Men might be the stronger sex, physically, but this strength certainly does not protect them against the manipulation of women.

And I don’t think men are the stronger sex anyway, because we all know that women always win. Women can be so manipulating and cunning, and I have discovered that the prettier the woman, the more dangerous she is.

Jasmine must be the queen of all of the manipulators and schemers, because as undoubtedly pretty as she is, she is even twice as cold-heartedly sly.

How she managed to drive a wedge between me and Carole, without ever doing anything or saying a single word to her still puzzles me. After Carole walked out the door, I looked at Jasmine and I couldn’t believe I’d heard what she’d just said.

But Jasmine repeated it anyway,” Shem, Carole is gone. I thought she’d leave earlier, but somehow she persisted.”  I asked her what she meant by "I thought she’d leave earlier”. She talked like she’d planed for Carole to leave me, yet, to the best of my knowledge, the two girls had never crossed paths.

Then she shocked me again. She said, "You did all the dirty work, Shem. You got rid of Carole, all by yourself.” And even before I could start arguing with her, I knew it was the absolute truth. Simply put, Jasmine hadn’t needed to do anything for Carole to leave. It was my entire fault.

She had simply provided Carole with a reason to doubt my attachment to her. Then, on my part, she’d given me a reason to destroy my relationship, and by chasing after her. My interest in Jasmine was a sign that Carole was not that interesting anymore.

Jasmine had simply played on our weaknesses; my self-destructive curiosity, and Carole’s intuition of a woman. I couldn’t see why Jasmine would split me and Carole, unless she was interested in me herself. But knowing Jasmine, she wasn’t the typical "fall in love” kind of chic. I was certain her interest was not romantic in nature.

That’s when I asked her what she wanted from me. And she said, "Nothing! Absolutely nothing!” She went on to explain that she was sorry Carole got hurt, but she was merely a victim of circumstances. I was the main point.

She was playing my game. When I looked not to be following, she clarified. Reminding me about how I had intended to break her heart in the beginning, she had decided that she was going to do the same to me, but with a slight variation; she would make sure I never succeeded in my relationships.

She said she would make sure that every girl who dared become attached to me would also have to deal with her. And with Jasmine’s looks and sense of cunning, I knew it wouldn’t be long before any girl I got would start feeling insecure, and ugly.

Jasmine knew she had me in a fix. And I knew it too that it would be easy to extract myself this particular corner. I didn’t even bother trying to tell Jasmine to be sensible; she wouldn’t listen anyway.

But I asked her what she would get from the whole experience, and again, she said "nothing”. That evening, hanging with my friends, I mentioned that Carole had thrown me out.

Everyone was interested, because every one liked Carole. She was a really sweet girl; they all envied me for having her. When I told them the story, they thought I was lying. And they were right. No one would believe that story about "an irresistibly beautiful girl who was on my case, and had even made my girlfriend flee.”

I didn’t blame them. Myself, I found it hard to believe that a girl could just walk into my life and start turning it upside down. Later, I made up my mind to try and get Carole back. I missed her too much.

I sent her a text, she didn’t answer it. I called her up, but she refused to answer her phone. I kept calling until she switched off her phone. Finally, out of sheer desperation, I drove to her place. It was 2am. She refused to let me in.

Then I remembered telling myself, just three weeks ago that "I wouldn’t mind if Carole left me, I’d simply replace her.” That must have been the biggest lie of the century, because I missed Carole like mad, and I needed her to come back to me because I didn’t even have an idea how I was going to live without her. It looked like Jasmine had won.

Ends