“Cynthia is the girl I’ve chosen for you. I
did that for the best reasons ever.
Sometime ago she came to me to
apologize
for the things she said to me after she
awoke from coma. She explained to me how
you both got into an argument which led to
your leaving her house. She’s told me about
all that has happened between you both in
the past two years. She also made me
understand that you tricked her severally to
avoid sexual intercourse with her because
you didn’t want to use her when you weren’t
actually sure to stay in love with her. She
has taken care of your bills and done a
whole lot of things for you. Those are not
the points I’m driving at anyway. You see,
Cynthia has told me how much she feels for
you, and trust me, it is real. Coupled with
the fact that you’ve been living with her for
the past two years, who better than her to
be your girl? She’s a fellow Igbo girl and a
renowned model, which has the necessary
contacts that will aid the pursuit of your
dreams. I know that you will indeed find
happiness with her because she truly and
sincerely loves you; permit me to say as
much as I do. And since fate has denied us
the opportunity to be together anymore,
don’t deny this loving Cynthia the
opportunity to be loved. I know you have
love for her, no matter how small. You’ll
learn to grow it with time. I hope you
understand that I’m doing this for the sake
of your happiness and mine, for nothing will
gladden my heart than knowing that you’ve
found lasting joy in the arms of a worthy
woman. This is why I called you to
Oklahoma, to propose joy everlasting to
you. Thank God you’ve accepted.”
“Ogechi, what did Cynthia tell you that has
made you vouch for her this much? Am I
not the one who should tell you about her,
being that I’ve been living with her for
approximately two years? It’s quite
amazing how the reverse happens to be the
case here.”
“You can’t do or say anything to change
things now. You already said you will.”
We spent more time talking about it all,
and later reached the conclusion to have it
her way. Not really her way per say, but
that was the best option for me to take and
move on with life happily. I thought Ogechi
would think ill of me if I jumped to Cynthia
without a waste of time just because we
couldn’t be together anymore. It was a good
thing Cynthia had gotten her to subscribe to
the idea. Sincerely speaking, I had spent all
my life after graduating from school with
Cynthia, and like they say; the real life
begins after graduation. So ending up with
her wasn’t going require much effort to
cope because we had already become very
good friends, and I loved her, but not as
much as I loved Ogechi. Fact remains that I
would choose Ogechi over and again
between them both under any
circumstances. But since Ogechi was out of
the picture, there was none better than
Cynthia to play the role; at least none that I
know of.
Cynthia was overjoyed at the turn out of
things, and she held Ogechi in such high
regard that one would think she was
aspiring to be like Ogechi. But that was far
from it because Cynthia was far wealthier
and more highly rated than Ogechi. Ogechi
was a singer, and performing at different
places in the world made it somewhat
difficult to tell the difference between her
and Cynthia. It was just a matter of time
before she measured up with Cynthia.
Everything was concluded and it was such a
happy ending for everyone, especially
Cynthia. Then Cynthia reminded Ogechi
about the song she (Cynthia) had proposed
that she (Ogechi) does with me. It was
agreed that the song should be done before
I and Cynthia made for Regina, since
Cynthia had joined us at Oklahoma after
Ogechi convinced me to get together with
her. All the while we were at Ogechi’s
mansion in Oklahoma and were set to leave
after I and Ogechi did a song together to
honor the deal Cynthia and Ogechi had
struck beforehand.
Ogechi suggested that we should do a
copyright of ABBA’s breakup song,
“KNOWING ME, KNOWING YOU” in the
album, “ARRIVAL”. In case you don’t know
or haven’t heard about them before,
“Arrival” is the fourth studio album by the
Swedish pop group called ABBA. It was
originally released in Sweden on 11 October
1976 by Polar Records. Recording sessions
began in August 1975 and continued until
September 1976 at Metronome and Glen
studios in Stockholm, Sweden. It became
ABBA’s most successful album to date,
producing three of their biggest hits:
“Dancing Queen”, “Money, Money, Money”
and “KNOWING ME, KNOWING YOU”.
“Arrival” was the best-selling album of
1977 in the United Kingdom and was
certified gold by the Recording Industry
Association of America.
“KNOWING ME, KNOWING YOU” was one of
the first ABBA songs to deal with the break-
up of a relationship, though with an upbeat
quality to the music. It predates the
divorces of the ABBA members, as well as
further break-up songs to come. Since I and
Ogechi were to go apart from each other for
life, we decided to make it official like the
ABBA members did when they resolved to
go their separate ways for reasons best
known to them.
We got together and cracked our brains to
come up with lyrics most suitable for the
song. Lyrics more like that of ABBA in the
track “KNOWING ME, KNOWING YOU”.
Let’s take a brief look at what the lyrics of
the song was like;
No more carefree laughter
Silence ever after
Walking through an empty house, tears in
my eyes
Here is where the story ends, this is
goodbye
Knowing me, knowing you
There is nothing we can do
Knowing me, knowing you
We just have to face it, this time we’re
through
Breaking up is never easy, I know but I
have to go
Knowing me, knowing you
It’s the best I can do
Memories, good days, bad days
They’ll be, with me always
In these old familiar rooms children would
play
Now there’s only emptiness, nothing to say
Knowing me, knowing you
There is nothing we can do
Knowing me, knowing you
We just have to face it, this time we’re
through
Breaking up is never easy, I know but I
have to go
Knowing me, knowing you
It’s the best I can do
Well, that’s the kind of song I and Ogechi
did to officially pronounce our break up and
get on with our lives happily. The song was
a success and unimaginably trended on air
and attracted so much thumbs up like it
was done by demigods. Soon enough I and
Ogechi began going for live performances of
our break up song all over the world as we
kept getting endless invitations. Ogechi
was known by a good number of countries
around the world, so when they heard the
song, they concluded it was her’s alone.
But instead of Ogechi telling them that we
both owned the song, she told the world
that the song belonged to me exclusively,
stating that I only called on her to feature
me. THAT WAS HOW I GOT INTO
LIMELIGHT AND BECAME REALLY REALLY
RICH AND FAMOUS. I couldn’t believe it.
Finally, my dreams came true.
Due to the popularity of that song, we began
getting invitations for interviews every here
and there. The lyrics of the song got some
fans of Ogechi confused, and they required
to know what exactly inspired the song. One
of those days I was interviewed by the
press, and this was our conversation.
“So Jesusboy, you just hit the walls of
fame, and you hit it real big! What’s the
experience like?” the press asked.
“Well, I had imagined and longed for this
day to come, and now it’s here. It’s pretty
cool. Getting to do the things I love doing
just makes me feel fulfilled, coupled with
the love I’m getting from the people. It’s a
really wonderful experience I must say.”
“Alright. So how long have you been
singing? And where was your first
performance done?”
“I began singing in a group in church, which
I and two other lads came together and
formed at the age of 11. That didn’t last up
to a year though. After then I hadn’t
belonged to any musical group or did
anything music till I turned 20 before
hitting the studio to commence afresh. But
before then I was an ardent listener of
scorer of good music. So when I eventually
started doing mine, I didn’t find it
difficult.”
“We know you have a couple of songs
already which didn’t find their way to the
top like this very one with Ogechi has. Our
sources have it that those songs are cool
too. I want to ask if you write your lyrics
yourself or you have someone somewhere
who does that for you like some singers
do.”
“Actually, I do that myself. You see,
besides being a singer and a sweet melody
composer, I’m also a writer, an actor, an
orator, and a poet. So writing musical lines
is also a thing of passion to me.”
“Wow! How come we are just getting to
know you now with all these gifts and
talents of yours?”
“I guess this is just the set time for that.
You know there is time for everything. And
this is time for Jesusboy.”
“You’re right. Now let’s talk about your
song with Ogechi. We gathered that you are
the Prince Charming she had talked about
severally on different occasions. No one
ever knew or saw you all the while until you
came together and did this song which
entails your break up. That’s kind of weird.
The world wants to know what exactly your
relationship was like, and why you are
breaking up. You guys even did a song in
honor of that. Please satisfy our curiosity.”
“Ogechi is, and remains the love of my life.
But you see, sometimes, our determination
to excel in love can be outweighed by our
willingness to accept our destiny. It is true
we were in a relationship. But our
relationship can’t continue anymore due to
details too personal to share. I just want
the people to understand that we are not
breaking up because of a fight we had or
something like that. It’s simply for a very
good reason which will keep us both happy
our entire lives.”
“Happier than you both would be if you
stick together?” the press asked.
“Not exactly. But we will indeed be happy.
Like I said; sometimes, our determination
to excel in love can be outweighed by our
willingness to accept our destiny. Let’s just
say we’re accepting our destiny.”
The controversy continued, as fans of
Ogechi and mine kicked against the idea of
separation between us. For all they cared, I
was her Prince Charming and should remain
so. The fame thing increased by the day,
and my name was spreading all over the
world. Soon enough, I began getting calls
from movie directors, asking for and
appearance in their movies, and music
producers, asking for a contract. Everything
seemed to be happening at the same time,
and the feeling was just so good, not to
forget the millions of dollars that kept
flooding in.
The only problem remained my relationship
with Ogechi. No matter how we tried to
wave that subject away, our fans just kept
chewing it like chewing gum. And when I
proposed to make Cynthia known to them as
my lady, they called her names and passed
judgment on her without even getting to see
her. The called her a separator of close
friends and a potential home breaker.
Castigations kept going to her from the
people who were bent on seeing Ogechi and
I together. It got so bad that Cynthia
couldn’t take curses anymore. She had gone
through a similar thing before after a nude
appearance of her on a Nigerian magazine,
which led to her fleeing the country. She
had made a good life for herself in the US
and wasn’t prepared to go through the same
thing again as she certainly would have if
she had not taken a bold step to let me go.
Yes she did. She resolved to let me and
Ogechi be for good.
I had become a star like Cynthia and
Ogechi, and it was obvious that the people
had always known me to be Ogechi’s Prince
Charming even without knowing me. So
when they eventually got to know me, they
weren’t ready to settle for anything else, be
it better or worse. Their wishes wouldn’t
influence our decision anyway, but the
problem was that they all saw Cynthia to be
the devil that had come to separate what
God had supposedly joined together. She
had two options; stick to me and risk her
reputation or let me go and continue living
without problems and a bad image. She
chose to let me go because she didn’t want
to be in a position where people will loath
her again. Secondly, I barely had time to
spend with her. It was always I and Ogechi
going places to perform our break up song.
And thirdly, she knew I and Ogechi were
still very much madly in love. Finally, I and
Ogechi had the chance to be together again
and live the life we had always dreamed of.
But we had something standing between us.
“THE RENOUNCEMENT”
To be continued.
