24 Hours Part 5
IT was as if, God had answered Alice's mom's prayer. Mrs. Okoli had told her daughter on their way to the airport, while Alice was heading to Port Harcourt for the first time. That her prayer was for Alice to end her service year in Port Harcourt, either engaged or married to a godly and hardworking young man. Alice and Tonye grew so fond of each other that they spoke on the phone for hours daily. They met twice in the week at church. Tonye was very careful not to betray his real nature or motives. He avoided receiving financial or material favors from Alice and later her family. In the eight months of their dating, Tonye was a ‘born again' Christian, but he secretly shared his bed with different girls, unknown to Alice.
Tonye had refrained from seeking sexual intimacy with Alice hinging his conduct to the obedience of biblical injunctions. He had traveled with Alice to see her parents. During that visit, Tonye stayed in a hotel and paid his bills. He tactically turned a blind eye to her family's wealth. During a discussion with Mrs. Okoli, Tonye had hinted, that he had initially told himself that he never wanted to marry any girl from a financially stronger background. He said to her that his father had informed him that the best wives were those who grew their family finances with their husbands from scratch.
With his posturing and words, Tonye convinced Mr. and Mrs. Okoli that their daughter had met the ideal husband. Then about a month before the completion of her national service, Tonye took Alice out for a specially organized candle-lit dinner. The climax of that romantic date was his marriage proposal.
Alice was blown away by everything that evening, the ambiance, the food, his words, and the fact that he gathered her friends to witness it. Swept away, Alice couldn’t help being anxious, so, she thought for a few seconds and asked that Tonye gave her a moment to make a video call