I was working on a contract basis for a company that paid really well. I spent my working days trying so hard for them to make me permanent, but no matter how hard I tried, they let me go when the time came. I was devastated. The chest I could cry on was the chest of the man in my life, Echo.

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I spent days asking him what I was going to do now that I didn’t have a job. He promised he was going to do everything for me to get a job. So he designed a CV for me and started distributing it while I also did the same from another angle.

While sharing my CV, I met a man who said he was going to help me get a job. I thought his intentions were genuine, but Echo thought otherwise. Anytime I talked about the man, he got angry and flipped, “He’s going to sleep with you. Don’t you know about these men and what they do?”

This man was married and looked honorable. The only reason he took a liking to me was because I resembled his elder sister. We didn’t even talk much unless there was something to talk about. Because Echo complained anytime I talked to him about the man, I stopped telling him about my moves with the man.

One day, he went through my phone and realized I had met the man in his office twice, and the man had suggested I should meet him outside so we could go to an office together. He concluded the man was sleeping with me; that was why I didn’t tell him about the meetings with the man.

Nothing I said would make sense. One day, he called me a harlot, and that was all I could take from him, so I decided enough was enough. I broke up with him. It turned really bitter to the extent that he seized the laptop he had built for me. When I asked for it, he told me I should let the man buy one for me.

I begged him for weeks before he would allow me to copy my files from the laptop. The most important thing for me was my CV because it was well made, and I didn’t want to lose it. Once I got my files, I never spoke to him again.

I applied for a million jobs. I thought I was going to get a call very soon, but several months later, not a single call came through. I thought the devil had taken over my case and was ensuring I didn’t get a job.

I gave my CV to people who promised they were going to call, but those calls never came through. All of a sudden, it was a year without me getting a job. One day, the man who was helping me get a job called and asked me to send my CV as soon as possible. I did. A few days later, he called again. He said those people I gave my CV to said they were calling me, but I wasn’t picking up the calls.

I swore no call had come to my phone. I said, “Maybe they are mistaking me for someone else, so they should check.” He personally gave my number to the HR to call me, and she did. She said, “If this is the number you can be reached on, then update your CV.”

I argued that the CV had the same number, and she repeated the number on my CV back to me. I was stunned. I didn’t know that number from anywhere. After the call, I looked at the CV I had, and indeed, it was the same number she called out to me. I whispered, “Echo… It’s Echo. All this while, it’s been Echo. He might have changed my number.” I was so mad I dialed his number off head, and he picked up.

I started giving it to him from left and right. “Did you hate me that much? How could you do such a thing?” He laughed and said, “Thank your God that you found out. Can’t the man you’re sleeping with do a CV for you?”

Dating A Narcissist: Lessons From Heartbreak And Abuse

Echo, wherever you are, may bad things echo in your life. When they mention your name at a banquet, may curses echo around the table so they ignore your name. The same man you accused of dating me is the same man who helped me get a job and also helped me discover what you had done to me. May your answered prayers find the wrong address, just like you did to me.

—Doris

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