From GrassRoots.ng Reader
Dear everyone, I just feel the need to share this story so my fellow men can be wiser.
I met my girlfriend in the most unusual way. I was on my way back to my hostel one night after night class, when a girl who was walking in front of me screamed in pains and fell down. I rushed to the spot and helped her to her feet.
‘What is it? I asked her
‘Something bit me’, she cried. ‘Please help me’
Instinct told me it might be a snake. Our school was well known for snakes, especially dangerous specie of viper called ‘echieteka’ (tomorrow is too far). I flashed my reading torch immediately and saw a viper coiled just very close to my feet waiting to deliver another killing bite. I leaped into the air, scampered to a safe distance, picked a stone and killed it. I went back to help the girl only to discover that she was already unconscious.
The spot where she was bitten was swollen so I took off my shirt, tied it above the spot, cut open the place and began to suck blood from the wound. While I was doing that, the patrol team of the security department arrived at the scene.
At first, they thought I wanted to rape her but when I explained what happened to them, they took us both in their vehicle and drove us straight to the medical centre where she was revived and given urgent medical attention.
The doctor explained that she would have died if it were not for the first aid treatment I had given to her. That was how Joyce and I got close. She was very grateful to me for saving her life and finally we ended up as lovers.
Joyce was my first love; we were crazy about each other. She always introduced me to her friends as her guardian angel. But along the line, I began to suspect she was sleeping with someone else.
I told Ogonna my best friend about it. But he simply laughed.
‘Oh boy, you are just disturbing yourself unnecessarily. That girl loves you, after all you did for her, I don’t think she will have the heart to sleep with someone else.
“I don’t trust girls”, I replied. They make look responsible but may be as cheap as pure water.
Ogonna laughed even harder. But I was serious. “Look guy, I want you to do me a favour. I want you to find out if she’s the easy type.”
‘How?’
‘I want you to toast the babe and see if she will fall for you”
‘He whistled in amazement, “You want me to toast your babe? Hmmm..
‘Just do it please’. I begged.
He tried it the first time and came back and told me it didn’t work. I told him to try again. This time he didn’t give me any feedback. One day, I paid her a visit only to find ogonna’s car parked in front of her apartment. I was curious to know what he was doing there. I knew the compound very well so I crept behind her bedroom window.
It was shut and there was no way I could see what was going on inside the room, but I could hear their discussion. Ogonna told her that he was madly in love with her and would want her as his lover.
‘But I have told you many times, we can be friends but not lovers. Your best friend is my lover and you know that.
Ogonna hissed, ‘Forget him, that guy is not serious about you. I’ve been coming all these while, can’t you see that I love you? Just give me a chance and I will prove my love to you. The money I sent you yesterday is just the beginning. I will give you double now if you say yes.
Then there was silence. I put my ears to the window, but heard nothing. Then suddenly, Joyce screamed. “You are so big below the belt!”
Ogonna chuckled. My fist tightened involuntarily by my side.
I began to hear muffled groans; I needed nobody to tell me what was happening. I felt so ashamed and betrayed. I went to my friend’s car, sat on the bonnet and waited for them to finish having their fun. An hour later, the front door opened and both of them came out.
They did not see me at first. They stood by the door and kissed passionately for a while. By then, tears were racing down my eyes.
It was when they disengaged from each other’s embrace that they saw me. They were shocked. For sometime I looked at them and they looked at me. The shame of what they did overcame them and before I could utter a word, they went back into the house and shut the door. I turned and left but I could not sleep. I had to go back to Joyce’s house.
She was not expecting to see me. She froze when she saw me. Before I could speak, she fell down on her knees and began to beg me for forgiveness. She promised that such a thing would never happen again.
Stupid me I believed her, and we made up in bed.
Two days later, I saw her at a fast food joint with Ogonna. That was when it became obvious to me that I was fighting a lost battle. I have not been able to get over her loss. I am heart-broken, that is my love story.
…Emeka Kay (not real name) writes from Imo