Bedtime Story-Episode Three

             

Early in the morning on Christiana’s 25th birthday, she laid still on her bed staring into space. Ever since she woke up, she had been thinking about how muddled up her life had been. A life she was sure her parents lived for her. They had designed her life the way they wanted it to look like. Her father was good at drawing every event of her life, while her mother was good at adding colours to his drawings. Christiana had no siblings, so the entire burden of Coker’s affairs rested on her shoulder. To her parents she was still a baby who must be told what to do at every moment of her life.  They choose the kind of friends she kept, the kind of food she ate and painfully, they choose her career and quenched her passion for African art. They mocked her anytime she showed them the beautiful drawing of the Nok art she had made. Her father was also good at breaking any sculpture she made. They wanted her to be a lawyer like everyone in the Coker family. Her father was a Senior Advocate of Nigeria; same was her grandfather. Her great grandfather was once a prominent minister of justice in Nigeria. Anytime she talked about her burning desire for drawing and moulding, they asked her if the richest man in Nigeria was a “drawer”.  “Artist” she had corrected them several times, but they never listened. After a while, she gave up on her passion for art. Although, Christiana loved to fight for her right in every matter that concerned her, she never had the nerves to do so when it came to her parents. She knew her parents went through hell before they had her. It took Christiana’s mother seven years before she became pregnant after her exquisite wedding. Prior to her pregnancy, she and her husband had visited many prominent gynaecologists both home and abroad. They prayed at any religious centre and never cared if it was against their beliefs or not. Eventually, she conceived and gave birth to a baby boy. However, their joy quickly vanished into thin air when after three months, one day the baby slept and did not wake up from his sleep. It took her several months to regain her sanity.  A year after the death of the little boy, Christiana was born. Many times she stayed awake while she slept to be sure Christiana was still breathing.

            

The door opened and the sound caught Christiana’s attention. She beamed as she watched Honey rush into her room looking excited. She jumped on the bed and threw her hands round her mother. Her cheeked bone hung high as she smiled. Honey was a good replica of her father. She took after her father’s fair complexion and the oval shape of his head. She wrote with her left hand like her father. However Christiana’s parents refused to accept that fact that she looked more like her father. They always said with pride that Honey was her mother’s carbon copy.

            

 “You are not happy on your birthday,” Honey said gently into her mother’s left ear. She was used to talking into her mother’s ear despite the fact that there was no one eavesdropping their conversation.

              

“I am happy,’ Christiana lied.

            

“But you don’t look it. My happiest day is always my birthday,” she said and her mother smiled. She wondered why it won’t be her happiest day. Her grandparents never stopped to surprise her with very expensive gifts on her birthday. Whatever she asked them to buy; they bought more than she wanted. They treated Honey just like they owned her so she grew up confused about who truly her parents were. Her grandparents occurred to her like her own parents and her mother, Christiana was just like her sister. Her grandparents loved it that way because it pushed away questions she would have asked about her father. However, when she started to know her right from her left, she began to question why she and her mother shared the same parents. Then she asked who her father was. Quickly, her grandparents said she wouldn’t love to know him because he was a bad man. Since she had all the love and care she needed as a child, she never pestered her family about her father.

         

“You don’t look happy,” Honey said after a brief silence.

         

“But I am happy,” Christiana said, smiling and Honey shook her head. She started to giggle when Christiana tickled her. “Can you see that I am very happy?”

         

 “Mommy!” she exclaimed, after she laughed very loud. “There is something that I need to show you,” she said into her mother’s ear. All of a sudden, Honey jumped from the bed, and then she tried to pull her mother out of her bed. Christiana laughed as she watched the way she pulled her with all of her strength and still she didn’t move.

          

 “Ok!” Christiana shouted before she stood up and they walked hand in hand out of the bedroom to the sitting room. It was a huge surprise when she saw her parents, a few of her close friends and colleagues at work as well as her fiancé in the sitting room. She was so stunned that she stood speechless as she watched them sing her a birthday song. On a glass centre table was a huge pink and white cake.  While the celebration was going on, Tunde, her fiancé asked for a perfect silence and he got people thinking of what he wanted to do as he walked to stand behind Christiana. All of a sudden, he blindfolded her with his hands and he led her through the exits of the house. He stopped when they walked into the big compound of her parent’s mansion, then he let his hands off her eyes.

Christiana stood still as she stared surprisingly at the Mercedes G Wagon right before her. Tunde went on his knees as he presented the car key to her before her parents and friends who cheered after she took the key from him. She hugged him and they kissed briefly. Although she was completely overwhelmed that he bought her a car she had been eyeing, she didn’t show much excitement. It didn’t bother her fiancé because he felt she was too happy. Tunde’s sensitivity to know what she loved or wanted made her fall in love with him.

 

Christiana met Tunde for the first time at her parents’ wedding anniversary party. Right from the moment when he refused to let go his eyes from her, she knew he was interested in her. Despite the fact that she tried to avoid his presence, he went anywhere she went. When her mother noticed Tunde’s eyes glued on her daughter, she quickly introduced Christiana to him as though she did not know him before. A week after the anniversary party, he paid her a visit every other day and to her dismay her parents were so quick to show their approval when he told them he was interested in her.

“Mommy, he has a very big nose and a very long face. He is so proud,” Christiana had complained bitterly about Tunde when her parents refused to talk about anyone else, but him. His unappealing physical appearance and his saucy character weren’t their concern. They were quite taken by his possessions and his parents' social status. Tunde was born with a silver spoon and he was famous for his business prowess, which made Christiana’s parents feel she was very weird when she refused his engagement ring that most ladies would die to wear.

Christiana's disposition towards Tunde changed when following her parents’ advice he began engaging her with discussions on African art, especially the Nok culture. Rather than talking about the expensive trips he made round the world and how he would still be rich even if he didn’t lift a finger, he talked about the Nok culture. She began to open up, talking to him wholeheartedly. He listened to her, but tiredly, as she talked continuously about her hatred for dying African art, especially the Nok culture that vanished under unknown circumstances. Heeding her parents' advice, he bought her the painting of her favourite foreign artist, the portrait of Mona Lisa instead of buying her Louis Vuitton or Gucci bags. He bought her a handmade card by a Nigerian instead of an imported card when her parents told him how much she adored such. Her parents also advised him to take their daughter to museums and art galleries and he should always choose chocolate without peanut and caramel for her. Consequently, she loved the way he loved everything that she loved. She saw it as an opportunity to live with someone that would see the possibility in her dreams unlike her parents. When he proposed to her again, she accepted his diamond ring wholeheartedly. She had been part of a drama written and staged by her parents, one in which she knew nothing about the script.

 

...........To be continued