The Promise
By John Ishola Olafenwa
Copyright 2013 John Ishola Olafenwa
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Disclaimer
This book is a pure fiction, all names used are imagined and do not refer to anyone. Therefore, the author is free from any claim by anyone of infringement on his/her rights.
Chapter 1
The morning appeared bright as the dawn began to vanish, the skies had just began to witness the appearance of the morning sun, as it sparkled high above the gravity of the earth. A bright day it promised to be. Rachael woke up, beholding the splendour of a nearby garden, just behind her room. She looked through her window panes from her bedroom, dressed in her nightgown, as she kept pondering on the greatness of God who had made such a wonderful world. She began to notice a sudden change in the skies. The beautiful bright morning was soon turning into something else. She soon realized that the skies were paving the way for an early downpour. Before she could get fully dressed to go out, the heavy downpour began. Such an unusual morning it was, which promised to be bright, but soon turned so cloudy. Lazy Rachael threw herself back to her bed and enjoyed the cold of the morning. She felt happy that her lazy self would have more time to rest before beginning a day that promised to be full of activities. She also prayed that the bliss of her laziness would not reign for too long and she will have enough time to prepare for the next day. After about an hour, the rains had stopped. She got up and went to the living room. Despite the rains, Madam Foluke, Rachael’s mother had prepared breakfast, everyone, including her younger siblings were already busy eating. Rachael felt a bit ashamed of her laziness, she greeted her parents but they simply looked into her eyes and continued eating. Her siblings responded to her greeting but that was not enough to make her get over her shame. She joined in breakfast and after breakfast, she began making preparations to visit the market. She needed to buy some things for her stay in school. She was travelling to further her studies in Highfield School of Law, a law school that was located about 15 miles away from her home.
The twilight drew near as the day waved a goodbye to everyone, Rachael, now tired by reason of her activities during the day, was fully set to go to school the next day. Before going to sleep, she and the rest of the family gathered together to have a meeting, a tradition that the family had been used to for many years. On that cold night, Rachael was the centre piece of the discussion, her Father, Barrister James took much of the time admonishing Rachael to always be a good girl at school and warned her to stay clear of intimate relationships at school. This was not the first time he would tell her these things. Rachael had grown up to believe that love at tender age was bad, an assertion common to people who could not distinguish between love and lust. After a lengthy meeting, everyone, now sleepy, went to sleep. But before submitting to the waiting hands of sleep, Rachael gave a call to her friend who she took like a brother. Joseph was delighted to receive her call, they both discussed as if they were blood relations. However, Rachael’s parents had no knowledge of how close they both were to each other. Joseph was happy to be informed that Rachael was going to school the next day. They both chatted and joked but before travelling to slumberland, Joseph reminded Rachael of all he had told her and how he always admonished her to love everyone but avoid lust, she promised to keep his words and be closer to God. Soon, they both slept off, journeying happily to the wonderful slumberland. Rachael and Joseph met each other online about a year before the night, they both lived in the same town but attended separate schools. At an early stage of their friendship, Rachael was doubtful of the type of person he was and she never liked his personality because many of her friends had often told her many false things about him. Being a young boy with strong moral principles, Joseph was hated by many people. One beautiful day, Rachael came online bored with no one to chat with, then a message came in from Joseph and because of her boredom, Rachael decided to give him a chance to prove himself. They both began to discuss and after a while, Rachael discovered that Joseph was totally different from every other boy she ever met, he took her through a lot of issues pertaining to youths and the kingdom of God. That day, her perception of love and lust changed for the better. With time, she loved him the more as a brother and he loved her as a sister. They both promised each other that they would always remain singles until the right time for intimate relationships and that they would keep their celibacy until the day of marriage. Joseph was confident that at school, Rachael would never go astray. She also was determined to put into practice all what she had learnt from Joseph and from the Bible. They both slept thinking much about the beginning of a new way of life.