Rings?

Joan who was still lying on her bed with plans of lazing away the day by binge watching movies on Netflix and playing games on her phone, sighed after a while when she realized that she had missed some scenes in the movie she was seeing because she had been carried away by her thoughts.

She was worried. Worried about her current situation, worried about Steve, worried about her future. Watching movies and playing games which were supposed to be a temporary distraction for her weren't working. She strived on bringing solution to problems, and these weren't solutions. She picked up her phone and dialed Steve's line again, but as usual it rang until it disconnected.

Why wasn't he taking her calls? Maybe she should go over to his house and find out what was going on? She decided against it when she recalled that Lilian had said she was going to do that. Maybe she would give Lilian a call later in the day to find out what was up, if Steve continued to ignore her call.

She raised her head when she heard the sound of her doorbell and reluctantly got out of her bed to see who was at the door.

"Don't you have to be at your Pharmacy?" Joan asked in a surprised tone when she saw Victoria standing there holding a small traveling bag.

"I'm sure if I close my pharmacy for a couple of days nobody will die," Victoria said, flashing her a smile as she took off her shoes and walked past her inside the house.

"Days? Are you going somewhere?" Joan asked as she shut the door behind her and followed Victoria inside.

"Somewhere ke? I came to keep you company. I don't want to hear that you became depressed and decided to go and jump from third mainland bridge," Victoria said, as she dropped her bags on the ground and sat on the couch, making Joan laugh.

"Suicide ke? You of all people should know that can never be an option for me. Somehow somehow I will survive. I sha know that I will come up with something. But thanks anyway, it'll be good to have someone else around," Joan said with a smile of gratitude as she sat down beside her friend.

"So what have you been doing? Have you even had your bath today?" Victoria asked as she looked at her suspiciously.

Joan scoffed, "nuh be who get somewhere to go dey baf? (Why should I bathe when I don't have to go to the office?)" Joan asked dismissively, "Wait o, I thought Emeka was around, abi has he gone back to Abuja?" Joan asked when she remembered that Victoria's long time boyfriend had come visiting that weekend.

"Not yet. He is on two weeks leave from work," Victoria explained with a happy smile.

"And he is okay with you coming to stay here with me?" Joan asked in confusion.

"He understands the situation. Besides, he traveled to his village yesterday. He said he has an appointment there, and also has an occasion to attend over the weekend, so he is not even around," Victoria assured Joan.

"Hm. Okay o," Joan said as she relaxed her back on the couch.

"Yes o," Victoria said with a happy smile making Joan narrow her eyes at her.

"This your excitement today is unusual, did something happen?" Joan asked her suspiciously as her eyes moved to Victoria's hand to see if there was an engagement ring on her finger, but there was nothing.

"I don't know if I should tell you this, seeing as you are in a bad mood this period," Victoria said with a sigh, even though she really wanted to share the news with Joan.

"Please if it's a good news tell me. God knows I really need to hear something to cheer me up and lighten up my spirit, so tell me," Joan urged her, already feeling excited because of Victoria's contagious happiness.

"I think Emeka is going to propose to me before he goes back to Abuja," Victoria said with a happy smile that lit up her face.

"You don't mean it!" Joan squealed excitedly as she hit Victoria's arm, making her laugh happily as she bobbed her head.

"I'm serious. I don't know, I'm just so happy and overjoyed. Finally we will prove to everyone that our love is here to stay," Victoria said with a facial expression that said Joan was part of the everyone she was talking about.

"It's about time he puts a ring on it anyway. Seven years is a long time to be dating one man nau. I was expecting him to propose since last year after your father got him that job with the oil company," Joan said with a scowl.

"You know men na. I'm sure he wanted to organize himself and settle well. Well, better now than never sha, abi?" Victoria asked with a giggle.

"Yeah. But wait o, how did you know he wants to propose sef? Did he let it slip?" Joan asked thoughtfully.

"I actually saw the receipt of the rings he bought in the pocket of one of his trousers while I was doing the laundry on Saturday," Victoria said, making Joan's brows furrow.

"Rings?"

"Yes. I looked it up online, it's a wedding ring set. I guess he didn't just want to spend money to buy an engagement ring, only to buy wedding ring again later. You know how this Igbo peopIe like to spend wisely," Victoria said with a grin, and Joan nodded in agreement, even though she really didn't buy what Victoria was saying.

There was something fishy about everything, but of course she couldn't point it out, else Victoria would think she was being negative. In all the years of Victoria's relationship with Emeka right from their University days, she had always frowned on the relationship.

Maybe it was just her, but she felt like Emeka was an opportunist who was dating Victoria because she was from a well to do family, and the fact that Emeka kept taking money from Victoria only seemed to make her even more suspicious of him. Although he worshipped Victoria like a god, and never ceased to flaunt her whenever he had the chance, but something about him just didn't sit right with Joan. Maybe because he was Igbo, and they were Yorubas. Even worse was the fact that he was the first son of his parents and was from Imo State. It was a general belief that men from Imo State hardly ever married women who weren't from Imo State as well. And it was also believed that some times their mothers handpicked their wives themselves. All these and more were some of the reasons she frowned on their relationship.

"So why hasn't he proposed if he has the ring already? Why did he travel to his village first?" Joan asked, making Victoria frown.

"You want to start abi? Abeg abeg don't spoil the excitement. Didn't you hear me when I said he has an appointment there, and needs to attend an occasion?" Victoria asked, eyeing Joan irritably.

"Okay o! Just let me know when he officially proposes so that I will follow you and pick aso ebi color. Only problem is that I might not have money to buy aso ebi by then," Joan said with a sigh, bringing them back to the issue on ground.

"So, how far? What is the latest?" Victoria asked curiously as she picked up the television and DStv remote to see what movie was showing.

"Nothing yet. I'm just waiting it out," Joan said with a shrug.

"What about Steve? Has he contacted you yet?" Victoria asked once again, and Joan shook her head.

"..." She opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the sound of her ringing tone.

She stood up and hurried to the room where she had left her phone on her bed. Once she picked it up, she rolled her eyes when she realized it was her mother. What did she want? She wondered grudgingly as she received the call.

"You should come home let's discuss your marriage plans," her mother said immediately she received the call.

"We already said we are not getting married! What marriage plans are you still talking about?" Joan half yelled irritably as she returned to the living room to join Victoria who was looking at her curiously.

"I take it Steve hasn't told you yet, has he?" Her father asked from the background making her heart skip a beat.

"Steve? Told me what?" Joan asked, unable to keep the worry from her voice.

"He has agreed to go on with the marriage and..."

"What? That can't be true!" Joan yelled in disbelief.

"Well, I hope you don't take too much time in making up your mind," her mother said before hanging up.

There was no way Steve would do something like that to her, or to himself, right? He wouldn't make such a rash decision without talking to her first, or would he? Her parents had no reason to lie to her about this either, so what was going on? Did Steve give in to the pressure already? Was that why he was avoiding her calls?