It was Wednesday evening, and I was in my dark room with only the thing giving light to the room being the light coming from my computer screen. I sat on my chair, not caring if there was someone in the room with me or if I was in another world; all I wanted was to complete the task on my desk before the following morning.
I work from home, yet I had been so consumed by the frustrating task on my laptop that I had completely tuned out my surroundings. The issue was not working from home but balancing the two jobs I work, which always clash with each other.
I am Fash Tioluwa, and last, I remember, my birthday was the following day, but I wasn't too worried about it because I had two jobs I was running from my closed room. I sat in front of my computer with my gray spec, which has a blue lens. The specs were sitting on my nose like an old man struggling to read a new paper even when it was right in front of him.
"Damn it. Why do the two of them have to ask me to get a job done at the same time?" I scream out of annoyance with my hands on my head, like I was going to cast a spell to calm my nerves for the rush hour I found myself.
"Ring," my phone rang, and my heart almost jumped out of my mouth. I hesitated to check who was calling me because I wasn't done with the job I was doing. I turned the screen of my phone to see who was calling, and the caller made me take a breath of relief.
"Hello, love, don't tell me you are not done with your work," Arewa said on the other side of the phone, not even minding if I was struggling with the job or I was almost done. I kept quiet for a while, and as I was about to give my response, she said. "You know you promised to go to the market with me this evening. Can you stop what you are doing and let's get doing?"
At that point, I wanted to hang up the call, but that would make her sad, so I told her in a cold voice, which she understood very well, "Babe, I know I promise you, but can we do this another time, please?" She understood me so well that she said, "Okay."
I continued to work; the "tap tap tap" from my keyboard and "click click click" from my wall clock were the only things keeping me sane at that moment. After I was done with the job, I raised my head to see what the time was because I was exhausted already.
"What!! It's 1 am already?" I thought to myself. How did I get lost in time? This has never happened before. At that same moment, I felt a soft, smooth breeze behind me, and it was then that I realized someone had been standing behind me. I turned around to see who it was. I saw a short figure standing in the darkness. I was about to shout, but then I saw it was my girlfriend, who had been behind me for a long time without realizing it.
As my girlfriend stood there beaming at me, I felt a wave of relief again because she was a source of joy to me. Before I could say anything, she started singing.
"Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday, happy birthday
Happy birthday to you! Hip Hip Hip, Hurray."
"My birthday? I completely forgot!" I exclaimed, my eyes darting around her because she had her hand behind her all that while. I stood up and put on a brighter light, and there she was holding a beautiful cake adorned with candles in her hands, and on the table, there were wrapped gifts. How had I missed that?
"Yes, silly! I've been trying to get your attention all morning," my girlfriend said with a laugh, guiding me over to the table. "Come now, blow out the candles, and make a wish!"
I couldn't express the amount of joy I felt that night as I smiled from cheek to cheek with all my teeth out in the open. I made a wish, showered, and we both went to sleep.
