The big moment came and I was about to flood her heart with melodies of love. I held her both hands from across the table and looked at her the way I looked at Ogechi the day I professed love to her. OH MY GAWD! Cynthia lost it. She knew what I was about to say. She probably had been in that position before. The look in her eyes depicted something like; “DREAM COME TRUE”. She was smiling and couldn’t wait for me to empty my heart of its content. I had almost opened my mouth to speak the words when a movie director she had introduced me to at the movie premiere walked in with his fiancée and met us on our table holding hands.
“Look who we have here! The two love birds in a Chinese restaurant. How romantic”
“Carl! Cynthia called out to the movie director as she slowly withdrew her hand to give him a handshake.
“What a coincidence” Carl said. “I’m out on a date with my fiancée.” He drew his mouth closer to Cynthia’s ear and whispered; “I’m gonna propose to her”
Cynthia screamed with excitement. The director turned to me and said; “I hope you’re here to do the same?”
I just smiled and waved that away.
“By the way, how’s the movie thing going?” the director asked me.
“What movie thing?” I asked. I had forgotten that Cynthia introduced me to him as an actor the night at the movie premiere, so he expected me to have featured in some movies already and probably working on one as we spoke. So I asked that silly question and he got confused. Immediately, Cynthia jumped in.
“He’s been reluctant about the whole thing because of the love he has for Nigerian home videos. He has climbed up the larder in the Nigerian movie industry and has gotten used to it to an extent where his desire to feature in foreign movies burns with low flames. I have been trying to talk some sense into him for a while now but he’s been resistant. I know it’s because he doesn’t know how it feels to feature in a Hollywood movie. You can bring him in and let him have a test of it can’t you? I’m sure by then his view of the whole thing will change for good”
Truth be told, Cynthia was simply irresistible. The moment she dropped the last word, Carl consented and gave me his card and booked an appointment with me. He was going to work with me on his next movie. Only Cynthia can do this. After that he left with his one in a million fiancée to another table to propose to her.
Cynthia quickly reminded me that besides Carl there were other people she introduced me to at the movie premiere who all thought of me to be a star, coupled with the Italian girl at the premiere who called on me to join her present the award to the director of the movie that was premiered. So we had to do something real quick for me to have TV appearance and Carl was the best starting point. I ended up not telling Cynthia what I brought her out on a date to tell. Instead, we started strategizing on how to make me a star in the nearest possible time to prevent shame. Was there anything this Cynthia wouldn’t do for me?
Carl and I became allies and I was given the role of the major actor to play in his movie but got disqualified because I hadn’t attained a white belt in martial arts and the major actor had to do some karate stuff with the bad men. Because of that I was given the role of the major actor in the next movie Carl was to produce, and that was a long time away.
Nevertheless, I started appearing on set to talk about the movie Carl was directing. I was part of the team and fame started coming my way little by little. I started feeling funky, but then I remembered how fame separated me from Ogechi and I promised not to let it happen with Cynthia. Whether it was real or not, I was determined to love Cynthia. Wherever I traveled to in the course of Carl’s movie, Cynthia went with me. Of course she loved such things so it wasn’t a problem for her.
Six months passed and the movie was not even half way done. It had been one year from the time I began my Masters’ Degree Program and I only had six months left to be through with it. I wasn’t in a hurry anyway, because unlike before, I had no special one to go home to except my mother, so I wasn’t bothered since no one was gonna steal her from me like I feared for Ogechi.
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It was I and Cynthia now rocking the United States of America. Through Cynthia I had gotten highly connected to the people that would help me live my dreams. In addition to the connection, I started making some cool dollars, but nothing to be compared to what Cynthia and Ogechi had made already. They were rich girls, but Cynthia was richer. From all indications, I wasn’t going to settle for any other girl than Cynthia and she knew it, so she made everything she had mine. I had access to all she had, even her bank account that contained the millions of dollars she had made over the years. I wasn’t comfortable with it. I wanted to make my own money, but it wasn’t easy. Like they say; you don’t make money overnight, you make money overtime.
I was very careful not to take advantage of Cynthia in anyway. I handled all she gave me with extreme caution to prevent anything that would lead to any kind of misunderstanding in the future. Cynthia didn’t care how I handled whatever she made available for me. All she wanted was my love. She would gladly pay all the bills as long as I showed her love and care. But as a Nigerian man, I didn’t want people at home to say that a woman was the one catering for me, upon all the gifts and talents that I have. So I worked really hard with that movie director and also with the music producers I had gotten to know through Cynthia.
The music thing wasn’t coming forth as the movie thing was. Everything was flowing well with Carl’s movie and I couldn’t wait for him to be done with the present one and get started with the one I was to star in.
I thought of traveling to Nigeria to visit my mum and some other people. Of course I wouldn’t go to Nigeria for any other reason than to visit because everything I needed was in the United States, especially now that I had decided to make Cynthia a part of my life. I wanted to make United States my home because of her, so I only wanted to come back home and spend some time with my family and friends before heading back abroad.
One evening we sat just outside Cynthia’s house to catch some air. There I broke the news of my plans to travel to Nigeria. Cynthia wept like a baby at my breaking the news of my journey to her. She didn’t want me to leave. She was afraid I wasn’t going to come back. But she couldn’t find any strong reason to keep me from going home to see my mother. We spent a lot of time talking about my trip and the time of my return to America. If not that Cynthia was afraid of coming to Nigeria because of that magazine saga, she would have come along. But since she couldn’t come, she suggested we solidify our bond with a blood covenant before I left. She was really afraid of losing me, even though I hadn’t opened my mouth to ask her to be my girl yet. Nawa o.
I wouldn’t enter into a blood covenant with anyone, not even Ogechi. So I dismissed the idea immediately she suggested it. She thought and thought of what to do to glue us together inseparably.
“We have to solidify our bond before you leave” she kept saying.
“And how are we supposed to do that?” I asked.
“Follow me” she replied, taking me by the hand and leading me inside the house. I just followed her like a sheep being led to the slaughter, wondering how she intended to solidify our bond. Whatever it was, I was ready for it, so long as it is not a blood covenant.
Cynthia lead me to her room gently, pushed me to the bed and made some kind of eye catching and mind troubling display before me. I knew what she was up to. That was her idea of solidifying our bond. Honestly, I wasn’t going to object this time, not for the sake of solidifying our bond but for the sake of the blood that was running through my veins. I had resisted this beautiful Cynthia long enough because of my fears and conscience but at this point, her charms made me overcome those fears. The pressure I suddenly found myself in made me ready for any consequence.
Cynthia excused herself and went into the bathroom to get cleaned up while I lay on her bed watching TV and anticipating the return of the mummy. Three minutes passed and Cynthia was still in the bathroom. My phone beeped. I checked to see what notification had come in. guess what? It was a reminder about the live TV broadcast featuring Ogechi and it was set to begin in ten minutes. I had set a reminder for the date and time for Ogechi’s next live TV appearance the last time I watched a replay of a TV broadcast featuring TV stars, of which she was one. Today was that day and the time had come.
But I and Cynthia had unfinished business. What do I do now? If I miss this program, I may have missed the best opportunity to talk to Ogechi because the phone line was going to be open to callers and fans and I had planned to call in when the day comes. I even saved the number. And what about Cynthia? She and I had come a long way and I had made obvious to her that she had a place in my heart. How do I bypass this moment and watch Ogechi’s live broadcast? Or do I just let that go since I had settled in my mind to court Cynthia?let’s find out in the evening
To be continued.
