After her bother left, we resumed visits to each other’s houses again, but we never got to spend any nights together. One of those days we got talking, and this is the record of our conversation;
‘So what made you decide to join the choir? She asked. Thought you said you weren’t good with high pitch?’
‘I’m not. But I’m ready to learn. And I can do the tenor part till I’ve learnt how to pitch high. There’s no need having a talent that can’t be used to the glory of the giver of the talent in the first place’
‘But you’ve already done so with your songs haven’t you. By the way, ever since I listened to your song ehh, I play it more often that you can imagine. That track is really breath taking. You’re really talented you know?’
‘I do. Thanks for the complements. I don’t get that often. But you see, there is no limit to what a man can do to honor
God with his abilities. I figured that doing my own tracks doesn’t require more than me to get it done except I want to feature another singer. But with the choir it’s different. The ideas are collective, and I’ll get the chance to do more live performances than I would with my own songs, especially now that I’m not yet lunched into stardom. And this will also act as an opportunity for me to get conversant with singing before a multitude of people, so that when I become a star, I would do so with ease’
‘So now, is it about glorifying God or rehearsing for the future?’ She asked with raised eyebrows’
‘Both my dear. Both’ I replied
‘May it be onto you according to your plans’
‘Amen. What about you and your dream to reach the world through music. I promised to help out, remember? Or have you given up on it?’
‘Of course not. A lot was going on which didn’t permit the pursuit of that dream’
‘So what about now? Are there still things going which still don’t permit you do it now?’
‘I guess not’
‘Then let’s get started! On Saturday I’m taking you to the studio so you can see how things work there. Maybe you’ll be challenged when you see some people doing some pretty nice songs and will be inspired to do something too. Just tell me what you want to sing about and I’ll create suitable lyrics for it’
‘You’re so enthusiastic about this whole thing’
‘Sweet heart, it’s called LOVE. I love music, poetry, and writing. But definitely not as much as I LOVE YOU’
She was shocked beyond measure to hear me say that to her. She just kept staring right into my eyes with utter amazement and had a countenance on her face that depicted something like ‘SERIOUSLY?’ She was short of words. She just smiled softly and looked away from my face to the ground in slow motion. Perhaps, that was the time for me to empty my heart of its content, so I began;
Swiftly was my heart glued to you,
When my eyes got a glimpse of your hairdo,
Earnestly, my mouth longed to say a thing or two,
Even if it meant just giving you a clue,
That all of me agree with all you do.
Honor would it be for me, to untie you shoe,
Enter my heart and see if all I say is true,
Access my soul, search it all through,
Rate what I feel for you and see if it’s not true,
Truly speaking, I love you. I wish you love me too.
Ogechi kept staring at me as expressed my true and sincere feelings towards her endlessly. All through that time, she was smiling unceasingly. When I was done, she didn’t say anything. I believed she needed more time to ponder on all I had just said to her, so I expectantly waited for her to be done with that and maybe, give in. Or was she going to carry this over, in other to have much time to think it over? There wouldn’t be any need for that.
She knew all there was to know about me already. I didn’t know whether or not to place my hopes high since she had been very unpredictable since her first and last visit to my house. I just kept whispering tender loving words which caressed her emotions to the point where her body started moving to the rhythm of my voice. Then she asked;
‘How long has your heart nurtured this truth?’ she asked
‘The moment you walked out of the bathroom fully made up on the first day I set foot in your apartment. I was watching and admiring you from behind as you left for the market. Ever since then you’ve occupied the better part of my heart.
‘Why did it take you so long to say something?’
‘I don’t know. Let’s just say I was waiting for the right time’
‘And you think now is the right time?’
‘I couldn’t think of a better time. My heart may explode if I try to hold it in any longer. So tell me, do I stand a chance?
“We’ll see about that’
I and Ogechi started pursuing our dreams. We visited different studios, went for big and small show, and did a whole lot of stuffs aspiring singers do. With time Ogechi was ready to start recording her own songs. I was not really ready to record more songs since I had a couple of them already which had not been adequately promoted. Besides, Ogechi came first in everything. So she would just give me an idea on what she wants to sing about and I would write lyrics for it, and she records. It was just a matter of time before she started writing her lyrics herself.
In our course of doing all these, we met a number of gospel singers who were making waves already in the music industry. One of those days we were in the studio recording her song when a male gospel singer by name, Ck walked in to buy studio session. Ck got impressed by Ogechi’s wonderful voice and started to inquire about her. After talking a whole lot with Ogechi, he proposed to make her his backup singer in his new song, the very song he came there to do.
Ogechi was so glad to be a backup singer to Ck, who was on his to, and very close to his prime. I was also happy because the part I lead her to walk in was taking her exactly where she wanted to go. So she started meeting with the Ck more often than not for rehearsals.
At a point it got so much that I became uncomfortable because she barely made time to spend with me anymore. It’s either she was with Ck rehearsing, or she was with Ck’s manager deliberating on her costumes and makeup for the video of the song, since Ck intended to shoot the video of that song as soon as he was done with the audio recording. I couldn’t say anything. I couldn’t even tell her how bad I felt about her directing all her attention to Ck’s song. I just waited and prayed for the whole thing to be over so that things between I and Ogechi would return to normal.
Soon enough the song was recorded and the video was shot, but it didn’t end there. Whenever Ck had any invitation to sing, Ogechi would go with him because he always sang the song Ogechi backed him up. And you know that guy had gone a long way to the top. He had almost become like the singers at the top and had a lot of fans, so there was no end to the invitations he got to sing at different places in Nigeria.
This is exactly what Ogechi wanted. Just that it wasn’t her own songs she was showcasing. But at least, she was very close to that. Ogechi became known to be a good backup singer and other singers called on her to back their songs up as well.
Her voice was soon heard on quite a number of songs and she was very close to signing autographs. Ck even went ahead to get Ogechi to do an international passport, reason being that she would have to go with him if he was invited to sing there. That was done before anyone could say J.A.C.K! I was happy for her since her dreams were finally coming true, and I helped in making it happen but at the same time, I was missing her company because she was either in school receiving lectures or somewhere performing. The only time we had for ourselves was when none of those were happening, and that was rare. While she was doing all those, I was always in front of my computer on FOREX transaction, making cool cash.
The next academic session began and I was with Ogechi in the same department. Remember she had suggested to me to apply for direct entry and continue year two in her school? Well, that’s exactly what I did. This way, we got the chance to be close to each other again on a regular basis. She was so excited at that. She really wanted to be close to me. As a matter of fact, she loved it, and it was more obvious than ever. After this somewhat ‘REUNION’, everything went well between us and we were ready for everything. I and Ogechi were now formally ‘COURTING’.
To be continued.
