All her life Ini wanted a prince. The castle. The medieval ball dresses. The glass slippers too, however uncomfortable they might have been to walk in.
There was Tola, Chuks and Kelvin. Ahmed, Dele and Nonso. Let's not forget Nuel the Ethiopian. Coming and going, like an Abiku they went, until at 28 there was only her left.
28. Two years away from the big thirty. The age most single ladies dreaded. The age where the parents' subtle "meet my friend's son" turns to "can your son meet my daughter, she's single".
This afternoon, Ini found herself missing Nonso. Her chairman as she fondly used to call him. He was her most recent ex. The one. Or so she thought. He oozed class and sex appeal and always seemed in control of every situation however daunting it seemed. Their relationship promised to be every romantic fantasy. Every youthful daydream, every dazzling fairy tale come to life. And just as she was beginning to feel comfortable in her make belief castle, she was brought to the shattering reality that life was more than the storybooks told. It brought with it unexpected twists and curve balls that hit you right where you least expect them. Smack in the centre of your heart. Curve balls like the sudden news of a fiancée tucked away in the Netherlands who returned home to claim her man.
Men!
She'd since then given up on them. They were all the same. Or perhaps it was just the type of men she was attracted to. The dashingly handsome types with the body of an adonis, all cut in the right places. Not that she was shallow, but you see appearance had always been important to her. It counted for significant percentage of the mark, but 7 ex-boyfriends later, she knew better.
Snapping out of her revere, Ini turned her mind back to the present. She had a flight to catch and heaven forbade that she missed it on the account of some senseless private pity party.
Safely buckled in her seat on the plane some three hours later, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's wives was open on her laps. Barely had she begun reading when a baritone voice asked, "Is this seat taken?" causing her to snap her head sideways. She smiled quickly to cover up the disappointment she felt when she saw the face that bore the voice. Forgive her overactive mind for linking the voice to a tall dark and handsome fellow only to be faced with a chubby averaged height young man in a fitted polo and stonewash jeans. "No it isn't", she politely replied and returned to her book.
He did smell nice though, she thought to herself as the scent of his cologne wafted by her nostrils. Just as she brushed the notion aside, her concentration was interrupted by the same baritone voice. "When do you reckon you'd put me out of my wait?", her seat companion asked.
" Your wait?", Ini replied with a confused look. ''What exactly were you waiting for?"
"Your name of course, the saying did go 'ladies first', didn't it?" He replied with a cheeky smile.
Never one to pass up on a good natured sparing, "if I told you, I'd have to kill you", she replied with an all too sweet smile. To which he gave a hearty laugh.
Pressing on "you certainly look Yoruba so if I were to guess, I'd say your name was Arewa, for obvious reasons of course", he said with mock seriousness.
"Does that line ever work on girls?", Ini countered with raised eyebrows.
"Nope, but u can't blame a brother for trying", he replied with his now familiar cheeky smile.
''So Arewa is it?", he probed.
"We both know that isn't my name", Ini replied rolling her eyes.
"What is it then?", her nameless seat partner persisted.
Relenting, "It's Ini", she replied.
"I'm Tare, nice to meet you" He said with a smile. And Ini couldn't help noticing what nice set of teeth Tare had.
xxx
Granted, we all have our types and that's not necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes we get so carried away by the physical that we fail to realize there's more to an individual if only we got to know them despite the lack of our preferred qualities . There's wit, and kindness and patience and an endless array of more endearing traits. What am I saying? Give the friendly Segun Arinze dead ringer a chance...what do you know, he just might be your prince :D
