8/9
~TELL ME LIES~
-Chapter Eight-
Today has been an emotionally exhausting day. After waiting for over an hour in the car, I sp©tted Gabriel walking out with that same woman I saw him with the other day.
They looked so cozy together and what crushed my heart is that he k!$$£d her, right in front of her gate. Now I have no doubts that this man is cheating on me.
I managed to follow them all the way to Kafue where they met up with some people. I didn’t get close because I was scared of being seen by Gabriel but I could tell from a distance that they were celebr@ting something.
I am currently at home trying to prepare something for supper but no matter how ha-rd I try to focus on the food I want to cook, my breaking heart doesn’t allow me. Frustrated, I turn off the stove, gr-ab my phone and head to the be-droom.
I am lost in thought for hours before I hear Gabriel walk throu-gh the door. I can ha-rd ly look at him so I pretend to be busy typing away on my phone.
He walks over to me and k!sses myl-ips, ‘’Hey baby.’’
‘’Hello.’’
‘’I missed you, I couldn’t wait to get home and see you.’’
‘’Bull$h!t,’’ I almost respond but instead, I fix my face in its fake smile and ask, ’How was your business meeting?’’
‘’It was okay, you seem off, are you sure you are fine.’’
‘’I am okay, I am just tired.’’
‘’How was your trip?’’
‘’It was okay, I had a successful meeting.’’
‘’Tell me about it.’’
‘’I will tell you about it later.’’
‘’Are you still experiencing that headache?’’
‘’Yes.’’
‘’Maybe you should go to the hospital.’’
‘’If it continues, I will do so tomorrow.’’
‘’Let me bath and we will relax in be-d and catch up.’’
‘’Okay.’’
‘’Have you cooked anything?’’
‘’I couldn’t cook, the heat was ma-king me sick.’’
‘’Okay, I brou-ght some chicken wings and potato salad.’’
‘’I will eat later.’’
He heads into the bathroom and emerges a few minutes later.
When he gets dressed, he slides into the be-d next to me.
‘’You are not eating?’’ I ask.
‘’I will eat when you decide too, have you taken any pain killers for that headache?’’
‘’I did when I got back home.’’
‘’Come here,’’ he moves me close to him.
For the next couple of minutes, he tells me how his day went and the business ideas that his friend pitched. He also tells me about a business that he is interested in p@rtnering up with.
‘’But that will nee-d a lot of money for the start up.’’
‘’Oh okay.’’
‘’I will nee-d some money from you.’’
‘’How much are we talking about?’’
‘’A twenty thousand.’’
‘’That’s a lot of money and you know I want to start building the school in Kabwe.’’
‘’Babe, you know I will pay you back when I am settled.’’
‘’I think you do a proper business plan with everything nee-ded, I will look into it and see what I can do but I am not promising anything at the moment.’’
Gabriel thinks I am a fool, first he cheats on me and lies about all these business stuff, I am sure it’s always been about the money for him- I am done, I am not giving any money.
‘’You don’t trust me?’’
‘’I do trust you but twenty thousand is a lot of money and right now I have other projects of my own, if I give you that money It will mean I will have to put one of my projects on hold and you…’’
‘It’s okay, I un-derstand,’’ he cuts me off before I can finish.
‘’I am glad you un-derstand.’’
‘’I think I will go and watch a bit of some soccer,’’ he gets out of be-d and walks out of the room without waiting for a response from me.
I don’t even care if he is upset, right now I just can’t deal. Maybe I will pretend that everything is okay tomorrow but today, I am just in my feelings. I still can’t believe Gabriel is cheating on me- I have held this man down when no one else was there. I don’t even want to think about it or else I will explode.
*
I don’t know what’s happening with Rissa, she has been acting up since yesterday. I don’t like this side of her, I am more than sure her mother said something that planted her doubts in her mind. I love Rissa, I swear I do in my own kind of way, It’s just that I don’t see a future with her, she is good for chills, S-x and all that but for marriage, I prefer Iris. Iris is older and more mature.
I just hope this tension ends soon so she can give me the money I asked for. I want to use that money to start paying for Iris’ Lobola, my people will be meeting hers in the next couple of weeks. I will end things with Rissa when Iris and I eventually get married, I know she will be hurt but I am more than sure she will find someone that will love her accordingly. She is just 25 and still has a long way to go.
I spend the next two hours watching soccer and by the time I head back to be-d, Rissa is slee-ping, switching off the lights, I get into be-d next to her and pu-ll her close to me, when she flin-ches, I whisper into her ears, ‘’It’s me babe, you are safe.’’
I nee-d to find a way to make her trust me again, it’s easy to control her that way.
*
A week later,
She steps out of her car clad in a gray business suit, a pink silk blouse and matching high heels, her hair is tumbling onto her shoulders and down her back. Opening the back door of her car, she gr-abs her bag and slams the door shut.
There is something familiar about her, I can’t put my f!nger on what though and it’s really bugging me, I haven’t been able to see this woman closely but I have been watching her from afar for the last couple of days now. I have finally managed to get her full name, I will look her up on Facebook when I get home.
Briefly glancing over her shoulder, she marches towards the entrance of the bank and walks in. I wonder what her story with Gabriel is, does she know about me? Did he lie to her too? Does he genuinely love her? Did he cheat on me with her or vice versa? A number of questions run throu-gh my head before I start the engine and drive off.
~TELL ME LIES~
-Chapter Nine-
About two hours later, I walked into my office, shut the door and sat down at my desk before turning on my computer. Logging onto Facebook I searched for Iris Chiluba, locating her only after a few failed attempts. Her profile pic is of her and Gabriel, pu-lling up on her timeline my heart races as my worst fears are confirmed.
Iris and Gabriel are engaged, she posted some ph0tos of their engagement a couple of days ago. There are also some ph0tos of them with some friends from Tiffany’s, it seems they had a mini engagement celebr@tion that day I followed them.
Going throu-gh her ph0tos, I notice that this woman looks a lot like me- she is like a slightly older version of me. I continue scrolling throu-gh her timeline and also notice that she posts a lot of ph0tos and stuff about her relationsh!pwith Gabriel- their relationsh!pis quite public and a lot of people follow her.
What is shocking is that she tags Gabriel in most of her ph0tos. Apparently Gabriel has a second Facebook account that I didn’t know about until now. Going throu-gh that account, my heart breaks even more. Gabriel has been posting a lot about Iris, he posts her ph0tos almost all the time, calling her the love of his life, the mother of his kids and so forth.
When Gabriel and I just started d@t!ng, he told me he wanted our relationsh!pto be extremely pri-vate and off social media because he is not a fan of social media. I respected his decision because I noticed he rarely posted stuff on Facebook. And now this?
‘’Four years and I have been feeding on his lies.’’
‘’Four damn years, lord why?’’ I scream, hitting the table with my fist.
I brou-ght him into my house when he lost his job, gave him money and fed him, I held him down when no one else did and this is how he decides to pay me back?
‘’Miss Hadebe! Are you okay?’’ My secretary asks, knocking on my door.
I compose myself and clear my throat, ‘’I am fine thanks.’’
‘’Okay.’’
And that little br@t Gina, she is in some of the ph0tos smiling, such a traitor, I have been giving Gabriel money for her groceries, he takes her shopping using my money and then she decides to stab my back like this.
I hate to admit it but my parents were right, they were right the whole damn time but I couldn’t listen, talk about being a woman in love. My heart is aching, I can feel it breaking into pieces from pain beneath my brea-st.
Lord, I nee-d some air before I explode. Walking out of the office, I tell my secretary to lock up if I don’t come back. Taking a de-ep breath, I manage to get into my car and turn on the music to full blast so I don’t have to hear myself cry.
Crying, I drive around for hours until it is dark, I feel helpless and I don’t even know what to do. I have turned off my phone because I don’t want to talk to anyone.
I can’t face Gabriel in this state that I am in and I can’t go to my parents’ house because I don’t have the strength to tell them what has happened.
How do I possibly look them in the eyes and tell them they were right all along?
Driving back, I pu-ll up in front of a night club, let me unwind and drown my sorrows in alcohol. Staring at myself in the mirror, I pu-ll my hair up in a loose ponytail before applying some l!pgloss and powder then I step out of my car.
When I walk into the club, loud dance music is booming out of the speakers. Walking straight to the bar, I order a straight sh0t of vodka which I gulp down and order another round. Ordering another round, I glance around and see a hvge dance floor. When I swallow the third sh0t of vodka I head to the dance floor and start dancing.
I dance and dance until my feet are so-re and my arms hurt, then I drink a little more and continue dancing until I can no longer feel my feet anymore.
*
The next morning, I gr0@nas I open my eyes, I have a terrible hangover and my head is pounding. Rolling over so as not to throw up in be-d, I look across the room and realize that I am in a strange room wearing a pair of pajamas that aren’t mine.
With a pounding heart, I get out of be-d considering where I am for a while. Closing my eyes, I wonder why I can’t remember certain events from the previous night. The only thing I can remember is being in the night club, getting drun!kand dancing.
Oh lord, where am I? How did I get to this place? What If I have been kidnapped? As these thoughts run throu-gh my mind, I open the door and walk down the hallway, st©pping in what looks like the living room, I stare at the group of paintings and drawings on the wall. The other side of the wall is filled up with ph0tos of a beautiful girl with long hair. I look at her and smile wondering if my child will be this beautiful.
‘’Beautiful right!’’ A man asks, coming up behind me.
I jump, startled by a de-ep voice, turning, I lock eyes with a strikingly handsome white man about forty, I figure. I stare at him silently until he clears his throat.
‘’I am sorry,’’ I shyly say.
‘’That’s fine,’’ he smiles, ex-posing a row of perfectly white teeth. Extending his hand to me, he grasps it firmly, looks straight into my eyes and says, ‘’I am Cedrick.’’
‘’I am Carissa.H but most people call me Rissa,’’ I say before continuing, ‘’Are you the owner of the place? I am kind of lost, I don’t know how I found myself here.’’
He laughs, ‘’you don’t remember anything?’’
I shake my head, ‘’the last thing I remember is being at the club, dancing and getting drun!k, I can’t remember anything else and also why am I wearing this?’’
‘’I got you from the club, you were pretty wasted, someone almost took advantage of you.’’
‘’Oh my!’’ I exclaim.
‘’And the clothes? My phone? My car?’’
‘’You threw up when we got here and I had no option but to change your clothes.’’
‘’You saw me n-ked?’’ My eyes wi-den in shock and he bur-sts into a fit of laughter, ‘’obviously I did.’’
‘’And we had S-x?’’
He laughs louder, ‘’no we didn’t, there’s no way I could take advantage of a drun!kwoman and to answer your other questions, I went back to get your car, it’s parked outside, your phone is right over there,’’ he points at the table.
I sigh in relief, ‘’thank you.’’
‘’I was just preparing breakfast, I think you should freshen up before we eat. There’s a bathroom right in the room where you sle-pt, you will find a new toothbrush and a clean towel, you can also check the closet for something clean to wear.’’
‘’Thank you.’’
*
Tbc