IDOLS: With you or Not, Honey is Honey

Before the finale, don’t miss any one of the previous episodes. Links below:
Episode 1 Episode 2
Episode 3 Episode 4
Episode 5 Episode 6
Finale: With you or Not, Honey is Honey
1 John 5:21 “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.”
 
She was worried, angry, surprised. She had been trying his line since the day she went over to his, it was either unreachable or just left ringing. Her What’s App texts were left on double ticks. It had been three days for God’s sake. What’s going on with him? Has he moved out of town? Is he in danger? Is he on the run because of me?
She wanted to call his friends but she only knew Manny, his colleague at work and she didn’t even have his contact. There was a Dare Demetrius often talked about, but she had never met him, she had only heard much about him, how could she reach him? It was when she had to reach him through someone else that she realized she knew no one else in Demetrius life and this sudden realization more than unnerved her. Was she even a serious part of his life? They had been in a relationship for close to five months and yet he hadn’t said anything about her meeting his family. Was he just playing around with her? He had just upped and disappeared and she could not even tell what direction her fiancé of several months had headed. What if he had travelled out of the country?
When Abigail could handle her doubts no longer she decided to pray and seek advice.
David told her not to worry so much but she should have faith in God and trust Deme, he believed Demetrius loved her and wouldn’t just break her heart like that but Peju wasn’t so liberal.
“If he’s always making you question your place in his life, if you’re always in doubt of his love, of your importance to him, then I think the foundations of this relationship should be revisited.”
Finally, someone gets it. “Exactly. Ever since I told him about my past, he has built this wall around the topic. He wouldn’t talk about it, he wouldn’t even let me in on what he thinks of me. I’m always wondering if every time he looks at me, he sees a whore” As she spoke, free tears rolled.
David sighed and reclined, he looked at his wife. They were silent for some seconds.
“This is why I advised you to tell him from the onset before you were committed to him, it’s easier to break things off earlier” David’s subdued tone made Abigail’s heart ache.
“I just didn’t want to spill my ugly things before a stranger, now I know better. Maybe, if I had told him earlier, he wouldn’t have proposed and we won’t be here. Maybe I was just afraid of losing him then, but now am I still not losing him? It would have been better earlier on, this was bound to happen. My past would always pop in the face of my joy, won’t it?”
“One would think a man like Demetrius would be wiser” Peju was angry. “If he doesn’t want to be with you he should say it, it’s his loss. We don’t have time to be sitting in the rocking chair of an aimless relationship”
Abigail’s heart was hammering now, she didn’t want to think of losing Demetrius.
“I don’t want to lose him, I love him” She couldn’t even say how deeply she did.
“The question is, does he love you?-”
“Ye-” David stopped her from giving an answer off the top of her head.
“Are you as certain of his love as you are of yours?”
Now, she could only blubber. Her phone started ringing.
Peju saw how Abigail’s face lit up the moment she saw the caller ID and she knew it was Demetrius before she whispered an awestruck ‘it’s him’ and excused herself to take the call. With Abigail out of earshot, she turned to David.
“What is wrong with this Demetrius guy? Is he blind? Can’t he see how he’s messing up this gift God is giving him? How shallow can a believer be?”
“Apparently, not many believers can see past their nostrils. I’m just quite amazed, when I talked with him he had such strong convictions that one would think a hurricane wouldn’t budge it but..” He shrugged.
“We need to talk with him”
“Hopefully, that achieves something, but more importantly we need to pray for them”
Aanu ran into the living room, with soiled hands. “Mummy, mummy, Daddy” she hyperventilated. “My seeds have finished”
“Ooops. And what is the world greatest Agriculturist without any seed?” Peju teased her
“A culturist?”
Peju laughed. “I didn’t know that. Don’t worry darling, I will get you viable seeds when next I go to the market”
Aanu brightened. “Thank you mummy, thank you”
“Now tell me, what does viable seed mean?” David quizzed.
“A seed that is good for planting and is not dormant”
Peju clapped, impressed. “That’s my super smart girl”
Beaming, she skittered off.
Abigail walked into the living room, smiling. “He went home and it turned out there was a family wedding, then someone died and he just found himself caught up in a hot mess”
Peju nodded. “Is it just me or does this story sound very made u-”
David shot her a quelling glance “It’s just you”
She raised her hands. “Fine. Abigail, you need to know what God is saying about all these and you have to talk, like actually have a talk that cuts deep with your man”
The surface excitement of hearing from Demetrius was gone, her palpitations were back.
****
As time went by, Demetrius grew more and more distant. The spark between him and Ruth had crackled violently when her Dad died. A feeling of compassion and a need to fix Ruth’s world made Demetrius feel indebted to her. It was solely because of her he had stayed back in Osogbo till Wednesday. While he grieved with her, they had sombre talks that became strong binding cords. She was easy to talk to, she loved the things of God, She had had her fair share of life troubles. And somehow, by indirect and carefully chosen random questions, Demetrius found out she was a virgin. She was the real deal.
When he prayed about her, he wasn’t seeking direction, he was placing his decision before God and asking for validation. He heard nothing and he convinced himself that God’s silence was acquiescence, even though he knew he had no peace about it in his Spirit.
The closer he got to Ruth over phone calls, video calls and chats, the more flawed Abigail became in his sight. He all of a sudden had a problem with several things that were fine by him, and even endeared him in the past. What with the dainty carriage? Why did she roll back her shoulders and hold up her head like she was a movie star? Why did she have to smile so lavishly often? Why did she wear make-up? Did her earrings have to dangle? How won’t she get raped when almost everything she did drew attention to her?
With all of these going on, there were still days when Demetrius was enthralled by her, days when he knew with no doubt that she was perfect for him and it was for the sake of moments like those that he remained in the relationship, although he was disengaged and tepid.
It was becoming more and more glaring to Abigail that staying in the relationship was drawing her back and draining her. She felt like maintaining the relationship was like trying to walk on thin graphite, she had to watch her footfalls so she wouldn’t slip or break the thin sheet of graphite beneath her. Nothing seemed to be of help, even the counselling session with the Collins was like good water being poured out on a rock. When she turned to God, his instructions were clear. She had to quit mourning Saul, he had rejected God’s gift and had therefore been rejected from being fit to be her King, there was a David to come and till then, the Lord promised to fill her horn with fresh oil.
It was a real struggle letting go, but the moment she decided to obey God and follow him by faith was when she received a new spring to her gait.
The break up was really simple. Demetrius didn’t ask why, he didn’t fight for what they had, he simply said ‘okay’ stood up and walked away. Did she imagine it or did she hear him sigh a really long sigh? A burden had been lifted, she had helped him do what he had been finding hard, was that it? As easily as doily landing in trash, their relationship of six months was dropped.
Abigail didn’t hear from Demetrius till the next six months –the ease with which he moved on made her wonder if she really ever mattered to him –and when she did, he hit her up on WhatsApp with the picture of an invitation card.
****
“You may now kiss your bride” The MC boomed into the mic. “Since you people did not kiss in church”
He smiled at Abigail, she smiled back at him and stealthily collected a wrap of sweet from her chief bride’s maid. Just when she was about to pop it into her mouth, he held her hands and drew her close, into her ears he spoke, raising his voice above the trumpet blast the DJ released from his system.
“I’m certain that sweet has nothing on your honey”
“Isn’t that you?”
He cupped the back of her neck and kissed her.
“Enough o! Our brethren. These guys seem to be experienced, hah. Me I will not say anything o” The congregation thundered a laugh in response to the MC’s silly remark.
Demetrius looked away, his stomach clenched tight. It had been three years since his relationship with Abigail ended, he was now married to Ruth with a son, why did it matter that she was kissing her husband? Why did he feel bereft? Maybe it’s because the groom was his bosom friend and for no reasonable reason that felt like betrayal. In his defence, Dare only made advances after he had married Ruth and he told him before he proposed. Demetrius should be happy, he had a wife and a son, Abigail was just getting married, he was better off –was he?
He wished he was in Dare’s shoes and he was willing to give everything to be there. They were now dancing to a slow love song and Demetrius fought tears. Ruth was the idyllic wife he thought he needed, but now he knew better. On several nights, Demetrius would come home burdened from work, or with an issue on his mind but he wouldn’t even want to share it with his wife, she almost always had nothing to say asides ‘Hmmm, it is well’ or ‘Let’s sha be praying’ or any other empty line that made Demetrius wonder how he ended up with a woman like her. How could a person be so religious and pious yet so spiritually shallow and carnally minded? Was he even any better?
Every now and again, he remembered the long, meaningful conversations he had with Abigail, the nights she prayed with him, received a word for him and discussed with him over the phone, their priceless Thursday meetings. All the promises God made to them, the prophecies. He threw all of that away for what? The fact that she wasn’t a virgin. Looking back, it was just plain dumb. How had he idolized virginity so much that it blocked his spiritual senses and even reasoning?
Well, he got what he wanted, he married a virgin Ruth but asides a hymen that went down in one night, she had little else to offer. Oh yeah, she was beautiful but if all there is to a person’s beauty is what can be seen with the eyes, with time and repeated seeing, it becomes lacklustre.
Ruth prodded him with her elbow. “Why are you staring at them like that?”
“How am I staring at them?”
She said nothing in response but he knew she had picked a fight and she wouldn’t stop until she had ferreted every bit of the thoughts that ran through his mind. When she turned her head and looked away, it seemed to Demetrius like she snapped her fingers in his face and said ‘You will see when we get home’. The last thing he wanted was to return home after to yet another nagging episode. He sighed, his head was aching already. This is the life you chose.
As Dare spun her around she giggled, recalling how hard she fought against being with him.
The odds were too heavy against him and the greatest was that he was Demetrius’ close friend. It just didn’t feel right, but it was. She sighed, how God orchestrates his good plan is something of an enigma. With Dare, she never struggled to be accepted, she was not reminded of her past negatively, Dare loved her. She could say that confidently. He treated her like a queen not a privileged dog.
She looked into the crowd and saw Mr. Olujimi and his wife looking amazing in a matching outfit. His wife held their son to her torso and Abigail saw again that she was a really beautiful woman, she was happy they were happy. She too was happy with Dare. She was glad she obeyed God and let go when she needed to, she couldn’t even imagine living the rest of her life trying every day to win her husband’s approval.
The MC gave Dare the mic to say something about his bride. The sweet things he said made Abigail want to yank off her heels, grab the train of her gown and run out of the upscale hall. Because there was no way all these could be for her.
The thief came to steal, kill and destroy, but I have come to give you life and that abundantly. Bask in it, beloved.
Before, she bottled her tears for the sake of sluicing down her mascara and ruining her make-up, but now, she could not care less.
THE END
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