AT A CROSS ROAD (A Short Story By AJALA ADEOLA

DISCLAIMER: AT A CROSS ROAD is a complete work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and events used in the story are products of the author’s imagination and are therefore fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead is a coincidence.

Copyright ©2016 by Ajala Adeola 

This work is protected under the copyrightlaw

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He was ready to give it whatever it takes for her to end up as his wife. Not that she was his first relationship but she had a way of making him feel like there could never be another lady that would love him like she did…

She told him she was a virgin and didn’t want them to have sex until after marriage and he gladly accepted. After all, he loved her not the sex she would offer him.

7 months into the relationship, they had a slight misunderstanding and during that period they had an issue, she went a little bit astray by allowing some strange guy to come and spend the night at her place. After some weeks, he reconciled with her and she confessed all her atrocities while they weren’t together. She said she got dangerously intimate with a particular guy but even though ‘every other thing’ happened between them, she didn’t allow him to have sex with her.

He forgave her and the relationship continued. Along the line, he got to hear from a very reliable source that his girlfriend had been harbouring a guy in her house for some days. Not that he asked anybody to monitor her movement and report back to him but we know that in the typical Nigerian setting, once a couple is recognised together, there are some people that will employ themselves as monitoring spirit and report to either quarters once a loophole is noticed.

That was the case with the ‘Good Samaritan’ that alerted him of the impending loom from his babe’s quarters.

Back to the Story…

The guy chose to not believe the reporter because he loved and trusted his girlfriend. Some months after the incident was reported to him, he decided to satisfy his curious heart that won’t stop pricking him to ask his girl if what he was told about her being with a guy for days was true. Alas!!! She confessed when pressed a little that it actually happened that a guy stayed with her for FIVE DAYS but ‘Nothing Happened’ between them. 

Guy: “Who is the guy?”

Lady: “He is one of my numerous toasters”

Guy: “Why did you allow him come over and you even allowed him stay for five days in your room?”

Lady: “I swear, I didn’t know he would be coming. I just saw him on my door-step and…”

Guy: “How did he get your address and why didn’t you tell me about it?”

Lady: “I was scared of what your reaction would be. I am sorry… Believe me when I say nothing happened throughout his stay at my place”

Guy: “You cheated on me with another Guy”

Lady: “I swear I didn’t cheat on you. I am still intact”

And This Guy  Chose to believe her again because he loved her… (Love na bas***d right? Lol.)

All appeared to be sweet and smooth between them until this Lady came with another shocker…

Lady: “There’s something I need to tell you”

Guy:   “I am with you”

Lady: “I discovered I have not been entirely truthful to you. Even though I have been trying to tell you everything, I have not been transparent enough. There are some things I was supposed to have told you which I have not”

Guy: “Please, talk to me… What happened?”

Lady: “Let me say this; I am sorry for just telling you this”

Guy: “Go on”

Lady: “I want the two of us to work that’s why I discovered I must be completely transparent in the relationship”

Guy: “Hmmmmmn”

Lady: “While I was young, I could recollect that one of my Cousins forced his p***s into my mouth and forcefully made me lay with him. I didn’t see blood. In recent times, I started reading some articles and books so I discovered that what happened then could have taken my virginity…”

Just as you could guess, the Guy  was mad and Furious. His anger wasn’t borne out of the fact that she was no longer a virgin but the fact that he saw his intelligence being played upon. He had always believed whatever she told him but he found it difficult to believe this particular story. As far as his brain was concerned, it was an indirect way of telling him that all her recent escapades had snatched her priceless asset from her.

The Guy  asked her to let them go on a break for him to be able to process the shocking revelation. All she said was “OK”

After 2 weeks, the Guy  who couldn’t help but always think about her decided to forgive and forget what happened. After all, what mattered was true love. He thought about it critically and discovered he loved her and was willing to forgive her. Also, He just recently Read Tim Audrey’s LETTING GO. He was ready to let go of her misdeeds.

He called the lady and the following conversation ensued…

Guy: “I have thought about the matter and decided to allow sleeping dogs lie. I love you so much and it will take more than telling me you are no longer a virgin to make me let you go…”

Lady: “It is too late…”

Guy: “What do you mean?”

Lady: “I got carried away and committed a more grievous crime”

Guy: “I am still lost here.”

Lady: “Just forget about me and move on with your life.” (She hanged up on him)

The Guy  refused to give up and continued calling her number. After the 8th Attempt, she picked up again and it appeared she was crying on the phone…

Guy: “What exactly is wrong?”

Lady: “I am so worthless right now…”

Guy: “What do you mean?”

Lady: “Do you really want to know what happened?”

Guy: “Of course… Talk to me.”

Lady: “Any ways, since you are insisting, I will tell you. I am going to tell you not for you to pity me nor to sympathise with me but because I have realised my mistakes even though its too late and I needed to talk to someone.”

Guy: “Go on…”

Lady: “2 weeks ago, when you told me you needed a break, I felt so worthless and couldn’t think straight. I was still in this state of mind when a guy came my way. He asked me out and due to my dejected state of mind, I gave him a positive reply. I felt nothing for the guy but I thought you won’t be coming back and I desperately needed something to clear my head of the hurt your break up was causing me…”

Guy: “Hmmmmnnn”

Lady: “I didn’t know how it happened but few days after he asked me out, we had SEX!”

Guy: “JESUS!”

Lady: “I told you…”

Guy: “Now, listen to me. I know we have issues and I as I said earlier, I want to resolve it. This joke is too much for me.”

Lady: “Who says I am joking? Its actually what my foolishness led me to. The only thing I can say now is that I am sorry for hurting you…”

The Guy  dropped the call and started weeping. Its apparently clear that the new twist was too much for him to bear. After crying his eyes out for several minutes He called her again. 

Guy: “How could you have done this?”

Lady: (Sobbing)

Guy: “We had a small issue for 15 days and within that period, all you could think of was opening your legs for someone you just met?”

Lady: ‘in a loud Weeping voice’ “I am sorry.”

Guy: “What happened to your strong resolve to remain chaste till you get married? Its clear they were all words of the mouth. You have not been what you claimed to be all these while.”

Lady: “I swear (Hear we go again… Always swearing to prove she is sincere. Lol) all I told you then were true. I didn’t know what came over me. My walls of strong resolve crumbled and I was completely swept off my feet by what I didn’t understand.” (Lol… Story for the gods)

Guy: ‘Silent for Some seconds’ “How many times did it happen?”

Lady: (in a low voice) “It happened more than 5 Times…”

The Guy  didn’t know when the phone fell from his hand and his newly acquired Camon C9 hit the tilled floor of his room. Thanks for the screen protector… The screen of his phone would have shattered just like his Heart did from what he just heard… 

“Where did I go wrong?” The Guy  kept asking himself. Was it a crime that he chose to love  when it was  crystal clear that every of his peers were busy sowing seeds of pleasure around? Life is indeed cruel… No wonder Someone referred to Life as a b***h. What could he have done in the past to make him face this kind of trial? Or could it had been his fore fathers that committed the crime and he is paying now? After all, the Bible said we shall ask the children to pay for their father’s crimes, even to the 4th generation (My Version…Lol)

While these thoughts were running a race of survival in the Guy ‘s mind, He started hearing his phone singing ‘Applaudise for my Baby’ by Iyanya. That was the set ringtone for his heart breaking Baby. He Managed to pick the call…

Girl: (in a solemn voice) “I am sorry for the pains I am causing you now coupled with the ones I might have caused you in the past. I want you to know I love you so much and won’t ever stop loving you… I have been foolish in my pursuit of pleasure that I waved away warning signals. I am not begging you to take me back but I want you to know I love you so much and I already broke up with the other guy because I never enjoyed what I was doing” 

Guy: (He laughed Bitterly on the phone) “You didn’t enjoy it and you said it happened more than 5 times? What do you take me for? A fool?”

Lady: “You are not a fool and every other time he had sex with me after the first time was because I believed it had already happened so I had nothing more to lose. 

Guy: “Hmmmnnnnn… Was it always a protected sex?”

Lady: “No.” (She murmured)

Guy: “WHAT?????? Were you that daft? You allowed him have sex with you without protection for countless times?”

Lady: “He said he didn’t like condom and claimed he is good at withdrawal method”

Guy: (He bursted into laughter out of pity for his apparently gullible ‘Baby’…) “You are more stupid than I thought. Not only were you brainwashed, you were also ‘lifewashed’ by this guy. I must give it up to him. He is an expert in Manipulating idiots like you…”

The Line went dead and he resumed his thinking session. He was thrown into two worlds at the same time. He loved the girl so much. He couldn’t recognise her truths anymore. The wall of trust had crumbled! Yet his heart kept screaming that he should forgive her… wasn’t that heart of his a wicked entity? 

Wont that same heart push him into doing what he would eventually regret? 

Even If he forgave her, could he forget her mistakes? 

Lets hope I will come back here someday to tell you what the Guy  eventually did. 

The question is…

What would you have advised the Guy  to do? 

Take her back or Move on with his life? 

THE END