She Stood Waiting

She Stood Waiting - A Love Story by LJ Kundananji

Esnart and I had decided to rendezvous at the end of the corridor—the high way. It was called thus because it sustained a large flow of human traffic between the hostels and the lecture rooms; it was the shortest route anyway.

I had everything perfectly timed that morning. Dressed in my suit and tie, it would take me exactly five minutes to walk from my room to the rendezvous point—the railings that guarded the fish pond. There, I would find Esnart, the love of my life, waiting for me. From there, the two of us would walk to the bus stop to catch a bus to town. That would take us about ten minutes. The ride to town was approximately another ten minutes. Upon arriving in town we would spend another ten minutes to walk to her favourite restaurant (it had to be her favourite, otherwise everything would go terribly wrong). It would take us ten minutes to settle down and make our orders. I would then need five minutes to get rid of my nervousness and ask her the question. She would take about thirty minutes pretending to be all surprised, shocked and appalled about it and say things like she thought we were just friends and that she did not expect such a thing from me. Then, when she could not handle the torture of pretence anymore, she would declare, albeit timorously, that she agreed. It was going to take exactly eighty minutes.

I slipped into my suit and favourite tie—the gift she had bought me exactly five years ago. I had kept it neat and preserved it till this day; this day, five years later on which I planned to propose to her. I smiled at myself as I stood in front of the mirror and made my professional knot. My moustache made me look older and more handsome. Who said I was a boy? A few sprays of perfume and shines of my shoes later, I was ready.

I glanced at my watch. It was 8:55am—time to leave. There was no turning back now. My love and I were going to meet at 9:00am at the fish pond. Knowing her very well, I had told her that we would meet at 8:30am. She was always twenty five minutes late for all our appointments. She spent way too much time in front of the mirror, trying to beautiful herself. I should have told her that even if she came with wax in the sides of her eyes, disheveled hair and a dozen pimples, she would still be terribly beautiful to me. Perhaps that would have saved on time. But for the sake of the spectating and criticizing world, it was probably better that way.

I felt the fresh morning breeze on my face the moment I stepped out of the room. I walked briskly. Timing was very important.

A minute later I bumped into my best friend Buddy. After exchanging a few casual albeit warm greetings, he went on and on about how suspiciously smart I was looking so early in the morning.

“I have a date with Esnart,” I plainly told him. Secrecy only arouses more curiosity; and curiosity more questions; and more questions means more time wasted.

After bidding Buddy goodbye, I was on the move again. Forty seconds later, I run into my project supervisor as he made his way out of the grocery store. He frowned upon seeing me.

“Michael,” he said, apparently relieved to see me. “I have been trying to contact you all morning but I couldn’t get through.”

“Must be the bad network,” I said with a sinking heart, though I knew very well that I had switched off my phone to avoid disturbances. I could not let anything wreck my rendezvous with Esnart. But it seemed some things were inevitable.

“Anyway, I have some bad news for you,” he handed me a pamphlet—my project report. “It is simply no good. You have to redo it. I have put in the corrections you need to make.”

“Thank you. I will do it as soon as I can.”

“What?” He seemed appalled by my complacency. “Are you aware that the deadline is tomorrow at midday?”

“Yes.”

“Good, if I were you, I would begin right away!”

“I will sir.”

“Do so, for your own good, I need it back by the end of the day, just in case…” he briskly walked away. That was typical of my lecturer. He was fond of not saying things that he knew were unpleasant.

That unpalatable conversation lasted exactly twenty seconds. I put the pamphlet under my arm and strode away with a pouting expression on my face. How nasty! I could not afford to have so many destructions already.

I looked far ahead of me and saw the vague image of my love leaning against the railings. She was looking a bit restless. I could tell because she seemed to be pacing up and down. I hastened my pace, the frown on my face giving way to a smile.

As I looked on, the serene image of my love was shielded from my sight by a man huge and tall. I came to a halt within a few inches of his chest. I slowly raised my eyes towards his face. I started. It was Esnart’s father. There was a scowling look on his face.

“Michael,” he said in a threatening tone. “I hope you are not going to see my daughter—you know very well that I do not approve of your friendship.”

“Why on earth would you reach such a conclusion?” I asked with a throbbing heart.

“Well, I just met her; she is standing by the pond. She said she is waiting for a friend. Now that I have seen you headed that way, I can connect two and two together—you are the friend she was waiting for!”

“Sir, I know how you feel about me and your daughter; would I purposely go out with her? I wouldn’t be so foolish as to risk my neck, would I?”

“You would!” he yelled in excitement. “God I know you would!”

I was just thinking of how best I was going to get out of this extremely bad situation when his phone rang. I listened in amazement. The ring tone was one of Akon’s songs—“Put the blame on me.” I wondered what a man his age would be doing with such a song as his ring tone.

“How are you, foolish young man?” he shouted into his phone, “I will be there soon. Don’t even think about leaving, or else—”

He frowned severely as he slipped the phone back into the little pouch strapped to his belt.

“Little man,” he said, pointing at me with his thick finger, “My class is waiting for me. Otherwise, stay away from my daughter for your own good.”

I shook my head as he walked away. He was a typical lecturer. There was not a single bone in his body that was good tempered.

“Stay away from Esnart indeed,” I said under my breath, “that is an impossible impossibility.”

I stared at my watch and gasped. It read 8:58am. I was running out of time. I could almost see the look of happiness on the face of my love as she caught sight of me. I suddenly felt as if I was walking on air.

I was now just about twenty metres away from her, smiling broadly. She was looking like a princess and seemed ecstatic about seeing me.

“Michael—oh my God! Michael!” a familiar voice called from the side. I turned my head sharply, dismayed. To my utter shock and amazement, I saw a girl running towards me from the direction of the library.

“Natasha?” I asked in disbelief. She threw herself at me and enfolded me warmly.

“Michael, I really missed you!” she said, shuddering from joy.

“What’s been a–happening with you?” I asked incredulously. “You literally vanished from my life. You never returned any of my calls nor my messages.”

“I’m so sorry. I really tried to contact you but I could not—was terribly broke and eventually, I lost your number.” She was now sobbing heavily.

“I thought you forgot about me,” I said, my eyes welling up with tears.

“I didn’t! God no, I didn’t!” she gasped. “I realized that you were the only one who was there for me when I was at my lowest ebb. You are the one I need Michael—just you and no other.”

Suddenly my watch beeped. It was 9:00am! I raised my head and looked at Esnart. My sight was blurred with tears but I could clearly see her face. Her eyes were red with tears. I tried to loose myself from Natasha’s hug, but she held me tighter.

“Don’t leave,” she cried, “don’t leave me again.”

With the tears streaking down my face in streams, I shook my head.

“I won’t,” I said. I felt her hot tears dripping onto the back of my neck.

I stared at Esnart. Her pretty face was contorted with pain.

“I am sorry; I am so sorry.” I whispered, my voice hardly coming out. There was a painful lump on my throat.

She nodded and managed a weak smile. She turned and walked away. As I watched her leave, I did not see my love anymore; all I saw was despondent Esnart walking away. My love was whimpering in my arms.

“I will never leave you, Natasha.” I said in a whisper. “You have no idea how much you have changed my life.”

We walked away together, hand in hand. I now really felt as though I was walking on air, and all this because I had been five minutes early. And eighty minutes later, Natasha and I would still be dining at her favourite restaurant.

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