Love that struck
It wasn't easy being a female university student at 23. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad age to be in university, but I'm talking about being a master's student. I hope you're getting the picture. Most people look at you like you're too young, older and broad-minded people respect you, some look envious and most males my age- chauvinistic bastards, that lot- always think you're trying to steal their show and should be their slave instead.
I tried to avoid them, and when I couldn't, I followed the first law of power.
Never outshine the master.
Basically I led a boring life with a regular routine, so I was definitely surprised when Carrie, a distant friend of mine, was asking me to go on a blind date with someone. I ignored her and focused on the thesis statement I was working on. English, Languages and Creative Writing wasn't a crazy course, but it did require an elaborate history of words.
I definitely wasn't going to leave something so important to me for...whatever this was.
"Katherine, seriously. You're the definition of normal. I honestly don't know what he saw in you, but he requested for a coffee date some months back. He's being bugging me. Just one hour with a man. Please."
I dropped my light pen, finally looking at her. She had invaded my workspace and wasn't allowing me to focus.
"Give me his number." She smiled at that, forwarded the number to my phone and tried peeking while I sent the number a text message. I dropped my phone, went back to work.
"Lemme see what you sent." She picked up the phone, her smile fading as her jaw dropped. "Katherine! Why?"
"You said he was bugging you. I just wanted to get rid of that problem." I replied, eyes still focused on the font I was changing. I was submitting a preview for my thesis statement tonight. Carrie slammed my laptop shut.
"How can you say it like this?" She glared at me, proceeding to read my message. "Good day. I had been notified by my friend that you requested for a coffee date from me via my friend. This message is to notify you that I lack such free time in my schedule and will definitely have time for such in the near future."
"I just gave him the truth." I retorted.
"You didn't. Besides, this just sounds robotic." Carrie didn't back down and continued to nag me till noon when she decided to leave my office. I stepped out after her, deciding to have some coffee before going back to my work.
"Black." I notified the girl standing at the counter. She smiled, pointed to the spot where I usually sat. I headed over and decided close my eyes for a bit. Someone would bring my drink.
".. she'll have it when she wakes up." The deep voice woke me. I looked up to see a tall, definitely older man sitting opposite me. The server pushed my mug to me, and I took it smiling slightly. I nodded my head towards the man in acknowledgement before focusing on my coffee.
"You really don't know me, Miss. Katherine?" I looked back at him. I definitely didn't. He wasn't in my department, that I could tell.
"No. But I'm guessing that you're familiar with me, judging by the way you called my name." He smiled. It was refined. I wasn't really paying attention before now, but he was good looking, if I wanted to down-play it a little. He raised up his phone to show me a message, the message I'd sent earlier. Oh. That was why.
"The plan went accordingly still. I'm here with you, for coffee."
"I don't know what you think, Mr-"
"Stefan. Stefan Holt."
"-Mr. Holt, but this was a total coincidence. I already made my decision. I hope you can respect that."
He looked thoughtful for a while, then looked back at me.
"Can we still have just the coffee date? As a chance to get you to change your mind. It could be a reward for chasing you for almost a year."
I was about to reply negatively again, but I stopped myself.
"Make it dinner. If I say no after this, you have to stop asking, okay?" He agreed, and I set a date after my thesis submission.
As expected, it went well. Stefan was 30, a medical doctor and the TA for his department and we were in the same university. I didn't know about that because I tend to ignore news that wasn't relevant to me and also because those in the medical profession were usually made to feel so important, it was annoying. The few medical students I knew acted that way, but Stefan was different. He was confident in his work, but was a regular down to earth person away from that. We went on more dates, and I got to look at the world in a different light. I usually avoided people in my department, but I started talking to them and even stood up to some ancient men in the department who thought I was supposed to be married and in the kitchen. I told Stefan about this and he laughed.
"It's how they were raised." He simply said.
We started formally dating after four months, although people thought we were dating way before then. I became even more social even at home, which surprised my family. Stefan asked me why I studied English, Language and Creative Writing.
"You could have studied International Relations or something else." I paused. No one had asked me that.
"I honestly didn't want to study something that would need me to socialize with people. I wanted my work to speak for me."
Meeting our families was the turning point in our relationship. Both our families were eager to meet each other even. We had problems, but it was never too serious. The one thing we had issues with though, was with some of the other medical doctors that knew him. It was obvious that they didn't approve of me. He said that they didn't expect him to date someone like me, since obviously young female patients tried to hit on him most times. I tolerated them since they were important to Stefan.
We got married after a year. I was about to start studying for my doctorate degree while he was head surgeon at the university's hospital. It's wasn't a happily ever after or something of the sort. We had misunderstandings, and different perceptions. We were human after all. Still, we listened to each other and were open about even the little things. It was better than way to avoid heated quarrels.
Today's my wedding day. I'm getting married to someone that I respect, trust and I am loyal to. Someone that I can communicate with and can be honest with. Someone I can trust to help me grow into someone better. Someone I want to live with till living is void. If that is love, I'm getting married to someone I love. The best part?
Everything is reciprocated.
Writer Details:Kenneth Daniella✍️
Location:Wellspring University,Edo State,Nigeria 🇳🇬.
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