Jesus! Jesus! Help him!

 

I can still remember the cool 😎 October morning as I woke up to sound of my phone 📱 ringing continuously, at first I was mad 😡 wondering who had the nerve to call me at such an odd hour and with such ferocity; until I picked up my phone and saw it was my intended. "hello beautiful, I am so sorry to have  disturbed your sleep but I wanted us to have our last conversation in this chapter of our life before we begin the new one in a few hours" came his cherry voice. I still remember the day we met at the school gate; he was a scrawny looking teenager who  was two classes below me and I was the senior prefect. On that faithful day, he had come late to school and it was my duty as SP to punish him, but I couldn't cos he walked up to me and said in a trembling voice when I asked why he was late to school: "I am late today cos I knew you would be on gate duty, and I wanted to tell you that you are the prettiest girl in the entire school". "Achalugo m are you there?" He asked jolting me out of my daydream abi na night dream "I am here my love, but you know I can't talk right now I need to rest so I can have the energy for our big day tomorrow", I replied. "Alright love, just know that I love you so much and I'll be a better man in this new phase" he replied with so much love in his voice I could barely speak. "Good night b" I said softly returning back to bed.
"Nneka! Nneka!!" screamed my mum. "Kunie oto o (get up) or do you want to be late for your big  day, okwa ya? (Is that it)". Grudgingly.. I pulled off the covers and walked into the   ot before putting my favorite jam on repeat though.As I took  bathe shower 🚿 I couldn't help but think about the fact that in a few hours I would no longer be that independent lady struggling to make her mark in this world 🌎 but rather a wife to a husband and very soon a mother to children 👶. How was I going to do it...." Ore! na you be bathing o, for the past 20minutes, you dey scrub your singleness commot?" screamed my best friend Ife as she banged on the bathroom 🚽 door. I jolted out of my thoughts 💭 turned off the shower and quite honestly I can't recall what happened after I stepped out of the bathroom 🚽. Several hours later I stood in front of the mirror in my elizabetherian dress 👗, my face so beat that I did not recognize myself and my heart beating severely, not out of anxiety but out of excitement.
"I Nneka Daisy Okemba take you Patrick Hassan Nuhu to be my lawfully wedded husband, one that I will love and cherish till I die" I said smiling as I heard the pastor say "I pronounce you husband and wife, you may now kiss 😘 the bride". I slowly turned and looked into the eyes of my husband and I almost drowned in it because the love I saw made me weak in my knees and as our lips collided it felt like a combination of all the best ice cream flavours one could find. I was married to my true love and we had shared our first kiss in front of our friends and family, it was wonderful or so I thought.
"Am so glad we are married now my love" he said "I could do this everyday" I replied.
"Oga" called Ahmed the driver "e be like say road block for front o , we no go fit pass oga". "Oh God! Now we are going to be late for our own reception, Ahmed go see what's causing the holdup". "yes oga" Ahmed replied as he hurried out of the car. "You my love look lovely, this your makeup artist changed you o, I almost didn't recognize you " said Patrick with a teasing smile "leave me jor! As if you were not tripping all over again" I said. "True though! I was tripping, umm one minute dubem is calling me". Dubem is his best friend and best man, we all went to school together and we were called the three musketeers."Ugo m,let me go see what's causing the blockade" Patrick said as he dropped the call and kissed me on my forehead and made to open the door. "honey no need" I muttered. "stay with me here, it would clear up soon love". "not to worry love I would be back before you know it, besides Dubem says mum and dad are worried" he said smiling reassuringly at me as he stepped out. I picked up my phone and began to reply the numerous congratulatory messages that kept popping into my phone, Patrick had been gone for a while I thought, maybe he's been the good guy and trying to.... " Jesus! Jesus!! help him its falling " screamed a lady from outside cutting my thoughts. My body practically jumped out of the car before I could think about what could be going on out there, as I picked up my dress and ran towards the crowd all I could hear were whispers of " oh my God , they are newly wedded" my mind refused to think it , it couldn't be I was so sure it was not myself and Patrick they were referring to,Then I saw Ahmed screaming "oga o oga, oga try move your body". I froze as I saw my beloved lying helplessly on the ground looking more like a little child who was asleep peacefully , unmoving and very pale " noooooo!!! not Patrick!!!" I screamed as I allowed the darkness to take me and I went into its lovely arms







"One, two, three,four, come on sweety, you can do it! I believe in you just take one more step and you're there" I heard myself saying to the man I called my husband  who was now a shadow of the man I said I do to exactly 2years ago. Agh! Yes! It's our anniversary today and unlike the first one we had spent in the hospital , this one is being spent in the best physiotherapy facility in the world 🌎 which felt like a world class hotel except of course for the dormant smell of chronic pain killers . How did I get here God! Marriage hadn't been the fairy tale I imagined at all. In fact I didn't see the reason why the bed had not been defiled during courtship because now in the so called holy matrimony it couldn't happen because Patrick had lost the use of his, well you know what he lost.
How does one cope, I have no idea how the courage to not leave  or forsake him came about because I was at a crossroad. My own mother would not speak to except I left and I quote her " that unfortunate Hausa demon you married, thank God he's impotent at least my grandchildren are safe somewhere". It's  funny how when he was lavishing her with gifts and Money and the car he was the best son inlaw any woman could have, she was his campaign manager even when I started having cold feet. My friends nko!, they called for six months and stopped and when you call them they would either not pick up or answer you with so much cold in their voice you would think they were in Russia. His own family on the other hand, manages to send cheques monthly but won't take my calls or even call, not to talk of visit. It has been hard, staying with the man I love has been the hardest thing I Nneka have done in my entire life. I don't know if he would ever walk properly, I don't know if our marriage would work, I don't know if we would have children but one thing am sure of is that no matter how hard it gets our love would get us through but if that fails, then I know our love is not true, because true love stands the test of time.