“𝑌𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑚𝑦 𝑓𝑎𝑣𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝐶𝒉𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑚𝑎𝑠
𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑔—𝑖𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑠 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑡𝒉𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑐.”

• • •

Ìfẹ́ was waiting for the holiday season to come. Though she always loved Christmas, this one was special. She believed that Christmas was a season of Love. For Ìfẹ́, Christmas was like a prince on a white horse who came every year to meet his princess and brought a whole lot of love, warm hugs, and princess’s favorite candies.

“It’s been seven years eight months and eighteen days.”

She always loved to do that. To count the exact number of days to the last figure whenever she missed him. It gave her the butterflies out of the excitement of meeting him after such a long time. They always loved Christmas. She got the best hugs and most peaceful nap on his chest listening to his heart beats during that season.

They were so much in love with each other from the very first day they met. Yes, theirs was love at first sight. University freshman year made two different people from different parts of the country fall in love with each other the way she fell in love with Christmas.

They were so happy with each other. They were running around in the streets of Tanke, Ilorin, holding each other’s hands. It was like whole city was singing along to the song in their heart.

It was their farewell, their convocation from University of Ilorin was over and with that, her Christmas with him was over. These university sweethearts promised each other on their farewell night to meet each other again in the same city. Beforehand, Ìfẹ́ had responsibilities for her parents. Her parents were calling their daughter from across the hills and rivers; from the place of her birth, Eko. And he went to further his education in England, earning a Masters and a PhD degree.

They were separated only by distance, not by heart. Their love never changed for each other despite being thousands of miles away. Every night, they planned their future together over WhatsApp video calls. She used to think of the design of ‘Aso oké’ she’s would wear on her traditional wedding day and what not.

Finally, the day came, and they both packed their things and got ready to catch their flight to Ilorin. They got jobs in the same city. It was like the whole universe wanted them to unite. It was probably the happiest journey of her life. All the way through clouds she couldn’t think of anything but his smiling face. She didn’t know how she would react and what it would be like to meet him after so many years.

She stepped into the city of her dreams. The city that gave her the greatest happiness, the city that brought never ending love to their lives. It was the same city that she left seven years ago. Nothing had changed except it looked more delighted that day. The city was lightened up as it was Christmas Eve. The harmattan also gave the most beautiful vibe. She couldn’t be happier.

And she didn’t have to wait so long. Everything around her stopped the moment she saw him. She didn’t realize what was happening around her until he snapped his fingers and said in his cutest voice, “Hey, beautiful, how have you been?"

She had been dying to reach this moment, but now, all she could do was stare at him.

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way!

Okay, she was awake. Oh God! She thought she had fallen asleep and was dreaming. But it was all happening. This was the moment she had been eagerly waiting for. He was standing right in front of her. Wait! He was not there. Maybe she was hallucinating after all. It took her a few seconds to realize that he went down on his knees with a ring on his hand.

"Hey, beautiful,” he said, “Will you be my wife?”

She froze. She wanted to say something, she wanted to react, but she was blank. Everything was happening so fast.

The moment she nodded with a smile, she felt something slip into her finger; it was a beautiful ring. 

It took her a lot of courage to say, "I’ve always been yours, love.” And the next moment, they hugged each other with tears of happiness in their eyes.

This Christmas was way more beautiful for her. She woke up to a breakfast in bed with birds chirping outside the window. There was stillness on the street. Their cold hands rubbed against each other under the blanket in search of warmth. Her Christmas wish was fulfilled.

Written by Ayodeji Ajagbe.