"Being a player is not a good habit; become stable!”

It was last Friday when Marvin was partying all night with his homies; grooving like King Julian in the movie, Madagascar, to the latest hits and old-school vibes.

For Marvin, partying was more for relief than it was fun or leisure. This guy was drinking himself black due to the fights with his girlfriend who works at a coffee shop. Of course none of his friends had realized the reason for his pleasure and appetite. What a stupid way of ending his headache—I mean heartache.

In the midst of the pandemonium, Marvin spotted a pretty girl seated a few tables away from him. He was stunned by the beauty of the smiley-girl who seemed to be ending her relationship with the boyfriend. He looked very interested—I mean he looked sober all of a sudden. ‘Men O’ men’, he watched carefully as the conversation between the couple got heated and led to the pretty girl walking away in total disdain.

Guess what Marvin did. In his crazy mind, he looked around and walked behind the girl and tried to narrate compassionately what he had observed a few minutes back.

Marvin told her he was ‘sorry’ that her ex-boyfriend was a mess. It seemed to touch the girl somehow. They exchanged numbers and what looked to be a ‘booze-to-death’ evening for Marvin actually turned into a romantic night in masquerade.

The girl’s name was Jenny. He found out some details about her, a week later, after a long discussion at their first coffee-date somewhere in Kigali. Marvin was a favourite among girls. It wasn’t such a surprise that after the second week of acquaintance with Jenny, she was his new girlfriend.

It got interesting for the two love birds. They called each other, had frequent dates and had a lot of fun together. It wasn’t so long before they had their very iconic, charismatic and romantic kiss on a fine evening.

Then the phone rang. Ring-ring! RED BUTTON! Ring-ring! IGNORE! It was Sally, Marvin’s former girlfriend who worked at the coffee shop! He said goodbye to Jenny and when he got home, Marvin called Sally to ask her why she had called. Sally burst into tears on phone repenting of how heartless she had been. She apologized and asked Marvin to go out with her again.

Marvin was touched by her repentant heart and was amazed by her humility because Sally was proud and self-centred. He now had to choose between Jenny and Sally. In his heart, he loved the new Jenny but also treasured old Sally. He decided to hook-up with both of them. He made sure none of the girl’s realised he was playing them.

Two weeks later, Sally and Marvin went to watch a movie, and in the midst of the long adventurous movie he catnapped. Since Sally had his phone, she started scrolling through his text messages—shocked by what she had read, she saved a number that had ‘mi amor’  as name. After the movie had ended, Sally lovingly pretended to show him how sad and betrayed she was feeling inside.

A week later, Jenny organized a Saturday lunch date. Marvin came like mister lover-lover with his latest flatters. While eating, Sally APPEARED to share lunch with them. Marvin’s eyes reddened, he started sweating and almost choked on his food. He was EMBARRASSED!

Sally said, "Why do you take us for fools? You would have chosen to be faithful with one of us than take both of us for granted. Please be stable or else, you won’t even manage your family.”

This is how Marvin tries to date two girls ATST (at the same time) and got caught.

This reminds me of a popular saying: "Honesty and stability are key to faithfulness!” Therefore, say NO to players.

jamiefrings@yahoo.com