Butterflies.

You see, love is a beautiful thing don’t let people that know nothing about it tell you otherwise — G.I

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Love happens in the most unpredictable moments. Sometimes, it happens on a rainy day, on a lonely street, wrapping you and your wet clothes into a warm hug. Sometimes, it happens on a long BRT queue while you are cussing the government out. Sometimes, it happens in a hot lecture room as you struggle to sign attendance. Some other times, it’s a chuckle during your presentation in the conference room at work- this was my own case.

If you ask Tunji, he would say he fell in love with me the first day he saw me but, why do men lie? The first day Tunji saw me, he stepped on my black shiny Christmas shoes and I had run to my mother to cry. He was 13 and I was 11. Our families were closely knitted until terrorism started to tear Jos apart and both families had to bid each other goodbye as we fled for our lives.

The second time we met was at a beach party while I was in the university. My partner had abandoned me because I was dulling him, and some random guy had attempted to harass me. From nowhere, Tunji had shown up and fought for me apparently, someone from his school had invited him and his date has ditched him too. He was in his final year and I was in 200L.

I didn’t recognize him at first because who was this new ripped looking man and where was my skinny bully? We had gisted all night and by morning he booked me a cab back to school and begged me to be careful. I wanted to say that I had missed him and his mother’s tuwo shinkafa and kunu but I couldn’t find the words. If you ask him, he would say he wanted to ask me when he could see me again but when I said I did not have a phone, he left our fate to chance. Again, why do men lie?

The third time was in a conference room. I had a presentation to make that I kind of forgot to prepare for only to get to the office and find out that we had a new boss in “town”. The fact that my new boss was Tunji didn’t help one bit. My presentation was a mess and just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, Tunji chuckled.

He also proceeded to tackle me further. I wanted the ground to open and swallow me but most importantly, I wanted to kill someone’s son. I was so embarrassed, I think tears gathered in my eyes, he saw it and brought the meeting to a close and asked me to wait behind. He said he didn’t mean to make me cry, I said he has been making me cry since I was 11 and he asked for a chance to make up for it and I nodded.

In two weeks, we would be married for 25 years. I am 50, he would be 52 in a couple of days and we are still in love, so in love. Oh, if you ask him, he would say this was not how the story went but we all know that all men do is lie.