Encounter with the ex

By Posh

Something was amiss and I was confused for a moment. Had Cynthia and mheshimiwa met before? How did he know about her son?

Since I had made up my mind not to let anything interfere with my plans to end my relationship with mheshimiwa, I took my Zain-line and secretly beeped my Safaricom-line.

My Blackberry, which was on the table, did not disappoint.

I excused myself to answer the phone and walked away to freedom. Once outside the hotel, I switched off both phones and took a taxi to the airport. I knew I had to get away from everything and get my life back.

When you are single, getting time off for yourself is like running away from yourself. That is the lesson I learnt from my vacation.

I mean, why would I want to sort myself out in a different land when I have carried me and my baggage along? Isn’t that a sign of desperate loneliness?

Granted, being single is fun.

When in South Africa, I thought I would re-arrange my thoughts, come back home and find a good man in a church, library or even at the Arboretum nature walk.

As I wandered through Africa’s largest Ostrich Farm, I contemplated the prospect of man-hunting in a church.

"Hey, enjoying the scenery?" a strange voice disrupted my thoughts.

Startled, I turned towards the voice only to find my ex-boyfriend Martin. My eyes went wet. Truth be told, I was lonely, and here stood a man who had genuinely loved me and whom I had been truly unfaithful.

"Hey, it’s been a while. How are you?" I asked forcing tears back. I badly wanted to hug him and tell him how sorry I was but I restrained myself. I recalled the happy moments I spent with him. This was a man who would wait up for me until midnight just so we could have dinner together.

There were days when he would take me out for electronic shopping and make the best choices for me. Gone were those good days.

"I am good," he responded to my question. "I just got a promotion and decided to come to South Africa to celebrate. What about you? What are you doing here?"

"Nothing much, just spoiling myself. I am on a short leave before I go back to glaring at faces at the reception!"

We talked for a while recollecting the past. He caught me by surprise when he bought me a corn ice-cream and wished me a happy birthday, which comes the next day.

"You remembered!" I exclaimed trying to hide the excitement.

He stared at me for a while as though flashing back a memory. We had been good friends. Perhaps we had been too busy to appreciate each other.

Second chance

"I never forgot your birthday," he said quietly. "You were always impatient and ended up spoiling the surprises."

My face flashed. All those times I had blamed him for taking me for granted and now I find out it wasn’t his fault. I felt guilty.

It was wonderful to have Martin there with me. I missed him, especially now that I was alone. For a moment, I thought he was going to ask me out. If he did, I planned to apologise for my behaviour and hopefully reignite the relationship. I prayed silently.

A lot of us women make the mistake of allowing the right men to walk away from us. But we deserve a second chance ... okay, so mine would be the 10th chance but I still deserved it.

I remembered how he always made me laugh and it made me want him back so badly. I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I didn’t notice the lady sneaking behind him until she had her arms wrapped around his waist.