All about Oluchi...

I've been thinking about Oluchi. Maybe its cos I've thinking about marriage and all the girls i've known.

Oluchi is the only other girl besides Z that i've ever really admitted to myself that i actually love - or should i say, loved. I met Oluchi during my matric ceremony in FUTO - we were both matriculating, actually. My dad knew her mum - turned out we were from the same villa - so, we were introduced. I didn't see Oluchi again until weeks later when i ran into her at a buka with one of my course-mates, Bola; they were room-mates. Problem was I'd forgotten who she was, so Bola had to re-introduce us again, lol. We chatted for a while about this and that, exchanged room numbers (phone numbers and handsets were still in the future) with Bola playing match-maker in the background.... and that was it.

Oluchi and I weren't exactly close, but we had this... i dunno, special crazy connection - i'd start a sentence and she'd finish it, using the very same words i had in mind - damn, it WAS crazy. My friends knew it, her friends knew; it was all over the two of us. And then....

And then, i asked her to be my girlfriend.

And she said "no".

And i asked "why?"

And she said cos she's engaged.

And i asked to whom.

And she started telling me this dog-bites-chicken story of some dude somewhere far far away.... She was lying - she knew it, i knew it and she knew i knew it - but i was too hurt to pursue the issue. I was too hurt... I'd prepared for days for this, i was so sure, the signs were all there... I was numb with hurt. But hey, life goes on right? So i went away, bearing away my rejected heart - i don't know how to put this, how to explain in words what it felt like. I couldn't think straight for days.

Oluchi was sorry - really, really sorry - giving me the "we-can-still-be-friends" line. Fcuk that, i said; 2nd place is for suckers. But Oluchi persisted - bless her heart - she kept on calling and checking on me until i relented, and we became more or less friends again. Whatever the fcuk that was.

We got close again in final year; that was 4 years later and i was now... well, i wasn't the good boy i used to be anymore. But Oluchi didn't seem to mind, guess she took me just the way i was. She'd just moved off-campus and her house was somehow close to mine - but it wasn't the same any more. Rejection isn't something one forgets easily, plus i now had a string of girlfriends. Ok, maybe not a whole string, but definitely a handful, yep. Oluchi invited me to her place one night. I went. But nothing happened - i liked Oluchi too much for just a one-night stand, but my pride wouldn't let me get back together with her. Plus there was now this girl i really liked a lot. So i went away, and....

And the next day, Oluchi got herself a new boyfriend. Hell's gat no fury as a woman scorned. But there's one question i still can't wrap my head around to this day: Why did Oluchi refuse me when i was her's to keep??

All that is history now shaa. Oluchi is married now; she gave birth late last year. We still call each other, and she still laughs at my jokes. But sometimes, i wonder...