The door comes crashing on its hinges. “ Hey take it easy what is the rush?” Wanita demands looking at Dayo, as he rushes in like some bull is at his heels.

“ I got it. I got it,” he screams excitedly, letting his tall frame settle on the seat opposite Wanita’s

“ What did you get”?

“The visa. I got it”

“ How wonderful” Wanita gets up and comes round to where Dayo is sitting

‘How wonderful’ she repeats.

“Yes it is sweetheart. Canada here I come’ he is elated. Wanita is glad to see Dayo happy. He had been morose these past weeks, waiting, yet not sure if he would get the visa. They feared he would possibly not get it. Three times they have tried thrice they failed. Dayo becomes unbearable to live with. His temper is terrible and he is most times not communicative.

“ The tickets. I want us to get the ticket straight away I don’t want to stay a day longer in this country”

“ Hey. Slow down I know you have been worried for long. I am glad things have worked out well. But we need to plan and prepare and this could take time. Besides my money is tied down for now having just splurged on goods for my shop and you know this”  Wanita watches as Dayo’s eyes blaze then dimes in his effort to control himself.

“What now?” he gives her a darkening look.

‘ Calm down’  Wanita walks back to her seat “it will be okay. Lets go home. We need to celebrate. I will call Becky and give her the good news” She quickly clears her desk, wondering what is going on, on Dayo’s mind.

His eyes are glued to the television set but Wanita knows, from the frown on his forehead and his habit of chewing his inside lower lips, as he is doing now, that his mind is far away from what is showing on the television.

* * *

Wanita had slept badly. There are dark rings round her eyes. She walks into the kitchen; make some coffee and pours herself a cup. She takes a packet of milk out of the fridge, pours a little into the cup, and returns the rest to the fridge slamming the door. The coffee tastes bitter. Wanita gulps a couple of swallows of the hot brew and abandons the still half full cup by the sink. Leaving the kitchen, she walk pass the bedroom into the bathroom. Dayo is still sleeping with one hand thrown over his face. Wanita steps into the shower pan and open the shower, full blast. The cold water from the shower helps to banish the ache that stir all around her body. She force her mind to stop thinking of the pending money matter as the water hit her body like the prick of tiny needles. She turns off the shower and steps off the shower pan. As she dries herself, she begins to think backwards. She and Dayo were officially engaged after barely a year of knowing each other. At thirty three she felt she was getting on in years and running out of time. Wanita was a single mother. Temi who is nine years old was the product of a relationship she had with a handsome young man, a construction firm owner she met immediately after her diploma program at the University of Benin. Having missed passing her JAMB Exam twice, Wanita enrolled for a diploma program in marketing. Olu had come into her life at a time when she needed help desperately. Her father had died just few months before she finished her diploma programme and she needed to get herself a good job. Olu had promised to use his connections to place her somewhere nice. She gullibly believed his story that he had lost his wife and had seen in her, someone he was willing to spend the rest of his life with. Unfortunately Wanita had been attracted by romantic displays and shows of cares instead of character. If she had been more focused, the relationship would not have ended in the messy case of unplanned pregnancy or the rejection and abandonment that followed. Wanita not only did not get the promised job, she was left with a pregnancy she was not prepared for. She also did not know how she was going to handle it. She turned to her mother, a struggling civil servant, for help. Her mother took the child in, to allow Wanita enough time to sort herself out. The whole situation was a result of wrong choices people sometimes make. Wanita’s mother took the pitfall personally. She blamed herself for not having guided her daughter well in the choices she makes in life for all the wrong reasons. After all, she knew Olu when her daughter was going out with him and it was her duty to investigate all his claims to ascertain that they were true. But like most matters of love, the cart always gets put before the horse. She should have talked her out of the relationship but they both had believed all the lies he told them until it was too late. The man was not only married with children but had another woman he kept outside. It was unfortunate. It was a lesson on getting proper information on the background of people one got acquainted with especially when it came to matters of the heart. Attaching too much value on what people claim to be without first verifying these claims could turn out to be major mistakes. Wanita did not want to believe that Dayo was not the man of her dreams. Though she was not able to know much about his years overseas or why he would not go back to Ohio, USA where he was initially, she knew him enough to assure herself that he was the man for her.

Dayo was from a very poor background. Every member of his family seemed to look up to him, hence his desire to go back by all means, not only so that they could get married quickly but also to help his mother and sister out of their miserable financial state, he said. Dayo’s older sister Funlola was a Deaconess in the church and dotted on her brother. Wanita was not too sure if she likes her but they got by together somehow. She always came over to visit them in Wanita’s house where Wanita and Dayo were living together. She appears a nice person. Anyway, Wanita chides herself; she is being paranoid, allowing her imagination to have the better of her. Dayo though a bit frustrated, is an okay guy. Dayo was just being moody. Wanita felt she could tolerate and cope with it. She loved him and if their relationship was to mean anything, they needed to understand one another’s flaws and be ready to accommodate them. There was no justification for any other action besides tolerance and patience.

Wanita finishes drying herself, she wraps the towel round her body and wonders if she could still try at having another cup of coffee. Dayo is still in bed. She quickly dress up in a pair of jeans and a body hugging tee shirt. She walks back toward the kitchen; switch on the kettle to boil. The Phone begins to ring. She picks it up. It is Becky. She is at Amaka’s place and they both want to know when Dayo is scheduled to leave for Canada. Wanita had called Becky to tell her the good news the afternoon before. Wanita needed to get out of the house for some bit of fresh air. Here was the opportunity. “I am on my way,” she says into the phone. Switching of the electric kettle, she picks the car keys off the bookshelf and dash out of the house.