AFRIKSTORIES ORIGINAL SERIES
Episode 2: Seven Years of Waiting
Amarachi did not call Emeka the following morning, and Emeka did not call her either. He went to school as usual, taught his lessons, marked some assignments, and joked with his colleagues during the break, but his mind kept returning to their conversation the previous night.
He had expected Amarachi to understand his decision eventually, just as she had understood many of his decisions in the past. What he did not understand was why this particular decision seemed to have changed something between them.
By the time he returned to his room that evening, he had received a message from her.
Good evening. Hope you had a good day.
He stared at the message for a while before replying.
Yes, I did. Hope your day went well too.
That was all.
Seven years of knowing someone, and suddenly they were talking like two people who had just exchanged numbers.
Emeka dropped his phone on the bed and went to prepare noodles for dinner. As he cracked the egg into the pot, he began calculating how much he would have left from his salary after paying for transport, buying food, and making the next school fees instalment.
The calculation made him lose his appetite.
He had paid part of his master’s fees from the savings he had been keeping for their introduction and wedding preparations. He had told himself that it was an investment in their future, but he had not told Amarachi exactly how much of their marriage money he had already spent.
He was afraid she would see it as another excuse.
And perhaps, somewhere in his mind, he knew she had every reason to.
Amarachi’s Mother’s Question
On Saturday morning, Amarachi was helping her mother sort out some clothes when the conversation she had been avoiding finally came.
“Amara, what is happening between you and that boy?”
She paused, holding a blouse in her hands.
“Mummy, nothing is happening.”
Her mother gave her a look that suggested she had heard that answer too many times.
“Nothing is happening, but you are almost thirty, and there is no talk of marriage. When I ask you, you say Emeka is trying. How long will somebody keep trying?”
Amarachi placed the blouse on the bed and sat down.
“Mummy, he has a job now. He is also trying to further his education.”
“That is good. I am not against education, but is he planning to marry you before or after he finishes everything he wants to do?”
Amarachi had no answer.
Her mother sat beside her and lowered her voice.
“I know you love him. I have seen how you have stood by that boy since your university days, and I have never told you to leave him because he did not have money. But my daughter, love should not make you forget your own life.”
Those words stayed with Amarachi long after her mother left the room.
She remembered the men she had turned down over the years. There was the banker her cousin had introduced to her, a calm man who had called her several times before she finally told him she was in a serious relationship.
There was also a man from her church who had approached her family with marriage intentions. Her aunt had encouraged her to consider him, but Amarachi had refused because she believed Emeka was the man she would eventually marry.
At the time, those decisions had felt easy.
She had been confident that she was choosing the man she loved, not throwing away opportunities.
Now, she was beginning to wonder whether Emeka had ever understood the weight of those choices.
The Man Who Came Back
That afternoon, while Amarachi was returning from the market, she ran into Chinedu, the man her aunt had introduced to her almost two years earlier.
He was standing beside his car outside a pharmacy when he recognised her.
“Amarachi? Is that you?”
She smiled politely.
“Chinedu! How are you?”
“I’m fine. It’s been a long time. You disappeared on everybody.”
They exchanged a few pleasantries, and he asked after her family. Before she could leave, he mentioned that he had recently returned from Abuja and was now working in Enugu.
“I hope you are doing well,” he said. “Are you married now?”
The question caught her off guard.
“No, I’m not.”
“Oh, okay. I thought you would have been married by now.”
Amarachi laughed awkwardly.
“Not yet.”
He nodded, then looked at her for a moment.
“I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, but I always thought you were a wonderful woman. If things have changed since the last time we spoke, I would be happy to take you out sometime.”
Amarachi felt a strange mixture of embarrassment and sadness.
Two years earlier, she would have dismissed the suggestion without a second thought. Now, she could not help remembering her conversation with Emeka and the money he had already committed to his master’s programme.
“Thank you, Chinedu. I appreciate it, but I am still in a relationship.”
“Alright. I respect that.”
He smiled and stepped aside to let her pass.
“Take care of yourself, Amarachi.”
She walked away, but his words followed her home.
She had not agreed to anything, and she had no intention of cheating on Emeka. Still, for the first time in a long while, she had wondered what her life might look like if she were with someone who was already ready to get married.
That thought frightened her almost as much as Emeka’s hesitation.
Emeka’s Reality
On Monday, Emeka arrived at school earlier than usual because he needed to prepare for his master’s lectures later that week. He was arranging his lesson notes when one of the senior teachers, Mr Okafor, walked into the staff room and dropped a brown envelope on his desk.
“Emeka, have you paid your school fees?”
“Some of it, sir. I am trying to complete the payment.”
Mr Okafor nodded and sat down.
“Good. Education is important. But let me tell you something, young man. You people think that once you get another certificate, life will become easy. Sometimes, you will finish and discover that the same problems are still waiting for you.”
Emeka smiled.
“At least, sir, the certificate will give me a better chance.”
“It might. But make sure you know what you are doing, because nobody will refund the money you spend if the opportunity does not come immediately.”
The older man said it casually, without knowing how close his words came to Emeka’s private fears.
After school, Emeka went to the bank to withdraw money for his transport and feeding for the week. He checked his balance and shook his head, wondering how other men managed to marry, pay rent, raise children, and still survive on salaries that were not much different from his.
He knew a man at school who had three children and a wife who sold provisions from their house. Another teacher was constantly borrowing money before payday, and everyone knew that his salary could not cover his family’s expenses.
Emeka did not want to become that kind of husband.
He wanted to provide enough for his wife without watching her struggle beside him. He wanted to pay his children’s school fees without borrowing money, and he wanted his family to have a decent home instead of moving from one cramped room to another.
But he was beginning to realise that preparing for marriage could become an endless exercise if he kept moving the finish line.
The Conversation They Could No Longer Avoid
On Wednesday evening, Emeka finally decided to visit Amarachi.
He met her in the sitting room, watching television with her younger brother. After exchanging greetings with everyone, she followed him outside to the veranda, where they could speak privately.
For a few minutes, neither of them said anything.
Then Emeka cleared his throat.
“Amara, are we going to continue like this?”
She looked at him.
“Like what?”
“You know what I mean. We hardly talk anymore.”
Amarachi folded her arms.
“Emeka, I don’t know what you expect me to say to you.”
“I want us to be okay.”
“Then tell me when you intend to marry me.”
He looked away.
“Why does everything have to come down to marriage?”
She stared at him in disbelief.
“Because we have been together for seven years, Emeka. What exactly do you think we are doing?”
“I’m not saying we won’t marry.”
“Then when?”
“I need time.”
She let out a tired laugh.
“Time for what? Another certificate? Another job? Another salary increase? What happens if you finish your master’s and still cannot afford the kind of wedding you want?”
Emeka’s expression changed.
“I am not trying to waste your time.”
“But you are wasting it, whether you intend to or not.”
He opened his mouth to respond, but she continued before he could speak.
“Do you know how many people I have turned down because of you? Do you know how many times I have defended you when my family asked me what your plans were? I have done all these things because I believed in us, Emeka.”
Her voice began to shake.
“I never asked you to buy me a car. I never asked you to take me to Dubai. I never told you to build a house before marrying me. I just wanted us to take the next step.”
“I don’t want you to suffer,” he said quietly.
“And who told you that I would be happier waiting indefinitely?”
He had no answer.
Amarachi wiped her face with the back of her hand.
“Sometimes, I feel like you are more afraid of marriage than you are afraid of losing me.”
The words landed heavily between them.
Emeka wanted to tell her she was wrong. He wanted to explain that everything he was doing was meant to secure their future, that he was trying to become a better man before taking on the responsibility of a family.
But as he looked at her, he realised that he had spent so much time thinking about the financial risks of marriage that he had barely considered the emotional cost of keeping her waiting.
“Amara, I love you,” he said.
She nodded slowly.
“I know you love me, Emeka. But I am beginning to wonder whether love is enough when only one person is ready to move forward.”
She went inside before he could respond.
Emeka remained on the veranda for several minutes, staring at the compound gate. He had come to reassure his girlfriend that everything would be fine, but he was leaving with a question he had never seriously considered before.
What if Amarachi finally got tired of waiting?
The Message
That night, Emeka lay on his bed with his phone beside him. He opened their old conversations and scrolled through messages from their university days, when they had spoken about their future with the confidence of two young people who believed that love would eventually solve everything.
There were messages about their dream house, the names they wanted to give their children, and the places they hoped to visit after marriage. He smiled at some of them, then felt a sudden heaviness in his chest.
He had not stopped loving Amarachi.
He was simply afraid that love would not be enough to carry the financial weight of the life they wanted.
His phone vibrated.
It was a message from her.
Emeka, I need you to be honest with me. If I tell you that I cannot wait any longer, what will you do?
He read it once.
Then again.
His fingers hovered over the keyboard, but he could not find the right words. For the first time, he understood that Amarachi was not simply asking him when they would get married.
She was asking him whether he was prepared to lose her.
And before he could reply, another message arrived.
Because someone has asked to see me, and this time, I don’t know what to tell him.
Emeka sat upright on the bed.
He read the message again, his heart beating faster.
To be continued…
