Neighbour Diaries: Love hurts

Am learning my lessons and am learning them the hard way. A famous writer once said that everyone, even the mightiest, succumbs to love. Truly, this is one field that I now respect; it is even more potent than that alcohol we brew in the village. You take it seated, and then you stand up and realize that bang! You are drunk. In my case, I am drunk on love. Although a part of me still recoils at the admission that I have succumbed to love, the greater part wants to be in love. All would be good if I was not late. For one and a half years, this girl offered me her love. And for all that time, I toyed with her. Now that she is gone, am all sick because I can’t believe I got this addicted to her. I appreciate the statement that you never miss something until it’s gone. A friend called me and told me that he had seen Carole having lunch with a guy. After describing the guy, I realized he was the same dude I had found at her place. That guy was focused, alright, but Carole was certainly not serious! We hadn’t exactly split up. All that had happened was a result of bad timing, and I was ready to show her the best love a woman has ever got from a man! Now there she was going all over town with men! I became angry at her, and for a few seconds I deceived myself that I didn’t care whether she came back or not. But then, I needed her back! The woman hadn’t returned my phone calls, my texts, and even going to her place hadn’t helped! Fine, I had messed up a little but that was no way to treat a man! Didn’t she go to church, didn’t she know about forgiveness? Women could be so heartless! Talking of heartlessness, Jasmine took her meanness to a totally new level yesterday. She called a guy to come and see her. Apparently, the guy had been chasing after her for some time. But this same guy was getting married soon, although that didn’t stop him from chasing after her. I understood the guy’s problem. Jasmine was like a sickness, once she got into your system she was almost impossible to cure. And yet, you knew almost immediately that she wasn’t good for you, just like alcohol. So, she called up the guy, called up his soon-to-be-wife, and ten minutes after the guy arrived, the fiancé also walked in. A perfect set-up! She called the girl over, explained how her man was not serious about their marriage, and told her about the gifts he gave her. She showed her the texts the guy had sent her, and all this time, the guy was seated there looking on in disbelief. After, Jasmine just walked off, leaving the two to sort out their issues. Poor guy! Jasmine came to my flat after, and told me about it. She had actually enjoyed the whole thing. She claimed she was teaching men a lesson, but I suspect she had other reasons for wanting to see people’s relationships messed up. I wanted her to leave my flat, because there was a certain girl who was coming to see me. I didn’t love her, I loved Carole. But even missing Carole that much hadn’t curbed my straying! But I didn’t want Jasmine to know about her. If Jasmine saw her, she would make certain that that girl also left me. I lied to Jasmine that I was leaving, just to get her out of my flat. She looked at me suspiciously, but stood up to leave. Just as she opened the door, Martha walked in. Jasmine turned, looked at me with an evil eye that promised bad things to come, and went away. I was sure Jasmine would make me pay for lying to her, and just for the fun of it. Martha of course asked me about Jasmine, and I told her she was a girl in the neighbourhood. But Martha wasn’t satisfied with the answer. Jasmine was too pretty to be “just a girl in the neighbourhood”. Thirty minutes later, just as me and Martha were beginning to get cozy, Carole called. She wanted us to meet. I got up, grabbed my jacket, told Martha to find her way home, and I run out of the flat. Ends