I could have sworn that cupid passed by the restaurant that night!!. About two weeks to the day, we had rolled out our menu options- lobster and steak dishes, Heart-shaped pizzas, pasta in pink vodka sauce, Dessert specials, and a wide variety and array of intercontinental dishes, we then included the best of exotic cocktails, spicing up with freshly brewed coffee and alcohol twist all to accommodate love birds who were sure to throng into the restaurant on the day of valentine. We also took it a nudge further by offering different confetti options, this was an idea brought up by our general manager, this was done just in case any of our guests popped the magic question. This idea of his wasn’t far-fetched, he did the same over two decades ago, and to date, their union is still waxing strong. In his words “I popped the question at the right time, I hope many others perfect the art of doing same”.
The day was set and true to our estimations, we had an influx of people so much so that we had to erect a tent in our parking lot to accommodate teeming love birds. As the waiter assigned for the night shift, I sat at a tangent commending my other workers who were working hard to cope with the pace of the orders, we had set modalities in place to ensure that the orders received do not override our ability but as the saying goes ” numbers don’t lie”. I did help with a few things but in all of it, I had to conserve my energy for a long night which I happened to be the chief waiter.
By 6 pm, guests of the afternoon and morning menus were seen leaving and the ones for the night menu were seen trickling in. I soon got into my normal waiter outfits, it was the normal and conventional white shirt, black tie, and our customized jacket but this time it had a different feel as we were told to place a red crest on our chests and as though that was not enough, we were told to wear special flowery colognes all in the spirit of love, I so much loved it.
By 8 pm, we had a full house and we soon swung into action, The immediate point of action for me was attending to orders from the front row seats, popularly tagged as the “money spinners”, their orders were usually on the high side, and that made attending to them paramount as it had to be served with order and care. Another factor was that they did tip well, got a tip of 10 thousand naira on my first service and I was more than elated but if there was anything that would make this Valentine celebration even the more exciting, then it had to be what transpired an hour later.
Of all the modalities arranged, there was one I didn’t know of. To the left-hand corner was a private room mostly used for storing utensils but it was cleaned up and adorned with a lot of balloons, roses, confetti, and lovely r and b songs playing in the background. A couple soon walked into the restaurant and they were ushered straight right into the room. While serving at the other end, I caught sight of my fellow workers waving to each other and sending eye signals and gesticulations to each other, I was a little bit confused but deep down I was thrilled to see what lovey-dovey moment was about to develop. Their table was soon served and this is where my attention was firmly caught.
Unlike the normal lobster and steak dishes, I noticed that the meal served was different, Our in house chef prepared them a menu with their favorite amuse-bouche, appetizer, drink, entree, and dessert. It was the right meal to serve as a prequel to an awesome proposal, a six-course meal with a taste of love to it, to the food was so much warmth and the warmth was the undeniable fuzzy tingle of love in the air.
I had soon stopped my serving and right now was a discreet viewer but one who had rapt attention on what was going on, albeit from the corner. The server soon brought a dessert tray describing each meal to the proposer, this was their little arrangement to indicate in which one the lovely ring was placed in. The man was tact and loving in his approach as he stated that the ring is placed on the plate of her favorite dessert- chocolate and Turkish delight cake.
With the knife in to cut and gulp the dessert, she hit an obstacle being the ring box right in the center of the cake, and there and then, she knew what was billed to go down. Before she could muster a word, a lovely tune of ” All Of Me” by John Legend was playing out loud in our speakers, coupled with spraying of confetti in the room. With a beaming smile on his face, he appreciated the fellow customers at the restaurant who also stood up to clap and cheer him on as he proceeded to pop the magic question and the moment we had all been waiting for finally came.
“Will you marry me, Trisha?” he said,
Albeit a wave of joyful tears and a shaky voice, she replied with a big Yes.
“Yes, I will marry you, baby”. They soon shared a big and lengthy hug after which they proceeded to dance around a makeshift confetti circle, being the intimate type, they requested that they be left alone which we duly obliged to.
I was indeed happy to see people celebrating this much, in a few hours time specifically at 11:30 pm, they were true but before they left, we offered them a nightcap on the house, this setting provided them a wonderful and romantic backdrop for the proposal. I was ecstatic to see love play right before my eyes and I noticed the beaming smile on the manager’s face, he was happy to see such event play down before his very own eyes. When all was done and over with, I then hurried over to him to have a quick chit chat.
” Seems your plan worked out well sir,” I said.
“Sure it did, Only a few people master the perfect art of popping the question and I am glad he did today”
“Was surprised though, I didn’t know of any of this” I retorted
He then replied “Pardon me, it came in as a late request that I couldn’t say no to even with our constraints”
His final words to me before leaving were “Love is a beautiful thing, I hope you find yours too one day”
My single self replied with a smile cum smirk on my face, it was a tired expression but one that I wasn’t regretful of. I was glad to see that love exists and I was even more glad to be a first hand witness to it.
Amoye Favour a student of Obafemi Awolowo University is a poet and copywriter whose writings (mostly poetry) have been published in so many literary magazines such as Literatus issue.
