"Tonight, My Husband Must Find Me!"

"I'm tired of being single, and tonight, my husband must find me!"

Kehinde laughed after saying the sentence. So did Lolia, her friend with whom she had decided that this Saturday night, after much hesitation and deliberation—"Who's going to be there?" "Isn't it too expensive for a house party?" "I don't have what to wear!"—they would go for this party. The FOMO Kehinde knew she would feel if she didn't go, especially after Lolia decided she would, led them to both be applying final touches to their makeup as their Uber indicated it was six minutes away.

"What would he even be like," Lolia asked, "if you could actually manifest this dream husband?"

It wasn't that Kehinde hadn't thought about it before, because she had. A lot of times. It was that in the time since she first started doing these make-believe, create-a-man games as a teenager until the present, a lot of alterations had been made to her fantasy man. Once upon a time, she was insistent that he be at least 6'7" to her 5'7". At another point, she insisted that he have a blue-collar job, no exception—until it was that he better have a brown-collar job, no exception, since she had seen some action movies and wanted her man to have brawn. It was always a fixture that the man be rich, but as of the last time this question was propositioned to her, it was altered to be that he'd at least have a job. Kehinde thought long and hard about Lolia's question, until after a deep exhale, she said:

"You know what? I think I'll just know when I find my husband."

The party wasn't as packed as either Kehinde or Lolia had anticipated. In fact, there were only about 11 people in the living room. Kehinde and Lolia had just sat down when they were invited to the snacks and drinks on the center table, but as their mothers had told them all their lives, it was in bad taste to seem too hungry at a party where you're a guest. Let them not think you don't have food at home.

It was in that time between sitting down and waiting for an appropriate moment to get into the snacks, that the door of the bedroom opened up, and Kehinde saw him. It was like there was a cloud and a beam of light behind him as he emerged from the door. The most beautiful man she had ever laid her eyes on, at least in person. He was gorgeous. GORGEOUS. And she so desperately wanted to let him know. But that's not what girls do, is it? You wait to be approached. Don't go making a man feel like you like him too much; it's how you lose your power.

So Kehinde tucked back her hair, and she fluttered her eyes. She readjusted her seating position, and uncrossed her leg again, and then again. How could she make it any more obvious that she wanted this man to come talk to her? How did it seem like he was looking everywhere but here?

Minutes turned to hours, and after five of those, it was 1:00 AM. Lolia was ready to go home, despite Kehinde's insistence on "just another minute." This time, the minutes were up, and despite only being 15 people in the room by the time they left the party, Kehinde and her angel of a man never as much as met each other's eyes for more than an awkward second.

It had been three weeks, and in that time, Kehinde had been able to get her angel's name, Martin, from the party organizer's Instagram post where he tagged a bunch of attendees. She had learned that he was 28, a year older than she was; he had a love of movies, just like she did; and he was currently doing a Master's program. She'd always thought that people who pursue master's degrees or higher learning past the age of 25 were only doing it as a means to stall their entry into the job market. Now, she didn't know if that was true, or if she even cared as much as she thought she did. She wanted to ask Martin his own motivation for doing it. In fact, she'd like to ask him a lot of things. Like who his parents are so she can congratulate them on birthing the most beautiful man on Earth. If he had a girlfriend currently in the picture, and if so, why he was engaging so actively in the games for singles they played at the party. Was it intentional that the bottle never landed on her when it was him spinning it? She really wanted to hear him give her answers, tell her words, any words.

And so, when the organizer sent out a text announcing that another party would be happening in two weeks' time, there was no hesitation this time around. Kehinde didn't even need to convince Lolia. The long talks that Kehinde had gone on about things she wished she'd said, moments she'd hoped had happened, the opportunity now missed she wished she could get back with Martin. There was no way Lolia was going to get in the way of any potential these two had of reuniting.

But there was a big possibility that he wouldn't be there. He'd said at the last party that he was a homebody and so rarely ever came out of the house. Kehinde was entering into this party with her heart like a hummingbird's, hoping that he'd make one more trip into the party scene, a scene she herself was so over and ready to get out of. She was holding on to faith, hoping beyond all hope that she would open the door and there he would be.

But he wasn't. In fact, there were only seven people in the living room, usual suspects from the last party. Lolia asked the party organizer if Martin would be coming, and the only response was a shrug.

Maybe it was way too early, though. It was just 10:00 PM, and sometimes people didn't come until much later. So Kehinde kept holding on to hope and played out all the potential opening lines she'd say if he walked in. "Do you like me, at all?" "Am I your type?" "Why did you completely ignore me the last time?" "Are you single?" "Can you please ask me to be your girlfriend?"

It was in the midst of the marathon in her mind that the door was opened by the organizer and her tall drink of water walked in, looking even better than the first time she saw him.

She didn't know how she ended up where she did: standing in front of him, her hand stretched out in front of him, against a backdrop of open mouths, smiles, and smirks. How desperate!, So needy!, How can a woman embarrass herself like this? None of the thoughts seemed to come into focus until she fully realized where she was, with her hand still outstretched. Time moved slowly, and the moment felt like it was stretching for too long without any reciprocity. How could she be so stupid? Be such a fool! Her mother was right. The City Girls were right. The TikTok girlies were absolutely right. Here she was, a clown! With her hand outstretched for a man! So shameless!

Until, all at once, the voices went silent. The doubts and shame quashed by his soft firm handshake interlocking with hers. Their eyes met, this time unblinking, undeterred, bold. It's like he'd been waiting for her as long as she'd been waiting for him.

And while she made the first move, he said the first word. A much shorter alternative to the five thousand essays his mind had been crafting in the hopes that he'd run into the girl he was too scared to talk to at the last party he attended. He was too nervous and her smile was way too intimidating. She was unequivocally out of his league, for sure! But then, here she was, standing in front of him with a confidence he could never muster up. It's time to make a move, Martin. Get out of your own way and use your big boy words. Shake the nerves. And that, he did. With one word that would go on to change the course of Kehinde and Martin's lives for the rest of their time on this beautiful, opinionated, romantic planet with its many man-made rules:

"Hi!"