I remember this tree behind our school. Its flowers were bright pink. We once stripped it naked of every petal it had in the name of Valentine. Men did we litter the whole school. Cut some and go give your intended and pop the question, “Will you be my Val”. Two things happened after that, its either you get marred for life, trust me, a “No” will do that to you and if properly planned, a “Yes” can make you a Don for that day. If you’re weren’t sure, you don’t risk it but for those who did, fortune favoured the bold….sometimes.

For the girls, the seniors were always on their case, trying their best to woo. For the guys, it was the junior students making passes at you. (Yeah, they dared). The lovebirds, all lovey-dovey in class who made it their life’s mission to make the single ones have a rethink of their status. And the ones who just “assumed” they were dating. It was also home to the villains (Now this was my category), we belonged to everybody and nobody, the trick was to keep them guessing. Nobody could tell who was dating who, no one knew for sure. Hard guy Hard guy, you would think we were oblivious to romance but we were running somethings underground.

I might have made a fortune writing love letters (Yep, i fancied those). If you needed a hand written note on a Val card, I was your guy. It was fail-proof unless of course, the girls recognized my style so it was bad market for the other guys.

The Villain became the pen guy, writing away. With words on paper, I had mastered the art of swaying the lasses.

But to every villain, there was the ‘one’. The Theo Dalma to my Davy Jones, the Morticia to my Gomez. She was beautiful and immaculate to behold. She matched my energy and oh I adored her. They say, Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder but in her case, “everybody dey behold am”

Hers was a beauty worthy of a Shakespearean sonnet. Her mind was….. mesmerizing.

I remember i stayed up on the 13th. That night, i might have written a thousand letters for her but none was perfect enough. I tore one sheet after another until alas, I got that perfect letter that said it all. Made a sweet little card with a big heart in front, I used 3 different ink pen to write that note (Yeah, she was that special) and after all was done, I slept off satisfied like a well fed cat.

There’s always that one valentine you remember and you can’t help but let a smile escape your face. Well i couldn’t wait to get to school, I had never came that early. I made sure nothing was amiss in my appearance as i eagerly waited for her arrival like a kid waiting on that ice cream that was promised. I kept peering at the window facing the school gate until finally i saw her, all was right in the world. It’s show time.

It was a cold morning but my palms were all sweaty, I was super nervous. Liver failed me that day o.

Two voices in my head; one said, “Go for it, what’s the worse that could happen?”.

The other said, “Don’t do it son, she go bounce you”.

The mental quandary I was in, you would think I was calculating the maths for sending man to the moon.

There I sat, letter in my pocket waiting for the right time. “There is no time like the right time, just do it already!”.

(To be continued)