Broken: Episode 16

The week didn’t start well for me and I was hoping for something better as I woke up to begin this wonderful Tuesday morning, I didn’t have much sleep that night due to all the thinking I was doing. I stayed on my bed and thought of coming up with a lie that would stop me from going to work that day but nothing came up, I could lie I was sick but I already used that card too much and I didn’t want to get into trouble with my boss. After much deliberation, I got out of my bed and got ready for work, I planned to see Brenda that night so I decided to try my best to be in a good mood before seeing her.

Got to work early as usual and buried myself into some leftover work from the previous day just to keep myself busy from thinking about anything else but that unhappy feeling always found its way right into my mind. I couldn’t take it but I couldn’t let the people around me notice how sad I was feeling. Thankfully, the day went by quickly, everybody was busy with their respective duties today so there wasn’t time for unnecessary chit chat. Lunch break came but I didn’t move from where I was, Cynthia, Kofo and others beckoned to me as they went out but I forced a smile and told them I was busy compiling a report that needed to be submitted to the boss and shown to a client the next morning. The lie seemed to work since none of them bothered to beg me to come along and this made me glad, finally I had time to be alone and drown myself in my much deserved sorrow.

I began to think if this was God’s way of punishing me for trying to juggle three women, am I getting the fair punishment? I was just trying to have fun but I fell in love instead, and that is my punishment. It seems totally unjust, I was always the victim of heartbreaks but this time I tried to avoid that but I couldn’t. The woman I fell in love with is in a useless relationship with another man that doesn’t deserve her and I can’t do anything about it or Can I? Can I try to break them up so she ends up with me? What if she ends up hating me for pulling such a manipulative stunt? What if she ends up falling in love with me if I pull the stunt? What do I’ve to lose? Well a lot, I have a lot to loose. If it doesn’t go my way then Kofo might hate me for the rest of her life. I’m not willing to take such a risk, I would rather be a friend to her and try to make her happy in any way that I can.

All these thoughts flashed through my mind as I sat down alone in pity, my train of thoughts was cut short as I noticed two people walk into the office; Kofo and her fiancé, Bayo. I was shocked as they walked up to my desk smiling, then Kofo spoke excitedly:

”Bayo is here to ask you himself if you’d like to be his best man”. I was dumbfounded; the question racing through my mind was why a guy I gave a beating recently will want me to be his friend and best man.

“Are you sure about that? Don’t you’ve a brother or close friend that can do this? I asked inquisitively.

“No I don’t. I’m the only child and I don’t really have any close friends, I’m a lone ranger. He said with a smirk on his face.

It was hard to say no to him because of the joy I saw on Kofo’s face, I knew doing this would make her happy so I said yes and she jumped to hug me when she heard this. Bayo and I exchanged numbers and said we would keep in touch and get to know each other better, as we did this, Cynthia and others walked into the office and they all started to shower the couple with their congratulatory pleasantries, Cynthia noticed my countenance changed as the couple walked away from my desk to meet them, she came to me after they left and asked why Bayo was talking with me, I explained what happened and I could see that she was trying her best not to laugh at my misery. She was in awe of how I was handling the whole situation and told me I still stood a chance and I should try to fight for Kofo’s love. I told her that boat already sailed and all I could do now was sit and watch what happens, she looked at me with what looked like pity as she walked away, I’m not entirely sure.

The rest of the day went on as usual. Work, work and more work. I sent Brenda a text and told her it was important for me to see her that night and she replied that she would be looking forward to my visit. Finished up my work on time and packed up when it was closing time and left before anyone else, this was the first time this was happening, I lied again that there was something I had to do so it was imperative for me to leave work early. I didn’t really care if they believed me this time around; I just wanted to get out of that environment.

I went straight to Brenda’s apartment from work and I could see the excitement on her face as she opened the door for me to enter, she met me with a hug and I forced a smile as I gave her a peck on her cheek. I sat her down and told her we needed to talk about something that happened in the past few days, the atmosphere in the living room quickly escalated with tension, I could feel my heart pounding really fast, sweat trickling down my forehead even though the air conditioning unit was switched on. This was my first time confessing to a woman that I cheated on her and it wasn’t easy, even though Brenda and I weren’t official yet, I felt the need to let her know then she could decide if she still wanted to be with me. I went ahead to tell her everything that happened when I left her apartment that night to help out Kofo till the present moment. I told her every single detail and I felt like a huge burden was let off my chest when I was done. I let out a sigh of relief and asked her.

"Do you still wanna be with me?"