I was with my girlfriend when her phone rang. I took a quick glance to check who was calling at that ungodly hour. The name was saved as “Mechanic.” She picked up the call and said, “Hello? Hello?” and later said nasally, “Why is this man calling this late and won’t respond? Or it’s a mistake?”
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She then cut the call and didn’t put the phone back where it had been. You don’t need to be smart to assess relationship dangers as a man. You only have to look and feel to understand what is going on. A mechanic? What kind of relationship did they have that he would call that late when her car was already home?
So I started digging. I would check her bag and check her purse. I was looking for a sign that all was not well. Her phone had a password I didn’t know, so I had to look elsewhere for my information. I tried for several days. I didn’t sleep well. When I called and she was not home at the time she was supposed to be, my heart would beat faster as if I had run a marathon.
I would sleep and dream about a mechanic performing mechanical duties on my girlfriend instead of her car. I grew distant. She asked what the problem was. I couldn’t say. I was bent on catching her before I let it all out. I would go to her house impromptu just to see if I would catch something. I would go to her place at dawn just to see if she had slept at home or if the mechanic was working on her engine.
One late night, I got to her place and the car wasn’t parked there. I knew I had caught her red-handed. I tiptoed to her gate and leaned my ears against the window, trying to perceive the sound of mechanical action. The room was quiet. I said to myself, “Let me walk around the building to the window of her bedroom.” I got to the other side of the house and her car was parked there.
I felt my heartbeat and it was at an all-time high. Even then, I leaned my ears against her window, heard the swirling sound of the fan before I was convinced.
While I was walking away, a thought dropped into my mind. “What if she’s there but she’s there with the mechanic?” So I stood close to her window and called her phone. She picked up and with a hoarse voice said hello. I responded, “I can’t sleep and decided to call.” She asked, “At this time? Then come over and let me put you to sleep.”
We talked for a few minutes. She was lively. She meant it when she said I should come over, but I told her it was a long road so I would rather try and sleep. My heart calmed and I walked slowly back to my house.
I told myself I was chasing a ghost and promised myself I was going to stop. But you see, the mechanic had a way of popping up every now and then because he was living rent-free in my mind. My spirit was sure there was something. My whole being was that sure. So when I said I would stop, I couldn’t stop.
I called one night and it was call waiting. She quickly picked up my call before it ended. “I thought you were already on the phone talking to someone.” She answered, “Yeah, but we are not talking about anything important. Just girls-girls talk.”
“Are you sure it’s not one of those guys hovering around you?” I asked. “So you don’t trust me again?” she answered.
One day I was able to watch her fingers as she typed her password. It was straightforward. I wondered why I couldn’t figure it out all this while. After knowing the password, I had to wait for a perfect opportunity to get her phone. That took weeks because she’s very attached to her phone even when she sleeps.
One night, she gave it to me and asked me to put it on charge for her and then she turned away to sleep. I did the sign of the cross. I lay there pretending to be asleep until I heard her snoring faintly. I set off to work. First stop was WhatsApp because where else? There was no chat history between them. How was that possible?
It heightened my suspicion even more. I checked her call log. They had talked during the day. There were no MoMo exchanges. I went through her photos and there were the usual things. So I saved the mechanic’s number on my phone.
I tried sending him MoMo the next day and the name that appeared was Sampson. I was like, “He’s Sampson so why has she saved the name as Mechanic?”
I called the line and he didn’t pick up. Later he called back. I intentionally asked, “Am I speaking with the mechanic?” He answered, “Yeah, the mechanic here.”
I didn’t know what else to say so I lied that I had a mechanical problem with my car and someone gave me his number. He asked who, and I answered, “Just someone who said you could help.” Then he said, “Then the person lied to you. I’m a mechanic but I don’t do it commercially. I work for a company.”
I asked which company and he mentioned the exact same place where my girlfriend works. I breathed loudly. I said, “Oh, I’m sorry but thanks very much.”
When I dropped the call, I burst out laughing. “If I had died, I would have died a silly death because of this?” I felt sorry for myself and the things I’d gone through to get here. All the pain, all the sleepless nights and all the jealousy that nearly made me act stupidly.
I met my girlfriend after work and said sorry in my head to her. She wondered why I wasn’t saying anything but was just watching her and smiling. “What? What are you thinking about?” I answered, “Nothing. Should I buy you anything special to eat this evening?”
She screamed, “Eiii, what is happening? You haven’t asked me this question before. Where did I sleep last night so I sleep there again?”
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I took her to a place and we ate and drank. She still was surprised by the way I was acting. I said, “Once in a while, a boyfriend has to do what a boyfriend has to do.” She responded, “Not once in a while. Do it every day.”
She was right. That intense jealousy told me one thing: that I loved her so much, so I had to do the right thing if I wanted to keep her for good. I’m not saying I’ve become perfect overnight but I’m doing my best, better than before. Hopefully the stars align soon so we take this up a notch.
