Chapter 14 --- Happy Birthday, I’m sorry

I haven’t stalked Mic’s page for over two weeks and that was such a huge achievement for me, thanks to having Raph around. Every time I was feeling depressed or sad, Raph was right there as if he knew what I was feeling without me telling him, he always had something to cheer me up and bring my soul to life, now his birthday was coming up in few days and I wanted to make it special for him

“Are you ready for the presentation” My colleague Mary asked, as she walked towards my desk She interned at the organization last year and right after her NYSC she was retained.

“Yeah, I guess. I’m a bit nervous though” I replied, with my eyes focused on the PowerPoint slides I was editing on my laptop

She rested her hands on the wide desk in front of me “I can relate, like you have no idea how nervous I was when I presented last week, but you’ll be fine”

“I hope so”

“Best of luck, by the way”

“Thanks girl” I replied

While I was busy with work, I had it at the back of my mind Raph’s birthday was tomorrow 24th, I have spent the past few days thinking of what to get for Raph’s birthday to make it really special. I still couldn’t come up with anything.

“Uhm Mary, what’s one thing you think you could do that would make a guy really happy on his birthday and make him feel special?”

“let me see… you could get him something you know he has always wanted, or order a surprise band to go play at his house and give him this money roses thing, together with a card saying all the good things about him and why you love him”

“Love? He’s just a friend though” I replied

“Yeah, it doesn’t mean. He’s your friend because he earned your trust and you love him, agape kind of love so yeah”

“Okay, please do you have any plug for things like that?”

“Uhm, ye-eah I think so, hold on let me check, not sure I still have his number”

“Okay, here” she pointed her phone towards me, I see the name and number boldly displayed on the screen, I don’t know why anyone would use such a large font on their phone. I type the number in my phone

“Saved. Thanks. And why is your font so large?”

She laughed out “I don’t know, I like it”

“That’s weird”

“You’re welcome. Don’t forget to drop the flash drive containing your slides with josh at the hall, so he could project it before everyone gets in”

“Yeah, I won’t. Thanks”. I replied.

Of all the other interns and those who worked there full time Mary was the nicest and was able to get along with everyone of us, she was more of an extrovert, I now see why the company had to retain her, she was good.

I let out a deep sigh, as I parked my car, it was 5:37pm, work closed a bit late today and I also stopped by the restaurant near my house to get some take outs or I would have gotten home early. The usual time was 4:30 or 5pm. The presentation went very well, I was nervous at the start but I eventually found the confidence that was hidden in some part of me. Now I had enough time to prepare for Raph’s Birthday, I decided to call to the guy whose number I collected from Mary once I got inside.

“Shit” I flipped the switch over and over again hoping the light would come on. But as usual there was power outage.

“Come on” I muttered, as I walked over to the little square table in the parlor and reached for the rechargeable lamp under.

The thought of Raph crossed my mind, and just then I remembered I hadn’t called the vendor guy yet. I reached for my phone immediately and dialed the number.

“Hello” a thick masculine voice answered

“Hi, good evening” I wait to hear his reply but he doesn’t say anything

“I would like to place an order for a friend’s birthday tomorrow. Will you be able to get it ready before morning?”

“Yeah, of course, we have all packages ready, which one of them do you want”

“I have no idea, I don’t know how it works or the types you have”

“Do you use this number on Whatsapp?” he asked

“Yeah”

“Okay, I will send you the details of all the types we have so you can make your choice”

“Alright, thanks”.

I noticed Raph didn’t reply the text I sent in the morning, I decided to check up on him and ask if he was fine.

“heyyy, how’s your day going?”

The message doesn’t get delivered, which was weird because Raph always had his data on, I figured he wanted to stay offline till it was his birthday, so I decided not to call and just focus on preparing the birthday surprise, which was going to be delivered first thing in the morning.

The vendor guy sent me the packages he had and I already selected the one I could afford, now I had to text Raph to get his address so it could be delivered.

I go to I and Raph’s chat to see if the message I had sent earlier was now delivered, and thankfully it was. But it’s strange, it was delivered and Raph was online but I still didn’t get a reply.

“Hey, are you there?” it gets delivered immediately

“What’s your house address?” I added

He starts typing immediately. After few minutes I got a message with his house address. I couldn’t understand why he ignored my other messages but replied that of his address immediately. I thought he was probably busy so I don’t stress it and decided not to send any more messages again.

The takeout I bought while heading home had turned cold, but there wasn’t light to microwave it and I also hated the idea of warming it in a pot so I decided to eat it like that. After the food I undressed and headed to the bathroom for a cool shower. This had become a routine, on days when I didn’t get takeouts while heading home I already had some leftover food I prepared in the fridge, all I had to was heat it up with the microwave, eat, shower and sleep.

I woke up to see the time was 1:13am, I had dosed off around ten while watching a movie even when I tried so hard to stay awake so I could call Raph and wish him a happy birthday at 12. I reached for my phone immediately and dialed his number.

This is the third time I’d be calling but he still didn’t answer. It occurred to me he could be asleep so I decided to send a text

“Happy Birthday Raph, you are amazing, I am so lucky to have you as a friend” it gets delivered immediately. I waited a few minutes for his reply just in case he was awake and preferred messages to calls. I dropped my phone and went back to bed when I didn’t get any.

“Yeah, it has been delivered”

“Okay, thank you so much, I’ll call him now” I added.

The vendor had called me early around 6am, to ask what time I wanted it to be delivered to Raph and I said at 7am, now it was 7:30am and he called letting me know it had been delivered already. It was a big gift box, once Raph opened it he would see a letter by the side, I drafted the words and sent it to the vendor on Whatsapp, an apple wrist watch and air pods and another segment filled with cash in form of roses.

I ended the call immediately and dialed Raph’s number.

“Heyyy, birthday boy, you finally answered my call”

“Ladi, where are you?”

“My house. Why?”

“Are you seated right now?”

“Yeah, what’s going on?”

“I need you to be seated before I tell you this”

“What’s that?” I laughed. I had a lot going through my mind

“My Birthday was yesterday Ladi” he answered. I could feel the disappointment in his voice, but it still couldn’t be as great as the disappointment I felt in myself.

“Wait, you’re kidding right?” I chuckled

“Ladi, I’m not, its march 23rd, not 24th. I told you the other day, don’t you remember”

The smile on my face faded off immediately, how could I miss out on such an important day in his life, I felt so horrible. Now I get, that’s why he didn’t reply my messages, how could I be so.

“Omg, Raph” I paused, trying to think through all the times we talked about his birthday “I’m so sorry, I thought it was 24th and then you didn’t post pictures or anything saying it was your birthday, I’m so so sorry”

“I was mad at you, yesterday I thought you probably forgot I existed or it was even my birthday month but receiving these gifts and the beautiful letter shows you had me in mind but just mixed up the dates, so I forgive you” he laughed out loud

“I’m so sorry Raph, I’d never want to miss out on such an important day in your life, how can i make it up to you?”

“Its fine Ladi, I appreciate these gifts so much and having you in my life is more than enough”

“Raph, stop, you always say the sweetest things to me, this time why don’t you let me do all the talking, I need to let you know just how amazing you are, I wish I could tell you over and over again. Thank you for everything, I love you. You’re a real friend and I’m coming over to your to take you out, so get ready”

“Ladi”

“Yeah, Raph, I will be at your place soon and please keep your phone by your side in case I have issues locating the address and also be ready”

“I will, drive safe” he replied.

I tossed my phone on the bed and rushed to the bathroom.

“Ahh, that was good, did you like it?” I stretched my arms forward, as we walked towards my car

“Of course, my body feels very energetic”

We had gone for a spa treatment, I could now tick it off the list of the things I wanted to do for Raph today.

“Where are we headed?” he asked

“There’s this Chinese restaurant, I haven’t been there before but the reviews I read online are quite great” I turned the steering suddenly to avoid a pot hole, this pushes Raph to hit the door slightly

“I’m sorry” I make a pleading face. It wasn’t the first time this was happening.

“It’s fine. Just keep your eyes focused on the road, so we can reach our destination safely”

I laughed out. He knew how much of a horrible driver I was, I had given him enough trouble when he was teaching me how to drive.

After the Chinese restaurant, I decided to take Raph to see a movie. We reached the counter to see the leaflets of movies they were showing.

Cole Sprouse’s movie was showing, ‘five feet apart’, I was hoping Raph would prefer it but he was a fan of horror movies so he chose ‘US’ ft Lupita Nyong’o. I hated horror movies but of course I had to go with it, it was my treat, and anything he wanted was fine by me even if it wasn’t.

“The movie starts in 30 minutes time, please hang around” the ticket clerk gestured her hands towards an empty sit outside

“What about the pop corn and drinks?” I asked

“You’ll get that when it’s time for the movie”

It was a small two sitter couch. All other chairs were occupied by people who wanted to see the same movie as us but came early. I and Raph tried sitting on it but it wasn’t too comfortable so we decided to stand by the railings.

“Raph” I look at him, he also had his gaze focused on me. “I’m sorry I mixed up the dates, and I hope you’re enjoying this, it’s the least I could do to make it up to you”

“Thank you, I’m having all the fun in the world, and I think you mixing up the dates is such a blessing, or you wouldn’t be treating me to all these nice stuff if you hadn’t”

I laughed out “why didn’t you post pictures or anything saying it was your birthday though”

“I’m not a fan posting pictures or informing the world about my birthday, I would rather just have a good time with my loved ones”

“Hmm, that’s lovely”

“Is it?”

“Yeah, it actually is” I nodded

“Ladi, thank you” he smiled, staring directly into my eyes. I could feel my heart beat, the feeling was different, it was strange and I still couldn’t place a name to it.

Raph was a fine man and not only was he fine on the outside, he was also beautiful on the inside. He understands the language my soul speaks, and whenever we are together I feel safe. He is indeed a gentle man