Cheta was not like every other man I had met; he was a mix of wealthy and regular (you might not understand). From the little he told me about himself, he had spent more than half of his life in America and had just moved back to Nigeria after he lost his dad, his mother had made me move back to take over the family company, being the first and only son. Cheta had only been in Lagos for 7 months. From what he had told me, he said he had been in a committed relationship with a black American girl and when his mum had told him to move back after his father's funeral, she had refused to come back with him and broke things up with him, saying it wasn't part of their plan, this was few weeks before he had planned to ask her to marry him.
So, when he told me he wanted to marry me after 2 days of meeting me, it sounded unreal to me but a part of me knew he meant it which also scared me. I liked Cheta but I wasn't going to get married to a man I barely knew, I wanted us to be friends first before we started dating and see where that lead us (I know you think I'm being difficult but I'm just being careful) For the next 2 weeks, Cheta and I spent almost every day together (I can be clingy sometimes, so I liked that we were almost always together) Cheta would pick me up and we would go out to get dinner or we would go to his house to spend the day working together(the days he worked from home) or just watch a movie. Cheta was growing on me, and I never looked forward to going back home. One Friday afternoon, Cheta called me which was a normal thing now, I took the call.
"Hey, beautiful."
"Hello, Cheta."
"How are you? Have you had lunch yet or are you still fasting?"
I laugh. "I'm not hungry."
'I have told you that you look very beautiful just the way you are. You don't have to starve yourself just because you want to be skinny'
'I know but I'm not hungry.'
'Well, I sent something over to you.'
'You did?'
'Yes, I sent you lunch, you haven't gotten it?'
'Why did you send lunch?'
'Because I guessed you hadn't eaten yet, I have to call them to know what the delay is about.'
'Thank you.'
'You are welcome, babe, meanwhile, I have a surprise for you this evening, I want you dolled up.'
'Dolled up? Where are we going to?'
'It's a surprise.'
'You and your surprises'
'You will like this one, I promise'
'Okay, what time will you be at my house?'
'I'll pick you up at 7.00 pm.'
'Okay, I'll be waiting for you.'
'Okay, take care.'
'Bye'
The call disconnected.
As usual, my mind started thinking about the many reasons why Cheta would want me to get 'dolled up', he had never asked me to do that, I didn't know what to think but I got dressed anyway.
At 6.58 pm, Cheta called to say he was at my estate, so I called the gate to let him in. I went downstairs to meet my handsome Stranger, who was dressed up to the teeth, not the usual casual outfit, when Cheta saw me, for a few seconds he was speechless.
Then when he got himself, he said, "My goodness, you look so beautiful. What have you done to my Dinma?"
"Thank you. You look very handsome.", I smiled and said.
I got in the car and we drove out of the estate, while we were on our way, we talked about our day(something I always looked forward to with Cheta) We got to Circa and after he parked the car, he came over, and opened the door, held my hand and we walked into the restaurant together. We got our seats and the waiter took our orders.
Cheta turned to me and said again, "You look so beautiful".
"Thank you Cheta", I said. Now he was making me very shy.
While we were still talking, the waiter walked back to our table carrying a covered plate, he put it down in front, then Cheta told me to open it up.
"I want to wait for you to get your meal first", I said.
He shook his head and insisted, "No, open it up first".
I took the bowl covering the plate off and right there on an empty plate was the inscription, 'Dinma, please be my girlfriend'. I was shocked (I think I had butterflies in my tummy at that moment). I looked up at him, smiling and there was my beautiful man smiling back at me, still
smiling.
I nodded my head and said, "Yes, I'll be your girlfriend". Cheta got up and helped me up, and gave me a tight hug, whispering in my ears, "Thank you", and in my head, I was screaming, 'No, thank you!!'. We had dinner and Cheta took me back home. Throughout dinner and our drive back home, Cheta was so chatty, and I knew he was happy, that was Cheta I liked.
When we got to the estate, Cheta got down and opened the door for me.
"You know I won't get tired of getting the door for my girlfriend"
"You are such a hopeless romantic", I smiles and said.
He laughed.
"It's that a bad thing?", he asked me.
I shook my head, still smiling, then he said, "Baby, I want you to go to Ikoyi with me tomorrow morning", he said.
Did he just call me babe? And as if he could read my mind.
"Trust me, I have wanted to call you that from our first date but I wanted things to be official first because I know you like doing things the right way", he said.
"I think you called me that once or twice but that's fine. Where are we going to tomorrow and please don't say it's a surprise?", I asked him.
"No, there are no surprises tomorrow, we are going to see my mum, she wants to meet you.", he said
I was shocked to hear that.
"Don't you think that's too fast? I don't know if I'm ready to meet your mum", I said
Cheta took my hand and said, "You don't have to worry, my mum is very cool and she is eager to meet you."
I nodded my head slowly, listening to him.
He continued, "I promise you, baby, it will be fine", I smiled at him and then he added, "I'll pick you up for breakfast at 8.00 am".
"Okay, I'll be ready", I said.
I went upstairs and Cheta drove back home after kissing me goodnight. I lay in my bed that night and was lost in my thoughts (I'm sure by now you know that the best time for me to think is right before I go to bed) What was I going to do when I saw Cheta's mum? Will she like me? What would I wear? Do I need to buy something or just show up empty-handed? Why was Cheta doing this now? We started dating a few hours ago even though we had been friends for weeks now. Should I make up an excuse and not go with him? Or should I just go, I mean what's the worst that would happen? But am I ready for the worst?
The next morning, Cheta was at my estate at 8.00 am, he picked me up and we went to have breakfast, I kept wishing Cheta would change his mind about going to see his mum or something would come up but none of that happened, at about 11.00 am, we drove into Cheta's family house, I think he noticed I was nervous because he took my hand right before we got down from the car.
"Baby, it will be fine, I promise", he said.
I nodded my head.
We got out of the car and we walked to the biggest duplex I had seen in my life. The doorman opened the door and we walked in, the living room was so big, it reminded me of the King's palace in a movie I had watched (maybe I'm exaggerating), I almost lost myself looking around the living room, the interior was so beautiful, from the couch to the curtains, to the chandelier even as little as the rug on the floor, everything was beautiful, then I turned and saw Cheta looking at me and smiling, he was still holding my hand, he led me to one of the couches and I sat down. Cheta made a call and left the living room after telling me, he will be back, and a few minutes later, the butler walked in and asked me what I wanted to eat or drink.
"Water is just fine", I told him.
He nodded and asked me, "Cold or room temperature?".
"Chilled will be just fine," I said.
He nodded again and walked out of the living room, he came back 3 minutes later with a bottle of chilled water and a cup, I thanked him and he left.
30 minutes later, Cheta walked in with his mother, a very beautiful woman, I was pressing my phone when they walked in, it wasn't until heard Cheta's voice that I raised my head, "Mom, this is my girlfriend, Chimdinma".
I raised my head from the phone when I heard Cheta's voice and when I saw her, I froze.