Zee's Diary: The Surprise

My birthday was on a Friday and by 7:30am, I was already dressed up for work. I wore a cream coloured vintage shirt tucked into a blue jeans trouser and a pair of sneakers. I carried a big black handbag and put my hair in a ponytail; my edges laid. I walked out of my street to the main road to get a tricycle to my office. It was a stone's throw from my house; I specifically rented that apartment in that area because of its proximity to my office. I was at the office in twenty minutes and as I walked into the reception area, there weren't any other persons there aside the front desk officer, quite unusual. She greeted me casually as I replied and walked to my work closet. As I opened the door, I heard a huge shout, "happy birthday Zee!" Wow! They planned a surprise birthday celebration for me. I was elated. I was handed a ten-inch cake, it was quite simple and beautiful. On the cake was inscribed, "world Zee's day". We took a lot of pictures together and the cake was shared to everyone who cared for it. I said many thanks to everyone present and in a few minutes, everyone was back to work.

It was Friday and we usually closed for the day by 4pm. It was quite a long day and all I wanted to do was go back home and sink into my bed, get curled up under the duvet and cry. I didn't know the specific reason why I wanted to cry but I just felt like it. The birthday syndrome, I guess.

By 2pm, my mum video called me and when I picked, I saw her and my dad with a cake. They sang the traditional " happy birthday" song for me while I tilted my head sideways to the rhythms of the song. They prayed for me and I said endless "Amen". I checked the table clock and it was 2:30pm already, so I had to stop them because I had to work. If my mum had her way, she would pray for two hours. 

I smiled when I dropped the call. At least, these people love me. 

The rest of the day was easy as my heart felt light after the call. 

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I stood by the roadside waiting for a tricycle that would take me home. It was slightly sunny and to my surprise, the tricycles that passed weren't going my way. 

Shortly, Mr Bade, one of my co-workers, a married man, brought his car to a halt beside me. He was going home and would drive pass my area to get to his. He offered me a lift and I happily hopped into the car. He wished me a happy birthday once more as he drove down the smooth road. It was a quiet trip. I loved it.

In twenty minutes, I asked him to drop me at the entrance to my street. I thanked him for being kind and off he went into the fleet of cars on the road which was already getting busy. It took me only five minutes to arrive at my house. 

I took my clothes off and went to have a cool bath. I wore a light blue, flowery sleeping robe and had my hair in my satin bonnet. I heard my door bell ring, it was my neighbor who lived downstairs. It was almost as though he gave me time to bath and get dressed before ringing the door bell. I opened the door to him smiling and saying, "happy birthday Zainab." He was with a box of six cupcakes. I offered him a sit and got a bottle of red wine and two glasses. We ate the cupcakes together and drank a little red wine too. He worked from home and was always indoors, except for special occasions when he stepped out with his male friends to unwind or with his girlfriend when they went on dates. He was a cool person. I thanked him for the cake and his time. He left after a short while and I was alone again in my room. 

I laid in bed watching the clock do its business. I watched as time ticked away and was glad it was just seven hours to the end of this horrible day. Nothing horrible had happened during the day, but I felt horrible inside. All day, I've just been shown every form of love and nothing less but I still felt horrible.

Still watching the clock tick, the clock struck 5:30pm and my phone rang. It was Bryan. My eyes lit up, my face became red with excitement. I picked up the phone and he sang "for she's a jolly good fellow, for she's a jolly good fellow, for she's a jolly good fellow! And so says all of us." He wished me a happy birthday and apologized for not being able to reach out to me since morning. He asked if I had any plans for the evening, I said "no" and he asked me to get dressed. He was coming to pick me up so we could go to the club. 

I felt my heart leap. "Could the dream have been real? Did he have the same dream? Has he been thinking of this all the while?", I asked myself in my heart as I searched my wardrobe for a club-worthy dress. It took me twenty minutes to make this decision. I finally settled for a transparent, black long sleeve top and a royal blue skirt that was just a bit longer than a mini; it was slit by the right. I chose a pair of glass sandal heels. 

Bryan arrived at my house by 7pm. He came with a cake for me. I hugged him and thanked him for the gift. Of course it was too early to go to the club, we had no intentions of going by that time. He asked that we went to the shopping mall close by to get a few things for myself. I got him a glass of orange juice and cut out a huge chunk of cake for him to keep himself busy with while I dressed up. I put on a blue boyfriend jean, a green polo, a black shiny Pam slippers and a white bucket hat. I threw my ATM card, #5,000 and phone into my clutch purse and went back into the sitting room. When he saw me, he smiled and said "you smell like a bouquet of roses and daisies."

"Thank you, Bryan", I blushed.

We stepped out and I locked my door. He opened the door of his car for me as the gentleman that he was and I sat in comfortably. He drove out of the compound with interlocked floor, and very soon, we were at the mall. He got me a hamper filled with every fat-provoking edibles you can think of and a huge, blue teddy bear. I also got a pack of frozen snails and beef that I'd use to cook the next day. A bucket of ice cream too.

We got to my house in a flash and I quickly put the frozen foods into my freezer and we settled down to lick our ice cream. Ice cream never felt so delicious as I laughed with him while licking it. 

I took the gift hamper into my kitchen and my lovely teddy bear into my room. It took up a large space on my bed; just as I loved it. I shouted to Bryan, "you can join me in here while I do my makeup."  It was 8pm already and it was only wise to get my makeup done. He didn't accept my invite, so he switched the TV on and watched a recap of a football match. In an hour and half,  I was done with my make up. 

I dressed up and came back to the sitting room to meet him. He stared at me like he had just seen an angel descend from heaven. My orange colored bra which was showing from my transparent black top complemented my orange eye-shadow. 

It was 10pm and we got into his car and off we went to the club. It was a really rowdy place with music blasting from the huge speakers. I've always loved loud music and this place was giving me every bit of joy. Bryan and I danced and kissed.  We also drank some shots of vodka and I was almost knocked off. I sat in my chair dancing to Burnaboy's Ye. Bryan wasn't drunk and he made sure not to drink any further for our safety. 

It was 4am and Bryan led me into his car as I was unconscious. We drove to his house and he helped me into his bed. He covered me with his duvet and he went into his bathroom to bath.