"What is the problem?" Pastor Dele asked when Michael walked into his office."
After leaving Amara's apartment earlier, he got into his car and drove straight to the church.
"I need help. I don't know what is wrong with me," Michael said as he sat down.
"Are you talking to me as your senior pastor or as your friend?" Pastor Dele asked, wondering what could make Michael look so worried.
"Both. I need your advice from both the spiritual and physical standpoint," he said, rubbing his face.
"Alright. Tell me what the problem is," Pastor Dele urged him.
Michael looked at him for a moment, wondering where to start. "I didn't tell you the complete truth about the situation with Amara," Michael confessed.
Pastor Dele frowned. "Amara? Did something happen between you two?" He asked, wondering if perhaps Michael had fallen into the sin of fornication.
"No. It's not that," Michael said, knowing what he was thinking. "God said Amara is my wife."
"Ah!" Pastor Dele exclaimed before he could stop himself. "Are you sure it was God? What if it's your flesh?"
"You think I'd choose to marry her when there are more godly and decent ladies like sister Faith and the others to choose from?" Michael asked incredulously.
"Maybe it's not about you choosing. What if Satan is trying to make you marry her so that…"
"It's not Satan," Michael said flatly. "It's God. As much as I would have liked to believe or claim it is Satan, I know God's voice. I know what I heard. And God told me I'd meet my wife that night, even before I met Amara. When I saw her outside, God said she was my wife," Michael explained.
"That was the reason you helped her?" He asked, and Michael exhaled deeply.
"I helped her because God asked me to," Michael said, and Pastor Dele nodded thoughtfully.
"And God led you to preach to her two years ago. If you had known then that she was your wife, you'd have preached to her," he said, and Michael sighed deeply but said nothing.
"So, what do you need help with? If you're sure it's God speaking to you, you should simply trust and obey," he said, and Michael nodded.
"Yes. I know. But my problem right now is not that," he said, embarrassed to tell his problem.
"What is it?" Pastor Dele asked, confused.
"I can't stop thinking about her. I can't understand it. Somebody that I just met which day here. This doesn't feel normal. I always want to talk to her despite having nothing to say. I don't even like her much, yet I want to listen to her talk. It's not like I've even decided to marry her yet, it's like she is always in my head…" Michael trailed off when Pastor Dele burst into laughter. "It's not funny."
"It is hilarious," Pastor Dele said, laughing even more. "Which one is I don't even like her that much? You obviously like her, and you're saying you don't like her that much."
Michael sighed.
"This one you keep sighing, take it easy before you develop high blood pressure over wife that you have not married yet," he said jokingly.
"Is it normal to feel this way? It feels wrong. It feels like I'm doing something bad by thinking about her like this. You won't believe that I was standing outside waiting for her to return from the market earlier, and then she came and asked what I was doing. I said I was waiting for someone. I couldn't even tell her she was the one. Then she left me outside to look at her things because she believed I was still waiting," Michael said, and Pastor Dele threw back his head and laughed out loud.
"Omor! This one is strong," he said, still laughing, then paused when something struck him: " Wait, which market? Where is she staying? Don't tell me you took her to your house," he said, and Michael shook his head.
"No. My mother rented an apartment for her," he explained, giving him the details.
"Oh! So she knows? Was that why she scolded my wife and Faith that way? My wife came home very angry," he said, and Michael shook his head.
"She didn't know then. Or maybe she was suspecting, I don't know," he said, and Pastor Dele smiled.
"There is nothing wrong with the way you're feeling as long as you're not lusting after her. You're a human being. It's normal for you to feel emotions of love and the likes. And it's good you feel that way about the wife God chose for you. Now you have to control the feeling. Don't let it control you. Ask God to help you control it so that your feelings won't become unholy," he said, and Michael nodded.
"You haven't told her anything yet, have you?" Pastor Dele asked, and Michael shook his head.
"No. I want to get to know her without marriage talk and then see how I can brush her up. She doesn't even have a university degree," he said, and Pastor Dele smiled.
"Many of the single sisters in the church won't like this, sha—especially sister Faith, who always talks about you. You know you are their most eligible bachelor. Spirit-filled, tongue-speaking, pocket-loaded, fine boy were love Jesus," he said with a grin, and Michael laughed.
"I'll bring her to weekly activities with me and church on Sundays. I would like her to join the workforce again, especially the choir department," he said, and pastor Dele nodded.
"I even need to speak with her and apologize for what happened with my wife. I think I failed her, too. I'm the shepherd of this church, and I lost a sheep that God gave me," he said, and Michael nodded in agreement.
"I can give you her number, or you can come and visit her. Maybe you can bring your wife along and reconcile them," he suggested, and Pastor Dele nodded.
"Maybe after service tomorrow, I will talk with her first. That way, I can get her number and schedule a day to visit. Take it easy, and ask God to guide you. You should even ask God when he wants you to marry her. Don't be here waiting for years to brush her up when God might want you to do so soon," he said, and Michael frowned.
He didn't want to marry her until she was almost done with school. That way, he could introduce her as a student in her finals rather than someone who isn't in school yet or has just started.
After their conversations, Michael felt better as he returned to the pharmacy. As he approached the building, his gaze went to Amara's apartment.
There was hardly any light in the area, especially at night. If she were sewing, she would need light. He didn't want her to stay in the darkness.
Since he had not contributed anything thus far to getting her the apartment, he decided to call the guy who installed his solar panels to find a way they could connect her apartment to them. Apart from her fan, bulbs, and phone charging, she didn't have appliances in her apartment, so it wouldn't be too much of a load on his solar panels.
As he dialed the guy's number, he paused and reasoned that if she had light in her apartment, she might never have reason to come and charge her phone in his office.
Or could they make it so that during the day, while he was at the office, her light won't come on until night? He wondered, then shook his head at his selfish and childish thought.
He will have to figure out how to get her to hang out with him. He will come up with a way. He had always been good with women after all.
He called the solar panel guy and then headed to her apartment to join Amara and his mother.
When he got inside, Amara smiled as he walked in, "You're back."
"Yeah. I called someone to connect your apartment to the pharmacy's solar system. That way you can have light all the time," he said, and her eyes widened in surprise while his mother smiled.
"True true? Abi you Dey whine me?" she asked in disbelief, and his mother laughed.
Michael looked taken aback by her sudden switch to pidgin.
"Why will I whine you?" He asked, and she laughed happily.
"Ah! Thank you, Pastor Michael! You're such a good man. God will bless you. You will marry a very fine and good wife. You will have fine children!"
Michael looked at her without saying anything while his mother laughed out loud, amused by the prayer and the entire situation.
"Amen! Amen!" his mother exclaimed as she laughed. She couldn't wait for Amara to realize she was the wife she had been praying for.