Congratulations are in order

He's been blowing hot and cold concerning leaving for youth service since he got his new job. There was almost nothing I could say to convince him to go, if I were in such a situation too, I wouldn't want to throw everything away for one year when I wasn't sure the job was waiting for me. I took his hand in mine from across the table, rubbing gently on it with my thumb as his head was bent in confusion.

Source
“Whatever you decide is fine, I'm not going to be mad. I promise”

The National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) was one of the avenues through which he could get amazing lifetime friendships and connections, I didn't want him to miss that. Neither did I want him to miss the experience of waking up by 6 am to head over to work in corporate clothes at the Mobil oil company.

He was not a shirt-and-tie guy. Just like me, Fortune enjoyed his t-shirt and denim outfits. He even wore them to church. He did not own a single Ankara material, except for one white outfit known as senator which he used for his birthday photoshoot.

I was already teasing him about changing his wardrobe and taking pictures of him every single day in a shirt, trousers, and a tie when his posting letter came out, and it was to Taraba state. I had never heard him sound so unhappy.

When that job at Mobil came, it was a miracle for him. He had just come back from seeing his mother at Ikono local government of Akwa Ibom state when one of his senior colleagues from the engineering department called him. That afternoon, he was exhausted from his journey so he asked me to come over to his house to help him prepare dinner while he went to attend to his friend.

The vegetable soup I was preparing was still boiling on fire when he dashed into the house and lifted me from my waist.

“Wait, wait, wait!” I turned the knob of the gas to prevent the soup from overcooking and placed the cover of the pot to one angle then turned back to him. “Welcome home babe. What's the good news?”

He handed a brown envelope to me and I strolled out of the kitchen to read it in the coolness of the living room.

It was his letter of employment.

I remember how excited he was that night. His face was literally radiating with joy and apart from his eyes which were pigmented from lack of enough sleep, he didn't look like someone who just returned from a journey. Because I had to return to my own apartment, he called two of his best friends and asked for them to hang out with him.

For starters, he was to be paid 250,000 monthly with an official car attached to him, monthly allowances, and a 7-day paid leave.

We were both excited for the news and since his department was yet to clear his academic set for service, he decided that he was going to start on the job first, hoping to be posted to Uyo.

His posting letter crushed all of our expectations and as we sat in that restaurant that evening, I saw how downcast he was looking. I couldn't help but feel very unhappy about all that was going on.

He almost couldn't look me in the face and when I tipped his jaw, I could see tears in his eyes.

“I don't want to go, babe. But I don't want this to affect my future. You know youth service is very important”

I understood what he was talking about but I didn't want to be the one to influence his decision because if it were left to me alone, he would start on the job first and then go for his youth service later. After all, he was just 25 years old.

“I think I should speak with Martins,” Martins was his senior colleague, “he would know what to advise me to do” I agreed with him.

Three days after our conversation at the restaurant, I was watching a Netflix series when a message popped up on my screen. I was going to ignore it but when I saw “This is the best news I've received,” curiosity made me tap on my screen.

It was Fortune and he had recorded a voice note saying that his boss had agreed for him to work from home for his service year but without the extra privileges he would have enjoyed if he was on site.

I leaped in excitement and placed a call across to him immediately.

“Congratulations baby!” I screamed the minute he picked up.

“Your baby is not here, but I will tell him you said congratulations when he's out of the bathroom” That was his mother's voice. I could hear him shouting that she should hand over his phone but since we had already begun gisting, I doubted he would be allowed to talk to me for the next one hour.