George said hello and his eyes glowed. All evening, he sat next to me trying to say something but unable to say it. I saw it in his demeanour and in his reluctance to look into my eyes when talking. Diana was there. I thought it was because of her that George couldn’t talk. I whispered into Diana’s ears, “Could you go somewhere for a few minutes?” I want to see something.”
I liked him too that was why I would sack my friend for him. Five minutes later, George didn’t say a word. His eyes kept wandering through the crowd. I asked his full name. I asked where he worked. I asked who he came with. He was coming to life but then Diana walked in. I asked George to walk with me. We went to the bar. He bought me a drink so I returned the favour by giving him my number when he hadn’t asked for it.
After the drink, I went back to Diana and while George disappeared into the crowd.
“I think I’ve found my Mr. Right,” I told Diana. She quickly responded, “Isn’t your heart aching you? The last heartbreak was just a week ago. You want to start another one?” I responded, “I won’t die because Fii left me. I won’t put love on the bench and leave it lonely all because one man left me. Anyway, he’s George. My new boyfriend.”
“Has he proposed to you already?” Diana asked.
“He will. Soon,” I responded.
But he didn’t. Maybe he wasn’t sure about me or he didn’t like me that much but to me, he was mouth P.O.P and needed a push. After being friends for weeks without a proposal, I gave him that push. “What do you want from me?”
He said friendship.
I told him I had too many of them already.
Eventually, he proposed and I said yes.
A year after an intense loving relationship, George left me. He told me he was going to find himself. He felt lost with me. I protested; “If I’m the reason for your darkness, allow me to come with candles. It will glow for you to find yourself.”
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Silly George. He left me. I don’t blame him that much. I was the one who wanted the relationship at all cost so I kept pushing even when I realized he was doubtful.
When he left, my heart broke again. I wasn’t eating. I was on the phone every evening with Diana. She became the shoulder to cry on but she was annoying too. She tried making me stay out of love for a while. But one thing about me, the only thing that heals the hurt is to replace the reason for my hurt.
If I’m hurt because my phone was stolen, the only thing that can heal the wound is another phone. Of course, it should be better than what I lost. So When I lost George, my third relationship in two years, the only thing that could heal me was another man. Of course, better than George kind of man.
I called Diana one evening. She didn’t pick up. I called severally but she ignored my calls. I was in pain. I needed someone to rant to. I texted her, “You’re the reason why people return to their exes. If tomorrow, you see me in the arms of Fii, it’s your fault. You didn’t pick up my calls.”
She called back in the morning laughing at me. “How far with you and Fii? Should we save the date?” She asked while teasing me.
She was at the airport waiting to pick her brother up when I was busy calling her. On Saturday when she was coming to visit, she came with her brother. It was the first time I was meeting him. While we were in the kitchen cooking and goofing, he was in the living room watching Netflix. I told Diana, “Why did you come with a man when you know I’m in my vulnerable state? Now I want to date him and it’s all your fault.”
She pointed the kitchen knife at me, “Don’t go there. He’s just a child.” I retorted, “The fact that you’re older than him doesn’t make him a child. He has beards.”
Elvis is only two years younger than me and when I said I wanted to date him, it was a joke I told Diana but after the cooking and we all sat down to watch a movie, I realized my lips told a joke but my heart took it seriously. We stole glances at each other. Each time our eyes met, we smiled and they met a lot.
I know when a man wants me. Everything in Elvis’ eyes screamed my name. But I wasn’t going to do it without Diana so when he asked for my number, I told him to get it from his sister.
Days later he called. He stole my number from his sister’s phone. I cut the call and called Diana. I said, “If Elvis is around, can I say hello?”
She said he wasn’t around. I told her, “Then text his number to me after our conversation.”
She didn’t do it immediately. She called to ask permission from the same person who had stolen my contact from her phone. I got the number later in the night. By that time, I had already spoken to Elvis for several hours.
It started small. He sneaked into my house but warned me not to tell his sister because he didn’t know how she was going to handle it. We dated in the shadows for a month but Diana didn’t know about it not because I didn’t want to tell her. Elvis wasn’t ready for that conversation. I didn’t want to jeopardize our friendship. The only relationship that I’d kept for years.
While Elvis was with me one afternoon, I arranged for Diana to come around. I wanted her to catch us so we confess our sins of loving each other.
When she walked in and saw Elvis, she froze before asking, “What are you doing here?” Elvis looked at me. I looked at Diana. Diana’s eyes rotated between us; from me to Elvis. From Elvis to me. I asked Elvis, “Will you tell her now or I should?” He responded, “Let’s talk about this later.”
The only lie I told that day was when I said, “He proposed not long ago but I told him until you approve it, I can’t say yes.”
She was disappointed. She wasn’t herself throughout the day. When she was leaving and Elvis wanted to join her she told him she didn’t come with him so he should find his way out himself.
It was awkward but I was happy she knew. When we later spoke and I asked what she thought about the situation, she answered, “You two are not kids. You know what you’re doing but please, don’t involve me when you have issues. I don’t want to know about what goes on between you two because I don’t want to be the proverbial third person.”
We became a tripod. In the end, we couldn’t stand without her and without us, she couldn’t even limp. No one limps on one leg.
On our wedding day, she was my maid of honour but she dressed in a suit like her brother. I was pregnant when Elvis decided to go back abroad to take a position he applied for while here. When he was away, we were still a tripod but when it got tough, I didn’t need a third leg to be able to stand. Diana was all I needed.
I remember when the pregnancy got tough and I needed her and she didn’t want to come, she screamed on the phone, “Am I the one who got you pregnant? Didn’t I tell you not to involve me? Where does this devil koraaa come from?”
But she came. She put me at rest and lay beside me.
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One night we were in bed together looking up at the ceiling and the moving fan. She asked, “Do you think we were sisters in our previous lives? Because this doesn’t make sense.” I responded, “We were lovers. You were the man. When you didn’t get me this time, you got me through your brother.”
We are both here in Virginia, still a solid tripod. Diana is married to a Black American. Our kids are families but we are more than a family.
— Ruby
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