"Ehm" Deji said, clearing his throat, "is there a problem?" he asked, looking frightened.
"There seems to be one" one of the police officers replied, "Your neighbours have complained about the noise coming from this unit, apparently, it's disrupting the peace in the building and causing distress to your neighbours. May we kindly ask that you keep it down?" the police officer said, "sure, def- definitely" Deji stammered, "we're sorry for the disturbance" he added, still visibly shaken. He had thought that the police were coming to arrest him for a bigger crime and was relieved to find that he was safe.
***
Meanwhile, back in Nigeria, Sugar had gone ahead to submit her application for permanent residence to Canada without including Michael in her application since he was not interested in moving their relationship to the next level. She had convinced him that she would file for him to join her after she was settled in Canada. She had gone ahead to start preparing for life in Canada, she had researched about different provinces in Canada, cost of living and career prospects in each. She had found that the IT sector was a booming one with career opportunities and had started taking courses to qualify her to work in that field in Canada.
She had also made plans to continue her hair business on the side while she worked. She had drawn up a 5 year plan and made up her mind to be a house owner by her second year in Canada. "At least when Michael sees that I have a great job and a house for us to stay in, he shouldn't be scared of commitment because we will have everything we need" she thought to herself.
Her phone began ringing and it was Michael calling, "talk of the devil" she said smiling to herself.
"Hey babe what's up?" She said picking up her phone, "are we still up for tonight?" She asked, "uhm about that" Michael began, "my boss has something she wants me to finish up for her and submit first thing tomorrow morning. It's for one of our big clients, we can't afford to mess it up" he explained.
"But you promised not to disappoint this time" Sugar replied, sounding disappointed, "I know baby, I didn't plan to, it's the nature of my job. These things happen" he said. "You know what? I'll make it up to you" he said, "let's reschedule for the same time tomorrow, we'll do a movie and dinner afterwards at your favourite restaurant. How does that sound?" He asked, "you do this all the time" Sugar grumbled, "I'll give you a massage after dinner" Michael added, "Ok then" sugar grudgingly agreed. They spoke for a few minutes more before they finally hung up.
Few minutes later, her friend Joycelyn called. "Hey Babe, how far?" She said, sounding all bubbly, "I'm good" Sugar responded, sounding downcast. "What's wrong?" She asked, noticing the tone of Sugar's voice, "it's nothing really" Sugar responded, "nothing really and you're sounding like someone died?" Joycelyn asked, "it's your useless boyfriend again, isn't it?" Joycelyn added, figuring out that Michael must be behind her low mood as usual.
Michael had been cancelling a lot of their dates lately, he was either too busy with work or would always forget that they had made plans and not show up. Joycelyn didn't like him because she felt he was just a big waste of time, she had tried to convince Sugar to break up with him many times but Sugar felt she had invested too much in the relationship to back down.
"He's not useless, I've told you to stop calling him that" Sugar snapped, "ok if you say so" Joycelyn responded, "so what did he do this time?" She asked, "he's cancelling on me again" Sugar responded.
"Is that why you're crying? You should be used to that by now" Joycelyn said, hissing. "Anyways, please let's talk about more important things, my colleague at work is planning a surprise birthday party for her housemate tonight , she has permitted me to bring a plus one if I want so I was wondering if you were up for a little party tonight" Joycelyn added excitedly,
"I don't really feel like going" Sugar responded, "hehehe you must be joking" Joycelyn responded, "I wasn't asking you. Maybe I should rephrase my sentence. I will be coming to pick you up tonight as my plus one, be ready by 8pm" she said hanging up. Sugar knew there was no point arguing because she wouldn't win, she made up her mind to have fun that night.
By half past 8pm they had arrived at the venue of the surprise party, the party was at a restaurant on the island, most of the guests were already arrived, the celebrant was scheduled to arrive at 9pm. Joycelyn picked an empty table at the back of the restaurant to sit , the waiter came by to offer them some welcome drinks from his tray, would you like a milkshake or a cocktail?" He asked, "I'll have a milkshake please" Joycelyn responded, "and one for my friend" she added, "Oh no! Please no milkshakes for me, I'm lactose intolerant" Sugar responded, "I'd have a cocktail instead."
Lactose intolerance is when a person is unable to fully digest lactose, a sugar found in milk. As a result of this, they start to experience diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting, feel bloated or start to fart a lot when they eat or drink milk or anything that contains milk. It happens because their body does not produce enough of the enzyme called lactase which is responsible for digesting milk. The condition is usually harmless but just comes with uncomfortable symptoms. It can be controlled by reducing the amount of milk and dairy foods(foods containing milk) consumed or avoiding them entirely.
All the guests had now arrived and were having drinks and chatting away when the organiser announced that the celebrant had arrived. Everyone kept quiet and stood up, waiting patiently for the celebrant to enter so they could shout 'happy birthday.'
Finally, the celebrant walked in looking elegant. She was dressed in a grey sequin bodycon dinner dress which she paired with silver shoes, she was indeed beautiful.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY" everyone shouted as confetti was sprayed into the air and the saxophonist started playing the tune to the birthday song.
"Oh my gosh" she screamed, stepping back in shock as she realised what was going on. She wanted to run back out but someone coming behind stopped her and brought her back in. Then two ladies held up a banner that read 'will you marry me?'and the man that had stopped her from running back dropped down on one knee, holding a ring box open.
All the while Sugar had not been paying too much attention, she got a message from a client that distracted her and she had been attending to the client only to look up and realise what was going on.
"This guy looks very familiar" Joycelyn said pointing to the man proposing to the celebrant,"Is that not Michael?" She asked, looking confused, "Who?" Sugar asked, standing on her tiptoes to get a better view, "oh my gosh" she exclaimed, her heart was beating faster, her feet were beginning to tremble, "it's him" she said as tears began to roll down her eyes, "it's him."