The key turned at ten-thirty in the morning. Adeolu was sitting in his father's chamber, resting his forehead on the large table. He raised his head as the knob turned.
"Welcome, Kabiyesi," he greeted when the king had sat on the couch, close to him.
"Are you well today?" the king queried, his lips parted in a temperate smile.
"Yes, my lord," he responded, wearing a quizzical expression.
"Thanks be to God. Like I instructed you to let us meet here this time, I have an important issue to discuss with you," the King said.
"All right, Your Majesty," he intoned and adjusted himself on the seat as curiosity got the better of him.
"The Queen gave me the lowdown of what was amiss with you. She said you worried too much to the point of her losing appetite for food,"
"I am sorry, father,"
"Well! This meeting was scheduled for yesterday, but I was hooked by activities in the palace, or wasn't I?"
"You were, your Majesty,"
"Thank you, son. Now, let's go straight to the point; I must state that you are still young. No pressure should be allowed to take away your peace. While you should treat the counsel with care, I need to state that I find your decision preposterous. We betrothed to you Agboola Adesewa because we felt she matches you so well," the king paused, rapidly sipped from the teacup in front of him, and placed it on a pile of books. In a minute, he resumed, "Look, Adesewa is not a bad girl. I have the belief that she would make a good wife. She is exactly just like your mom and your sisters, well-trained and doting: the sources of peace of mind. She....,"
"But I don't love her, father," he interrupted.
"You loved her until you took one kind look at Aduke. What were your eyes looking around instead of sticking to your fiancée? Where exactly is the love you nursed for Adesewa then?"
"It was not loving, your highness. It was to please you and the Queen. Now that I have met the person my heart craves, I cannot afford to feign anymore," he politely argued.
"And you could not tell me this year. Isn't it cruel that have fiddled away her time before now? Do you have an idea of the number of suitors she might have declined because of the reminder from her parents, that she is betrothed to you? Where is your conscience?"
"I am sorry, your highness,"
"Come off it, Adeolu. You have dated that girl for good two years and more, and her parents are aware. Don't you think retreating will bring dishonour to us, especially from Oba Agboola?"
"I know but I am still sorry, father. We just have to let the girl be. Love is not a thing to be forced. It is a thing of the heart,"
"Adeolu!!!" The king's eyes were sad and angry.
"Pardon me, Your Highness, if I sound rude. I simply just have to follow my heart for good,"
"It is all right. I just hope you won't regret your action later,"
"Regret? Not with your support, Your Highness,"
As he said so, Oba Ajisafe was seized by silence during which he permitted himself to ponder over the whole happening. He realised that his son was truly in love with his brainy secretary's daughter whom he had yet to physically meet. He discerned that to compel his son to marry the girl he did not care about was the same as leading him astray. If the marriage with Adesewa did not turn out to be unruffled, but violent, all the blame would be put on him and his Queen. It would be better to let the poor boy make decisions on his own. What, in any case, is marriage without unparalleled affection for each other? Empty and drab, he remarked as he treated his question. He did not even know if Adesewa had developed a love for him or if the duo was only playing a prank on each other. It was no longer strange that it was a lack of true love that had destroyed too many marriages built on a trick. It is love that matters the most when it comes to marriage, he deeply thought. As he deepened on, he recalled some lines of words muttered to them during his university day: "To every woman, before you marry a man, put aside his financial situation and see if there is something else worth marrying him for. To every man, before you marry a woman, put aside her buttocks, her beauty and her breasts and see if there is something else worth marrying her for". The lines are powerfully true, he stated. Marrying someone because of their possession, what will happen once the possession is gone? If Adeolu is asked to marry Adesewa over what the king sensed in her, what will happen once those attributes are gone? He wondered. It was then he surrendered to his son's agitation. He would endorse his wedding with whomever he treasured. He certainly would have not bothered himself to plead with Oba Agboola to have his daughter betrothed to Adeolu had he, Oba Ajisafe, did not find Adesewa humbling and wifely. His thought was as the girl and his son began courting, there would be a flame of love in his heart, making Adeolu find her irresistible. But he was wrong, absolutely wrong since the plan did not work as planned.
" I endorse it,' the king finally said.
"Oop! Thank you, Your Highness. You are the greatest father in the world," he prostrated childishly, revelled and buoyed by the king's endorsement.
"I hope she will agree to marry you,"
"I hope so, too. I have even informed her father,"
"You did?"
"Yes, father,"
"You are a bad boy. Your boldness is something I don't know where you inherited it,"
"From you, Your Majesty," he grunted and laughed hysterically.
"Must you implicate the innocent King?"
Oba Ajisafe did not expect a response. He got up quickly and went into the Palace to attend to the guests.
•••
"It can never be," Aduke thoughtfully said. She had gone through the content of the note Adigun hid in between pages of the book for her. It stunned her that the Prince displayed such an insensitive attitude out of jealousy and not actually because anyone sickened him, "Until anyone can explain how water found its way into coconut, no one and nothing can part Adigun and me. Not even the gods and the herbalists in their gift of clairvoyance. Not when our hearts throb, heavily armed with love. Separating us is like robbing me of my happiness. The palace may be full of cowries and materials, but no amount of money can buy and possess me. Adigun and money might be strange to each other, but that doesn't mean they would not relate to each other in the future. I plead to love genuinely, and not sprint helter-skelter after materialistic entities. I plead to stand by him as long as I am confident of my trust in him. Not even Papa and Mama can shift me from Adigun to anyone else," she stopped, grasped a pillow from her bedside and flung it in rage.
The pillow was heavy. Instead of the wall, it hit the door. The aftermath was it attracted the attention of her mother who ran quickly to be with her in the room as she thought her daughter was in danger.
"I overheard a thunderous sound. Is anything amiss?" she asked.
"No, Mama. I am all right," she retorted and sat down on the bed.
"You are all right with that kind of countenance. You must be kidding me. Tell me what's up, my dear?"
Knowing it was safe to confide in her mother, Aduke did.
"So, the boy that came visiting some time ago is the one you intend to marry? And you two were acting like students of the same school,"
"I am sorry, Mama,"