chapter three

Work. Home. Then work and back to my home. That's how entertaining my life was these days(note the irony). It's been a week now since I last saw my ...you know who..doing whatever he was doing. He's been calling ever since but I wasn't ready yet to talk to him though I knew I had to. I kept myself so busy the last few days, forgetting to eat and sleeping less that my boss had to drag me out of the office. He said that I have to take care of whatever issues that I had going on before I went back to work, so here I was, driving towards Aaron's house. It's not like I had a choice anyway, the sooner I got this over with, the better.

I found Aaron at home. He looked confused but I couldn't care. He tried to hug me when I arrived but I shoved him away. We sat staring at each other waiting for someone to initiate the conversation. Two minutes later , I decided that I can't stand him anymore.

"Aaron are you gay??. I asked looking at him straight in the eyes. He didn't have to say anything, the look on his face gave it all away.

"Am sorry, Leyla, I couldn't let my parents know that am gay. H..o.w.. did you know?".

" I saw you last Friday when you stood me up. I waited three hours for you Aaron. Three hours. When I couldn't see you I drove here, I couldn't, not in my life had I thought that I'll be betrayed this. Were you ever going to tell me?."

"Am sorry. Am so sorry....I..." He started but I didn't give him a chance to finish whatever he was saying. Walking over to him I slapped the hell out of him then matched outside.

I promised myself that I wouldn't cry again because of a man. This would be the last time. I wiped the tears from my face, then drove home. A street away from home, a car stopped abruptly in front of mine. I stepped on the breaks fast before any accident occurred.

I was about to confront the driver when the passenger door opened and a girl stepped out, crying. Seconds later, the driver sped away, leaving the girl alone. I watched in shock. I mean who leaves a girl in the middle of nowhere?. I shook my head in disbelief. It must be a man!!. Men these days are nothing but disappointments!!.

"Get in, I'll give you a ride,". I said to the girl. She looked at me for a few seconds, and I sighed in relief when she finally got in.

"Where should I drop you off?".

"Just drop me anywhere... I'll be fine". She said to me. I looked her way then nodded. She wasn't from around here, I noted as she furrowed her eyes looking forward. I drove us to my place. There was no way I was going to leave her just anywhere. I was brought up better than that. "You should always be in the front line to help those that need your help" I remember my grandma telling me when I was young.

"Welcome to my humble place,". I told her when we arrived.

"It's okay, I can take care of myself from here. Thanks for the ride". She said walking towards the door.

"Wait, it's late now, why don't you just spend the night here then tomorrow you can be on your way. come, I'll show you where you can rest." I said to her. She just stood there, not saying anything.

"Do you have a habit of picking up strangers and bringing them to your place?". She asked after a few minutes.

"Why?...are you a serial killer??. I shot back at her. She looked at me and I looked at her, then we both bursted in laughter.

"Am Leyla". I said.

"Love".

"What??". I asked surprised.

"Love,,my name's Love". I chocked on my saliva. How strange. Here I am trying to run away from love only to have Love thrown in my face. Fate, but why??.

"That's quite a name you have". I told her as I showed her to my room. I haven't used my room since my grandma died. I've been sleeping in her room ever since.

"Blame it on my mom, she comes up with the craziest names ever. She named my elder sister Trust." She finished sadly.

"You look sad talking about her. Is she okay??. I pried.

"She is okay. It's just that my parents disowned me".

"They did what??. But why would they do that???. I asked.

"It's okay you don't have to tell me if you don't want to" I could see that it was a sore subject to her and decided to leave it for now. I asked her to stay with me for as long as she wanted, she didn't agree at first but I managed to convince her. Am quite stubborn when I want to.

We became friends but it was more than just friends.. She was like a sister I never had. She opened to me that her parents wanted to marry her to an old wealthy man, to merge their companies but she refused. She later eloped with her boyfriend who dumped her on the roadside where I found her for no reason at all. I felt so bad for her. I didn't want her to think that she was the only miserable being in this world so I filled her on with stories of my life. Later, under the influence of alcohol, we made an oath, that we didn't need a man in our lives then sealed the deal by joining our little fingers, for a pinky promise. I must admit, both of us were really crazy. I realized that I was happy to have a friend who understood me. Someone I could talk to, laugh with and do crazy stuffs with.

Love got herself work in the nearby restaurant. I asked her to stay with me, she agreed on one condition, that she help me with the house expenses and I agreed. Anything to keep her.

A few days later, I woke up with a weird feeling.

Have you ever been so happy that you felt that something strange was going to happen?. That's what I felt this morning. I felt that me and Love were going to be separated for a long time. My instincts has never been wrong before and I prayed that just this once for it to be.