THE VISA DENIAL: AN END TO A BEGINNING (NONFICTION)💔😔

Like every human with a journey and a story, at different stages and levels in life, we all have that unpleasant moment when a negative news or the other finds its way to us. At such moments, our reactions are like ‘the future’, quite unpredictable.

“Oh my God! Tell me that didn’t just happen!” I have had several of such moments, days I lost loved ones, days they had accidents, days I got rejected on something I thought I was going to get my hands on and so many other bombshells have dropped on me. Of course, my list of gratitude is like an attempt to measure the length of the earth, long, endless and in comparison with the unpleasant cases, much more than ever.

PEXELS

There was a time I planned travelling out of the country and I lost several things. I remember working with a farm as their sales and communications person, I also had some managerial responsibilities. So, it was quite challenging. I had a girlfriend who I met through the job.

Dayo, my pretty ex, was very fond of me. “Sam, we need to go out for your birthday, I can’t imagine spending this day in the house.” Like a bright moon shining out of the dark skies, my face beamed with smiles. “At least we will spend some time together,” as I replied her, she gave me a funny look. I always like having a lone time with her especially at restaurants, zoos and other recreational or tourist centres.

“As always three is a crowd,” as a response to her look, she knew I wasn’t going to encourage spending my birthdays in company of friends. As much as I love being social, I don’t like spending significant days with anyone other than my love.

“We will have rice, meat, chicken and drinks with some salads and ice cream,” as Dayo placed orders at the restaurant we booked, like a confused groom at his own wedding, I was a bit worried because I didn’t expect her to place orders. Asides from the day being my birthday, I was going to pay for our meal. As a gentle man, I acted calm and waived the matter, “it’s fine, it’s my birthday, Sam calm down,” I said to myself.

After eating and telling the waiter to give us our bill, I was surprised at what happened next. “Bills on me dear.” I turned round to be sure I heard right. It was my ex that had just offered to take responsibility for the payment of our meal. I was a bit emotional. “Be a man!” I quickly called myself to order. Like every true lover, I and Dayo had bought things for each other but I wasn’t expecting her to cover the bills for that special day.

As at then, we were already about 2 years in the relationship, deeply in love already on our journey towards marriage, or so we thought. “What about the visa office have they gotten back to you?” Two weeks after the 7th December, my birthday, Dayo asked again, the question I told her to avoid for a while.

“Can you not just do without putting pressure on me? I am not the visa officer,” I replied. Like a man totally tired of an unwanted meal, I was already fed up with Dayo’s pressure.

“Just say it already, since the day I took us out, I have not only fed you with food but have been feeding you with frustration.”
Like an appropriate answer to a question, I couldn’t agree less with her but I wasn’t going to show that as I know it was a clear trap.

“No darling, that’s not what I am saying,” I reluctantly replied. “Please let’s just try and be patient, from the look of things, I will get the visa but the decision is still based on them, not me,” I added.

“Okay I have heard you but whatever it is, I want a positive response.” The statement Dayo made was like a black liquid in a clean water, it really polluted our relationship and things weren’t the same from that moment.

The day we went shopping and was on our way back home, I saw a mail and it was the visa application office, my heart pounded and I was afraid to open it. “What is wrong? What happened?” As Dayo inquired, I didn’t know the right words to put together as my reply. “Let’s get home first, I’ll tell you everything.”

The bombshell dropped just like an explosive in a town. The reply was in text but it was like someone was reading it to my ears and it was totally circulating through my head. “Visa Denied!” The headline reads.

My reaction told Dayo everything she needed but just to confirm, she collected my phone and checked the message. “I’ll just go home. I’ll see you tomorrow.” I was again shocked. I needed her so much at the moment but she was obviously like me, in need of comfort because we both thought I was travelling.

The whole event directly or indirectly culminated in our break up. If someone ever told me that was going to happen, I would have argued with them. But the unpleasant message birthed the painful end of our relationship. I never blamed her for that and we still talk once in a while.