💔A WALK TO REMEMBER💔

I still remember the first day I saw him. It was a rainy Tuesday, at the company where I worked as an intern.

He came running in, looking for shelter because the heavy rain had soaked his clothes till the colors ran.

He was wearing a white shirt and blue jean trousers. 

His jean trousers must have been re-dyed because you could see how it stained his shirt, singlet, and shoes.

I laughed. We all did. He did too.

It was funny, he was funny.

We were standing outside the office, looking up at the sky when lightning struck.

"Yay! God just took a pic of all of us! Is anyone naked?!" He exclaimed.

Everyone burst into laughter. Mine was the loudest.

But that was all it took for me to let my guard down. I could see myself falling as deep as the rain sank into the earth.

"I'm Derek," he said to me.

I wondered why he was talking to me. Maybe he caught me shooting glances at him.

"I'm Christina" I replied and we smiled.

"You're nineteen years old and you lost your mom in 2017," he said to me.

My eyes widened in shock. I never told anyone anything about my private life before. I wasn't a popular girl there so how did he know?!

"Who have you been talking to?" I asked.

"No one. Just God, actually" he winked.

"Oh," I mouthed.

'Christina, you have got a prophet on your hands. Tread carefully' I said to myself.

"Surprised?" He asked.

"A little. So you read minds too? Because if you do, I have to go stand somewhere else. I do love my privacy"

He laughed.

"No, I don't read minds. Your privacy is safe with me"

We laughed again.

I got to find out that he lived close to the company where I worked and from then on, we were with each other EVERY SINGLE DAY!!! Just hanging out, getting to know each other, and making really funny jokes.

God, he was funny!

I willingly gave him my phone number and took his. We texted all night, every day as if seeing ourselves during the day wasn't enough. There's nothing on earth we didn't talk about.

He walked me home from work every day. He didn't have a job and I always tried to help if he complained about a need.

I didn't mind if it was my last dime. I gave it to him.

A year later, we were still at it, still burning hot. Now, what do they say about fires that burn too hot? 

They burn so fast and burn other things close to them and eventually burn out. It dies!

I turned against all my friends because he always found a fault in them. I hated everyone he hated and I loved those he loved.

He taught me a lot of things. He taught me how to pray, and how to study the bible. Tell me who wouldn't love that kind of man? I couldn't help myself.

Did I even need help?

As sweet as the friendship was, it had sour parts as well.

He would always get jealous when he saw me with another guy. I wasn't his girlfriend, he never asked me to be. But yet, he was possessive. 

He became demanding too. He didn't care if I had any extra money before taking the little I had. I couldn't say a word because I thought, 'this is love'.

Maybe that was the trial I would have to face to enjoy love. I felt honored and happy. I never failed to tell him how much I believed in him, and how much I knew he was going to make his future bright and beautiful. I thought I was giving him hope.

I never even asked him if he was searching for a job or not. I just gave him anything and he took everything, including my sanity.

We kissed. He was my first. Then we had sex for the first time. We both cried and said it was a mistake. But we did it again and again and again till we lost count. I was foolish and naive, I thought it was love. 

He never asked me to be his girlfriend, in fact, I still wasn't. But he treated me like him and I prayed every day that it would be the day he would ask me to be his girlfriend.

After my internship, he got me a job. The job wasn't my expectation, it was lower than what I'd wanted. But I happily took the job because I thought it was a sign that he cared.

Now, as I look back, I wonder where my motto 'Never settle for less' disappeared. He constantly offered me less and less of what I needed and I kept accepting it.

At my new job, the salary was small but I took it anyway.

I had to feed myself, I had younger siblings that looked up to me for support too, although I stayed with my uncle and they stayed with my father.

I barely made friends at work because no one was perfect in his eyes. If I made friends with anyone, it would have to be a secret.

He was a flirt!

He would smile at every chic that came his way. It got me angry and jealous.

How could he not notice that I was in love with him? 

As small as my salary was, I still managed to care for him. He would get mad whenever I gave money to any person other than him.

I gave him everything without holding back. Even when he showed interest in other women, I was still there. He used his words to hurt me, sometimes he would say I was boring and sometimes he'd say I was old-fashioned.

There were a lot of red flags I should have paid attention to. But I didn't. Love is blind, huh? Mine was.

Then one night, he sent me a text, telling me how much he loved me and how much he'd like to marry me. He said he'd loved me for a long time and didn't ask me out because he had to 'test the waters' before going all in. He said I'm the one good thing that's ever happened to him and that all his life, he'd been praying to meet me, his soulmate.

To say I was happy would be an understatement. I tried my best to muffle my screams with my pillow because my uncle was sleeping in the next room.

I was finally going to be happy, married to the love of my life.

I already picked a wedding dress in my head. I planned the whole wedding before I fell asleep with a deep sigh of satisfaction and a smile on my face.

You know that feeling when you can't wait for the breaking of the dawn? I woke up a million times that night.

The next morning, finally, I rushed to work and prayed for the day to be over so I would go to his house and show him how happy I would make him if he marries me. I was all smiles, I was friendly to everyone, and I had a word of encouragement for every single person there that looked sad. I was also jumpy too... Till they began to think I was high on drugs.

Immediately the clock struck five, I didn't even say goodbye to anyone. I got my purse and rushed out of the place I felt would suffocate me. I rushed to his house.

I quietly walked in without knocking, wanting to surprise him.

He was in the shower and his phone was on the couch.

'Ding', the notification alert rang.

Subconsciously, I quickly picked up the phone. Maybe I was conscious of what I was doing. Maybe it was just out of curiosity. I unlocked the phone and immediately, a text message popped up on the notification bar.

I didn't have to open it to read. It was there on the notification bar...

"Yes, Derek, I'll marry you," the message said.

I quickly clicked on the message to open the full body.

And there it was, the same message he sent to me, but another girl's name was on it.

He sent the same message to someone else, saying how much he loves her and how much he'd like to marry her. He even wrote his name as her surname; Isabel Derek.

She replied saying "yes, I'll marry you, Derek..."

What?!

I put down the phone with shaky hands. I could hear my heart-shattering. I could see my world crumbling before my own eyes.

Everything I'd done... I put the phone down and quietly left the house, sadder than I was happy. I bowed my head in shame as I walked the streets leading to my house.

Betrayal...

He was my best friend...