Someone said, if all men had the courage, they would be cowards. Meaning, it takes courage to be a coward, as opposed to belief that cowards are scared little men. Someone added that cowards live longer.

Well, I didn’t particularly think about being a coward or living longer when Dina called me and told me to go to her. In my mind, I saw myself as her rescuer, although I had no idea what I was going to rescue her from. Her only threat was Michael and Michael was supposed to be at work.

Unless he had come back early! Dina too was supposed to still be at work, but that didn’t even cross my mind.
Rushing from Jasmine’s flat, leaving Daisy wondering what I was up to, I headed up stairs, and run straight into Dina’s flat.

Too late, I realized that Michael might also be home, but I was already inside. Dina was seated on the sofa, and she had been crying. There is something about girl’s tears that makes me want to go away from them.

But I didn’t walk away, instead I walked towards her. And she stood up and hugged me. To be more accurate, she fell into my arms. I wondered what her husband Michael would do if he walked in right then. Probably murder me.

She continued crying, and I did the only thing I could; I hushed her, told her everything is ok. Then she stopped crying and sat down and told me something really scary; Michael was HIV positive. She was HIV negative.

Seriously, I was baffled. To me, there was one logical way out of the situation; leave him. But she was obviously better than me at dealing with society. She said that would be stigmatizing him. Looking at her perplexed, I asked; "so, what exactly are you planning to do?

If you are not going to leave him because you are discordant, leave him because he cheated on you”. But she refused to leave him, saying he needed her more than ever.  She added to my confusion by asking me what to do!

Realizing this wasn’t going anywhere, I told her to take some time and think about it. And I went back to my flat, pretending to need time to think about it too. Actually, I wanted to leave her flat because I was certain Michael was almost coming back home.

I hadn’t forgotten that saying about cowards living longer, and I certainly don’t want to get into a fight with that guy again. Two hours later, I heard Michael return. And thirty minutes later, the shouting started. Whichever way Dina had decided to handle the situation didn’t seem to have worked well for her, because Michael sounded very angry, ready to kill someone. And then, he started hitting her.

Some other man would have interrupted them, but me, I am a coward, like I told you. Going into that flat was like attacking a lion. No sir! I sat down, and listened. Finally, a door slammed, and there was quiet. Maybe Dina had left the guy for good. He deserved it, after treating her like dirt yet she was such a sweet person.

I decided to go out and meet my friends that night, what Dina had just told me had really shaken me. We met at a bar in town, and after about two hours there, my eyes nearly popped out. Walking in was Michael with some other chic.

The way she was clinging to him left no doubt as to the nature of their relationship; they were definitely lovers. Could this be the one who had infected Michael?

Ends