“You haven’t changed at all. You still think the world revolves around you, don’t you?” Eyiwumi said, emptying the remnants of her wine in a gulp. “You abandoned her, broke up with her without hearing her side of the story.” Eyiwumi’s outburst turned several heads in her direction.
“A nearly naked man walked out of her apartment, sweaty and panting. Isn’t this evidence that something happened?” Henry said. Does she know how it feels to walk back to your girlfriend’s house after being sacked from work, only to catch her cheating on you? He wondered. She can’t even imagine the pain he passed through, the self-righteous smirks of friends who had told him at the outset that she was out of his league. And here she is, playing the victim card for her friend.
“You still believe Ayomide cheated on you?”
“Tell me what it is called. If not cheating, is it exploring or curiosity?”
All he desired was to treat an old friend to lunch… Why did she have to mention this? It was almost ten years ago, for god’s sake.
Ten years earlier
Henry, grinding his teeth together, pulled his coat around himself to keep out the icy cold. Muttering some prayers for his girlfriend, who insisted on putting on his coat before leaving her house in the morning.Thinking about his girlfriend, he wondered what excuse he could give her for his early arrival. He took the entire day off just to see her because he missed her? Romantic but lame. He can tell her he caught the flu, but she will ask him to take drugs, which nauseate him. Anything but admitting he was dismissed from work, he would tell her…
He knocked on the door, wishing she was not at home. He would have time to contrive an excuse.
“Ayomide, are you home?” He paced in front of her door, clamping his legs together. The alcohol has taken its toll on him. Now he needs to take a piss. Impatient and pressed, he tried to pull the knob, but it opened on its own. A man emerged, his shirt drenched and his pants hanging low. He was tongue-tied. Henry’s vision became blurry as tears filled his eyes. They were right; she never loved him. He will always lack something that she needs. Those were his thoughts as he walked into the street. She ran after him, begging him to come back, but he didn’t hear. He was lost in thought, his mind wandering to a faraway place.
* * *
His heart still aches anytime he thinks about her. He loved her and cared for her, but she betrayed him.
“She didn’t cheat on you. One of her course mates raped her.” Henry couldn’t believe his ears. How could it be rape? There was no screaming to show resistance. It was consensual sex; at least by the way she sat on her bed, covered with the bedspread.
“I know you don’t believe me, but let me explain,” Eyiwumi said.
* * *
“Eyiwumi, where are you?” That was the call that woke her up that day.
“Home of course. The perk of being a freelance writer”
“I’m being followed” Ayomide’s voice came in an inaudible whisper accented by pounding footsteps and heavy breath.
“Who is it?”
“Can you recall the guy I told you asked me out last week?”
“Yes, is he still pestering you after you refused his proposition?”
“Yes. He is stalking me and…”
“Ayomide, Where are you exactly?” She jumped out of her bed and struggled to put on the clothes she flung away the previous night.
“Market Street, behind UBA bank. Babe, please be quick. I’m scared”
“You know what, leave there immediately and go straight to the Oyingbo market. He can’t harm you where there are many people.”
Her friend’s call came in as she hailed down an okada.
“I’m at home, babe” her voice trembled.
“Thank God, I’m also on my way”.
A woman can’t go out at night without telling her friends where she’s going. Why must a girl change her dress just not to tempt a potential rapist? Why must she live in fear? Why… Why must she quicken her steps whenever she passes through her street at night? We need to create a society where women feel safe walking alone, regardless of whether they are carrying a weapon. She wiped her tears as she pondered on the plights of her gender.
As she entered her friend’s street, a dejected figure of Henry ran past her, she called him, but all her calls were lost in the wind. Sensing danger, she ran to her friend’s apartment and saw her sobbing in her doorway.
“He followed me home,” she cried.
Eyiwumi dropped her bag and enveloped her friend in her embrace.
* * *
“Take this, it’s clean” Henry wasn’t aware of the tears running down his cheeks until Eyiwumi gave him the handkerchief. A wave of shame washed over him. For almost a decade, he had been wallowing in self-pity.
“Do you know why you didn’t listen to her when she tried to explain?”
He pinched his nose. “I’m hard to blame, put yourself in my shoes. What would you do if you were to catch your partner cheating? ”
“You could have listened to her!” She felt a pain at the back of her throat as she shouted.
“You should have heard her side of the story. Do you know what kept you back? Your insecurities, dude! You were so insecure around her and always on the edges. You couldn’t believe everything was real, your relationship, her unconditional love…. Everything. You doubted yourself, and everyone, so much that you unconsciously prayed for a sign to prove it’s all illusion. Because, how could a girl, rich, intelligent, and nice, be in love with a nobody like you?”
The harsh words hit him between the eyes, but they were all true. He couldn’t believe his luck when she asked him out to a friend’s party. Even his friends envied him, the campus belle going out with a nonentity like him. It was a romance straight out of a young adult book.
She solved all his financial problems, and she never talked down on him. They were equal.
Everything was okay until he had to be another person around her friends. He tried so much to fit into her world. Watch the news, and read philosophy to contribute to their intellectual conversations. He sounded fake, and he felt like he would never be enough for her.
He dreaded going out with her because he always felt self-conscious. The difference between them was palpable. Noticing his uneasiness, she’d asked him to just be himself. But Her friends did not welcome his true self among them.
“Can I get her number?” The least he could do is to apologize.
“There’s no need. She has gotten over you, though not your betrayal.”
“At least send her my regards”
“I won’t. Henry, have you ever felt so dirty, felt robbed of your dignity or your essence? You haven’t and you won’t. After all, you are a man, always the perpetrator.”
“If by fate you guys see each other, though I pray you don’t, then apologize in person. I won’t pick at the scab of a healing wound.” Eyiwumi said.
She dropped some Naira notes on the table, and walked out of the restaurant leaving a penitent Henry behind.
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About the Writer
Adeoye Toheeb Boluwatife is a budding writer based in Lagos. He loves telling stories, and his passion for creative writing has only grown stronger. He writes about social justice, and existentialism. Toheeb is excited to share his work with the world and hopes that his dream of becoming a published writer will come into fruition. He is currently undergoing his bachelor degree in Philosophy at the University of Lagos.