The toxicity among teenagers when it comes to relationship matters made Pearl maintain her stand not to have a boyfriend or get into any form of relationship with anyone until she was mature enough.
Despite her friends teasing her and making her feel jealous about their relationship while in the higher institution, she remained adamant about that decision.
Just like her name implies, she is a beautiful and intelligent lady. Pearl is kind and wants everyone to be happy but sometimes males take her kind gesture for an interest in them which pisses her off a lot.
She keep handling that issue calmly until she eventually got mad at Fred, he was the current guy who made jokes around in the department about Pearl crushing on him. She took it as a rumor until a coursemate called her a pretender in 200 level, Pearl got mad and went to meet Fred who was sitting among his friends under the Mango tree that served as a reading spot for many students.
Fred saw her coming and he made a joke saying, "she is finally coming for me".
His friends screamed with excitement and she could tell they were talking about her which made her angrier.
She got there but not with the usual smiling face she wears around, everyone took a step backward except Fred who still wasn't sure of Pearl's intentions.
"Are you finally here to confess your feeling for me?" Fred asked as he rubbed his palm against each other.
Pearl didn't know the exact word to use for him, she looked around and saw students gathered. She doesn't like the atmosphere but she couldn't turn back else Fred's claims will be regarded as true.
She finally opened her mouth and words kept pouring until she felt it was enough " I am not here for your games Fred, I hear all that you are saying about me. You can only make the wise but none of it will come through as long as you have me in them.
It is wrong for you to think I am crushing on you because I offered you help whenever you are in need, a lot of people in the department can tell you how much I have come in for them in their academics but you are immature to have seen my will to help you as something else.
Let this be the last time you will try such shit with me in school" She left the scene immediately and everyone was shocked to see her get angry."
Fred felt ashamed and couldn't say a word. He picked up his bag and left for his hostel, he was too embarrassed to stay among his mates.
The incident made everyone respect her more, no one dared to say nonsense about her but it was becoming tiring to tell males that she was just being kind to them and nothing more in every new environment she finds herself in.
She got a good job after serving the country for a year, she had grown more beautiful than in her school days and lots of guys were very much attracted to her than before.
Her response to every approach was a "No", she didn't want to become a victim of abuse like her mother who was later abandoned by her father.
Her colleague at work took interest in her and Pearl felt Tim was her kind of man but she wasn't sure of who he was outside the company.
She accepted his date invite just to know him better and while they were eating, different discussions about their past were touched. At a point, she asked why Tim left his ex.
He wasn't expecting such a question but he had to answer Pearl, the curious cat.
"She left", he stammered.
Tim continued, "We broke up because of trust issues and she was at fault"
Pearl wanted to press further but she thought her questions might ruin the evening so she just enjoyed the date and they parted ways after an amazing meal.
She was falling in love already but she wasn't admitting it and that night, she went to check Tim's social profile to see if there was anything fishy about him.
Pearl found a woman who was tagged in most of Tim's posts on Facebook, she thought it could be his ex and she reached out to her. Pearl claimed to be a writer about relationship issues and she would love to meet her.
They agreed to meet at a restaurant in another state, she lived in the state next to where Pearl lived.
They met, the woman was tall and beautiful. They talked about relationships and Pearl was surprised to know that she was married.
The woman said a lot and in the end, she concluded that there is no perfect relationship and the only time a relationship can be perfect is when couples learn to embrace one another flaws. It was an awesome discussion but Pearl couldn't ask who her husband was since the woman didn't show his picture or even mentioned a name. She forgot to ask for the woman's surname, they referred to each other with their Facebook username when they met.
She summoned the courage to ask Tim and the sad expression on his face at that moment made her close the chapter, he said "Pearl, you just want to dig out a sad memory in my life".
Pearl thought about it for a while and took her mind off it, she believed so much in Tim. Tim's Facebook page was last updated eight months ago so she decided to give him a try since everyone was complaining she was too rigid.
Tim took her on a few dates, he even went home on a night when they both got tipsy. She fell in love and even boast to her friends and family that she would be getting married anytime soon.
Months passed and the woman from the other day invited Pearl to her wedding anniversary, she want Pearl to meet her family since the kids would be on holiday and it would help her research relationships.
She couldn't say no and she hid the event from Tim because she didn't want him to know that he communicated with his ex-lover.
She prepared for the event and on arriving at the event which was a parlor party, she got the shock of her life. Tim's ex happens to be his wife, and she couldn't believe that she fell into such a situation despite taking her time before getting into a relationship.
Tim's family lives in a different state because he couldn't migrate with them when he took the job and as for social media, he told his loyal wife to keep their life away from it which she obeyed.
It dawned on Pearl that you can't be too sure of what's ahead in a relationship and we can just hope we don't fall into the wrong hand even while being careful, she vowed never to have anything doing with a relationship after that, she just wants to be happy and be at peace with herself.
