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Why public proposals feel like a trap

Girl Talk
 Photo; Courtesy

Recently, I attended a graduation party at a three-star hotel in Nairobi. The reason the party was being held was that a friend to the graduand was going to use that opportunity to propose to his long time girlfriend.

He managed to convince the graduand to host the party at the hotel and not in his house as earlier planned. He had even offered to chip in a huge sum of money to pay for the venue just so he would make an impact to his girlfriend.

I am not a fun of eavesdropping but somehow I always find myself in a situation where it’s unavoidable. Being the time keeper I always am, I was among the first ten to arrive at the venue fully equipped with my two wide ears! Just ten minutes into my arrival, three ladies came and sat behind me and immediately gave my ears some good work.

Let’s call whoever was going to propose Josh. Apparently, Josh was not aware that his girlfriend Mercy was not so much into him as he thought. According to these ladies, Mercy was even contemplating ending their relationship.

They knew about the proposal and were 100 per cent sure Mercy was going to turn it down. Being the ‘Cinderella step sisters’ they were, they had come to witness hell break loose and capture the moments on their cameras.

As soon as I got wind of this, my itchy feet were up and about the venue as I tried figuring out who this Josh was. He was about to make the worst mistake of his life, to make it worse, he had spent a lot of money paying for this mistake. Before long, I managed to know who he was. Dressed in a three piece suit for the occasion!

Again, as I stood next to a different crowd looking at him pitifully, I heard people talking of the proposal and how it was bound to backfire. All these people had not warned Josh though. He looked jovial and was making sure everything was in place, including Bruno Mars’ ‘Marry you’ hit.

Fast forward to when everyone was offering congratulatory messages to the graduand. Josh stood to give his message amid cheers, you could see everyone flashing their mobile phones from their pockets in readiness to record the ‘Sinking of Titanic’. I was not going to be left behind! I had to source for 411 for my chama members during the next chama meeting complete with video evidence.

As soon as Josh stood up, the DJ started playing Bruno Mars’ hit and like an owl, my eyes were all over looking for Mercy even though I did not know who she was or where she was seated. It did not take me long to figure out who she was because of the heavy traffic of eyes going her way. Josh sung along to the music as he walked towards Mercy, fished his ring and proposed.

There was dead silence followed by a feeble ‘Yes’. The ‘Yes’ shocked everyone and people even forgot to applaud, everyone stood still waiting for the correct answer which they thought was a ‘No’ until the DJ shouted ‘Makofi na vigelegele’. That’s when we all started clapping and cheering as Josh gave Mercy a tight hug.

You could hear murmurs from all over after the proposal. Something was amiss! A week later, Mercy broke off the engagement. She mentioned that she only said yes to avoid embarrassing Josh before the huge crowd which she said gave her pressure!

How many women, especially in our African setting say yes because of the crowd? The high rate of divorce after colorful weddings gives me the answer!

 

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