Episode 6: The Song That Found Us
466 Words
Even after that Christmas morning, I couldn’t stop thinking about her.
Her smile. Her presence. The calm strength in her eyes.
But then… there was the song.
Peter Onuminya, my relative and close neighbour, often played music in the village.
One day, Patience heard a song Peter played and immediately fell in love with it.
“Who sang this?” she asked eagerly.
Peter laughed. “It’s my cousin from the village… Realface.”
Her eyes sparkled with curiosity.
She wanted to meet the village boy who could make such music.
Little did she know… that boy was me.
She kept asking Peter to show her the singer.
Peter teased her,
“I saw you and my cousin the other day.”
And then… the moment arrived.
She saw me.
Her eyes widened.
She asked for my phone, played the song again — my song, “Wonder” — and asked,
“Who owns this?”
I swallowed, my heart pounding.
“It’s mine. I wrote and sang it,” I told her softly.
Her hands froze over the phone.
“No… it can’t be!” she whispered.
“I’ve been trying to find this singer… and it’s you?”
I nodded, smiling nervously.
“Yes. All along, it was me.”
Her face lit up with disbelief and joy.
Her heart raced, and for a moment, she couldn’t stop staring.
I watched her, feeling the pull between us grow stronger.
Before returning to school, I made another version of “Wonder”, adding her name into the song.
It was my way of letting her know… she had changed everything.
The week we left, she traveled to Abuja. I returned to Makurdi.
Her mother had left for Abuja, but Patience had made a detour to Makurdi just to catch a vehicle.
We met at New Nyanya Park.
From that day on, we talked constantly.
“Good morning,” I said through the phone one morning.
“Morning,” she replied softly.
“How are you?”
“Better… now that I know it’s really you,” she whispered.
We laughed, teased, and shared little details about our days.
The distance never lessened the bond forming between us.
She introduced me to Dorcas (Opiotu), Onume, Grace, and Chi-Chi.
Life was becoming real.
Then came the unforgettable day.
Dorcas’ elder brother was having a wedding at Benue State University, Makurdi.
I couldn’t let the moment pass unnoticed.
I prepared a gift, wrapped carefully, a symbol of what I felt for her.
Inside was an engagement ring.
And a note.
A promise of the love I had been keeping in my heart for so long.
That day, I knew…
Nothing else mattered anymore.
Everything I had lost, every struggle, every challenge…
It had led me to her.
- Writer
