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 to 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 you 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 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.
