Her name was Kuyet , a young and beautiful 200 level girl from the prestigious Gilbert Private University Loko studying Social Work.She had a fire that lit up the room. Chat on the other hand was a promising young man from the same university studying mechanical engineering.
They were young when it started. Innocent and hungry for something that felt like forever, both soaked in love.The kind of love that keeps you up at night, talking, laughing till day break.
Talking about how wonderful it would be when they get married and start having kids, planning their future together.
Times changed after graduation, somewhere along the way, Chat got too comfortable , lazy and tired of Kuyet. He stopped noticing the little things that mattered. the way she always reached for his hand in a crowd and he pulled away as if he was trying to break free from a shackle.
The care and love she gave, the nights she cried in silence with and without him by her side hoping he would notice, the text she sent asking what was amiss but was met with one word replies, her calls that he missed and never called back.
It all hurt like the piercing of a thousand blades. However, She continued to accept all apologies from him hoping he would turn a new leaf. It all went to hell when he started cheating with numerous girls, girls that they both knew.
She would ask, "do you still want me? us? this relationship?" He would shrug her off as being insecure. When she complained about his escapades he replied "I am tired of eating one food everyday, let me explore now".
She would complain about the inconsistency of his behaviors towards her and he dismiss her as a Nag. Kuyet cried, begged and prayed for him to change. But he paid her no ears. He thought she could never do without him.
On a day just like every other day, she was fed up, she packed her bags and left the key inside his flower vessel just by his door. She didn't complain like she used to, no begging with tears, no drama, just a quiet resignation of I am done.
When Chat came home and realized that she was gone, he didn't panic rather he assured himself that she would come back to him when she was done with all their drama. He never called or texted.
Days turned into weeks and Weeks into months and months into years... he started to feel her absence, the feeling that an important part of him had left him and in that instant, he realized he had messed up big time. He tried all he could to reach out but was not able to because she blocked him everywhere and she had packed from her old house.
For a long time, he was not himself and was more withdrawn from society except for work. With the passage of time, he sees things differently, he misses her a lot and actually loves her whole heartedly.
Then one day, just as he was scrolling through Facebook he sees a social media post that caught his attention. It was Kuyet, married to someone else, smiling in a way she never did with him.
He thought to himself, " this could have been us but because I didn’t choose her every day when I had the chance, I didn't wipe her tears by changing when she hoped I would". He was broken. If only he could bring back the hand of time, he would have listened, he would have changed for her, no for them.
Now that's the harsh irony of hindsight, it never shows up when you need it most. It arrives only after you've already lost everything that mattered, leaving you to carry the heavy burden of what might have been.
Thanks for reading.
Image credit 2 - Meta Ai