She noticed my absent mindedness, and tried engaging me in a convo.
She; (smiling) so tell me, what type of job do you do ?, I’m sure your boss must be a very understanding man…
Me: Well, I’m a business development executive. My company is affiliated to a university based in the United Kingdom, Edinburgh to be precise..
She; (looking delighted) oh that’s nice!.
She, still wanting to pop in another question…
Me: Erm, jasmine, pls could u give me a sec?.. I need to get to the gents, I’m pressed.
She: Ok Chris..
The truth was I never felt pressed, I was at ease.. To use the toilet was the least of my troubles at that point in time. I took that excuse from her presence to clear my head and to quickly figure out an escape plan.
Firstly, I needed to act Smart. You see, although I had feelings for this girl, the last thing I wanted to do was ruin the way she felt about me. I never wanted her to remember me as the guy who made her scrub the ground and wash dishes due to his inability to pay for a dinner date he invited her for. I tapped my pockets to see if my phones where intact, so as not to leave anything behind as I was close to pulling off a James Bond from a Mission Impossible. Tapping my pocket, I discovered it was only my torchlight phone that was there, apparently I forgot my Microsoft (main phone) on the table. This discovery totally destabilized my escape plan..
“My God!, now what next”?….Time was ticking fast.. I was left with about 8mins, to find a solution to the mess I was in, or to be braced up to experience the most embarrassing & regrettable day of my life. I spent about 2mins with an obscene façade, and sought deep for a solution. Like Jimmy Neutron, I constantly repeated the words; ‘think, think THINK!. I constantly meditated upon those words hoping to get a solution.
Jasmine must be worried about my absence, I thought. I finally left the rest room back to the table with a look that depicted defeat.
She; (smiling) so tell me, what type of job do you do ?, I’m sure your boss must be a very understanding man…
Me: Well, I’m a business development executive. My company is affiliated to a university based in the United Kingdom, Edinburgh to be precise..
She; (looking delighted) oh that’s nice!.
She, still wanting to pop in another question…
Me: Erm, jasmine, pls could u give me a sec?.. I need to get to the gents, I’m pressed.
She: Ok Chris..
The truth was I never felt pressed, I was at ease.. To use the toilet was the least of my troubles at that point in time. I took that excuse from her presence to clear my head and to quickly figure out an escape plan.
Firstly, I needed to act Smart. You see, although I had feelings for this girl, the last thing I wanted to do was ruin the way she felt about me. I never wanted her to remember me as the guy who made her scrub the ground and wash dishes due to his inability to pay for a dinner date he invited her for. I tapped my pockets to see if my phones where intact, so as not to leave anything behind as I was close to pulling off a James Bond from a Mission Impossible. Tapping my pocket, I discovered it was only my torchlight phone that was there, apparently I forgot my Microsoft (main phone) on the table. This discovery totally destabilized my escape plan..
“My God!, now what next”?….Time was ticking fast.. I was left with about 8mins, to find a solution to the mess I was in, or to be braced up to experience the most embarrassing & regrettable day of my life. I spent about 2mins with an obscene façade, and sought deep for a solution. Like Jimmy Neutron, I constantly repeated the words; ‘think, think THINK!. I constantly meditated upon those words hoping to get a solution.
Jasmine must be worried about my absence, I thought. I finally left the rest room back to the table with a look that depicted defeat.
She: Oh Chris!, what took you so long?, what hap- (cutting her short, i interrupted);
‘Nothing really, a call came through while I was at the restroom.. (only if she new what really happened, & how God prevented me from doing something quite nasty to her, I thought).
Having taken my seat, I asked her the most puzzling question on my mind;
‘So jasmine, tell me, why did you choose this restaurant? What’s so unique about this place? (truth is that the restaurant was unique, but I only asked her that because I was beginning to think the whole arrangement & venue location was a setup, probably to fall my hand).
She; when I was but a child, my parents brought me here every Sunday for brunch, together with my siblings. I can still remember those times as if it was yesterday, how i and my siblings played around the corridors, and I can still perceive the sprayed aura of the furniture just as it smelled back then.
Me: That’s amazing, (i became really sober, & sorry for putting this damsel in the mess that was fast approaching. She’s got a pure heart, and genuine reason for bringing me here. She came to spend one of her most memorable childhood moments with me..). How lovely.
‘Nothing really, a call came through while I was at the restroom.. (only if she new what really happened, & how God prevented me from doing something quite nasty to her, I thought).
Having taken my seat, I asked her the most puzzling question on my mind;
‘So jasmine, tell me, why did you choose this restaurant? What’s so unique about this place? (truth is that the restaurant was unique, but I only asked her that because I was beginning to think the whole arrangement & venue location was a setup, probably to fall my hand).
She; when I was but a child, my parents brought me here every Sunday for brunch, together with my siblings. I can still remember those times as if it was yesterday, how i and my siblings played around the corridors, and I can still perceive the sprayed aura of the furniture just as it smelled back then.
Me: That’s amazing, (i became really sober, & sorry for putting this damsel in the mess that was fast approaching. She’s got a pure heart, and genuine reason for bringing me here. She came to spend one of her most memorable childhood moments with me..). How lovely.
Her fairy tale-like & captivating response to my question, sparked up an idea in me. An idea I hoped would solve the fix i was in.
You see, everybody has that friend they can reach out to whenever they are in need. Although I have never asked this my friend for money before, I had to suppress my ego and dial his number that evening. After-all, a friend in need is one indeed.
Once again, I asked for an excuse from jasmine, and went out to dial my friend; ‘Nnamdi’. Luckily, he picked at the first ring. The following conversation transpired between us in pidgin;
Me; Nnamdi my guy, how far Na?, how u dey?
Nna; broda, I dey oh.. Where u dey like dis?
Me; Omo I dey Benin oh.. I dey with one babe like that. (he, interrupting my speech, begins to laugh & hail me)
Nna; Heyyyy oga boss!!!! Na u big oh!, so you leave Lagos go all the way to Benin to see woman!!!.. Chai. (laughing hysterically)
Me; LOL !, guy! U no go understand. But guy, no be the reason way make me call u be that oh, see, I need ur help urgently.
Nna; ha! Wetin happen my guy?
Me: Omo, I need money oh… , just like 7k, (not even waiting for him to reply, I chipped in) I will pay you back, first thing tomorrow morning.
Nna; *sigh (hmm), broda, I dey broke like dis oh, my oga never pay us our salary for work sef, I nev—- ( feeling irritated and disappointed, I immediately cut the call on him).
What nonsense!!!, I should have known better, Igbo guys are stingy, I thought. Still furious & ashamed of myself at the outcome of the call, a far more worse feeling came into my mind.. It was a combination of the sense of frustration, defeat, rejection, and disappointment. As I walked back into the restaurant, what did I see??… It was the waitress walking in with the dished meals, the orders were so heavy that it took two waitress to carry it to our table.
At that moment I felt weak, I couldn’t take another step. I wished I had the ability of one of the characters of Penta-ghost, who holds tight his nose and disappears whenever faced with danger. Better still, i wished I could just pull up a harry potter on them and go ; ‘DIAGON-ALLY’, but all were just mere wishes, here was reality staring me right in the face. My body began to shiver, I felt paralyzed!!
You see, everybody has that friend they can reach out to whenever they are in need. Although I have never asked this my friend for money before, I had to suppress my ego and dial his number that evening. After-all, a friend in need is one indeed.
Once again, I asked for an excuse from jasmine, and went out to dial my friend; ‘Nnamdi’. Luckily, he picked at the first ring. The following conversation transpired between us in pidgin;
Me; Nnamdi my guy, how far Na?, how u dey?
Nna; broda, I dey oh.. Where u dey like dis?
Me; Omo I dey Benin oh.. I dey with one babe like that. (he, interrupting my speech, begins to laugh & hail me)
Nna; Heyyyy oga boss!!!! Na u big oh!, so you leave Lagos go all the way to Benin to see woman!!!.. Chai. (laughing hysterically)
Me; LOL !, guy! U no go understand. But guy, no be the reason way make me call u be that oh, see, I need ur help urgently.
Nna; ha! Wetin happen my guy?
Me: Omo, I need money oh… , just like 7k, (not even waiting for him to reply, I chipped in) I will pay you back, first thing tomorrow morning.
Nna; *sigh (hmm), broda, I dey broke like dis oh, my oga never pay us our salary for work sef, I nev—- ( feeling irritated and disappointed, I immediately cut the call on him).
What nonsense!!!, I should have known better, Igbo guys are stingy, I thought. Still furious & ashamed of myself at the outcome of the call, a far more worse feeling came into my mind.. It was a combination of the sense of frustration, defeat, rejection, and disappointment. As I walked back into the restaurant, what did I see??… It was the waitress walking in with the dished meals, the orders were so heavy that it took two waitress to carry it to our table.
At that moment I felt weak, I couldn’t take another step. I wished I had the ability of one of the characters of Penta-ghost, who holds tight his nose and disappears whenever faced with danger. Better still, i wished I could just pull up a harry potter on them and go ; ‘DIAGON-ALLY’, but all were just mere wishes, here was reality staring me right in the face. My body began to shiver, I felt paralyzed!!
