C H A P T E R  S I X T E E N

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Normani reached bent down and stretched her arms to reach the furthermost corner in her locker in a quest to find her ballet slipper.

Her hand collided with the tired, silky material of one of the straps and she grabbed onto it and pulled the shoe out.

She closed her locker again and waved back at the girl who was exiting the dressing room with a smile on her face.

Normani sighed in bliss. She along with her other classmates had gotten back their final practical results for ballet and she was happy with the A she'd gotten, especially since she hated the dance form.

Ballet had been her final assessment – set a week after her other written and practical exams. Now all that separated her from summer vacation was her dirty locker.

She'd spent ten minutes clearing everything out and was just about done. Her college junior year had come and gone in the blink of an eye and summer was upon them once again.

She couldn't wait to catch up on sleep, eat copious amounts of food and binge watch series, simple pleasures that she'd had to sacrifice for that year.

It had been her most challenging in the three years that she'd attended NYU. Normani couldn't count the number of times she'd cried from the pure stress – assignments, practicals, tests and exams.

She'd even suffered from the exam entrance scare: when a module had been far too challenging for her and she'd almost not gotten a grade that was good enough to gain entry to write the exam for it.

Her mental health had suffered tremendously that year – along with the general academic stress that came with her degree, her laptop, with all of her study material had been stolen a week before a major exam too.

It had taken a very public panic attack in the middle of a Walmart for her to listen to the signals her body had been giving out to her.

The year wasn't entirely bad though and she'd had her fair share of great memories: she'd modelled for Sketchers, had been booked for photo shoots by a start-up magazine that was already gaining popularity amongst her peers, made more dance covers with Peaches – all of which had brought positive attention to her public social media profiles.

She still had the audition for a Miss Nchekubwe in August and she was still as excited for it as the day she'd gotten the invite.

She was glad that the academic year was finally put to rest and she'd finished with a miraculous 3.4 GPA.

With a satisfied smile, she closed her locker, placed her slipper into her bag and set about to leave campus.

She walked to the nearest Starbucks to wait for Anika and Faye so that they could all head home together, the latter had become an almost permanent fixture in their home life and often times Normani forgot that Faye didn't live with them.

She and Anika had been together for a glorious thirteen months and Normani had never seen her best friend so happy.

Normani ordered a cappuccino freezo for herself, chai latte for her best friend and orange juice for Faye and waited for them.

The couple arrived five minutes after she'd gotten their beverages, glued to the hip and giggling together.

"There's my second favourite couple," Normani said as they took the seats across hers.

"Who's your first?" Faye asked.

"Me and Keith, of course," Normani said.

Anika rolled her eyes, "wow, that's totally not conceited."

"I'm allowed to love my own damn relationship you bitter hoe."

"How am I a bitter hoe?" Anika asked, "I'm literally glued to my girlfriend's side. I'm fine."

"You're bitter because you're mad that I ship my own relationship more than your own, duh."

"You're both estupidias," Faye said with a grin.

"Drink your latte," she said to Anika and kissed her cheek.

"This isn't over, Hamilton," Anika said with narrowed eyes and proceeded to do what her girlfriend had asked of her.

"So, how did it go?" Faye asked Normani in reference to her results.

"I scored a B+ in total and Mr Harrison just wanted to impart some wisdom before we return for the next year. He won't be our lecturer."

"Wow, a B+" Anika said with an impressed nod.

"Yeah, ballet actually saved that godforsaken GPA of mine had it not been for it I'm sure I'd scored even lower than a 3.2."

"You got an A+ in African Dance though," Anika said.

"Oh yeah, that too. Everything else just about kicked my butt."

"At least you aren't repeating a module though, unlike some of us," Faye said.

"You have to repeat?" Normani asked her.

Faye nodded, "I totally tanked social studies but I did really well with everything else. There's no point in dwelling on it now though, what's happened has happened."

"I wish I had that attitude in life. If I had to repeat a single module for architecture, I'd lose it."

"Yeah, so be glad you got your 4.0 and don't have to worry about it. I'm so proud of you by the way," Faye said with a sweet smile and leaned forward to kiss Anika on her lips.

Anika deepened it and cupped her girlfriend's chin just as the other girl's arms looped around her neck.

"Ugh, guys. I'm trying to eat here," Normani said.

Anika disconnected her lips from Faye's for a second, "hush girl, you and Keith are way worse than us," and without missing a beat, she focused on her girlfriend's lips again.

Normani felt her phone vibrate with a message.

Boo Thang ❤️: hey baby, done with your ballet meeting?

Awelwa Mi❤️: yes. i'm just at starbucks with the girls, grabbing a quick drink before we head back home. you still coming?

Boo Thang❤️: yes. i'm just catching up with Karibu. i'll be at your place around 6

Awelewa Mi❤️: okay, see you then.

Boo Thang❤️: i love you

Awelewa Mi❤️ : mmm i love me too.

Boo Thang❤️ : 😒

Awelewa Mi❤️ : 😁 but you're quite alright too, so i guess i love you too.

×

Keith smiled and shook his head at his phone screen before he locked it once more and placed it on the coffee table.

"I can only assume you're smiling like that because of the Mrs," Karibu said with a teasing smile.

"She's just so silly sometimes," Keith replied without an attempt to deny what Karibu had said.

"But you love her," Karibu said with a knowing look in his eyes.

Keith nodded, "yes. I love her."

Karibu took a sip of his glass of water, "that's good to hear. It's good to see you genuinely happy with someone, you know?"

"Mhmm, but we aren't here to talk about me and Mani, we're here for you."

Karibu smiled, "yes of course."

"How did it go?" Keith asked.

Karibu had taken Alexis to meet his parents in Namibia and they'd gone for an entire week. He was back now and Keith was itching to hear of his experience so it could help him plan for what he had in mind...

"It was splendid, brother," Karibu said with another one of his larger-than-life smiles.

He had returned from Namibia last night so he was still in need of a lot of time to recuperate from the jet lag. Keith had dropped by to amuse him for the daytime hours in a bid to help him get back into the right sleeping habits.

"Everyone loved her but she won the affections of my mother the most."

"I'm impressed," Keith said with a nod.

"I was a bit wary on the way there because my parents are gentle folk and you know how outspoken Alexis is but she has this charm that just made them swoon. I'm sure that every time I'll call home, my mother will drop hints about us needing to get married."

"Wow, I am so happy that it went well for you, Brother."

"It helps that Alexis and I have been together for a very long time and that we have a somewhat similar social standing, although even in Namibian terms, my parents are not as extravagant as Alexis's."

A few beats of silence passed while the men drank their separate beverages in Karibu's open-plan kitchen.

"Forgive me for prying brother, but I'm led to believe there's a reason why you were so invested in this trip with Alexis."

"There is a reason," Keith replied, "I've been thinking a lot about me and Mani and our relationship. We'll be celebrating our first year anniversary in a few weeks, it's so astounding to me. I've been thinking about us in the long term and I can't think of a future where she doesn't exist, you know? And I need to head back to Nigeria in July again and I just got to thinking-"

Keith suddenly stopped speaking and rubbed a hand behind his neck. Karibu watched him with avid fascination because the man before him was the most articulate man that he knew except when it came to the subject of his girlfriend.

"You were thinking..." Karibu prompted.

"I was thinking that it wouldn't be that entirely bad to have Mani come with me."

X O

Two glorious weeks passed for Normani. When she wasn't sleeping in, she was out and about in the Big Apple, shopping, roller skating, getting coffee with her best friend and living her best life. Now July was upon them an as her first year anniversary neared, she was ecstatic for what Keith had planned.

He'd told her that it was all a surprise and he wouldn't budge when Normani would try and coax him into telling her what he wanted to do for her.

The last surprise Keith had planned for her had been so large and extravagant – she still got butterflies when she thought about the day Keith had taken her to see a Broadway play and the first time they'd shared sexual intimacy.

She didn't think Keith could do anything that would top that night, but she was definitely willing to be proven wrong.

A few days before their anniversary, Keith came to see Normani at her place like he'd done so many times in the past weeks.

After she'd opened the door for him and they'd shared a quick kiss, she led him to her bedroom. Anika and Faye were tangled on the couch together, engrossed in their favourite series.

Keith had always been friendly to the couple but Normani could tell that he kept his distance a bit and she attributed it to him not being used to seeing a homosexual couple so up close.

Homosexuality was illegal in Nigeria after all, so there was no way he could've been exposed to any physical manifestation of any gay or lesbian couples. She didn't dwell too much on it though because she didn't want to create problems where there weren't any.

They settled on her bed and spooned.

"So baby," Keith said while he slowly stroked his hand up and down her hip.

"Yes?" Normani murmured.

"I've got some news."

"What is it?"

"Your anniversary present," Keith said.

Normani sat up straight, "you're going to finally tell me?"

"Yes," Keith said with a smile, "although I think it's better I show you rather than tell you. Close your eyes."

Normani did as was instructed and closed her eyes. She heard him shuffle about for a bit and then, "put your hand out."

Normani extended a palm out and felt something settle into the surface of her hand. It felt like paper.

"You can open your eyes now," Keith said.

She looked down and saw that it indeed was a paper. What she saw printed on it made her squeal in equal parts of delight and unbelief.

It was a ticket, a plane ticket and on it was her name and the destination – Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

"Oh my god," she managed to say.

"I-- Keith? Is this? Wow."

Her boyfriend nodded with a gentle smile, the gorgeous skin around his mouth stretched along with his smile.

"You're taking me to Nigeria for our anniversary," Normani said. Her eyes were still as wide as saucers. She couldn't believe the words printed on the paper, still.

"Yes Awelewa, I am. You're going to meet my family and they're going to encounter the woman who has captivated my heart."

His tone was sincere now and she could tell by the sheen of his eyes that he was being genuine.

"Wow," Normani murmured.

"Are you happy?" Keith asked.

Normani could only nod before she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly.

They were going to Nigeria for the summer and it filled her with an incomparable warmth.

Keith was confident in their relationship, so much so that he was ready to take her to his home. She had been proven wrong; his surprise truly topped anything that he had ever done for her.

we're getting to the good stuff now. any speculations on how nigeria is gonna be like for mani and for the both of them as a couple? anyone else as excited as i am for what's to come?

leave me all your thoughts in el comments and as usual if you liked this then do please give me your precious stars. thanks for reading guys. ❤️