You know that song by Ms Beyonce Giselle Knowles Carter – Brown skin girl. If she hadn’t specifically said girl I would think it was about him. He had the kind of melanin rich skin that glistened like pearls in the sunset . That was the first thing I noticed about him and I was enamored. He didn’t so much take me on a date as he came by my place and we sat in the car talking.
Normally I would not have responded to such low efforts but I have been accused of being mercenary in my dating so I figured I should relax and go with the flow. Besides, he had brought me a PS bar and the last time I had gotten one of those was from my high school sweetheart so the gesture made me nostalgic for a simpler, much innocent time in my life .
He was great at conversation and I felt understood , a lot of the men I’d dated over the years have often made me feel like an accessory but this time I felt like he saw me. Me! Not a pretty face, not the wit, biting sarcasm and indifference I wore to survive in this cold hard world but me. In all my Disney loving, sometimes insecure glory and God , did i fall hard!
I was determined to lay myself bare, no inhibitions and total vulnerability. If you know me, you know I don’t let people in like that. So even my best friend was impressed at what she called my new found “emotional maturity ” .
There is a term I coined to mock my friends. “Winnie Mandelaring ” , coined after Winnie Madikizela Mandela. It means when you meet what is a potentially great man and you align yourself with his goals because in your heart you know that with you by his side he will ascend to Nobel prize laureate greatness .
Such was my infatuation with the boy with the espresso skin. He was incredibly smart, had his own successful business with an impressive staff complement at just 32 and I was sure with me by his side I was convinced he was well on his way to becoming Africa’s next billionaire. And me? I would of course become a great writer but that is the kind of pursuit that would leave me time to be by my man’s side as we build our great empire.
To his credit, the boy with the espresso skin never asked this of me. If anything he was sure I would make a great lawyer except even before him, I had never planned on being a great lawyer. My law degree is just something that comes in handy from time to time while I pursue more noble callings.
In any case, ours was a genuine courtship, fears were laid bare, financial crises were admitted and past lovers were discussed and scrutinized . Well not entirely, I had a teeny tiny secret. You see, back when i was young and naive I had gotten into a less than moral dalliance with someone who turned out to be one of his friends. I planned on telling him, I really did but something about not wanting to rock what was a smooth sailing boat made me keep on postponing
So there I was, falling deeper into the throes of a deep passion whilst also waiting for the shoe to drop….