Bed of Roses (Episode 4)

One year ago

"Do you Adesewa Oludoyin take Olukunle Israel to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold till..."

"Hello, please can I see you for a moment?" He bent his head as he whispered his request into the ears of a smiling Fikayo who was focused on the couple as they exchanged their vows.

Fikayo turned to see who it was that was whispering and she almost jumped out of her skin.

"Tade... Oh my word. What are you doing here?" She whispered back. She tired so hard to hide her excitement but she couldn't. She adjusted on her seat in a bid to create a space for Tade to sit. Tade on the other hand, began making his way out of the church but signalled to Fikayo to meet him outside. Fikayo gave a brief explanation to Bosun, excused herself and ran out to hug her long time buddy.

"Tade Durojaiyeeee..." She hugged him yet again.

"Look at you..." She moved back a bit to take a full look at him. Tade indulged her and smiled as Fikayo turned round him, and measured her height against his body.

"Chai... Tade. It's so good to see you. It's been what? Four, five years?" Fikayo asked, still smiling.

"It's good to see you to, my Fifi..." It was Tade's turn to take a good look at Fikayo.

"I see the Doctor has been taking good care of you. Your facebook pictures have not done any justice to how pretty you look..." Tade continued with his eyes moving up and down Fikayo's body.

"It's God's glory jor..." Fikayo blushed as she pushed him playfully.

"So this is was your plan; you and Sewa? To surprise me at her wedding, right?"

"Actually..." Tade started.

"Sewa did a good job in keeping the secret..." Fikayo cut in
"I'm impressed. And yes, this is a pleasant surprise." She continued.

Tade moved her gently away from where she was standing and led the way to a white Honda car. Although Fikayo went on with her questions and admiration of the car, Tade just smiled and went straight to open the booth.

"Fikayo, Sewa doesn't know I'm around." He dropped the big bag he had taken out of the booth by the door where Fikayo was waiting patiently for him.

"I'm not sure I understand you..." Fikayo said as she rolled her eyes.

"The thing is I did not tell her I'll be coming. As a matter of fact, She thinks I'm still in India. We skyped yesterday and I had to apologize..."

"Ehnen... Na wa o. This school-fatherism is on another level" Fikayo said amidst laughs.

"May God give the rest of us school fathers o..." She continued.

"Fifi, that's not it. I just couldn't miss her wedding for..." Tade tried to explain but Fikayo cut in yet again.

"It's okay. I'm just teasing. But it's really nice to see you. Now, let's go in. The wedding is taking place inside and not outside."

Fikayo picked up the big paper bag that she knew contained a wedding gift for the ever so precious Sewa and dragged Tade by the hand in a bid to walk him into the church.

Tade however, stopped her and went on to explain how he had a flight to catch in an hour and he only stopped by to say hi and drop the gift for Sewa. He brought out another small plastic bag that was already in the bigger bag and handed it to Fikayo. It was a box of perfume he had specially brought for her, with a picture of all four of them (Tade, Fikayo, Felix and Thando) at a school rugby match that they attended back in the University of Pretoria. Fikayo laughed at the picture that Tade obviously took without alerting the others. Her mouth was wide opened and the look on her face was one of shock. She tried to remember the cause of her facial expression, but Tade collected the picture from her gently, replaced in the plastic bag and hugged Fikayo yet again. He told Fikayo to give the gift to Sewa later and not at the wedding, as he had promised to send her a wedding present that she would receive some two/three days after her wedding.

Fikayo tried to convince Tade to wait a little while till the couple walked out of the church so that he could take a proper look at them and probably take a picture with them.

"Sewa would be so excited..." She insisted when Tade explained that he couldn't afford to miss his flight.

"Besides, I already took a good look at the couple. My baby did me proud..." He winked.
Tade hurried into the car before Fikayo's pleas would make him change his mind.

"Don't mention anything about seeing me..." He said as the top of his voice before saying "We'll chat" as the car zoomed out of the church premises.

"Okay. Bye... Call me." Fikayo replied at the top of her voice as she waved good bye to her dear friend. She stood for a while till the car was out of sight.

The smile remain plastered to her face as she picked up the bag and walked back inside, with a determination to concentrate on the rest of the wedding programme instead of on her long time crush that just zoomed in and out for other reasons apart from her.

***

Present day
Sunday

"I'll be right back" He nodded and moved back on his seat to allow enough space for Chioma to pass through as she excused herself from the service to visit the conveniences.

Chioma walked briskly out of the church since she was already very pressed. In a few minutes, she
was done and on her way back into the church when a man accosted her.

"Excuse me please." The guy who was smartly dressed in a brown jacket, white shirt and black pants stood in front of Chioma.

"Hi. Can I help you?" She looked intently at him and after a few minutes, she was sure she hadn't seen the face before.

"I'm so sorry to disturb you. You worship here right?" The gentle man continued.

"Yes? And are you a first timer?" Chioma asked.

"As a matter of fact, I am." He introduced himself and stretched his right palm out to her.

"Okay..." Chioma ignored the outstretched hand and rolled her eyes. She moved a bit and began walking slowly towards the church.

"I'm looking for a certain Mrs Fikayo Semowo" He walked after her.

"I was wondering if by any chance you would know her. She's a member of the choir." He continued.

"Oh, Fikayo. I know her. She's my very good friend. Is anything the matter? She's not..." Chioma stopped herself and looked sternly at the stranger. She changed her mind, turned back and walked towards the car park.

"Not at all. I have a message for her and I was wondering if you could help me deliver it." Jide started.

"I've been waiting for a while for the first service to end but I'm not sure I can wait any longer..." He continued.

"Okay. So why didn't you approach one of the ushers to deliver the message instead?" Chioma became suspicious.

"I actually didn't think of that. I just figured I could ask any..."

"It's alright. I'll help deliver the message." Chioma cut in, with her left hand stretched out to receive the envelope he had noticed the man bring out from his jacket.

"Thank you so much. Thank you..." Jide said as he handed over a small brown envelope to Chioma. It had Fikayo's name addressed on it already.

She pressed the slightly bulky envelope, lifted it in the air and tried to see if she could see through to determine its content. Once she was a few steps into the church, she noticed a white car zoom off. Chioma paused a bit to see if she would see the man but when he was no where to be found, she figured he was the one in the car.

She walked towards one of the ushers to enquire about Fikayo's whereabout since she didn't notice her at the choir stand. She was still making her enquiries when the Semowos walked past her.

"You mean that Sister Fikayo?" The usher pointed at the couple that just walked past them to join the church in sharing the grace and then stay put for the second service that was about to start in a few minutes.

"Oh. Thank you." Chioma hurried after Fikayo and her husband. She was quick enough to catch up with them.
She greeted Bosun briefly (even though it was the first time she was meeting him) and dragged Fikayo out of church.

"Madam the madam, where have you been? What's up with you? And what..."

"Chi-baby, Relax, I'm here now. It's the second service we've been attending for some weeks now..." Fikayo cut in before Chioma dished out more questions.

"Okay o. Anyway, did you see your visitor on the way?" Chioma pointed the envelope in the direction of the second entrance into the church.

Fikayo immediately noticed her name on the envelope.

"What is that?" She asked as she pulled the envelope from Chioma's hands.

"He dropped this for you... Was thinking you would have seen a white car drive past you. He..."

"Okay. Thank you." Fikayo cut in again, with her eyes fixed on the envelope. She pressed the envelope as she tried to figure out what its content was. She wasn't so interested in what Chioma was saying.

"I'll check this later." She paused when she noticed Chioma's intent concentration on the envelope she was about to open.

"Babe, shall we?" The deep voice startled Fikayo. She looked back and saw a slightly tall, dark and obviously handsome man carrying a handbag she assumed belonged to Chioma.

"Of course." Chioma rushed to his side, collected her handbag from him and walked back to where Fikayo was standing.

"Meet my Fikayo friend I'm always telling you about." She smiled widely.

"Hiiii..." Fikayo's said slowly with a smile glued to her face. She whispered a quick "Is this him?" to Chioma and it was only after Chioma nodded that she shook his outstretched hands.
She had missed his name from trying to figure out where Chioma met the fine man.

"Nice meeting you too." Fikayo finally mustered.

"Make sure you call" Chioma said as she changed positions to stand with her man who was ready to leave.

"There is gist..." She continued as she walked on.

"Oh yes. I will. I'll definitely call..." Fikayo smiled at the couple as they made their way to the car park. She suddenly became really excited. There was something more exciting going around her, apart from her awkward pregnancy and a mysterious envelope: Chioma's new man!

She tore open the envelope before stepping into the church. She saw a small card and a few light green and white notes. She hurriedly closed the envelope in shock, placed it in her bag, and walked into the church with the remnant of the smile she had on while meeting Chioma's boyfriend.

She was going to praise God without worries today, she told herself as she located her husband and walked towards the seat next to him to join the second service.


***Bed of Roses by Faith Tunde-Yara OLATUNBOSUN
***Photo credit: www.shutterstock.com