We got back to the hotel and all through the ride back to the hotel, Cheta didn't stop talking about how lovely my mum was and he couldn't wait for our two mothers to meet each other.
"Baby, I'm telling you, they would love each other", he said
"Love each other?"
"Okay, you know what I mean."
"Do I?"
Cheta made a face and I laughed.
"Fine, I know what you mean but can you please place an order for food first? I am hungry", I said.
"Okay, let's get back to the room first", he said.
We got back to our room and I picked up the phone and placed an order for lunch. I turned back and Cheta was lying down and lost in thought, looking very handsome as usual, I got on top of him and looking into his face, I asked him, "A penny for your thought?"
"I'm just thinking about my future with you"
"Aww!! How sweet. You know I love you because you are so sweet?", I asked him
"I love you too, baby", he kissed me on the lips and asked me, "What's your thought about marriage?"
He had a serious look on his face.
"What do you mean, baby?", I asked him.
"Do you want to get married?"
"Yes, I do want to get married"
"I know you didn't want to talk about this but I want to talk about it"
"Fine baby, let's talk about it", I said.
Then there was a knock on the door. Cheta got up to get the door, it was the driver. He wanted to get money to go and refill the car fuel tank.
"I'll make a transfer to you, you fill the tank and get something for you and the security officer", Cheta told him
"Ah! Oga, thank you", he said
"Yes. You have my phone number, so text your details to me so that I can make the money transfer to you"
"Oga, I go send am. Thank you Sir", he said, sounding very excited. Cheta shut the door and walked back to the bed and sat down.
"Can we talk about this baby?", he asked me.
I sat up, "Yes, we should"
"So, do you want to be married to me?", he asked me
"Baby, I love you so much and I really can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you, but what is going on?", I asked him
"Nothing. I just feel we haven't talked about this before and it's important we know what we are doing",
"Okay, but can we not have this conversation like it's a bad thing? It's supposed to be a good thing, right"
"Yes, you are right"
"So let me ask you a few questions", I said with a smile on my face.
"Okay, I'm listening"
"So how many children do you want to have? I asked him.
"3 maybe. 2 boys and a girl that looks just like you. You?"
"I want 4. 2 boys and 2 girls"
"That's nice.. my turn. Where do you want to be married? In Lagos or the East?", he asked me.
"I want to be married in Lagos but the Traditional Marriage will be in the East"
"Yes, of course, it has to be in the east"
"Okay, it's my turn. Are you ever moving back to the States?", I asked him.
"Why did you ask that? Does that matter?", he asked me
"I didn't say it did, I just want to know what your plan is"
"Okay. Of course, we will go back and forth from the States but I don't know if I'll be moving back permanently anytime soon"
"So we will have our kids in the States?", I asked him.
"Of course, we will. I am an American citizen and all my kids would be too"
"Okay."
Cheta and I talked about everything we wanted in and out of our marriage. I think we talked for another 45 minutes, we had completely forgotten about the food and they didn't bring it up either. I had to call them again because at this time we were very hungry and it was way past lunchtime.
"Good afternoon, I placed an order an hour ago and I still haven't gotten my food... It's room 315... Okay, thank you", I hung up and turned to Cheta.
"What did they say?", he asked me,
"Nothing, they just apologized and said they would be sending it up"
"Okay. Come here, baby".
I got closer to him and he took my hand and pulled me gently to himself. Then a few minutes later, there was a knock on the door, "Room service"
"The food is here", I told him and Cheta got up to get the door. He opened the door and they brought food into the room, he apologized and left the room. Cheta and I had our and got knocked out almost immediately. I woke up to my phone ringing, it was my mum calling to ask if we had eaten anything because she wanted to send food over to the hotel, I told her we had not eaten lunch and we loved the idea of her sending food over, she said she would call to let me know when the food was ready so that the driver could come and pick it up. Cheta was still sleeping while I was on the call with my mum, after the call, I curled up next to him and he held, kissed my forehead and asked me, "Your mum?"
"Yes, she wants to send dinner to us"
"Okay, I'll tell the driver to go and pick it up", he said and slept back. I shut my eyes and tried to sleep back but I couldn't go back to sleep because I was waiting for my Mum's call, so I picked up my phone and scrolled through my phone, looking for something to keep me busy, but I didn't find anything, so I picked up my laptop and tried to work a little and that was when Cheta woke up.
"Why are you not sleeping?", he asked me
"I'm trying to stay awake so I don't miss Mum's call"
"Okay, I'll stay awake and keep you busy then"
"You don't have to, I'll just write to keep busy", I said
"I insist, so close your laptop and come here", he insisted.
I closed my laptop and got into Cheta's arms and we turned on the TV to watch a movie together.
An hour later, my mum called again to tell me that the food was ready and that I should send the driver to come and pick up the food. Cheta called the driver and told him to go over to my house and pick up the food. My mum has always been a very caring woman, it was one of the many things about her that I loved, my mum would treat people that were unkind to her with kindness and it wasn't a shock that she was sending food over to us. Truthfully, I missed my mum's food and couldn't wait to eat her food, whatever it is my mum cooked, it always came out very delicious, I think I got that from my mum. I'm not bragging but I'm a very good cook, everything I cooked was very delicious and that is because my secret ingredient was 'Love'. Okay, I've said enough already, I have even bragged a little but who cares, now let's get back to the story. The driver knocked on the door 20 minutes later and when Cheta got to the door, he brought in the food and kept it on the table. I called the kitchen and asked if they could bring up plates to our room. I walked to the table and opened the bowl and the aroma of my mum's delicious jollof rice filled the room, even Cheta couldn't wait for the plate to come up, he was already eating from the bowl and stealing one of the chickens.
"Baby!", I said, laughing.
"I can't wait for the plates, baby. This is delicious, your mum can cook", he said while he chewed the chicken.
They brought up the plate and then I served some of the rice and chicken and gave it to him. Before we were finished with our lunch, Cheta called my mum to thank her for the food, he couldn't stop talking about how sweet the food was, my mum even promised to send over lunch to him the next day. That just made things worse, because I didn't hear anything else that evening, all he talked about was the soup my mum was going to send to him the next day. We spent the evening downstairs at the poolside and went back to our room when it got late. After our bath, we got into bed and were cuddled up in bed, then Cheta right before he slept off, whispered in my ears, "I'm so blessed that you came into my life...I'm a lucky man", then he shut his eyes and slept off. I smiled because I knew I was the lucky one, Cheta had shown me a different type of love that I had never experienced in my life and I wasn't ready to let go of that.