They Move On So Fast

I saw the message first thing when I woke up at 4am. Jason had sent a text at 2am telling me he was coming over. ‘What an odd hour to text someone,’ I thought to myself. The day was Friday.

His text didn’t have specific details and my days were insanely busy.
I texted him through the day, wondering at what time he would come. I had work from 5am to 3pm, then lectures from 4pm to 8pm. I needed to know his arrival time so that I could adjust my schedule and fix time for him.

We hardly met  physically. The average times we met were roughly thrice a year. That’s why I made his visits a priority. I was willing to skip a lecture if the need arose.

Thankfully, we had only one lecture that day; 4_6pm. Jason had not yet responded to my texts. I sent him another message. Still no reply. I called him. He hang up on me.

Slightly offended, I got my stuff, left campus and headed to town. I had a dinner and gift_exchange the following day. I hadn’t yet bought my gift so I used that opportunity. From downtown I passed by my workplace_ beauty of working for a media house. At around 8pm, I grabbed a boda back to my place.

Approximately ten minutes after my arrival, I got a call from an anonymous number. I picked up and just listened. It was Jason. I saw no point in talking. He had called, so I allowed him to do the talking. He said he was in Nakulabye and that he would be at my place in about ten minutes. He asked me to slope down and wait for him. I did. It was freezing outside. I chatted with a boda guy to pass the time.

Jason showed up later and greeted me enthusiastically. I wasn’t as enthusiastic. Over the months, the glow in me had faded. And he was the cause. I led the way up to my room. He sat across from me. He apologized and explained that he had been driving when I called, thus hanging up.

I barely saw him, so I saw no need to start a world war. Nonetheless, so much was going through my mind. Like, not even an sms? I had texted him first thing in the morning and several times through the day. How busy could he have possibly been to return a mere text?

“I asked what time you were coming and you didn’t respond, so I went and did other things,” I informed him. “I didn’t cook”. I asked him to order for anything he wanted to eat. He said he was okay and that he was going to eat later at his friend’s place. I didn’t insist. I wasn’t in the mood. It had been a long day.

His phone rang at that moment. He reached for it. Looking at the caller, he beamed.
“Let me take this call,” he said to me.
I just nodded my approval and looked away.

It was too painful to watch.

It’s not the phone call that bothered me.
My concern was with how he jumped up so quickly to take the call, and how his face lit up. Not to mention the sudden enthusiasm and excitement with which he now spoke.

“I just can’t believe it, this girl goes to LDC with my sister but they have never met,” he said to me smiling in disbelief.  

Unfortunately, I didn’t share his amusement. Was this not the very guy that ignored my calls? Lately, he had been ignoring my calls. He later explained that he often left his phone at home. But still, why wouldn’t he later return the calls or text or apologize like normal people did? All he did was act like nothing had happened.

Someone close to him had told me before that his ex was a law student. Could she have been the one that had called? I knew I wasn’t his first love.

I became a bit distant after his call that night. I don’t know if he had noticed the pain in my eyes. He stayed for a few more minutes and then he left. I escorted him but didn’t go far. I told him it was too cold outside.

For the next 2 years of our relationship-or whatever it was, I must have called him an average of three times and only when I couldn’t help it. My words became less after that too. You can call it intuition, but every lady knows when there’s another. And I knew in my heart of hearts that I wasn’t his only one.

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