THE EMIRATI CONNECTION
CHAPTER 5
The next day, we met at Goshen Fast Food Restaurant. She was looking all good and beautiful. She ordered a plate of fried rice and chicken and I ordered same. As we ate our delicious meals, we also talked.
“So, how have you been these past months?” I asked.
“Good. Hope you, too?”
“Yeah, God has been good. But I want to say that I was astonished by your behaviour last time you were in my house.”
“I am sorry, I have been through a lot. So, sometimes I let my emotions control me.” She apologized.
“So, tell me a little about your past life. It’s possible that somewhere, somehow, someone might have really hurt you. That could be the reason for that strange behaviour.”
“Yes, that is true. About eight years ago, I had some problems with my family. I had to leave the house and moved to an interior village. I had a distant uncle who lived there. So, I holed up with him. I was still naïve and innocent, and I didn’t know much about life. After a few months, I met a man who said he loved me and wanted us to be lovers. I accepted to be with him and soon, I got pregnant. It was only after I had gotten pregnant that I realized that he was married.”
“How did you find out that he was married?”
“His wife came and threatened to kill me. She said they had been married for several years and had five children. Men can be very wicked. The man had never told me anything about a wife or children. The worst part was that when I told him that I was pregnant for him, he became angry and told me he never wanted to see me again. He said I should have been careful not to get pregnant.”
“He must have been crazy.”
“Yeah. He said he wasn’t going to acknowledge the child as his and he would take no responsibility. Guess what? That was exactly what happened. I suffered with that pregnancy until I put to bed. I was hoping that after I put to bed, his heart would be melted by the presence of the baby. Instead, the opposite happened. He warned me never to came close to him again and never to call his number again. I suffered with my baby in that village until I could no longer bear it. So, I moved back to the city to meet my parents.”
“Thank God for that decision. You might have died in that village.”
“Thank God? Thank God indeed. My family treated me worse than the man and drove me away. They said I was a disgrace, a disappointment and a failure. I was frustrated and had no one to help me. An old woman saw me wandering the streets with my child in my arms in a deplorable manner. She felt pity for me and out of compassion, she took us in and treated us like her own family. However, two days later, my child fell terribly sick and died.”
“OMG!! You have been through a lot.”
“For real. That was like the end of the world for me. I mourned my child for a long time. After I was done, I moved back to the city and my parents didn’t send me away this time around. I started doing a small business and thank God my hustle paid off. I raised some money and moved to the United Arab Emirates. You know the rest.”
“Wow!! What a story! It must have been very hard for you.”
“Yeah!! It was hard. Very, very hard. I have never been lucky with relationships. I don’t know what is wrong with me.”
I didn’t want to respond to that because it might have opened old wounds about our own failed relationship. We finished our food and I took her home. We became good friends after that. She never came to my house again, but we kept meeting in public places. We had put our past behind us. I would have allowed it to stay that way but fate had decreed otherwise.
For a long time, I didn’t see her. I thought she had travelled out of town or had gone back to Dubai. I had been trying to call her all to no avail. One day, I was at Soba Park, eating roast fish and sipping a cold bottle of juice. I was actually scrolling on my phone at the same time. Somehow, the thought of her came into my mind and I dialed her number, just for the sake of checking if it would be available. It looked like her phone was in her hand because she picked immediately.
“Good evening.” I greeted.
“Good evening. How are you? Longest of times.”
“For real. Your number hasn’t been going through. Where have you been? What happened?”
“I have been around, maybe it’s network issues. Where are you that is so noisy?”
“I am at Soba Park. Had a long and hard day at work. So, I decided to give myself a treat. Care to join me?”
“I am just coming from church. Let me get a bike. I will be there soon. But I don’t like that place, it’s too noisy.” She spoke.
“Alright, we could go to another place when you arrive.”
A few minutes later, she called me, and I directed her to where I was sitting. She came and hugged me. I had already gotten a chair for her. She sat down and ordered something for herself.
“Happy to see you again. Been like six months now.” I spoke.
“Yeah, just wanted to concentrate on my spiritual life. I had gone so backward in terms of my Christianity. I needed some time to myself in order to concentrate on God.”
“Smart choice. So, you are saying that you are not in any relationship at the moment?” I asked.
“No, I am done with men.”
“How about me? Do you still love me?”
“Yes, I still love you, but you don’t love me. You have your girlfriend.”
Over those months, I had broken up with my girlfriend. However, I was having an on and off relationship with the other lady, Lindsey. I was as good as single because the other lady too had moved out of town and we only met once in the past six months. So, I decided that since Hermine had been desperately wanting me all this while, maybe, just maybe now could be the perfect time to give her some good loving. Maybe we could now have what she had always wanted us to have.
“I am officially inviting you to my house.” I announced.
“Really, when?”
“Tomorrow.”
“Alright.”
The next day, she came to my house, and we watched a football game together. We were very happy with each other. Looking at us, you would never believe that these are people who had once fought each other. It was very rare to meet a girl who was a fan of football. Most people regard football as a man’s game. However, Hermine was different, she didn’t just love football, she was obsessed with it. She knew the names of European clubs and most of the players. Three hours later, she went home without any event. However, something had changed within me.
The next day, I texted her and told her expressly that I would love to have s*x with her. I was expecting her to be happy, since it was something, she had always wanted. For more than a year now, since she got back from the UAE, she had wanted me to get into her pants. However, her reaction was not what I had expected. She replied angrily and called me a dog. She said she knew all I wanted was to sleep with her and abandon her. I was shocked by that reaction because she had always wanted me. However, I decided to let it go.
Two days later, I was home watching a football match when she called and said she was on her way. I was surprised she was coming based on her anger just a few days ago. I hadn’t even apologized to her for demanding s*x in such an uncultured way. So, I figured it would take my apology for her to come to my house again. But here was she, coming to my house. So, I assumed that she had finally prepared to make love to me and that was why she was coming.
She came home alright and we sat in two different sofas. I tried to apologize to her but she wouldn’t let me. She said I was just being a man and I shouldn’t waste my time apologizing. I was happy with the way things were going. So, I left my seat and went to hers. I started kissing her and she responded desperately. We kissed for a while and then I carried her to my bedroom and took off her clothes.
“Stop!!” She protested.
“Why?”
“Just stop, I don’t want it.”
Because she was resisting with her mouth but didn’t stop me from taking off her clothes, I assumed she was just being a woman-saying no when she actually meant yes. Soon, she was n***d. I got a condom, fitted it correctly and penetrated her. She gasped when I did so. As I began the randy rhythm, she remained still without moving. However, everyone now and then, there was a m**n of pleasure from her mouth.
We were done now and I put on my clothes and went to the living room. I sat on the sofa and contemplated. I had finally made love to Hermine after waiting for almost two years. I was expecting her to been overjoyed. Instead, she was cold and looked sad. I couldn’t understand. She came and met me in the living room and said she would be leaving. I walked her to the road, got us a bike and I took her to her house. On the way, she said she was hungry. So, we stopped at City Fast Food, and I got her something to eat.
The next day, I was at work when she texted me and said she wanted us to talk. I told her that we would talk at the end of the day when I had closed from work. Unfortunately for me, Lindsey, the other girl who had felt bad that she slept with me on the first day she came to my house, and who was now out of town, called me and said she was in town that day. That was going to complicate the issue because that same day, Hermine wanted to come to my house again so that we could talk. The mistake I made was not to call Hermine and postpone our meeting. Instead, I avoided her call hoping that she wouldn’t come without calling me.
Around 7:00 PM, the other lady came home and withing twenty minutes, we were already into it. She had to hurry and go home because she had only just come into town and needed to talk to her mum. As soon as we finished, I heard my doorbell ring and my heart skipped. I was afraid it would be Hermine. I ignored it but the ringing persisted and this time, it was rung violently. I peeped through the window and realized that it was indeed Hermine.
What was I going to do? That why I hated dating two girls at the same time. It could make life very complicated. I refused to open the door. She started calling my line, but I quickly put my phone on flight mode. She tried and tried but my phone didn’t go through. She started crying. I pulled back from the window where I had stood and sat on the sofa. Lindsey went to the window to see what was happening. I didn’t want her to make any noise because I wanted Hermine to assume that I was not at home. So, I moved back to the window with her. At that same moment, I heard Hermine say, “Chris, I know you are there. If you don’t open that door, I am going to kill myself here.
Lindsey wanted to speak but I covered her mouth with my palm. She removed my hand from her mouth and pushed me violently on the sofa. Then, a few seconds, later, she turned to me, looking horrified and said:
“Chris, you better go open the door for her, I just saw her removed a knife from her handbag.”
Scared of what she might do, I moved towards the door, ready to face the consequences.
TO BE CONTINUED…
