For Days And A Night By Seun Odukoya

INTRODUCING MR. SEUN ODUKOYA


Dear friends, I will love you all to meet the gifted Mr. Seun Odukoya, a poet and a writer whose writings always strike me as fresh, unassuming and straight to the point. His work "For Days And A Night" will be featured today on this blog with a short excerpt preceding the completed work which has been embedded into this post. Enjoy!

Find him on Twitter - @seunodukoya



He does not love me...

I know that the same way I know his name. The same way I know his touch, what he likes to eat, his kisses – and all the other details that are not for public consumption.

But somehow, he has won his way into my heart. I love him unfortunately.

How do I deal with that?

I go through the ceremony with my heart in my mouth. I don’t know what he will do. I’m so scared.

This does not make any sense to me. Why am I here? It’s not like I’m pregnant. But I will be honest and confess that I maneuvered him into a place where he had no choice but to ask. Why did I do that?

Because I love him. I love him.


That probably does not make any sense to you, but it means everything to me. Add the love thing to the fact that I’m twenty-eight…and you begin to see some sort of reason. Seun always said that it’s better to marry late and marry happy than to marry early and live in regret. But then Seun is a man. What does he know about a woman’s heart? Her fears?

Speaking of Seun – he said he’d be here. I haven’t seen him. But if he said he would be here he would – Ah; there he is.

He and that infernal pad of his. Always scribbling something – the same way he scribbled through the three entire weeks we were together. He still is, here at my wedding. Scribbling.

I wonder what he’s writing.

I look at my husband. He’s having a conversation with Oxygen; his best-man and right hand man. I watch them talk and I feel a small sting of jealousy. How can he be so comfortable with a man? I wish he would talk to me like that; give his entire being to me for the duration of a conversation, listen to my words as though they mean the very life of him. His very essence.

I watch my husband and I remember a tense moment during the signing of the marriage register. He had paused and looked at me in that unsmiling way of his. I think I had a slight heart attack. I kept thinking; What is he doing? What is he about to do? Oh my God – he’s going to do this here?! Now??!

And then he smiled at me and signed. I nearly peed myself. I felt a warm hand squeeze mine gently in a silent gesture of reassurance. It was Bola, one of my course mates back in the university. I remember smiling at her gratefully while thinking to myself that she wasn’t one of my friends – in fact as far as friendship goes we’re just acquaintances. But she was there for me at that moment.

That nearly brought tears to my eyes.

I’m woolgathering. If I had not been I would have noticed that my husband and his best man have stopped talking and are staring at me. I start guiltily and avert my eyes shyly but not before I see my husband smile. I look back at him and he leans over and kisses me.

To say I am shocked would be the understatement of the year. Before I can wrap my head around the strangeness of the moment, I feel tiny bangers erupt all over my body. I feel like I would fall at any moment – so I hold onto him for dear life.

After a long moment which I’m sure is only a few seconds in reality he stops kissing me and I become aware of the crowd’s loud cheers. I open my eyes reluctantly and look in my husband’s. His eyes are vague; opaque glasses that reflect mine but there’s a faint smile on his lips. I’m grateful for that, at least.

I sit properly again and lower my eyes shyly as the guests continue to cheer. Putting my left hand against my heaving bosom, I try – albeit futilely to still my pounding heart. I love him.

I make a silent promise to myself. I will make this marriage work with everything that is me.


Read the rest of the story below...

For Days and a Night