I couldn’t stop thinking about Sally, the amazing girl I met at Moi International Airport, Mombasa in December 2021.
I loved her scintillating wit.
If you can recall, I also fell in love with her the minute I saw her walking into the airport. Her personality, style, fashion sense and oh my Good Lord! Her beauty.
Italicized below was the ending of our first love story at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Sally took a cab south and left me waiting for mine.
My phone rang. A message from Sally.
“Stop thinking too much. You will get a new phone tomorrow. I hope to see you with it when we meet for coffee,” she wrote and added a smiling emoji.
I smiled back.
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2022 is that you?
As my friends and family partied and exchanged gifts, the New Year for me came with many resolutions. But top of them all was, yes you know it. Say with me - Sally.
Sally was in my mind. In fact - always in my mind. I thought of how beautiful she looked when she woke up in the morning. How she struggled to choose the jewellery she’d put on.
How she looked at herself in the mirror and smiled at herself. I laughed at how stupid I was becoming. Whether these feelings were going to warm my heart or burn it down, I couldn’t tell.
“Alex, you haven’t been yourself of late, everything alright?” my mum asked me towards the end of January and all I did was smile.
“Oh! I know that smile. There’s a woman, right?” she asked, smiling. She is this one person who can look into my eyes and see deep into my soul.
I nodded and all she asked was that I bring her home. Sally and I had spoken a number of times, but she was quite busy setting up a new shop in the CBD. And some of the weekends, she was out of the town for some errands.
“I am exhausted tonight,” she texted back when I reached out.
“How was the trip?” I asked.
“It was awesome. I kept thinking about you. In fact, I got you something. A surprise,” she wrote.
She was thinking about me. Yes!
“Let’s meet on Valentine’s eve. I will be in town. I am also relocating from Mombasa to Nairobi. I want to be around the city,” she added.
Did she want to be around the city? Did I read that right? Did she mean to say she wanted to be around me?
Come on boy, stop reading too much into these texts!
Valentine’s Day.
I wanted to say Valentine's craze was here, but I was part of the script.
The radio in the morning, nothing else but the classics.
Fortunately, I have celebrated many happy days in my life. I find happiness in every small thing. But this felt like the beginning of something new.
If there was one thing I adored about a woman, it is initiative. I loved it when the relationship was two way. We both had the initiative to follow up, talk and eloquently express the depth of our affection.
She brought the best out of me. Talk about my dress code. I was taking her somewhere special and fancy. I dressed up formally. I was the talk of my office, everyone tried guessing who I was seeing.
“Boychild, after a few years of being single. Now going on out Valentines,” Rose, our HR teased me.
I managed to check out early, hopped into a cab and straight to Lavington.
This was that day when you don’t go to your usual restaurant since this won’t be anything extraordinary. I knew my usual spot would be overly crowded on this day. I wanted a place where I could enjoy Sally’s beauty, revered in the halo surrounding her.
Somewhere we could both enjoy some peaceful time together and truly bond.
“A drink sir?” the waitress asked, smiling. Was it written clearly in my face that I was in love? Ohh okay, I get it. It’s Valentine's Day. Everyone is in love.
“Yes, can I get a Tommasi casisano brunello di montalcino,” I answered. It sounded awesome pronouncing the Italian wine that I had just researched in the morning.
“And two glasses, please. I am waiting for someone,” I added. This addition kinda satisfied a certain ego inside me.
There she was. Walking with style and grace. I stood up, on impulse. She simply slowed down, switched to a slow walking pace. I guess to allow me to be starstruck by her beauty.
She moved and interacted with the lady at the entry with a good poise posture that gave her a natural air of confidence. All that while, her eyes were fixated on me, smiling.
Sally walked straight into my arms. The hug, the fragrance, the red dress, the stilettos’, I cannot describe it all. She was adorable.
“You look good,” I couldn’t help but say.
“I know, you also look great. Someone’s been taking good care of himself,” she added, with her trademark laughter, while adjusting the hair on her right ear.
We spoke of it all. The trips, how we missed each other. The business plans and everything there was to talk about.
She then looked a little bit distracted when she mentioned how setting up her business in the CBD was draining her.
“I have trouble - setting an online card payment,” she stated, drunk from her glass of wine as the waitress cleared our table. We had an Italian dinner.
“Okay, have you tried Co-op bank. You last mentioned that you had an account right?
“Yes, what about Co-op bank?” she asked.
“You can get more customers by accepting online card payments via Co-opBank eCommerce solution! This is applicable to all sellers who promote their goods and services in the online space. From a website, social media platforms, WhatsApp, Instagram and others.
“The best part is that you can still receive online card payments without owning a website. No Cost to You! No integration needed!
She looked at me marvellously.
“And how did you know this?” she starred, smiling.
I researched. I knew you’d face some obstacles so I did my best following up on everything you did that you texted me to look at. I kept tabs on you and knew I would come back one way or another,” I responded. She pulled my hand, held it in hers.
We cross-checked the Co-op website and found out that with Co-op Bank eCommerce, the merchant receives a unique link (Pay-By-Link) which they use to invoice their customers.
“Once the merchant and the customer agree on the pricing, the merchant sends the payment link to the customer’s email address. The customer will receive an invoice with the link on their email.
“The link will open up a portal where the customer will insert their card details and the amount they are to pay. Once the payment goes through, the merchant will receive a payment confirmation via email and SMS. The customer will also receive a notification via SMS in the event they have subscribed to an SMS alert with their card provider,” Co-op explained.
Sally was attracted to one part of the Co-opBank eCommerce solution.
“The merchant does not incur any cost to get the Pay-By-Link solution. It is free to get onboarded, the solution is secure, because it is 3D secure, with two-factor authentication for all card payments and in the event, a customer makes a wrong payment, the merchant can reverse the payment without calling the bank for a reversal.
“Merchants who have built web checkout & mobile applications (APPs) and would like to enrich their applications with online card payment acceptance can now be able to do so with Co-opBank eCommerce solution,” Sally read.
It was amazing seeing how grateful she was.
“Let us order another glass of wine,” she said, but I asked her not to. We already had enough.
“What about a photo? Do you mind?” I asked, pulling out my new phone. She laughed.
“I see you got the new phone. Someone’s flexing on me right?” she teased.
“No, I want to send my mum the photo. She was so eager to see you this morning,” I responded as we snapped a selfie.
“That's sweet of you Alex. I wanna see your mum too. You’ve spoken highly of her always,” Sally responded.
It touched my heart. I feel like I will be inviting you to a ruracio (dowry ceremony) very soon. Yes, you who is reading this. Would you mind if I send you an invite? Haaaa!
I gave Sally her Valentine's gift - A classic round cut pendant. I put it around her neck and watched it glow on her.
Her gift was a card. A Valentine’s card. Written inside it were the words…
Some people wait for a lifetime, for a moment like this.
Her handwriting - perfect.
“Let’s go home. I couldn’t carry your gift around,” Sally stated, showing me a photo of it on her phone.