“What’s wrong, sister?” Faith asked curiously one day. I was sitting, thinking over and over about me and Tiki. “It’s about Tiki, right?” she continued.

I nodded my head, I was a bit afraid she would judge me. She hugged me, we sat on the couch.

“It seems like I am the only one in love,” I answered.

“Falling in love is a passive and spontaneous experience. After few months together, the euphoria of love fades,” she said calmly.
“You this so?” I asked.

“Yes, sweetheart, there is a cycle in every relationship,” she replied comforting me.

I agreed with Faith but he was behaving like he had married me. We were just in a relationship, not knowing about our future. I started to think about how I fell in love with him, how I anticipated his call, touch and voice.
“Falling in love is not hard, it’s just a natural experience,” Faith added.
I just wish he would call me and tell me everything was OK. I didn’t trust him because of his looks, woman fight to have a man like Tiki. The other problem was sex, maybe we should have sex to make our relationship strong, I thought. Maybe he has another woman, and maybe he has a wife.

“Don’t worry baby, I want you to visit, but my cousin is here,” he said on a call one day.

“I missed you Tiki,” I said sadly.

“I miss you too. I will have to wait for my cousin to go, and tell you to come,” he said with a chuckle.

“You torment me, why do you do this?” I asked.

“You know I am rough, it will pass. OK baby, talk soon,” he said dropping the call.

I sat down smiling with relief. Tiki was back, but why spend the whole month avoiding me? Did he know I never loved someone like him? Actually, I was swept off my feet when he declared his love towards me. I didn’t do anything, but he said he loved me at first sight. Not all men were like him; first you become friends then you can declare your love. That didn’t happen between me and Tiki.

I hoped he was my Mr Right. People say the key to succeeding in a relationship is not finding the right person but learning to love that person. I learnt to love myself first because my life was not easy. I suffered in a lot of relationships and blamed myself for a lot of things. Tiki came into my life, and I had to learn to love him, I hated men beforehand. Everything went back to normal. Love was flowing, and sweet words sang in my heart.

“You are glowing,” Faith told me.

I smiled and knew Tiki was the meaning of this. I could sing “I am in love” the whole day. I forgot what Tiki had put me through. The good things can always be remembered. My communication was becoming bolder and stronger.
Our love was important to me, we spoke about our future. He really wanted to settle down. He finally visited me in Harare.

“I want to marry you,” he said calmly.

I smiled while he held my hands. There was no other love that I could hunger for, only his love. December came fast; I couldn’t wait to visit in January. We had a seven-month relationship. I wished it became a year.

***

Tell us what you think: Do you believe Tiki when he says he was visiting because his cousin was around?