HOW we SAID “YES” TO MR N (STORY TIME PART 2!)

Some months ago we narrated the story of how we met Mr N. Here is a sequel to that story. This part is about how we agreed to marry him and how he got introduced to our family. Let’s dive in!

In those days our phone was busy. Busy with constant calls from the brother who had first asked us to marry him about three years earlier. We were in two seperate countries but communicated endlessly. We had not said a clear “yes” to him but our love for him had gradually gone pass brotherly love to something deeper than that. We began to envisage a life with him. Maybe we could be a couple. Maybe this could work.

In our “maybe” moment, we had a dream. In the dream, we were set out to marry someone else then suddenly it just didn’t work. Then we quickly reverted to agreeing to marry the brother – in the dream.

In real life, we took this as a sign from God that we should go ahead and agree to marry the brother. Afterall, he had the quality we wanted most in a man: a burning passion for God (and he loved us deeply).

So on one of those days, he sent us one of his usual romantic text messages to which we always replied casually. He ended the text with “we love you”. We replied “we love you too”. That was the moment that changed everything. We had officially agreed to be his.

This was the first thing he typed back:

“Let’s pray and commit our relationship into God’s hands.”

This sealed it for us. We wanted a man who wanted God. We wanted a man who would put God first before anything else.

In the days that followed, we called and texted, called and texted again, then called and texted some more. We discussed our past relationships, our families, our plans and everything in between. We couldn’t wait to see each other.

We finally got to meet. We traveled back to Cameroon as we were done with school in Nigeria. The first person in our family who got to know about the brother was our younger brother. We stopped by the town in Cameroon where he was, attending school at the time.

“Papi,”

We said shyly.

“Someone wants to marry us.”

Our brother looked at us and laughed. We became even shyer. You see, our family had never seen us with a boyfriend. And according to our other brother, Desmond, we were either going to end up a nun or marry a very upright person.

After our awkward announcement to our brother, we zoomed off to the other town where our parents lived. Our next dilemma was telling them we were in love with somebody. We never discussed things like that. We spoke about book work and projects. Not falling in love. Not marriage.

We summoned courage and told our mother one morning after she finished praying.

“we want to tell you about the person who wants to marry us.”

We said, our speech fast forwarded, our voice shaky and our eyes wandering like that of a confused person.

Like our brother she let out a laugh too. But she proceeded to probe us about him and even prayed about the relationship.

Meanwhile, plans were on the way for the brother to visit us and meet our family.

The morning of his arrival, we wore a sexy pair of jeans and a hot pink blouse and made our way to the bus agency in Nkwen, Bamenda, where he was to arrive. While still in the taxi we saw him.

He had jeans on with a violet-red turtle-neck sweater and a hat which partially shaded his hairy cheeks. Our eyes met and we smiled at each other. It was pure love. Our heart was racing.

We alighted from the taxi, walked to him, we hugged each other then took another taxi to our pastor’s house, where he was to be staying. While in the taxi, he held our hand and our heart melted. We wanted to stay with him forever.

The pastor and his wife were happy to see him. They were happy to see us together (they knew of the relationship from the moment we said yes to the brother).

The brother had lots of gifts for our family and I. He gave his thoughtful gifts to us which we proudly took home and presented to our mama.

You know what the Bible says? “A man’s gift makes way for him…”

Our family already liked him before they saw his face. What’s not to love about someone who sends you expensive gifts before meeting you?

It was in these days that we had a short-lived courtship. Short-lived because by the next time the brother came, he came for our traditional wedding. We will tell you how our courtship went in another post.

For now, let’s talk about you. If you are married how did you say “yes” to your spouse? If you are single, do you freely discuss about dating and relationships with your parents or seniors? Let’s talk.