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TOMIWA LAWSON CAME OUT of his apartment spinning his car keys as he walked towards his crimson-coloured Toyota Camry car parked outside his three-bedroom flat. It was a bright Saturday morning and the sun was beginning to rise. He looked very attractive in his light blue T-shirt with a bold white embossed ‘Timberland’ inscription at the front which he wore on a dark pair of well-cut jean trousers and a nice-looking pair of snickers. Why wouldn’t he look attractive? This was not just any other day neither was it just any Saturday likewise. It was going to be one of the greatest Saturdays of his life! He had recently asked a beautiful young lady out and that was the day he was to get an answer to his proposal.
He had taken his time to dress exceptionally well that morning. Though Tomiwa had a good dress sense, that morning was a bit different. He had stayed longer than usual in front of the dressing mirror paying attention to every detail and ensuring that everything was applied in the right proportions. After dressing up, he had tucked his hand into his pocket and brought out his precious lip balm which he normally carried everywhere in his pocket. He had applied it on his lower lip and then rubbed it against the upper one just like a lady would do with her lipstick. This he masterfully did until the jelly substance was evenly spread on both lips, giving them an appealing glow and softness that enhanced his charming look even more.
Granted, he hated to admit that he was handsome, he couldn’t agree less this time around that the reflection he was seeing in the mirror was an image of a really good-looking chap—the kind of man any lady would long to have! Satisfied with the image staring at him from the mirror and full of confidence, he had picked up his car keys and headed for the main door leaving the air filled with the scent of the perfume that had become his signature. The perfume was so unique to him that people had always thought it was custom made for him.
Now outside, he took a thorough scan of the car that was literally glittering in the early morning sun. Thanks to Kunle, one of his younger siblings, who had done a good job cleaning it. He adjusted his pair of pink-tinted medicated glasses and nodded in approval for a job well done by Kunle. Without wasting any more time, he entered into the car and turned on the ignition. The engine at once roared with a sound like that of a faithful slave ever ready and willing to serve his master. He turned on the stereo and the huge rear speakers blared out his favourite Nigerian hip-hop songs which he normally referred to as ‘Naija Gbedu’ or ‘Gbedu’ for short. He then turned his attention to Kunle who was standing close by still holding the small towel with which he cleaned the car in his hands. All along, Kunle was standing at a corner, smiling while watching his elder brother savoured the beauty of the sparkling car. One could easily see the look of satisfaction—an expression of someone happy and pleased that his job had been well appreciated—radiating all over his face.
Kunle was a tall dark-skinned, well-built young man in his mid-twenties. He was the tallest in the family and soft-spoken. He was fondly loved by his friends and others in the neighbourhood who usually called him by different aliases.
“Kunle, good job.” Remarked Tomiwa giving him a thumb’s up sign and added in their native Yoruba tongue, “Ba mi si gate yen.” meaning ‘open the gate for me.’
“Okay big bros.” Kunle responded and added before hurrying to open the gate, “Mehn, you are looking so sweet this morning.”
Tomiwa winked at him, a gesture by which he meant ‘Thank you.’ He reversed the car out of the gate, made a quick sharp turn like a bullion van driver, stepped on the accelerator and zoomed off leaving a cloud of dust and the blast of his ‘Naija Gbedu’ in his trail as he nodded to the rhythm of the music blazing out of the powerful speakers.
Tomiwa’s love for music, especially Nigerian hip-hop songs, was unparalleled. Everyone that knew him knew that he preferred music to food. He had often been heard saying that if he was imprisoned without food he would survive if granted access to music but wouldn’t last long if deprived of music, even if served the delicacies of kings and nobles—such was the depth of his love for music! He knew the lyrics to almost all the popular songs by heart and was usually one of the first to buy any new releases. He also enjoyed reading his favourite music/entertainment magazines which he bought regularly to keep abreast of happenings in the entertainment world.
He spontaneously sang along any songs he heard so masterfully that his colleagues at work never ceased to wonder how he came to know so many songs given that their job as bankers was very demanding and barely gave room for other things. Whenever there was an argument about a particular song or information about an artiste, his colleagues and friends knew where to turn. Who else could settle such disputes other than Tomiwa whom they already perceived as an authority in the field? He was always on hand to give all the information needed to put such disputes to a permanent end.
Tomiwa who was in his early thirties was a young man with a complexion somewhere in-between fair and dark. Though very handsome, he didn’t consider himself one for he loved being modest and humble. He had a well-shaped nose and a lovely pair of lips that hid an attractive set of teeth. This added to his charm whenever he laughed. He looked so much younger than his age but exhibited the maturity of those much older than him. He got his youthful stature from his mother who looked fifteen years younger than her age when she died a few years earlier.
Additionally, he was blessed with such elegance, charisma, comportment, and intelligence that he commanded the respect of his peers, colleagues, and superiors at work. He was not only hardworking but very humorous. He could come up with jokes and stunts that could crack any ribs no matter how hard. He knew how to light up any environment and make those around him forget their worries whenever he so wished.
One of such moments was whenever his colleagues referred to his slim frame. He would throw up a drama of some sort calling himself a ‘lepa with flavour’ (meaning slim with favour). He would take a few steps with an exaggerated gait and gestured as if to say, ‘check this good looking dude out’. Then he would add in a sexy voice, “This is what the girls are dying for mehnnn!” This usually got everybody laughing. He was also familiar with the ways of women. He knew the names of various female hair styles and makeup kits. He could tell the difference between Mary Kay, Mac and other nameless cheaper face powder brands by merely looking at a lady’s face.
He would be the first to notice if any female colleague had a new hair style, say its name and give a lovely comment such that the ladies were always looking forward to his compliments whenever they visited the beauty salon. He was vast in the knowledge of women and their ways that one would mistake him for a womanizer or a flirt but those close to him knew far better than that. They knew he was a chaste and morally upright man who never womanized or flirted. He neither used alcohol nor smoked too. This was attributed to his religion which he held so dearly and partly to the upbringing by his parents.
Talking about his sense of humour, an instance was what happened one Monday morning after their Weekly Performance Meeting. The meeting had just ended and people were just making their way to their respective offices when Tomiwa raised his voice, “Oh, Jeeeez!” Everybody in an instance turned their attention to him wondering what just happened. He walked up to a female colleague named Kemi. Kemi had her hair made over the weekend and she was looking radiant. Such splendid hair style and radiance would never escape Tomiwa’s compliment. So, he continued:
“Kemi-Kemo…” He liked making names sound funky especially when he was ready to crack a joke. “This Ghana Weaving of yours is Oleku ooo. In fact, it is tungbaski!” and taking some funny steps that got everybody laughing he moved toward another female colleague and continued with his witticisms.
“Wow! Amaka Baaaaby, how long did it take you to make this One Million Braids?”
Both Kemi and Amaka were seriously blushing by the time Amaka answered with a childish smile, “Hmmm … about eight hours”
“Eight hours? Oh, Jeeeez! No wonder it is debeski! I’m sure you must have gotten a special kiss from your hubby when he saw this hair…”
“Hmmm?” Amaka interrupted.
“What?! Are you saying he didn’t? Then he has committed an offense against the state by breaching one of the salient provisions of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
By the time he finished everybody was already drowning in laughter not just because of what was said but how it was said—the drama and antics accompanying it. Acts like these made him fondly loved by all but more by the ladies. He was actually a ladies’ man because every lady loved his company.
One thing about him that usually got people laughing was his regular use of the phrase ‘Oh, Jeeeez!’ which was an exclamation of some sort to him. He had a very funny way of using the phrase. He would draw the ‘Oh,’ and end with a strong emphasis on the ‘Jeeeeez’. It was so part of him that some nicknamed him ‘Mr Jeeeeez’. Whenever anything happened, like abrupt power outage, for example, he would shout “Ooooh …” and before he could finish it, everybody including his superiors would scream in one accord, “Jeeeeez!” following it with a resounding laughter.
The journey was constantly interrupted by more traffic hold-ups here and there. Some were caused by traffic lights installed at cross roads and others caused by bad roads, broken-down vehicles or vehicles that had hit each other, and their owners arguing and vomiting all sorts of vocabularies over minor scratches. Acts like these could be very irritating seeing educated people behaving uncivilized and making fools of themselves while obstructing free flow of traffic for others held up in long queues behind them. One would begin to wonder what the insurance policies all motorists were required by law to have on their vehicles, and that many of them carried about in the safe boxes of their vehicles were meant for.
Such hold-ups provided young boys and girls with the opportunity to hawk all sorts of merchandise. Boys selling Gala sausage rolls and cold drinks were frequently seen running after moving vehicles in the traffic either trying to make sales or to collect the money for the ones they sold just before the vehicles started moving. There were also ladies and under-aged girls hawking oranges and apples arranged like a pyramid on metal trays balanced on a round piece of cloth on their heads calling out in sweet voices, “Buy your orange … sweet orange.” One could also see newspaper vendors and men selling mobile phones, phone accessories, and wrist watches. Those who were smart knew better than to buy such phones in traffic unless they had excess cash to throw away. Young men of northern descent selling assorted candies and chewing gums strapped to a big board with rubber bands were also a frequent sight in Lagos traffic. The truth was that there was nothing one couldn’t get in Lagos traffic—they were like one-stop supermarkets. And there was no better place to observe first-hand the hustle and plight of the less-privileged other than Lagos traffic!
Before long, he saw the towering gates of the University of Lagos, popularly called Unilag, a few meters ahead. As he drove through the giant gates, he allowed himself to be immersed in the beauty of this great school. The architectural designs were breath-taking. Students could be seen walking on both sides of the long stretch of palm-lined and well-tarred road leading to the Senate Building. Some of the girls were scantily cladded. There were also boys with sagging trousers and big headphones plugged to their phones or MP3 players swaggering along the road. The class of cars driving past clearly showed that this was a school where the sons and daughters of the rich attended.
He navigated his way to the parking lots before the Lagoon Front. It was already 10.30 am and the sun was getting hotter. So, he had to look for a shed to park under. Fortunately, there was a space for one more car under an almond tree a short distance away that was huge enough to provide shed for about three cars. Without hesitating, he drove right under the tree and parked in the vacant space. There he was at last! He had finally arrived at the place where his fate would be decided! She wasn’t there yet so he waited uneasily in the car.
Different thoughts began to wage a strong war in his head. If there would ever be a World War III, it seemed that it was going to start right there in his head! ‘What if she says no? Ah! Would that mean all my troubles would be in vain?’ Just then a voice in his head rebuked him strongly, ‘Shut up and be positive!’ At this point, the thoughts were becoming more and more violent in his head that he began to wonder how long more it would take before his small skull exploded.
In order to divert his thoughts to something else, he picked up the latest edition of his favourite entertainment magazine he had in the car. Although his eyes were intently fixed on the magazine and he kept flipping through the pages, the truth was that he wasn’t seeing anything at all…. The pages had suddenly become blank! He decided to drop the magazine—really there was no point straining his eyes over what he couldn’t see let alone read.
When he looked up he saw her approaching some distance away. There she was, the lady who had made him spend more time than necessary in front of the dressing mirror that morning! Their eyes met and she smiled at him. It was her usual captivating smile. It sent a kind of current down his spine and immediately his heart skipped a few beats; not because he was afraid this time, but because he was completely swept away by the beauty that was walking towards him. Who wouldn’t have lost control of himself with such amazing beauty? Not even kings and dignitaries would have been able to resist the force of her beauty any more than a helpless man would resist the current of a raging tsunami sweeping his feet completely off the ground. It was often said that ‘beauty is in the eyes of the beholder’ but hers was the kind of beauty that made a baloney of that saying—for even a blind man wouldn’t deny it!
She wore a dark flowery blouse on a black skirt with complementing accessories that enhanced her delicate beauty—a pair of dangling gold earrings with a matching pendant hooked to a gold necklace glittering round her neck, and a black leather wrist watch to match. She made her hair into short curly braids. She was an inch taller than him and very fair in complexion with a slightly pointed nose that gave her the look of someone born partly to a white parent. Her beautiful eyes rested under a pair of well-trimmed eyebrows. Her lips and dentition could qualify for those of a model on the catwalk. One of her most powerful assets was her smile. So captivating was her smile that even hearts made of stone would find her irresistible. She was also endowed with a gorgeous shape with all her features in proportions perfectly right for her size. God, in His artistry, must have spent extra hours in majestically sculpting her into the damsel she was. She had such elegance, glamour and aura around her that made anyone seeing her wipe their eyes clean to be sure they weren’t having a supernatural encounter with an angel.
The beauty Tomiwa saw that morning reminded him of how they met and the events that got them to this stage …
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