Episode 7: The Promise Across Distance
482 Words
The week had been long. Every morning I woke with the same thought: Patience. My heart. The girl who had unknowingly become the center of my world.
I had 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.
I didn’t hand it to her personally. Instead, I sent it through Dorcas in Makurdi, trusting her to deliver it safely to Patience in Abuja.
Every day, I imagined her holding the box in her hands, slowly unwrapping it. My chest tightened at the thought.
Would she accept it? Would she understand everything I felt for her?
Meanwhile, far away in Abuja, Patience sat on the edge of her bed, the late afternoon sun spilling through the window. Her fingers trembled as Dorcas handed her the carefully wrapped gift.
She hesitated, staring at the package, her mind racing.
Could this really be from him? The boy I first heard on Peter’s phone… the one whose song “Wonder” I couldn’t stop playing…
Her heartbeat quickened. Slowly, she undid the ribbon, peeled away the paper, and there it was: the engagement ring, gleaming softly.
And then she read the note.
“Patience, every struggle, every challenge, every moment that life threw at me… led me to you. I choose you. Always.”
She pressed the note to her chest, overwhelmed. Tears threatened to fall as memories flooded back:
The Christmas morning in the village, when she first met him in person.
The way he had looked at her, quietly, nervously, like he already knew she was important.
The first time she had heard his voice on Peter’s phone… the song “Wonder” that had captivated her heart.
Her chest heaved with emotion.
“I… I can’t believe this,” she whispered.
“The boy I heard on Peter’s phone… the one I wanted to meet… it’s really him.”
She held the ring close, feeling the weight of the promise I had sent across the miles.
Her fingers traced its edges, imagining the hand that had picked it out, the heart that had crafted the note.
Meanwhile, in Makurdi, I paced my room, staring at the phone.
Had she received it? Was she happy? Nervous? Did she understand how much this meant to me?
I sent her a message:
"Did it reach you safely?"
Minutes felt like hours.
Then her reply came:
"Yes… I… I don’t know what to say. I’m… speechless."
A smile spread across my face. Relief, joy, and longing intertwined.
Even from a distance, even with the miles between us, I felt closer to her than ever.
Love, I realized, wasn’t about proximity.
It was about choosing each other, no matter the distance.
No matter the challenges.
And that… we had done already.
- Writer
