about her.