SDK Blog Series -Meet The Inlaws - Story 3

I have been introduced to the members of three different families as a prospective daughter-in-law. 

I met Endurance, a Bonny Island man, during our post graduate days. He was the quiet type. He was the invisible type of student. He never talked in class nor engaged in any academic discussions.

 During our final exam, he exchanged seats with the guy that sat next to me. I thought he forgot to read or maybe it was revealed to him that I knew the exam questions. He scribbled a note to me, telling me that it was his last opportunity to woo me. He begged that I call him after the exams. 

I called him days after. Within one hour, he was at the venue. He went straight to the point, like an astute business man. I initially didn’t say yes because I thought he was a bit boring. With time, I discovered he had a good heart and was not as boring as I thought, so I accepted to date him. 

After three months, he proposed with a ring. This guy had seven elder sisters from the same parents with him. He was the first son and the eighth child. He picked me at home and we drove to his home. 

I waited in his younger brother’s room, while the parents and three of his sisters discussed. They concluded he was rushing into marriage. They asked him if I was pregnant, he said no. I was never called to the sitting room. He was always coming to the room to update me. 

He told them he was ready and he would marry me with or without their support, but he would prefer their support. They decided to adjourn the meeting. 

When I was leaving, the mother asked me my name. I said, “Gwendoline*”. The Ngwa woman laughed and said, “Nne , agaghi m ikpofu aha nke a” (I cannot pronounce this name).

 We laughed together and I told her to call me any good name she liked. As events unfolded, I talked to myself and realized that I wouldn’t want to spend the rest of my life with Endurance. He was a good man but I didn’t want to spend all my youth playing family politics. I went to visit him to explain why I couldn’t continue. 

He was upset. He stood up to use the restroom. I took another look at the ring. I wanted to sell it because it was a 24-karat gold ring but I slid his ring under his pillow. I ran away and then sent him a text of where to find the ring. That was the end of Endurance.


I met a guy from my hometown. It was an arranged situation. I was supposed to go to his house to meet his mum. My father changed his mind at the last minute and told them to come to our house instead. By the time I arrived from my own apartment, they were already seated in my father’s sitting room.

 After all the initial talks, my would-be mother-in-law gave me a cooler of food and some drinks. She said she already cooked and was waiting when plans changed. I was pleasantly surprised.

 My supposed husband-to-be was a jovial and handsome man. We clicked immediately. We visited his siblings one at a time and they each gave me money as a sign of acceptance, saying that was our tradition. Wow, I was pleased. I never knew we had such money-making tradition, I would have at least pretended to accept marriage proposals from my kinsmen in my broke-ass days. Our individual bad characters could not let us marry. I maintained friendship with this family, especially the mother. Good woman.


When I met the man I now married, the drama is a full story. I didn’t know that he was the son of….If I summarize it, you will not understand it. I shall post it as a Part 2, as soon as Stella publishes this one.

*Na this kind suspense dey make me dey suspended!!!....You better send the follow up eeeeeeeeeeeeeeh..Biko fast!!!