Valentine’s day has given me so many kind of memories, but there is one that i don’t think I will ever forget, maybe I will forget later, I dunno but I don't think I would because of how it happened.
So back then, I had the biggest crush on this guy named Prince, and see when I say biggest, I mean the kind of crush that makes you suddenly care about how you walk past someone, he was my friend Promise’s older brother, I mean he was really older by far, but he was mature, calm and aways minding his business, which was somehow what made it worse for me, I guess.
Then , I was a very shy girl , I was the kind of girl that would rather admire from a distance than risk any form of embarrassment, so I never pursued anything, i just liked him quietly, then If he walked into the room, I would suddenly become very interested in my novel, and If he greeted me, I would answer like someone who forgot how to form full sentences.
“Good afternoon,” he would just say casually.
“ Good af… afternoon,” I would reply, me already wishing that the ground would open.
Now fast forward to when I finished high school, that period where you feel grown but not really grown, that period started going to Promise’s house more often, we didn't have anything doing, we would just sit in her room and talk about life after highschool.
“What are we even going to do with our lives now?” Promise would ask in her dramatic kind of way.... That girl is always a drama queen sometimes.
“ Me, I don’t know, I have never really sat to think about it, maybe business? maybe school?” I would say.
But then if I wanted to be honest, part of the reason I was going there frequently was not just because I liked brainstorming, lol.. nah , It was because of Prince, I always knew he would be around sometimes,even that alone was enough motivation to walk all the way from my house down to her side.
Then that period Valentine’s day started approaching.
Everywhere was just red,Flowers, Hearts, love songs playing in different shops, and for some reason, that morning I woke up one morning and said to myself, What if I just… try... Omoo... I was tired of liking someone in the dark, I wanted to do something bold for once in my life.
So it was when I decided I was going to get him a Valentine’s gift, ooo my world.hehe.
Even as I am typing this now, it is making me laugh.
So I went out and carefully picked some things, a nice frame, a gift card, some scented oil perfumes, I remember standing in the store staring at the perfumes and thinking, ooooo Is this too much? Is this too small? will he even like this?
But I still bought them anyway.
Like an excited child I left with my purchase.
On Valentine’s day, my heart was beating like someone that was about to write an exam, I carried myself and I went to Promise’s house as usual, trying to act normal.
“Why are you dressed like this?” Promise teased when she saw me.
“Like what?” I asked, pretending not to know what she was talking about.
“Like you are going somewhere na.”
“I just feek like dressing nice na, see it's valentine's day, you, you are at home , me I walked down here, so it only normal I look nice on a festive day,” I said quickly.
The gift was inside my bag, and I could literally feel its presence, every time Prince walked past the sitting room, my chest would just tighten, but I kept telling myself, If you don’t do it today, you will never do it.
And finally, I saw my chance, he was alone in the corridor, sorting out some things he had put out to dry, and there no one was really looking.
And this was it....
I walked up to him, trying to steady my breathing.
“Prince,” I called him softly.
He turned. “Yeah?”
I stretched out the small gift bag toward him, “ a
Ehmm...Here’s a gift for you.”
For a second, he just looked at me, surprised, then he laughed, that deep laugh of his that used to make my stomach do back flip.
“Ahn Ahn...this for me?” he asked.
I nodded, suddenly unable to find my voice.
“Woooooow,” he said, still smiling, “Thank you.”
And just like that, all my boldness disappeared, It just evaporated into thin air, omoo let me not lie, I felt like running away, infact, I wanted to run.
Maybe he then noticed how nervous I suddenly became because he quickly collected the gift from my hand.
“Thank you, I really appreciate this,” he said again.
Then he gave me a small side hug, It was quick, almost careful, almost like he was scared to touch me properly, and that made it even more awkward and sweet at the same time.
“Happy Valentine’s Day,” he added.
“Happy Valentine’s Day,” I managed to reply.
And that was it.
We never pursued anything after that, no love story, no secret relationship, nothing dramatic happened, life just continued normally, I remained Promise’s friend, he remained her older brother.
But that day stayed with me.
I was happy because I had finally done something brave, i stepped out of my comfort zone, I did not just sit back and admire from a distance, I acted.
At the same time, there was a small sadness, the kind that comes when a story ends before it even begins.
Still, whenever I think about Valentine’s day, that memory comes back to me, the nervous walk, the stretched-out gift bag, his deep laugh, the careful side hug.
It did not turn into love.
But it turned into a moment.
And for my shy teenage self, that was more than enough.
Image Is AI Generated
