I found Rebecca at my new place of work. She carried herself with the grace of a dove and spoke softly as if she didn’t want to be heard. She was the one I was assigned to. She was supposed to show me around and introduce me to others. She was in charge of workers’ welfare so I was totally in her care. In the afternoon she walked to my desk and asked me, “Have you had lunch?” I said, “How did you know that I’m hungry?” She answered, “You’re transparent. I see through you.” 

It’s the way she chose her words that got my attention. I went home and all I did was think of her. “Am I in love with someone I saw barely hours ago? How is that possible?” All night I was thinking of her. I wanted the morning to come early so I can go to the office and see her. When the morning came and I got to the office, she was the first face I saw. I told myself, “Bless my heart for this luck. It’s going to be a good day.” Another day next to her in the office. Another day of dreaming she was mine. Another day of trying to enter her mind to see what she thought about me.

One month later, I was no longer under her care but we called each other after work sometimes. I asked her questions about her life and she was ever ready to answer. When we were on the phone, none of us wanted to hang up the call. But one had to feel tired and say goodbye. She was that one who always got tired because her phone was getting hot. One day I told her, “I think I’m in love with you. From day one, you’ve brought this spark into my life that I can’t get enough of. Please be my girlfriend.” She laughed out loud. I asked why and she said, “You didn’t have to say please. It sounded like you were pleading for what you didn’t deserve. Whatever happens between us, we both deserve it. I love you too. I’ve been thinking about us a lot lately but there’s a small issue.”

My heart started racing. Within a very short time, my mind had processed all the things that could be wrong. “Does she have some special disease that won’t let us fall in love? Or there’s something wrong with her being? Is she married and I didn’t know? What could be the worst thing here?” She said, “Hmmm, I have a boyfriend. That shouldn’t be something we should worry about. I only want you to know.” I asked, “But if you have a boyfriend then we can’t be together right?” She said, “It’s not anything serious. We can be together. Just be a man.” 

Her explanation didn’t sit well with me so I decided to pull out. Yes, I loved her but I didn’t want to be in a situation where I would have to share her with someone else. What if the person wants her at the same time that I want to be with her? What if she’s with him and I want to be with her. How do we split her into two and enjoy our halves? So I stopped seeing her at work and began to pull away slowly. I missed her calls and didn’t read her messages. One day she came to my office. She said, “I’ve seen what you’re doing and it’s not fair. We can talk about things if you have questions but why would you decide to ghost me?”

So after work that day, we had a conversation. She said, “I told you I have a boyfriend but he’s not indispensable. He’s mostly not there and we are mostly fighting. At this moment, we are even discussing a breakup because of how he had been treating me lately. It’s not that intensive so that shouldn’t scare you off. Just give me some small time and I’ll make things right.”

As selfish as I could be, I agreed to date her even when her boyfriend was still in the picture. 

When we talked on the phone, it lasted forever. When I was in her house, I didn’t need to look over my shoulders because that guy never came around. When she was with me, her phone never rang or I never saw her talking to the guy on the phone to make me jealous. I said to myself, “Then what she said is true. That guy is never in her life. He’s just wasting her time.” That gave me the motivation to go all-in on her.

Within two months, we had done everything lovers would do. She spent her weekends in my place, cooking and making my house look like a home. She walked around in my t-shirt with her naked ass shaking right before my eyes. I counted it all joy to have such a woman in my life. One day I asked her, “So how far with you and your man? Have you come to a conclusion?” She said, “Not really but very soon. Let’s not think about him. He shouldn’t be that important in our discussions.” Each day when I raised that question, she gave me the same answer so, with time, I learned to forget about them.

One morning she came to work looking very bad. It was like she hadn’t slept all night. I asked her, “What happened to you?” She answered, “Cramps!” I asked it, “It’s the time of the month again?” She answered, “Last night’s own was terrible. Thank God he was there. I thought I was dying.” I asked, “He was there? What did he do?” She answered, “He called late at night and I told him what was happening to me. Minutes later he was there with a painkiller. The painkiller didn’t work so he had to boil water, put it in a water bottle, and put it on my abdomen to soothe the pain. It was that terrible.”

I was looking at her while narrating her ordeal with cramps. I asked her, “Is it his first time doing that?” She answered, “No. When it happens and he’s around he helps. That’s how come he knows how to do it.” 

Something was going through my head. I’d been with her for close to four months. She had called to tell me about her cramps but all I said was, “Take some painkillers and let’s see if the pain would go.” I never thought of going there with the painkiller. I didn’t even know putting a bottle of hot water there could help ease the pain. If any guy would do all that for his girl then he really loves the girl. They had dated for two years. I had just come through the window trying to rain on their parade. I didn’t say anything. I only took the decision to withdraw slowly. 

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I would go to the office and will not see her. She will come to mine and I will tell her I have deadlines to meet. I will go home and not pick up her calls. She’ll ask and I will tell her I was too tired so I slept. She said, “You’ve changed. What’s happening?” I answered, “You lied to me. You said you’ll leave but four months later you’re still with him. It’s ok. It’s him you love. Be with him and leave me alone.” She asked, “Is it because of what I told you the other time? About what he did when I was in pain?” I answered, “Far from that but let’s not drag this issue. It’s ok. Be with him.”

She was hurt, I saw it. I was hurt too but hurting may last only a night. 

Slowly we healed. We became some sort of enemies. She was cold towards me. Thank God I didn’t have any official dealings with her. She would have messed me up. Two years later, I had a new job and left the company. I went to her office and said goodbye to her but she sacked me. I left the company in January 2021. In February 2022, I saw a wedding photo on a former colleague’s status. It was Rebecca and that guy she said she was going to leave for me. They got married.

I’d wanted to send her a congratulatory message but I stopped. I only smiled to myself and said, “A guy who travels in the night to deliver painkillers and help ease menstrual cramps is worth it. I’m happy I didn’t destroy them.” 

—Dickson

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