I’ve been dating my girlfriend for almost three years. We go to the same university in Nigeria, and we live together on campus with my older brother.

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For a while, my brother was dating a girl named Ifunaya. She was in her final year, so she graduated ahead of us. The problem was, she and my girlfriend never got along. They were always in some kind of competition. After my brother and Ifunaya broke up, her dislike for my girlfriend turned into real hatred.

Even after the breakup and after Ifunaya moved to Lagos, I stayed in touch with her. I thought it was the respectful thing to do since she was my brother’s ex.

One day, I got a message from a girl named Cindy. She introduced herself as Ifunaya’s cousin. She said she had just moved near our campus for an internship and was looking for friends. She told me Ifunaya was the one who gave her my number. In the back of my mind, I knew this would not sit well with my brother or my girlfriend, but I decided to be nice to her. I thought Cindy was innocent in all this.

We started talking every day. My girlfriend noticed I was always on my phone, but it wasn’t because I had feelings for Cindy. My girlfriend and I were going through a rough patch at the time, and talking to Cindy was a pleasant distraction.

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One weekend, Cindy invited me to hang out in town. We met up, walked around, and talked about everything. I actually had a really great time.

When it started raining, we had to take shelter together. When we finally said goodbye, we kissed. I went home feeling refreshed, like I was in a new relationship.

A few days later, she asked that we go swimming together. I went along to take pictures and watch her stuff. While she was in the water, I had her phone, and I saw a message from Ifunaya. This was strange because Cindy had told me they barely talked. My curiosity got the better of me, and I opened their chat.

What I found shocked me.

Ifunaya and Cindy had a plan: Cindy was supposed to make me fall for her, so I would break up with my girlfriend. Then, after I was single and heartbroken, Cindy would dump me.

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I actually laughed at how stupid I had been. Cindy was an excellent actress. I didn’t let her know I had found out. We said goodbye normally, but this time, there were no kisses.

I realized then that she was part of the reason I hadn’t been trying to fix things with my girlfriend. That evening, I went home and hugged my girlfriend so affectionately that she pulled back and asked, “I’m not used to you being like this. What changed?”

She never found out what happened. That same night, I deleted both Ifunaya and Cindy’s numbers from my iPad. I was done with their games for good.

—Chukwu

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