It was a random day in Obubra National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) camp, and I was taking a walk in Maami market with my course mate from the university when I saw some other Covenant University graduates, and we were introduced. I knew Ekele because of his role in Classical choir, but he was meeting me for the very first time. He was extra excited that day and proceeded to take a selfie–the very first one below (like he knew...) Fast forward to a few weeks later, we left camp as NCCF (Nigerian Christian Corpers Fellowship) state executives and proceeded to live together in the same house for the rest of the year. Were we friends? Eventually. Did we discuss what each person's vision for the future is? Yes. Did we like each other? Maybe. Did we discuss that with each other? Never. We waited for eight months after NYSC before bringing up this subject, and three weeks before officially starting a dating relationship (or courtship, as they say). Here we are six years later...the rest they say is history. 

I knew it was time to take this step and I knew I wanted it to be a surprise. The last time I saw Nkechi was 32 months before, and during that period, she had gone from a "I would like a really simple proposal with really close friends present" to "I don't really want a proposal". I figured that the change of heart was because she believed it could only happen virtually, so I stuck with the first prompt. With some help from family and close friends, I pulled it off. Her sister helped to confirm the size of her rings, and her friend posed like she was hosting a parting dinner before leaving the country. She (the friend) acted like her car had issues when we were stalling their arrival, and all the while Nkechi thought I was in a conference and couldn't talk as usual when I was actually on a flight to her. Nkechi thought it was a virtual proposal when I joined on Zoom, and eventually screamed because of disbelief when she turned to see me kneeling.  The tears, the disbelief, the laughter, and the love in her eyes made every single secret and plan worth it. I asked her the question I’d been rehearsing for weeks - she said yes (thankfully). And in that moment, everything felt right. The distance, the wait, the quiet sacrifices–it all led us to this chapter, the beginning of our forever.