It had been a few days since Sugar learnt the news about Michael and she was still in shock about it. She kept wondering how he got himself involved in drugs. All through the time they dated, he never struck her as someone that could do such a thing. He might have turned out to be a liar, but definitely not a drug dealer. As much as she had moved on and didn’t have feelings for him anymore, she couldn’t help but feel bad that someone she had once spent a huge part of her life with and shared beautiful memories with died just like that. She still needed some closure, so she called Chinedu.
It was about 10 am in the morning on Saturday, Chinedu saw a number with a USA dial code and assumed it was the US embassy calling him “US embassy calling? Or have they lifted the ban? Maybe Mr Paul has finally been caught” he thought, dancing as he picked up the phone, “he-hello” he said in a fake American accent like someone who had developed foreign accent syndrome.
Foreign accent syndrome is a rare speech disorder that causes you to suddenly develop a new accent. For example, a Nigerian person suddenly developing a British or American accent. It usually happens after a head injury, stroke or any other type of brain damage. People with Foreign Accent syndrome still speak their native languages, but their accents sound like those of people who learnt it as a second language later in life. People with foreign accent syndrome have no underlying mental health conditions and their mental health is otherwise fine. Treatment of foreign accent syndrome is by treating any underlying conditions such as stroke and by speech therapy.
“Hi Chinedu” Sugar responded, “Hi Chinedu ke?” Chinedu thought to himself, “why does this person have a Nigerian accent?” He thought, “it’s Sugar” Sugar added realising that Chinedu didn’t recognize it was her, “Sugar? I thought you were in Canada, why are you calling with a USA number?” Chinedu questioned, “this is a Canadian number, Canada and USA both share the +1 international dialling code” Sugar explained, “I see” Chinedu nodded. “It’s good to hear from you. Since you entered your paradise, you totally forgot me” Chinedu laughed, “of course not” Sugar laughed as they exchanged pleasantries and she eventually explained why she was calling. Surprisingly, Chinedu hadn’t even heard about Michael’s demise, “Michael is de@d?” He asked still shocked after hearing the whole story, he kept repeating it over and over again, as if he was hoping the answer to the question would change.
He continued to ask more questions as if Sugar was there with Michael when he died, “I don’t have the answer to all these questions, I was hoping to get closure from you” Sugar replied, “I’m surprised to hear about his involvement with drugs” Chinedu explained, he told us over here that he was going for a scholarship. His parents don’t even know about what you have just told me, they are still waiting to hear from him.” Chinedu replied, “As a matter of fact, I got duped, trying to join him in the USA” Chinedu added narrating his ordeal to Sugar, “As we speak, I am currently banned from travelling to the USA for the next 5 years and to make matters worse, I am jobless and in serious debt” he concluded sounding dejected, “That’s awful, I’m really sorry to hear that” Sugar replied sounding apologetic, “I wish there was something I could do to help” she added.
Few weeks later, towards the end of her work day, Sugar received a call from Gbenga, saying he was very ill and needed her to be by his side. “Have you gone to see your doctor?” Sugar questioned, “I feel too weak to leave the house, I think I just need some rest” Gbenga replied with a feeble voice, “I’ll be there after work” Sugar promised as she rushed to finish up the rest of her work.
In about 2 hours, she was at his place, she let herself in with her own copy of his house keys and found him on the bed, covered up in his blanket. “How are you doing?” She asked, giving him a kiss, “not so good” Gbenga replied still curled up under his blanket, “My throat feels very sore, I was taking some of this, but I started feeling too weak to even feed myself” he added pointing to the bowl of pepper soup on his bedside table, “it’s ok, I’ll feed you” Sugar said, dropping her bag and reaching for the bowl of soup, “it’s gone cold now, can you help me heat it up in the microwave?” Gbenga asked, “of course” Sugar replied, picking the bowl of soup and heading to the kitchen.
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When she got to the kitchen, she opened the microwave and was surprised to see a small red box inside, it looked exactly like a ring box. She stood there for a few seconds looking confused. She dropped the soup on the table and picked the box out of the microwave, “this is crazy” she thought opening the box only to find an engagement ring inside it, “what on earth is going on here?” She whispered to herself as she turned to go back to the room only to see Gbenga down on one knee behind her. “I know a ring was the last thing you were expecting to find in there, just like the last thing I was expecting to find at the grocery store was a woman who would complete me.” he began,
“Sometimes, we find the most valuable things in the strangest places. Now that I’ve found you, I want to keep you for the rest of my life. Please say yes to forever with me” Gbenga said smiling and looking up into Sugar’s eyes, “you’re crazy, you know that right?” Sugar said bursting into laughter, “so all the drama was to get me to marry you?” She laughed still in disbelief, “so would you say yes to spending a lifetime with this crazy guy?” Gbenga asked, still on his knees, “with all pleasure” Sugar said smiling and stretching out her left hand while handing the ring box to him with her other hand, “I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather spend the rest of my life with” she said pulling him up into an embrace and staring at the beautiful stones on the ring that he had just placed on her finger.
And that was how Sugar found love again, but this time, it was true love.
***
The ‘fasten seat belt’ signs are back on again, please fasten your seat belts as we prepare for landing.
We will be doing a quick recap on our journey as we begin our descent. We shall begin with our Captain Chinedu and his friend Michael, who wanted to relocate by all means even if it meant hurting others in the process or going via illegal routes. From their experiences, we could see that attempting to relocate via illegal means would only end up in a disaster, if planning to relocate, it is important that it must be done the legal way and proper findings must be done about any agent to be used for achieving that purpose.
We learnt similar lessons from the experiences of Our Air hostess Gloria. Overstaying your visa and trying to secure a permanent stay with a temporary visa especially through illegal means is a bad idea. Many people fall into the trap of thinking that once they get into any country on a temporary visa, making their stay legal is a piece of cake. The reality is that most people remain illegal for almost their whole lives and continue to be exploited by predators but are usually too ashamed to speak up or return to their home countries. The few ones that get lucky to make their stay legal, have to go through unspeakable means to do so and for a lot of them,it usually takes years.
The experiences of our co-pilot Deji, whose wife, Ama, pressured him into going abroad without proper planning has shown us that the grass is not always greener on the other side, it is only greener where you water it. Relocation abroad requires proper planning and strategising. Deji was very successful in Nigeria, they both lived a comfortable life, but Ama failed to count her blessings because she was too focused on what wasn’t working. In the end she let go of a diamond to chase stones.
Lastly, our air hostess Sugar taught us how to relocate the right way. If you must relocate, you must begin planning well ahead of time, research to get proper information on where you’re going and never be in a hurry to uproot yourself without concrete plans for the future. When you relocate, the people you meet upon arrival to a large extent, determine your progress, because they will advise you based on the little or much they know. People who meet unsuccessful, small-minded people usually end up like them. On the contrary, people who meet successful people who know their way around, will most likely end up like them. Sugar had a good friend who was able to advise her appropriately and that set her up for success. If her friend was not well informed about what obtained in the job market, Sugar may have had to settle for menial jobs due to ignorance even though she was well prepared with all the necessary qualifications.
All in all, the decision to relocate is neither good nor bad but is a decision that needs to be well thought out and not one to be taken because everyone else is doing it. Relocation may be necessary for some, while others may thrive better in their home countries, but whichever one is chosen must be carried out with proper planning and done the right way.
We have now returned from our journey as our flight has landed safely, thank you for flying with us, we do hope you enjoyed the flight.
THE END.
Thanks for following……….. Hope you did enjoy it?