The Wheelbarrow Pusher Episode One
Sarafina is getting married in seven days’ time. She is from a rich family and her fiancee is also from a rich family. It was going to be a society wedding. The president, many state governors, high class traditional rulers, captains of industries, top bankers, multi billionaires and other dignitaries were billed to be in attendance at the wedding. The wedding was the talk of the town. Newspapers, televisions and radio stations stayed on the topic for many days because of the two persons involved. Many people wanted to attend the wedding because it promises to be a big feast.
But Sarafina is not happy. Her heart was not with Kunle, her fiancé. She does not love her. Their parents just matched them together because they both belong to the same class. However, Kunle happens to like Sarafina. He loves her and cherishes her. The problem is that Sarafina does not feel the same way. It was a one-way love affair. However, she has been pretending to love Kunle all because she wanted to make her parents happy. In fact, they had threatened to disown her if she fails to marry who they had chosen for her.
She agreed to marry Kunle out of fear of being disowned. However, in the deepest part of her heart, she does not want to even go close to Kunle. Her heart is with someone else. Her heart is with her boyfriend who happens to come from a poor background. Sarafina had fallen in love with one wheelbarrow pusher who once helped her carry her bag at a motor park one time she was travelling to school by road. That time, her parents went out with their driver and there was no one to drive her to school when she was supposed to resume. She had a lot of bags and when she got to the motor park, she got help from the wheelbarrow pusher who also refused to take money from her.
It was a long time ago when she was still in the university. She didn’t know why, but she just like the man’s appearance and his manner of approach. She decided to collect his phone number. From then on, Sarafina would prefer to travel by public transport so that she would see and interact with the wheelbarrow pusher. The whole thing became an obsession. At that time, Sarafina was not dating anyone. She was an extremely beautiful woman and she was wondering if men were afraid of her. She grew to secretly love the wheelbarrow pusher.
That was how she started going from school to the motor park to visit the wheelbarrow pusher. Her parents had no idea what was going on. She used to visit the man secretly at the park and they would sit somewhere and talk for several hours before she would go back to her school. The wheelbarrow pusher did not have an apartment of his own. He was sleeping under a flyover because he could not afford an apartment.
Even when Sarafina offered to use her money and pay for an apartment for him, he refused. He told her she should not worry. He didn’t want it to seem like he was after her money. He insisted he was saving money to rent an apartment and that the money was almost complete. True to his words, he was able to rent an apartment a few months later. It was just a small one room apartment. It was the type of apartment that people referred to as a ‘cubicle.’
All the same, Sarafina was happy for the wheelbarrow pusher that at least, he could afford a room called his ow. She so mush loved the wheelbarrow pusher such that she almost moved into the room even though it was not furnished. The man was only able to buy a carpet and a small bed. There was nothing else in the room, but Sarafina loved the room and still loved the man. She would often leave school without her parents’ knowledge to go and spend several days with the wheelbarrow pusher. It got to the extent that she could no longer stay without seeing him. They became inseperable.
When Sarafina’s parents told her they had arranged for her to marry Kunle, the son of another rich family, she did not know what to say. Of course, she could not mention the fact that she is in love with another man because she was afraid of what her parents could do to the poor wheelbarrow pusher if they found out he was in love with their daughter. She wanted to protect the wheelbarrow pusher, so she kept quiet about their relationship. She knew she would expose him to danger if she should mention his name to her parents.
But one week to her wedding to Kunle, she could not resist the urge to visit the wheelbarrow pusher. She has not formally told the wheelbarrow pusher about the wedding, but he has heard about it in the news. She left her friends at the hotel where they were preparing for her bridal shower and other pre-wedding events to visit the wheelbarrow pusher. It was an emotional moment when she told him what was going to happen in seven days.
“I’m leaving you to marry a man chosen for me by my parents. I don’t love him, it’s you I love.” Sarafina said while crying.
“So, if you don’t love him, why are you going to marry him?” The wheelbarrow pusher asked.
“Because if I don’t marry him, I will be in trouble. My parents will disown me.” She said.
“What about me? You don’t care about how this decision would make me feel?” The wheelbarrow pusher said.
“I’m actually protecting you. My parents will deal with you if they find out we are in love.” Sarafina said.
“You are not going anywhere. I will not allow you to marry Kunle. You will stay here and they will search for you and they won’t find you. You are my wife. I’m the one who will marry you.” The wheelbarrow pusher said.
For several days, the wheelbarrow pusher refused to allow Sarafina to leave. His love for her cannot be measured. Everyone was searching for her. Her family thought she has been kidnapped, but she was actually enjoying the fact that she was in the wheelbarrow pusher’s house.
Three days to her wedding, police, army and other security agencies were combing the whole town and looking for Sarafina. No one knew where she was.
Watch out for the next episode
