Chapter Twenty-Eight – After Valentine's High Comes Valentine Blues

Blood rushed into Marilyn’s face and she quickly looked around for something to cover herself. When she realized this might be a test, she decided to continue.

“Well, I thought that since it’s still Valentine’s and we’re here, we might as well, you know…”

“As much as I would like to, I just don’t think tonight is the night for me.”

Marilyn went into the bathroom and put on the rest of her clothes. When she came out, she decided to press the matter further.

“But why bring me here if you didn’t want to do anything? I don’t get it.”

“My father gave me the vouchers. I just wanted us to chill. It’s not that deep.”

Oops.

They watched the movie that night in absolute silence. To say that Marilyn was embarrassed is to say that Elon Musk is moderately wealthy. Both are gross understatements.

Do you know how terrible it is to be wearing the most attractive piece of clothing and then have your boyfriend reject you? Don’t get me wrong, I understand that men can say no too but then this is your boyfriend. It’s Valentine’s. You’re in an expensive resort. The outfit was revealing enough but not too much.

Was she unattractive? Is it something she said? Was it how she ate? There were so many questions. Questions she needed answered. Since I was probably not going to be of any help given that she herself had asked me to stay away, she resorted to the other friend that she had access to; Carl.

She showed a picture of herself in the outfit to Carl. He was munching on some bread but his lips immediately lost all functionality and the contents of his mouth fell out before he could catch himself.

“And you said he said, he wasn’t in the mood?” Carl asked. He wanted to look at the picture some more but remembered that Boateng was his homeboy. That was technically illegal.

“Yes! I keep wondering what I might have done wrong.”

“Baby girl, it’s not your fault, okay. I think that you misread the situation. His father gave him the vouchers and then he asked Araba but she advised him to take you. That’s really what happened. He never planned to turn this into some great Val’s Day Trip.”

Marliyn was mortified. No, she was livid.

“Are you telling me he asked Araba first?”

Carl just now caught himself and realized how he had fumbled.

There’s this theory that after every high, there is a low. I can confirm that after the high from Val’s Day, every relationship goes through the Valentine Blues. I think it’s because there’s a rush to express love and then afterwards comes an infinite sea of disappointment when people go back to default settings.

The boyfriend who never texts, calls and then after he doesn’t. The long-distance girlfriend flies in for a visit and then returns home. Make Valentine’s memorable but don’t make it something that’s impossible to repeat. At this juncture, I will remind you that I do not have any training in relationship counseling. I accept no liability if you rely on my advice.

Here, you’ll notice the stark difference between Marilyn and Farida. Rather than confront Boateng, she escaped into a shell and cried herself to sleep constantly.

Boateng was an irresponsible boyfriend but he noticed the shift in behavior. Marilyn was no longer coming to visit or calling. She wasn’t texting first. In fact, she wasn’t replying at all. After the third day of this, Boateng decided to go over to see her.

The tree in her mind had borne fruits. Not only did Boateng not intend to invite her, he was willing to go three days without hearing from her. If a man shows you, he doesn’t like you, believe it. This was more than enough evidence. No self-respecting person could go back after this.

When Marilyn opened the door for Boateng, her first words were “can I help you?”

“Excuse me? Marilyn, why are you acting so weird?” Boateng asked barging into the room. “I’ve been texting and calling you and you’ve not replied. What is up with you?”

“Nothing” Marilyn shrugged.

“It’s not nothing. If this is about the resort, I’m sorry. If you wanted to, you should have insisted or something. I just figured we were going to relax.”

“Really? You gave me those vouchers because you wanted us to relax?”

“Yes.”

“And not because your best friend didn’t go with you?”

Boateng’s eyes widened in realization.

“Before we started dating, my friends told me it was a bad idea. A man with a girl best friend is a walking trap. I thought you were different. I thought I could change you…”

Ugh. Says every girl everywhere. Why?

“Clearly, I was wrong. We’re not going anywhere. You’re in love with your best friend and it’s so terrible that you don’t even realize it. Until you do, mine won’t be the last heart you break. We’re done, Boateng. Please get out.”

“Marilyn, please listen. I am…”

“Don’t do that Boateng. Don’t make this more complicated than it has to be. You’ve put in zero effort since this relationship started. Now is not the time to pretend like you care. There’s the door.”

Valentine Blues.

I was relaxing in Sly’s room when Carl’s call came through. Sly was in the bathroom so I answered it on speakerphone since my hands were busy with something. Never and I repeat, never answer a call on speakerphone around your partner. Especially when your friends are not sensible.

“Araba, I’m in trouble o. I don’t know what to do. I mistakenly told Marilyn that Boateng gave the vouchers to you first before he gave them to her. She’s not been answering his calls or texts. What should I do?”

“Oh my gosh! Carl, why would you tell her that? How does that even come up?”

“It doesn’t matter but she came to see me because she thought Boateng gave her the vouchers because she wanted them to have sex. She wore some sexy dress bi but then Boateng said he wasn’t interested so she was confused.”

“Wow, okay. I have a million other questions but it’s fine. Don’t worry about it. Let’s all just mind our business now. It’s their relationship, I’m sure they’ll figure it out” I said. It was more a hope than a fact. I didn’t know at this time that the relationship had already suffered a premature death from the Valentine Blues.

I cut the call and continued what I was doing when Sly came out of the bathroom. His hair was still wet. “What was that about?” he asked. “Nothing important” I said. He accepted my answer and proceeded to wipe his hair and get dressed.

We shared a moment of tranquility before he brought the issue up again.

“Are you sure it’s not important? I heard Carl say that Boateng offered you some vouchers and then that he and his girlfriend went instead and almost had sex?”.

I could tell he was annoyed but was trying to pretend that he wasn’t. I stuttered. He looked at me sternly. “Araba, be honest with me. If you’ve not done anything wrong, why won’t you tell me what happened?”.

I begrudgingly told him that Boateng’s father had got him vouchers and he had asked me but then I told him that I was with Sly so that wouldn’t work out and that he should ask his girlfriend instead. I quickly added that it was two separate rooms.

Sly nodded in understanding and I could see that he was mad. It was very attractive but I was far too scared and worried to enjoy it.

“Don’t be upset, okay. He only asked me because he didn’t know we were together.”

“What’s his room number?”

Reader, when I say that I saw my soul walk out of my body and then stare at me in astonishment, I kid you not. We had a whole conversation where she said “damn girl! You’re in serious trouble” and I said to her “I know, sis. What do I do?”. That’s when she said “I don’t know but I’m out.”

Yes, reader. My soul left my body.

“W…wh…what?”

Sly let out a wicked chuckle that sent chills down my spine. “I said what’s his room number?”

“Why? Is anything the matter?”

You ask really stupid questions when you’re afraid. I wasn’t afraid of Sly. Well, only a little but in a weirdly romantic type of way. I was afraid of what might happen.

“Nothing. I just want to know. Me and him need to talk.”

“Oh, that won’t be necessary. I’ve handled it.”

“I know and I trust you. I just want to talk to him.”

Two important things happened. I managed to leave Sly’s room without telling him and he managed to find the room number without me telling him. Funny how that works.

He was on his way to Boateng's room and Boateng was on his way back from Marilyn's room so the two met in the hallway.

“Boateng, right? Let me holler at you for a minute” Sly said, walking so close to him they could have easily kissed.

“Yeah” Boateng said, standing his ground.

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