Having introduced Amy to my parents in the first week of 2017 and without any reservation, she was heartily accepted. Maybe my parents thought I was going to be single for a long time as I was never serious with my talks with family members. So everyone practically knew next to

nothing about my personal life nay love life, save for my mum. The story of how I met Amy won’t be complete without my mother; who didn’t know I was dating her even though she knew we were friends. So the first thing she told me when I brought Amy home as my girlfriend was

“mo ni ko put e through school nio, mio ni ko fẹ”.

She was like how’s she going to explain to Amy’s parents that she’s not aware we have been dating. As I was wont to do, I laughed it off.

During an NBA conference in Lagos, I had asked my babe for her home address in Lagos

stylishly and she told me. Never would she have imagined I was going to pay her parents a visit the following day. As my friends asked if I was sure and ready about going to see them, I wasn’t sure about the answer in my heart but I told them yes.

I had breakfast which was

almost as if I forced myself to take, food wasn’t going but I needed the energy. I soon dressed in my Mallam style kaftan and starched cap looking a husband material looto. Sola, Cue and Lekan saw me off to the junction to join a bus going to Oshodi from Oworo. I had bought wine

and assorted biscuits.

After asking one or two persons where I could get a bus to Abule-Egba/Sango Otta, I was directed and was polite in doing so. The Mallam-kaftan secret (I won’t tell you much about that).

I walked to where the buses calling out my destination were, they

were set of those big yellow buses called faragon or so, God. One was almost full and I entered to be seated on a row before the last one. Just then, someone started advertising all those cheap gbogboniṣe drugs that allegedly cured all ailments. Shortly after, someone from

nowhere started praying and after he was done people started giving him money, "am I in the right bus like this", I kept wondering. Then one woman picked a fight with the conductor and I heard all sorts of insults and curses, I realized I was several kilometers away from Ilorin

for real. I was subtly praying that my in-laws to be accept or I would have to start the dating thing all over, I might never start again and just enjoy my life traveling around which was what I had silently desired.

Unknown to Amy and my friends, I had decided to go unannounced

and while my babe was serving because I wanted a blunt, honest reaction from them. I want them ask me questions without reservations and have me decide if I wanted to continue the relationship or return to Katsina to start my life all over, maybe.

I was to stop at Ahmadiyyah but

for some reasons my brain clicked at Ajala and there I alighted the bus. I felt out of place and didn’t know where to turn to, I had to call Amy who then directed me after confirming I was in that bus stop. She was shocked I was going to see her parents when she wasn’t around,

I told them i wanted to surprise them and I hope I don’t end up surprising myself. I took a bike from the junction and the number on the house was bold enough for someone trying to marry from the family.

After several Bismillah and reciting things I can’t remember now,

I knocked on the gate. A Mallam came out and as I have seen from movies, I knew he was the gateman. The gateman was my first interview, he spoke little English and my Hausa was bad. While I was trying to make sense of the nonsense I was spitting, Amy’s sister came and requested

him to allow me in, how she said it to him, I can’t even remember. Then, the sister gave me that “God don bring you here” smile, my heart was beating like I had committed an offense. Just then I remembered a saying of my city grandma “nipa ife ti olugbala kiyio si nkan”, I told

my inner street spirit to take over from here.

As I entered the house, I said Taslim and good afternoon simultaneously, Kai. The mum stood up to greet me and offered me a sit, I had never been to an in-laws house so I didn’t know how to sit, should I relax my back of sit in

half, eh God. Very soon, I was served water and soda.

We exchanged pleasantries for a while and spoke about the NBA conference I was in Lagos for, the Dad was at work. I drank a little out of the water but left the drink untouched. In the Yoruba movie manner, the mother asked

what I wanted with her daughter, eh eh. I need not master my answers to the questions as I answered convincingly, firstly by saying I wouldn’t come this far if not for a cause I believed so much in. I have my way with elderly ones too, I don’t know how but I just do.

I completed my first leg of the interview with the mum, I knew I had passed when I was asked what I wanted to eat, Yoruba mothers o. I told her I was ok even though I was hungry already. I would later be tagged and the non-eating in-law till I showed them during wedding

preparation what I could do with food.

The second session started with the Grandmother shortly after sunrise prayer, she narrated my babe’s upbringing and then plead that she shouldn’t be maltreated or abused, I prayed for the Grandma, emi omo ile Kewu and she couldn’t hide her

delight. We spoke for a while and the fathers driver came to pick me from the house for the grand interview.

I arrived at the Dad’s office and after exchanging pleasantries, we got talking. It was as if he was used to me already, we spoke about wide range of topics and he shared