On a very cloudy evening, as I was coming back from work, it started drizzling. Before I could reach home, it rained so heavily. I had to wait at a shop but was already drenched in the rain. I made sure my phone was safe from the water as it is not resistant to water. While thinking of how to navigate my way back home, I saw someone with an Umbrella... I whispered to myself "Oh!! I hope she is going my way". I waved to her if I could join her and she readily accepted as the umbrella was big enough for two.
With excitement, I tiptoed to join her. She made a joke about how I looked drenched and I couldn't help but laugh. My name is Susan, she said. I replied her with my name too as we made a grin to each other.
We had a great walk back home and I realised from our conversations that she worked two blocks from my office. I got close to my house and I was grateful. I wanted to ask for her contact but was shy. When I was about leaving, she said she wanted to make sure I was home safe and not carried away in the flood, so she asked for my contact. Yesss! I exclaimed in my mind, I hurriedly gave my number to her. The rest they say is history..we chatted everyday, walked home together from work, had the same fantasies and values. It was always fun being with her..she was God sent.
Three years passed, and every passing day was full of love and laughter and a shared dream. First dates turned into daily routines, our arguments ended in apologies, we sang together, had long walks, we understood each other with just a blink of the eyes, we laughed to jokes only two of us could understand.
I just knew she was the one for me when I proposed to her at our favourite restaurant and out of excitement she screamed Yesss. I couldn't contain my joy, I have always wanted this moment; marrying my favourite person was just my wish of a perfect marriage.
Our wedding was perfect and beautiful; talk of the town. Everyone couldn't stop highlighting how perfect we are, it was just like we were created for each other. Couples wanted to be like us, parents used us as a case study for their children who wanted to marry. We actually loved each other perfectly, And I couldn't ask for more.
But, everything changed in just a year in our marriage...my favourite person felt like a stranger, how did this happen?
We started drifting with little things in our first months of which we overlooked. I usually wash the dishes whenever it was piled up but I stopped one day. When she asked why it wasn't washed, I told her I always wash them, so she should this time. It was nothing though, she washed them.
I had more projects at my work place which made me stay late at night unlike me. Going through our old pictures, she couldn't help but feel my absence. We were always together but all she could remember were memories. She wanted the old me back.
The jokes we used to laugh about were no longer funny to us. I started being defensive and she started feeling uneasy at my sarcasms. Quarrels were the order of the day, fights that were resolved, forgotten but never forgiven.
9 months passed and she stumbled on my journal..flipping through the pages she saw something I had written down 'Maybe I am holding onto her because I am afraid to let go'. She couldn't continue reading. She was just silent all through. This brought in more silence. There was no betrayal, no infidelity, no cheating. It was just a slow eating off of a wood by a termite; On the outside everything looks good but inside is a carcass.
We tried working things out, our dates now felt like we are on an interview session. Our therapy sessions turned into debates like we were opponents in a secondary school debate on Money being better than Education. Looks like we were trying to resurrect something that longer had oxygen in it.
One gloomy morning, she sat on the bed while I laid there pondering on something. I think we aren't in love anymore, she said turning to me. I couldn't say anything, I just looked at her with a silence that looked like I concurred to what she said. We sat there in the silence, being reminded of all our jokes, memories and moments together. We couldn't understand why we are now moving in parallel lines when we actually moved from the same point, same dreams.
We didn't hate each other, we didn't betray each other, we cared for each other. But it wasn't enough.
We sat there in the court looking at each other as we sign our divorce papers. My hands were shaking, as I signed. I felt like a part of me was moving. She couldn't stop holding back the tears. She cried not because of how it ended but because of how it all began.
With one last hug, I whispered to her that we tried our best. Yes we did, she answered. This was the first time in months we were really really honest with each other.
Everyone was struck with the question "What on Earth Happened To Them"
This is my entry for the Hive-Naija Weekly Prompt Edition 107
Thanks for going through my story, hope you enjoyed it.
