No” i cried,“Yes Mary” he murmured, holding my face with both hands as he stared into my eyes,“You owe me this chance and a whole lot, so let’s giveit another trial at least till i finish my degree exams and if things doesn’t still improve between us, you canthen leave for good” he added seriously, while i swallowed hard with a deeply coloured face.There was fear, uncertainty and disbelief in my eyes as i silently stared back at him. I lost my voice that moment because his decision totally disoriented me, though in all honesty i owed him that benefit.“Seriously, what do i do now?” i wondered helplessly.“Samuel won’t let me go and there stood Emmanuel behind, breathing down my neck with fire and passion. I truly felt very committed to Samuel but my body yearned for Emmanuel, leaving my spirit utterly confused and my soul lost.I really wasn’t a girl who could afford dating two guys at the same time, something i do detest with passion, but i now found myself heading towards that dangerous path.6:30pmI was lying on my bed, reading a christian book on spiritual growth to calm my nerves when my phone rang. I dropped my book and glanced at my phone, it was Emmanuel calling,“Hi i’m in front of your lodge, can you be able to come out?, the gate-man won’t let me in” he asked calmly,“Okay, i’m coming” i replied and hung up.Minutes laterI calmly walked to his car, opened the front passenger’s door, entered and sat beside him.“How far?” he asked hopefully,“Fine sha” i replied calmly,“So how did it go?” he curiously asked, while i breathed deeply.“I confessed to him like i promised, but instead of breaking up or getting angry, he simply forgave me and begged for us to continue with the relationship” i explained,“Holy Moses!” Emmanuel exclaimed, snapping his fingers in disbelief.“I seriously don’t know what to do and you already know the condition i gave you last night” i added calmly.He strongly held my left hand forcing me to stare into his eyes.“I’’m really way too big to be fighting for your love withan undergraduate, but i equally can’t deny what we had last night was very real. For that reason i will fightto the end just to have you, and nothing will stop me either” he murmured seriously, making me gasp.The evening breeze blew on us as we stared at each other silently.How do i redeem myself?How do i untangle myself from this rope?? Or should i hang myself with it?? I wondered deeply.____________I really can’t believe he forgave you” he murmured, breaking the silence between us,“Yea because he loves me a lot” i replied proudly, “i know you won’t if you were in his shoes” i accused. He simply smiled and said nothing.“I have to get going, it’s already getting very late, i shouldn’t be out of my room by this hour” i said and made to leave, but he still held me strongly, preventing me from leaving.“So what happens to us?” he asked curiously,“Emmanuel abeg there is no us, i thought you promised to wait eternity for me nau? Just keep waiting even if it means waiting till next life” i said a bitcoldly. My reply made him loosen his grip. I instantly snatched my hand.“Don’t let your confusion ruin your life” he murmured coldly and looked away. I eyed him silently before trying once again to leave his car.“Mary wait” he commanded calmly. I obeyed and stopped.“I really can’t believe you went back to him after what happened last night between us, so you will continue the relationship with him like nothing happened between us abi?” he asked,“Please don’t insult me” i coldly replied and tried to alight from his car, but he quickly drew forward and grabbed my left hand once again.“What if at the end it didn’t work out between you guys? Can you live with the memory that you had the opportunity to set things right and you didn’t??” he asked, while i kept quiet, thinking over his words.“I know you do love me, i know i still have the treasure i took away from you the very first time we had fun. Your Sam knows that, he equally knows you don’t love him as much as you love me. He equally knows he’s fighting a lost battle, and i think he is habouring something which you are too blind to notice. What will you do if he finally abandons you at a point where there is no turning back?” he asked. I silently shook nervously,“Please Emmanuel stop talking rubbish, you are hurting my feelings” i murmured with quivering lips.“I tell you the truth my dear, for now you may seem like the perfect choice to him because he hasn’t yet explored other possibilities, he is yet to explore the world my dear. Do you think he will ever forget the confession you made to him today?? I tell you, he will never forget nor push it away from his mind. He simply begged you because he had no choice, because he had his dignity to protect. You can doubt me, but i swear you will remember this moment in fewyears coming. I’m a guy and i just told you how we guys reason. Guys groom love, we don’t fall for love, but we can fall for lust. We fight most times just to protect our pride and not because we are in love” he poured out while i coloured and shook immensely. Hiswords were hurting me, but i couldn’t find the strengthto run away, my ears eagerly listened.I have explored the world and returned because i discovered how unique you are, can you swear he willreturn when he graduates and stays away from you for sometime, with the memory of your exploits buried in his head?? He asked.“I can’t lie to you my dear, i know we both love each other, but do forget the silly remark i made about waiting eternity for you. I can only hopefully wait two more weeks for you to think over all i said and decide if to continue with him or start all over with me. That’s all i can say for now my dear, so please don’t hurt our future. He concluded and prayed.I breathed deeply, summoned up my strength, and ranout of his car without even saying good night to him.“I now have only two weeks to make the final decisionand choose between the guy i love and the guy i owe my happiness, which way??” i wondered tearfully as i ran to my room that fateful evening…-To be Continued-
