I was the maid of honour at my friend’s wedding. The wedding was supposed to start at 9am but all night I couldn’t sleep. I was restless. Later in the night, I started having a runny stomach. I began to doubt if I could make it to the wedding. I picked up my phone to call my friend. I wanted to tell her what I was going through and ask her to find a replacement. I took my phone and later put it down. “Maybe I would be fine in the morning. It’s a long night. I could get better before daylight,” I told myself. 

I fell asleep around 3am. When I woke up, it was already 7:30am. I was feeling better but I was running late. I quickly ordered Bolt even before I rushed into the bathroom to take my bath. I was in the bath when the driver called asking for further directions. I said, “Please follow the map. It will get you straight to my house. No driver has ever failed.” Three minutes later he called again. A couple of minutes later, he called again. Something about his voice sounded familiar. Each time we spoke on the phone, it felt like I was talking to someone I knew. But at that moment, it didn’t matter. All I wanted was for him to get there in time so I don’t run late for the wedding. 

I was dressing up when he called that he was at the gate. I told him to kindly wait for a while. You know these drivers and their impatience. They are always in a hurry only when they have to wait for you but immediately you get in, they drive like they have nowhere to go. He kept calling. I kept telling him I was on my way. He was clearly angry and I knew it. The idea was to apologize to him when I finally get into the car. When I stepped out of the gate, he stuck his neck out of his window, apparently to ask if I was the one. Immediately I saw his face I screamed, “Hakim!” He responded with a low tone voice, “Fortunate, is that you? What are you doing here?” I was still screaming while rushing into the car. I tapped on his dashboard and said, “Hakim, just drive. I’m running late. I wish you could even fly.” 

He asked where I was going and I told him. I was shocked Hakim would be a Bolt driver. This was a guy who had everything going for him when we were at the university. His parents were well to do and he was driving a Benz while we were at level hundred. I asked him, “What happened to you? Why are you driving this? Tell me it’s something you do just to while away time because I know you. What happened?” He laughed and said. “Life is like that and you of all people should know. Anything at all can happen so you shouldn’t be surprised that I’m doing this.” I looked at his face. He was looking like a man who was well-fed and well-taken care of. The only thing that was changed about him was his beard. They were longer than they used to be when we were in school. I told him, “We have time. Let’s talk. What do you do? Is that it? Is that all?”

He kept smiling as if he was happy to see me. I didn’t know what was going through his head but he looked at me every now and then and smiled to himself. He wasn’t saying much. I was the one doing all the talking. Before I got down, he said, “You’re looking good. You’re still as beautiful as the first time I saw you. You’ve done well for taking good care of yourself.” I hugged him. I told him to call me when he was less busy. He said, “Call me when you close. I’ll come for you.” I nodded my head and rushed out of his car. I couldn’t call him when I closed because I was sent home by the bride’s car. I was tired. I got home very late. I woke up in the morning to see three missed calls from him. He sent a text that he was there and didn’t see me. I called him immediately. We talked all morning and it felt like we never left.

We dated when we were at level hundred. He gave me a lift one day and we became friends. There were two courses we were doing together so we met often to have that class. One day he proposed. We had known each other for while but I didn’t hesitate to say yes. He was quite a gentleman but he didn’t have time for me. I saw him only when he wanted to see me. If I don’t see him in class, we could go for days without seeing each other. He would only call or text. On weekends, he’ll go home and not come until Monday morning. We were always fighting. I told him he didn’t need a girlfriend if that was what a girlfriend meant to him. One day he’ll be all nice and the next day goes cold. I couldn’t keep up. The ‘friend’ in ‘boyfriend’ meant a lot to me but I wasn’t experiencing it in the relationship so I opted out. 

We didn’t fight. We didn’t quarrel. We just went our separate ways. We met every now and then on campus and said hi to each other. We were not bitter. We just went our separate ways so we could experience the world with our own eyes. Slowly we lost touch. Eight years after school, there were no traces of him in my life, not even his contact. When we met that day it became very obvious that we were going to be friends again. The fact that he came back to where he dropped me to look for me meant a lot to me. He called every day and we talked. When he came around my place to drop someone, he called and came around. Bolt wasn’t his full-time job. It was something he started just to avoid the harsh realities of loneliness. 

A loneliness that was caused by a lady he was dating years ago. According to him, he thought they were building something together but the lady was just in for the fun. Two years after dating, when he thought everything was going just fine, the lady disappeared. She found another man and left him lonely. I asked him, “So you’re still lonely?” He answered, “That was years ago. Now I’m fine. There’s someone in my life now who’s keeping me afloat. I won’t say it’s perfect but we are perfect together.” I also had something going for me. A guy I had dated for eight months. Just as Hakim said, our relationship wasn’t perfect too but that wasn’t the aim of the relationship. We were together to work things out and see if it would lead somewhere.

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We were both happy in our respective relationships but we always wanted to be in each other’s space. Even when he had no business in my vicinity, he would come and see me. I would cook for him and he’ll later take me out somewhere. I came to expect his visits so even when he had no plans to visit me, I asked him to make me part of his plans and he always did. One day I told him, “If you had half of the time you have for me now back in school, our story would have been different. Now, look at us. We can’t go forward and can’t go backwards.” He asked me, “Where’s forward for you?” I answered, “Forward is where your girlfriend is. Backwards is where my boyfriend is but here right now, the feeling is different. It feels like we never left.” 

He was quiet for several seconds. I was looking at him. He was thinking about something and it showed in his outward expression. I asked him, “What are you thinking about?” He answered, “Nothing. You just drew my attention to something.” I asked what it was and he sighed loudly. He said, “Don’t worry. We’ll be fine.” 

He became the centre of my days. I was thinking of him more often than I was thinking about my boyfriend. It got to a point I started giving my boyfriend excuses just to avoid him. He saw the change in me and he questioned me. I gave him excuses until one day I told him the truth; “The feeling is not the same. It’s not about you but I’ve been emotionally unavailable and I think it’s cheating. It’s not fair for me to treat you this way. It’s best we end it because I don’t know how it’s going to end.” He said he’ll give me time to pull myself together. I told him it wasn’t worth it. “Let’s go. It’s better now than later.” It was hard for him but slowly he got the point and started withdrawing too. I didn’t even know what I was doing because Hakim hadn’t told me anything as to whether he would be with me or not. I didn’t even tell him when I finally left my boyfriend. 

One day Hakim was with me and we kissed. The kiss went on for a long time until it ended in shuperu. He told me, “Why don’t you let him go instead of cheating on him?” I answered, “There’s no one there. We broke up a couple of months ago. I wasn’t sure at first when I told him I was leaving but currently he doesn’t call or text so I can assume he had gotten the memo.” I asked him the same question. “What about you? You prefer to cheat on her?” He answered, “A week ago. We’ve been talking about it for a while now. She wanted answers but I had none so she lingered until a week ago she finally accepted to let go.” We both sighed heavily, knowing the weight on our shoulders have dropped and didn’t drop in our way to block us from being together.

That night, we drove around town aimlessly for hours until his fuel gauge started blinking. He said, “It’s time to go home.” I asked, “Which one, yours or mine?” 

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We ended up at his place and right at that moment, I knew I belonged there more than anything or anyone else. We dated for seven months and got married in the eighth month. My ex texted me, “So he was the reason why you were emotionally unavailable?” I answered him in my mind but couldn’t translate the answer into a text. Days later he texted again; “I meant no harm by that question. I wanted to congratulate you so congratulations. I answered, “Thank you.” And that was the final conversation between us. 

Am I happy in this marriage? Yes! Do I regret my past and how I ended the relationship with my ex? No, I don’t. If I didn’t marry Hakim, that would have been my biggest regret. Yes, we are not perfect but the willingness to learn from our mistakes and be better tomorrow is what keeps us going. We love what we are building and we believe we would one day build a comfortable nest we would be uncomfortable leaving. 

–Fortunate

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