{"id":1221,"date":"2014-09-01T18:30:17","date_gmt":"2014-09-01T18:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=1221"},"modified":"2014-09-01T18:30:17","modified_gmt":"2014-09-01T18:30:17","slug":"why-settle-for-mr-right-when-you-can-have-mr-rich","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=1221","title":{"rendered":"Why settle for Mr. Right when you can have Mr. Rich?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"MR-MRS-INGRATE\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There comes a time in a woman\u2019s life when she has to decide who to settle with and make a go for him. Laila had once briefly engaged to her childhood sweetheart who took off with one of her close friends. Now approaching 30, she\u2019s been involved with Joseph, a photographer who runs his own studio.\u00a0 \u201cHe specialises in society events and sells photographs to most of these society magazines\u201d, explained Laila.\u00a0 \u201cShe\u2019d taken so much time and money setting up his business that he didn\u2019t give marriage a thought until he was convinced he could look after a prospective family.<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks to his job, he took me on a few society events that gave me a peep into the world of the other half \u2013 and how they live. It was at one of these events, a society wedding, that I meet Taofik. A strictly-by-invitation event, Joseph had wangled a card from one of the organisers, and that was how I found myself sitting at this table with beautifully dressed guests. I wasn\u2019t bad looking myself. Thanks to the lady I worked with who recently passed me a few of her clothes, I matched what most of the women were wearing and my freshly fixed hair attachment shone.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThe wedding reception was straight out of the pages of a magazine.\u00a0 The bride wore an obviously expensive gown and the wedding train was not disappointing. `I could get used to this\u2019, I thought, sipping a glass of cold wine.\u00a0 By the time the meals arrived, I was already charged up and chatting with a couple of men on my table. At first I didn\u2019t notice Taofik who was seated at the table next to mine but as the evening wore on, we ended up sitting next to each other.\u00a0 `Are you related to any of the celebrants?\u2019, he asked seriously.\u00a0 I shook my head and took a closer look at him. He was smart and courteous \u2013 and handsome to boot.\u00a0 `The groom and I work in a big legal firm. I\u2019m a solicitor\u2019, he offered.<\/p>\n

\u201cI nodded calmly as if it was nothing to me that he was a high-flying lawyer. He went on to tell me he was working hard towards being made a partner of the firm and my heart started thumping. I might be onto something good here, I thought to myself. I could tell he liked what he saw too as he couldn\u2019t take his eyes off me and kept filling my glass.\u00a0 But would his interest last when he discovered what I did for a living?\u00a0 That I was a sales assistant to a boss who ran her shop from home?\u00a0 So when he asked what I did, I blurted out I worked for a businesswoman as her PA. That she has an office in her house.\u00a0 There was no need to let on\u00a0 my job entails, no typing or telephoning \u2013 just persuading grumpy customers to buy enough stuffs so I could get paid at the end of the month.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d arranged to go home with one of my friends as Joseph would have to take some photographs to clients\u2019 offices that very day. When Taofik asked if I had my own transport, I shook my head and he offered to give me a lift. But I told him I\u2019d already arranged for transport. If he took me home, he would realise I was obviously beneath him. I was already regretting the half truth about what I did. After all I worked very hard and was earning an honest living.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we left the venue, he asked me out and I agreed.\u00a0 One date led to another and each time I saw him, I fell for him a bit more. And that was even before I saw his flash jeep and ultra-modern flat. If I\u2019d owned up straightaway about deceiving him, I could have made a joke of it. But every time I was about to tell him, I thought about how successful he was and the words stuck firmly in my throat. I lived in fear of him phoning to say he\u2019d meet me from work, so I kept a smart skirt, top and pair of heels there, just in case.\u00a0 I even added to my lies that I lived in a flat when all I had was a one-room apartment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen out of the blues, he wanted to know what I thought of marriage. Both of us weren\u2019t getting younger, he said, and the earlier we set plans for a wedding rolling, the easier it would be for us to save for it.\u00a0 Part of me was walking on air, glad he thought we had a future together.\u00a0 But part of me panicked. From where would I get money for a fancy wedding?\u00a0 A few months later, he wanted to know how much rent I paid. By this time, he\u2019d assumed I lived in one of my boss\u2019s flats where he\u2019d picked me up from work a few times.\u00a0 If he could arrange for us to buy a government flat, the rent on my flat combined with our salaries and the rent from his fancy pad, should be enough for us to afford the mortgage.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat brought me down to earth. I don\u2019t have a fancy `salary\u2019 \u2013 just cash payments that barely covered my rent and food. There was no way I could take on any mortgage!\u00a0 I blustered some excuse about how we shouldn\u2019t rush things, but a few months later, Taofik is now suggesting we go and check out some estate agents his office uses from time to time.\u00a0 If I refuse, he\u2019ll wonder why.\u00a0 But if I go, my secret will be revealed as soon as we meet his lawyer friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really love Taofik, but our whole relationship is built on sand. I can\u2019t keep up this pretence any longer. At first I was ashamed to admit what I did for a living. But now, I really have something to cringe about \u2013 all the cowardly lies I\u2019ve told. I\u2019m scared stiff they\u2019re going to cost me the man of my dreams.\u00a0 All those posh lifestyles, fancy parties and generous cash gifts will end.\u00a0 And as for Joseph, the way I treated him when I landed Taofik, he would be a price fool if he as much as looked at me.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There comes a time in a woman\u2019s life when she has to decide who to settle with and make a go for him. Laila had once briefly engaged to her childhood sweetheart who took off with one of her close friends. Now approaching 30, she\u2019s been involved with Joseph, a photographer who runs his own […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-strange-world"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/MR-MRS-INGRATE.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4oswh-jH","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1221"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1223,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1221\/revisions\/1223"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}