By Njoks

My hubby is no longer talking to me. The resurrection of Bryan has resuscitated memories he would rather live without. By having what I thought was an innocent drink with him, I had committed a grievous crime.

For obvious reasons, Bryan is not my hubby’s favourite topic. Even in jest. This is a man he literally had to fight over me and I suppose he does not cherish the memory. Granted, it was a major boost to my ego (which girl would not like her man to fight for her?) yet, the cuts and bruises he received at the conclusion of the fight — which he won hands down physically, psychologically and emotionally — were a dent on his psyche.

This incident occurred about three years ago when Bryan wanted to get back into my life so I thought it was buried deep in the memory bank. Had I known that the mere mention of that name would hurt Jimmy so much, I swear to you, I would never have entertained even a simple ‘hi’ from Bryan. Unfortunately, I did a lot more than that.

You see, on the night I went out with my girlfriends for drinks, Bryan walked into the club where we were enjoying laughter and catch-up stories. The girls were excited to see him while I, on the other hand, was so stunned I did not react fast enough to warn them not to encourage him to sit at our table. Truth is, I was tongue tied for a good 12 minutes.

Bumped him off

Remember, this is the guy I had dated for almost a decade and he obviously had meant a great deal to me before I bumped him off in favour of Jimmy. The rumours that followed our soap-like romance claimed that Bryan had been so devastated by my decision and the thumping he received from Jimmy that he had requisitioned for a transfer and off he went to Mombasa.

Later, I learnt Bryan had been promoted as head of a branch in a neighbouring country. From that moment on, he became the talk of the town. The social circuit could not get enough of him . . . he was earning big chums, driving a luxurious moti and he was a jet-setter. Eligible girls wanted a piece of him, and, I guess, this is what must have caused Jimmy to be insecure. Perhaps he thought I would run back to Bryan now that he had achieved the ‘financially secure’ status he’d been seeking, the state he wanted to achieve before he could contemplate marriage. And so when Bryan made contact and began pursuing me, Jimmy got aggressive and I had to reassure him over and over again that I had no intention of moving back, ever. I had no regrets.

Even now, as I stared speechlessly at Bryan smoothly glide towards our table, I still had no regrets . . . just fond memories of our past. I could see us become friends but, when I gazed into his eyes, I realised this would be a stretch. He still had not let go of our past.

The girls, though initially uneasy, invited him to our table. When he ordered drinks for all of us, the uneasiness quickly transformed to affection. With an enthusiasm that took me by surprise, the girls regaled him with their past dramas and boldly inquired into his life-after-me, which they all knew about, had kept tabs on him and updated me when they thought it was safe to do so.

I watched them bend backwards to catch his eye and flirting outrageously, and then it hit me, my girlfriends were all technically single (two were engaged though) and Bryan was a great catch. That thought, however, did not sit well with me but I stopped myself from pondering my odd feelings.

At around 10pm, I hinted that I wanted to leave. Their reaction? Hostile glares, like I was trying to interfere with their fun. I figured out I was in for a long night. Bryan was very happy.

— desperate@eastandard.net