Secret Betrayal

Episode 13

Did I say Collins fell in love
with me after that night? Well,
we started a serious
relationship with every effort
to keep Vera out of it. She
never knew it was Collins I
was dating. I had to show her
an imaginary picture, or rather
a random picture I took from
the internet as my boyfriend
and had to follow the guy up
on Facebook to keep stealing
his pictures and front him as
my boo to Vera.

When I returned, she was
acting strange and became
too inquisitive. She wanted to
know everything going on in
my life. I kept my cards and
played them well. She
gradually forgot about Collins
and was doused in
Desmond’s love. He had
turned out to be a great guy
after all, very caring and a
perfect gentleman. Each time
I envy her, something at the
back of my mind told me I
had a greater guy in my
Collins.

I’m not totally heartless as
many would envisage. I
always took justification from
the fact that I wasn’t part of
the reason Collins left Vera. I
was just the lucky one to have
him for myself. Vera would
never have let me have him
anyway, so no need telling her
about it. My love for Collins
overshadowed my conscience
towards my friend Vera. But
still, I needed her to tell me
why it didn’t work out
between them. Somehow, I
was worried. I didn’t want to
ponder over if I was really
towing the right path. But
then, the popular
phrase ‘much ado about
nothing’ would just creep into
my mind and stay. It didn’t
work out between them
because they were never
meant for each other,
perhaps it was simply divine.

Collins was meant for me
while Vera was simply the
instrument used to make it
happen. I smiled at this
revelation.

Days turned to weeks and
weeks to months and we both
drew near to graduation.

Desmond was now engraved
in Vera’s heart and sung on
her lips everyday. How I
wished I could sing Collins in
the same manner. Thank
goodness we were graduating
and soon we’d go our
separate ways, then I’d be
free to visit Collins and do as I
like with him.

Few days before we left the
school finally, Vera returned
home excited and threw
herself on the bed.
“Babe, this one you are
jumping about like this, what’s
up now?” I asked.

“Guess what?” She beamed.
“You know I’m not good at
guesses, just go ahead and
tell me.” I urged her
impatiently.

“Okay, Desmond just got a
new job in Shell Petroleum.”
She announced in a hushed
voice. I cupped my mouth
with my hand to muffle a
scream and we rushed to hug
ourselves on impulse. She
told me he’d be coming to
pick us up for dinner that
night.

Desmond, the graduate
driver, now a Shell worker?
Soon he’d be driving pick up
jeeps like the many other
colleagues of his. This was
going to be a complete turn
around. I didn’t know how to
feel at all. I even thought I
felt nauseous at some point.
We dressed up and waited for
Desmond to arrive for the
outing. We had planned to
have dinner at a very cozy and
expensive restaurant before
heading to Silverbird to see a
movie together. I don’t feel
like going but I couldn’t find
any tangible excuse not to. My
stomach churned from
displeasure. Not because I
didn’t like Desmond getting
the job but mainly because I
had written him off not more
than once before, and even
advised Vera against dating
him. No one would have
wished to be in that situation.
“Vera,” I called her name
lowly.

“Yeah,” She continued
preening and perfecting her
blushes.

“Something just came to my
mind and I felt like asking.”
“What is it baby?” She shot a
quick glance at me and
continued her art; she was
good at it though. “Shoot.”
“What really happened
between you and Collins that
night when he came to visit?”

She paused and arced her
brow thoughtfully, “Which
Collins?” She asked
innocently.

Like seriously? What was she
feeling like? She had moved
on this much; over Collins?
Her sleepless nights and
nightmares? I couldn’t hide
my astonishment.

“Like seriously? You’ve
forgotten Collins? How many
Collins do you know again that
came visiting and had a ‘night‘
with you?” I emphasised on
the night with an ‘okay‘
gesture high above my head
with both hands.

“Oh that.” She paled and
withdrew from the mirror to
look me in the eyes, squarely.
“Babe, don’t you think this is
the wrongest time to ask me
this question?”

I could see the pain in her
reaction. She just feigned to
have forgotten, she wasn’t
totally over him yet.
“I’m sorry, but like I said, I’ve
been wanting to ask but keep
forgetting. I’m really curious.”
“Well I thought I told you that
day what happened?”