He said no episode 48 – 49

HE SAID NO.

EPISODE 48 – 49

Amifel had been fasting and praying for 3 days straight, she had cleared her schedule for that purpose.

She broke her fasts in the evening and up till then, she had seemingly not heard anything from God. Her ears had been on alert and she had been itching to hear the golden yes.

Be it Yes or even No, she heard nothing.

As she broke her fast on the evening of the third day with boiled egg, butter, tea, and sliced bread, she was a little disappointed and was even contemplating extending her fast.

“Till when?” Grace asked.

“I can’t say right now,” she said as she took a sip of tea. “Maybe 7 days…”

Grace chopped her fingers in silence as Amifel continued.

“I started this prayer clueless, my heart was a bit troubled too because I was nervous about God asking me to let this go again but right now I feel so much at peace.

My heart is restful even though I haven’t heard anything.”

“But are you saying that you didn’t hear or perceive anything, like anything at all?”

Amifel shook her head mildly.

“That shouldn’t be a course for alarm. If you had said God hasn’t said anything, I would have been worried.”

“What is the difference?”

“’ God is not speaking’ is different from ‘I am not hearing’”

“Yeah” Amifel nodded.

” Extending the fasting and prayers is the right thing to do. I am sure that God has been speaking.”

“I don’t even know what to think.”

“I think you should sleep. Don’t overwork your mind.”

“Is it a coincidence that Daniel’s call has been even more frequent in the last 3 days?”

Grace chuckled.

“He is even messing with my mind.”

“Switch off your phones now.”

“What if an important client calls me while my phone is off?”

“Then you might like to consider extending the fast to like 30 days…”

Amifel flung half a slice of bread towards her and Grace laughed as she caught it and threw it into her mouth.

*******************************

Amifel sat on a bench at an open park. She seemed to be the only one there. She was enjoying the serene view of the quiet environment as she admired the beauty of nature.

She sighted an unusual flower with black and shiny gold petals from where she was seated.

Curiosity got the better part of her as she stood up to have a better look at it.

She was wowed.

Strange yet so beautiful.

“You like it?”

Amifel looked up quickly, she saw no one. Maybe it was her mind playing games. She was about to touch it and probably trim off a part of it when he heard the voice again.
“Do you know what it is called?”

This time she saw him, he was tall and lanky, casually dressed in a white short matched up with ~neat and crispy white shirts. He could have been easily mistaken for a young man save the white strand of full and fluffy hair that surrounded his face and tabernacled beautifully on his head.

He was not bent nor wrinkled, he was neither using sticks nor eyeglasses. Never had old age been that beautiful.

“I don’t know, I have never seen it before?”

He smiled and that was when she had the opportunity to see his teeth. Not a single tooth was missing, they were neatly arranged and sparkling white.

This man was definitely not as old as she thought. Maybe he even dyed his hair. She was going to ask him.

He plucked a portion of the flowers and inhaled it deeply, smiling as he did.

“Are you in a hurry?”

“No, not at all.”

“Let me show you more…” he said as he took her hand in his and headed into the woods. The place where they were headed seemed to be far.

“You seem to like him very much,” he said as they navigated through the thick bushes with their hands.

“Who?”

“Daniel.”

She smiled.

“That smile says it all.”

“I do. I like him very much but I am yet to get God’s consent about him.”

“He already gave you his answer.”

“But I have heard anything.”

They arrived at an open space, it was even more beautiful than where they were earlier. She slipped out of his hands as she ran ahead of him excitedly. She suspended her hands in the air as she swirled around following the order of the gentle breeze.

As the strange man she met earlier perused the short and well- ~trimmed bushes, looking for something oblivious to her, she sighted a seat that looked even more beautiful than the one she sat on earlier, she walked towards it briskly and just as she was about to land her butts on the seat, she felt his firm grip on her arm.

“Don’t sit there, it is dangerous!” he said firmly.

She took one more look at the seat the moment she stood straight. It was a bench adorned with beautifully colored garlands, it looked harmless to her.

He must have read her mind because he motioned for her to bend down and take a look at what was underneath the seat.

A green cobra was majestically curled underneath the seat, the shade of its color blended perfectly with the slightly overgrown grass around it. It hissed at her slowly as it turned its head in another direction.

Her heart skipped a beat as she straightened up quickly.

He patted her on the back gently to calm her down. “It’s fine, I am here.”

“Take a look at this. “ He continued as he opened up his hands to reveal a stick of star-shaped flower with multi-colored layers.

“Wow! Where did you get this from?”

“Somewhere around” he smiled. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”

She nodded.

He took her hands again as he led her further till they arrived at a bigger scenery.

This time, she maintained his grip and refused to let go of his hands.

He stood as he looked across the horizon with a big smile on his face.

She looked in the same direction but she didn’t see anything.

“You said he already gave me an answer?”

He nodded, his gaze was still steadied towards the horizon.

“How come I am not hearing anything?” she asked.

“Maybe because you already deduced an answer format in your head.”

“Isn’t this supposed to be a yes or no question?”

“What if he doesn’t use any of those?”

“How else could it come?”

“What if he gives you the answer of peace.” He said softly.

“The answer of peace?” she asked, confused.

He did not say anything this time, instead, he walked towards a seat that she didn’t see earlier, still holding her hands.

Each garden seemed to have seats around it. At least she had seen three of them with seats.

She thought that he was going to sit down but he didn’t, he swung her hands playfully in the air for a while before releasing it.

The moment he let go of her hands, her legs felt heavy, like they needed some rest. She eyed the seat with the corner of her eyes as she asked him. “Can I sit down?”

He smiled and then he sat down calmly.

She took a cue and sat beside him.

“When you were about to sit on the decorated chair, what did I do?”

“You prevented me from sitting on it. You said it was dangerous.”

He smiled again and said nothing further. She sat there waiting for him to say more and when he didn’t…

“But I asked you if I could sit down here and you said nothing.” She queried him.

“I actually did.”

“No, I didn’t hear you say anything.”

“But I gave you the answer of peace.”

“I still don’t get it.”

“Why did you sit down.”

“Because I watched you sit there.”

He smiled again as he nodded.

“If you had chosen not to sit down, I wouldn’t have forced you but I sat down there to show you that it was safe.”

He placed a bouquet in her hands. It was an assorted mix of beautifully colored flowers with amazing shapes. The black and gold flowers were also included.

She received it as she wondered when he gathered them together.

“Who are you?”

“The prince of peace!”

To be continued…
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HE SAID NO

EPISODE 49

You know, when the lord turned around the captivity of Zion and they felt like they were dreaming…

For Grace, it was a dream come true.

Her long-awaited wedding strolled in, and she was beyond excited to be tying the knots with her heartthrob.

Don’t even ask about Mike, his joy knew no bounds as he danced in his mismatched steps at the slightest opportunity.

Apart from the fact that Amifel org-nized her event, she also served as her maid of honor and she was so happy that her friend was finally getting married. Even though she worked her head off and felt like she needed to spend 1-week at the spar afterward.

Daniel came around to honor her friend and Amifel was so happy to see him. She stole occasional glances at him and he met her with his eyes virtually all through.

There were many emotional moments at the wedding party but one that stood out was when Mama Ologi went upstage to dance with her grandson. Now, for someone that old, she was such a vibrant and energetic woman, and their slow but steady movement did not fail to turn heads. It was obvious that the bond they shared was such a deep one.

Mrs. Robert was around to cheer the newly-weds, her pink and silver attire made her look even more beautiful.

Mrs. Grace Akinwale was also around alongside her husband and son, her sprouting baby bump was evident for all to see and Grace, in particular, was excited at the news as well as Amifel.

In all, it was a beautiful and fun-filled wedding.

************************

Its been like a week since Amifel moved back home and her mom could not hide her excitement.

Amifel was also glad to be home again, especially because her dad was around.

The pampering and petty loving gestures were to die for, they made her feel like a baby all over again.

Amifel missed her bestie and it was not really easy adjusting to how things were before. It took so much self-control for her not to send her a WhatsApp voice note and disrupt her honeymoon.

“Don’t even tell me you are going to see any client because I won’t believe you.” Mrs. Robert said as she helped Amifel with her zip.

She giggled, expecting her mom to take that as her response.

She and Daniel had a date that evening and she looked forward to it like it was their first time.

She had been doing a good job keeping Daniel private so far and she had no plans to relent.

She picked up her bag and gave her mom a quick peck.

“Love you, mom!”

“You have not told me where you are going to…” She said in a loud voice after her. Amifel pretended like she didn’t hear her.

“Love you too.” She answered, resorting to fate.

********************************

She had been waiting for Daniel at Lakeside park as they agreed over the phone a couple of hours ago.
Time strolled by slowly but gradually.

She tried his number, it was not reachable. It was getting dark and she was beginning to get uncomfortable. The speckles of her silver dress was illuminated all the more by the lights offered by the park, making her look like a fairy tale princess who missed her way and found herself at Lakeside park.

She still had Daniel to worry about but she was sure that something probably came up.

Just as she headed for the main road, she heard someone call her name.

She looked towards the direction where the voice was coming from and saw him walking briskly towards her. She released the truckload of sighs that she had started building up in her chest.

His hands which were tightly knitted together said all of the ‘sorrys’ that he wanted to say.

“What happened?” She asked.

“I was caught up in traffic. It was a total standstill.”

Amifel was about to ask why he didn’t bother to call or send a text.

“I tried to call, but it wasn’t going through. My network signals went off totally.” He explained.

“Thank God you are fine.”

He smiled.

“Maybe we should just hang around here a little. I stopped by at an eatery and got us some snack.” He said as he flashed the content of the nylon he held.
Now it was her turn to smile.

Daniel led the way as he ushered them to an empty seat around the park.

“How did your day go?” Daniel asked as he unpacked the nylon to reveal meat pie and Amifel’s favorite Scotch eggs, he noticed that it was always almost part of her orders and he figured that she loved them to a fault.

“It was okay, how was yours?”

“Hectic and that traffic earlier just made it even worse.”

“I can imagine. Sorry about that.”

“It’s fine, now that I have seen you, I feel much better.” He answered without looking at her.

It seemed that it was going to be a blush-full night.

They pounced on the snacks and washed it down with juice.

“I heard G-mobiles yearly party is scheduled for next month.”

She nodded.

“How are you holding up?”

“Doing my best, my team has been as supportive as ever. We hope to impress them as usual.”

“I trust you.”

“I was wondering, have you thought of getting an office?”

“Office?”

“Yes. I mean, somewhere you can call your own.
Where clients can come book appointment with you instead of meeting at random places.”

“Yeah, sounds like a great idea. But to be honest, I haven’t thought much about it. Sounds more like money to me, if I want something nice.”

“What if someone gets one for you?”

“You want to rent a place for me?” Amifel asked, raising her brows.

“The last I checked, my name is Daniel, not someone.” He chuckled.

“Please don’t raise my hopes this night and dash it all by yourself.”

Daniel laughed as he took a big gulp of his drink.
“Let’s hurry up, it’s getting late.”

Amifel seemed to be filled up because she didn’t finish her juice but of course she ate every other snack.

“I had a great time. ” She said as she belted up in,side Daniel’s car.

“Urgh… My lateness ruined our evening plan. I promise to make it up to you real soon.”

“Nothing was ruined, it still was memorable. Anyways, I look forward to the make-up plan.”

Some distance away from her house, Amifel motioned for him to drop her.

“Its quite late, why don’t you let me drop you off at home?”

Amifel did not want her parents, especially her mom to see her being dropped off by a man, neither did she want Daniel to think that she was hiding something because she wasn’t.

She agreed to let him drop her off at their gate while praying profusely that none of her folks sees them.
Amifel hurried into their compound as soon as they said their goodbyes. She could hear her parents chatting loudly as she approached the entrance.

“Good evening mom, Good evening dad. I…”

“My dear daughter!!” Mrs. Robert said excitedly at the top of her voice as she stood up to hug her. “You see that God that you are serving, is the one that you should keep serving oh! Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”

“God is good!” Mr. Robert said calmly.

Amifel looked towards her dad, he had the same wry grin and funny look. For a moment, she guessed that they probably saw Daniel drop her off or what could be making them act so dramatic?

“Oluwa eshe o!” Mrs. Robert chanted on.

Amifel was obviously not ready for what she was about to hear.

To be continued…