“Adupe Olorun, Omowunmi, omo mi ma de ile”, Omowunmi’s mother sang. Mrs. Modupe Christianah Alade, alias “Mama Wunmi”, was a 65 year old retired bank executive. Her only daughter was coming back home after concluding her studies at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom.
Mama Wunmi sang like a bird as her driver chauffeured her to the airport to welcome her daughter. “Atanda, abeg drive faster, kilode, look for an alternative route to the airport, you know that her plane would land any time from now and we haven’t gotten to Ikeja yet”, she said. Atanda couldn’t afford to argue; he obliged and meandered through the inner streets, Mafoluku and Oshodi before hitting Ikeja Air force cantonment gate area. At this point Mama knew that they would soon arrive at the International wing of Murtala Mohammed Airport.
Atanda drove straight to the arrival lounge area parking lot. Just at that moment Mama could see her daughter standing with her luggage. Mama yelled, “Wunmi, Wunmi… Mo wa mbi oh”. Atanda and another personal aide, assisted with her luggage. After a while, mother and daughter where happily united. They hugged for a long time and mama sang for her daughter.
As the car drove off, Wunmi received a call, on her mobile phone. The call was from Debo, her boyfriend in the United Kingdom. They had been dating for a few months and it seemed that the relationship was getting more serious. Debo was a disc jockey and radio host. He would shuttle between Lagos and London, playing at gigs to earn a living. It was at one of the gigs in London that he met Wunmi, it wasn’t exactly love at first sight. Wunmi had recently broken up with Folarin her boyfriend in the last few months of her Masters.
The two lovers spoke for almost 15minutes, and Mama Wunmi wondered whether her daughter was speaking to Folarin? There was an expectant look in Mama’s face, as she waited patiently for the call to end. She could hear her daughter end the call with “I love you too”. Though Wunmi didn’t mention the name of the person she was speaking too, her mother concluded that it had to be Folarin on the other line, when she heard “I love you too”.
When the call ended, Mama Wunmi asked, “Omo mi,se Folarin ni?” Wunmi said the gentleman was just a friend. “Just a friend?”, said Mama, “ you dare tell him you love him”, she continued. She then asked, “So you and Folarin are no longer together abi?, I feel so sad to hear that Wunmi. And you didn’t even hint me. You guys would have made a happy couple, and would have given me beautiful grandchildren.” Wunmi kept quiet respectfully as her mother ranted about what could have been. Then Wunmi spoke up, “Mama, marriage is not everything you know. I am just 26years and I have a future ahead of me and I don’t even know what to do, now that I have finished my Masters. Folarin is okay, he ticks the right boxes, but Mother, the spark just wasn’t there again. It wasn’t like our high school days that were filled with sparks and lightning. I think I needed a break from Folarin, so I asked that we stopped seeing each other.”
Folarin, unlike Debo seemed to have a more stable job, extended family relationship and finances; his mother was a very wealthy politician with connections and was able to secure a lucrative job for her son at an investment bank in Lagos, Nigeria. Folarin and Wunmi were what you’d describe as high school sweet hearts, they had known each other for many years. The families of Folarin and Debo would undoubtedly love to see their two children get married someday. If Folarin wanted to marry Wunmi that week she arrived home, it would have happened.
The two families would set things in motion. The money for the wedding ceremony, the aso-ebi was not the problem. The only problem was Folarin getting Wunmi’s consent. Folarin hadn’t proposed yet, he wasn’t sure Wunmi would say “Yes”. His mother once asked him, “Fola, oko mi, what is the situation between you Wunmi, when are you going to propose to her?”…She continued, “You know Wunmi is a very good girl, a well brought up girl. She kept her head straight all this while and I am sure she would make a good wife…Son, whatever the issues both of you have, remember that love conquers all. And I know you Folarin, I carried you for 9months and I know that you still love her. Son, do try and see her once she comes back in a weeks’ time”… Folarin was truly in love Wunmi, but he didn’t want to tell his mother that they had broken up for the past few months.
Wunmi was the one who asked for the break up. She just wasn’t into Folarin any longer, like in their high school days. She didn’t give any reason. She said she needed sometime to discover herself. She needed to know who she really was. The death of her father, had somewhat made her a bit cold. She didn’t want to be that church girl, she wanted explore her youth and wasn’t ready for any long term commitment yet. Those were thoughts, laid bare for Folarin. It was difficult for him to take, but he had to move on somehow.
