For some strange reason, my alarm failed. I woke up an hour late. I screamed, “What! Who turned off my alarm?” Of course, that was a stupid question because I sleep alone. I got up, rushed to the bathroom, poured water on myself, and wiped it off quickly. That day I didn’t use pomade on myself. I didn’t use makeup. I didn’t even brush my teeth. When it got to what to wear, I realized, I didn’t iron my dress and there was no time to iron so I put on the dress I wore to work the previous day. I picked up my bag and rushed to the roadside to pick a car. I should have been at work by 8am but by the time I got to the roadside to wait for a car, it was 8:10am. 

I knew the day wasn’t going to end well for me. I was looking bad with no iota of confidence in me. I’d never repeated a dress I wore the previous day at work but that day I did. If I had my way, I wouldn’t have gone to work. Every taxi I stopped honked at me and moved on. The traffic had already built up and cars were finding it hard to get through. I told myself, “Today, I will get to the office by 12pm.” I picked up my phone and called my supervisor. The phone was tucked to my ears when this blue salon car stopped right next to me. 

The window went down and I saw the face of a gentleman in a spectacle. He was saying something but my mind was on the call I was making. I thought he was asking for a direction so I raised a finger to tell him to give me one minute. I told my supervisor I would be late because I had an emergency. She made things worse. She screamed at me and asked why I didn’t inform her earlier. I said in my head, “Is it the meaning of emergency she doesn’t understand or she’s just being the usual witch I know?” I put my phone in my bag and looked at the man. I asked, “Please where did you say you were looking for?” He answered, “No I’m not looking for a place. I’m wondering if you were going my way. I don’t mind giving you a lift.” I asked, “Are you going to Adabraka?” He answered, “No, but I don’t mind taking you there.”

On ordinary days I wouldn’t have taken the offer. Usually, I’m scared of being in a car like that with a total stranger. “What if he runs away with me?” What if it’s a kidnap attempt?” What if I end up in a pot of a sakawa boy?” Immediately I sat down in the car and started giving him directions. If he suggested we should use a different route, I would have gotten down. He was looking at me every now and then. He said, “You look tense. Is everything alright?” I said, “No, I started the day the wrong way. My alarm didn’t go off so I woke up very late. I rushed through everything and forgot to brush my teeth. I’m wearing the same dress I wore yesterday. My boss is angry at me and to top it off, I’m in a car with a total stranger. What if he kidnaps me?”

He burst out laughing. He said, “I like you. You’re very frank but you don’t have to worry. You’re very safe with me. I’m in the security service.” He dipped his hand into his pocket and showed me his ID card. “I saw your worried face from afar. It’s the reason I stopped for you. Regardless of everything you just said, you still look good. Explain to your boss what happened and everything would be fine.” He asked my name and I told him, “Delight.” He told me he was Albert and would be happy to meet me again. He dropped me right in front of my office and I gave him my number.

He had this perfume on that stuck in my nose all day, even at the canteen where the aroma of food was all over the place, I still could smell his perfume. My boss was angry and was ordering me around but I didn’t care about her. I had a bad day at work but it was expected. My male colleagues teased that I didn’t sleep home, it’s the reason I came back to work in the same dress I wore the previous day. My explanation didn’t make sense to them. I closed from work, went to the house, and just when I was about to rest my back a call came through. “Delight, have you closed from work?” No one calls me Delight so I knew immediately who was calling. “Albert? Yeah, I just got home. I was about to rest when you called.” 

“How was work? Your boss was lenient on you today?”

“She was busy being a bitch while I was thinking about all the things that went wrong before I got to work.”

“Don’t mind her. The day is ended and you’re back home. She can’t come in and order you around. That’s the best thing.”

“Yeah, I’m coming to sleep it off and I will be fine.”

“Have a great evening.”

“You too.”

I didn’t hear from him again until Saturday evening. From there we talked almost every day. He was a nice guy. He talked to me with respect and was always considerate of his demands. When I said no, he stopped. He didn’t push things. He didn’t seem to want it so desperately that he would force me to do anything. He asked me out one evening and I said, “Sure I’m down with it.” He came to the same spot he picked me up the first time and took me to a place where you can only be happy. I thought we had a good night. The conversation was on point. He had a great sense of humor and he knew how to handle his phone while on a date. I was falling for him but I tried hard not to let it show.

When the night was over, he brought me home to my gate and watched me enter the gate before he drove away. I went inside my room smelling like him because of the last hug he gave me. I loved his perfume and wanted to have it with me all night. He got home and called. He said good night and I said the same to him. 

We had known each other for a month and had talked every day and night. We chatted and exchanged memes every day. He knows my mother’s name and knows the character of my dad. He knows the names of all my brothers and knows my family history because I had told him everything about me. It happens only when I like the person, I talk a lot. One night at a bar, he proposed to me and I said yes. He asked, “Are you serious?” I answered, “You wanted me to play hard to get when I know that I’m in love with you? No, I’m not hard to get. If I like you I like you.”

He took me home and gave me a peck on my chin. He said goodnight and I said the same to him.

He didn’t call me when he got home. That was so unlike him. When I was about to sleep, I sent him a message, “It was a great night today and the proposal was on a spot. I promise you, I will do my best to be the best you’ve ever met. Have a great night.” 

I didn’t get a response so I slept. I woke up at dawn and checked on it. He read the message but no response. I was like, “Is everything alright?” I woke up and the first thing I did was call him. He answered the phone and said, “Let me call you later. I’m handling some emergency.” I don’t know how long is later but he didn’t call until I call again in the afternoon. He didn’t pick up my call. In the evening I called but he didn’t pick up. I was disturbed. All kinds of thoughts were running through my mind; “What’s happening? Did I say something wrong? Why is he behaving like that all of a sudden?”

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I woke up the following day to see his message; “I’m sorry but I don’t think I can continue dating you. I’m withdrawing my proposal. Sorry if I caused you any pain and please don’t think you did something wrong. I had to change my mind.”

I read the message over and over again trying to deduct a different meaning from it. I told myself, “Or he was sending it to another person and it came to me?” I called him, “Albert, what was that message for?” He answered, “Yeah, I said what I wanted to say.” “So you mean it? Is it not a wrong message?” He laughed, “Not at all. I apologize. Please forgive me.” Just when we were about to hit the core of the conversation, he cut the line telling me he has an emergency to attend to. For a  whole week, I chased for an explanation I never got. He didn’t respond to my messages and didn’t answer my calls. I was asking him what I did wrong. One morning I woke up to another message from him…

“You did nothing wrong. It’s me who didn’t like the way you accepted my proposal. It was too quick and it makes it kind of cheap. I’m old school. The way you said yes instantly didn’t do it for me. It felt like you were desperate.”

I was shocked. “Ahh, is he for real? What is he talking about? I sent him a message, “Please can we talk?” To date, that message still has one tick. He blocked me. My calls to him keep bouncing. He cut me off on all fronts. He disappeared just as he appeared. I still think about him. I still remember the scent of his perfume and still remember how ephemeral our relationship was. Once in a while, I check on my message to see if he had unblocked me. No, I’m not still in love with him but I want to meet him and ask what makes a man think the way he thinks. That a woman is cheap just because she accepted a proposal without playing hard to get. How about those who do shuperu on the first date? Weird, right? 

—Delight

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