“No, It can’t be you”, I said. “Not YOU, NOT now,” I thought to myself.

While I was speaking, he stood there, looking at me with his longing, beautiful brown eyes, and perfectly brushed eyebrows. I also remained still, and we both stood there and awkwardly stared at each other. We were like complete strangers.

Before I met my husband to be, I had met someone else, Rashied. But, before you get any ideas, I did not technically meet him, we just “chatted’ consecutively on social media for 2 years. It was complicated, but I guess you could say we, or rather I, fell in love.

Rashied was all about empty promises. We would speak about anything for days on end, but his inconsistent love and his consistent ghosting was messing with my sanity. So, before I went crazy, I made the decision to confront him about how serious he was about me. When I asked him to meet, he then promised to meet up with me so he could prove his seriousness, and so we can talk about marriage and children.

While we were chatting on social media, Rashied promised me love, and who would not jump at that opportunity, especially when they are nearing the dreadful 30’s? Nobody wants to grow old alone, right? And we all need someone to love and for them to love us back.

Rashied and I decided to meet face to face on the 13th of June. When the day arrived, I found myself waiting at our agreed destination, ALONE, from dawn until dusk. He was a complete no-show, and you can only down so many coffees before the waitress puts two and two together.

“Don’t worry, dear. We’ve all been stood up or catfished,” the waitress said with a tinge of mockery in her tone.

I was utterly embarrassed, and my face turned redder than a red moon eclipse. I let out a sigh, then I decided I had had enough of Rashid’s games. So, I removed him from all my social media accounts and, inevitably, from my life. He did not even contact me again after that.

After deleting Rashied from my social media, my dreams of a perfect love, marriage, and children were gone. In one delete, all the memories, chats, and promises were gone, but my feelings for him were still very much rooted in my heart. They could not be deleted that easily, but that was still the end for us.

I took the ending of my relationship with Rashid very hard, and I fell into a slight depressive state because of it. “How could he make all those promises to me if he never meant it?” I asked myself. I was living in a hell with regret and maddening uncertainty. As a result, my mental state became fragile, and the loneliness took me to a dark, unhappy place.

While I was talking to Rashid on social media, I had thought that he was the one, my soul-mate, my one true love. That was what we called each other, after all. We had an instant connection, me and him, but he was a liar, so that connection was definitely a painful misdirection. I did not think I would ever trust a man again after that, until I met Malik.

Malik was a good man. He was the type of man who made you forget about all the world’s pain and burdens. He was a hero, and he represented all that was good in the world for me. I called him the man with a golden heart. He was a man of his word and worth, and everything that he said he would do, he did. He was a man that any woman would easily fall in love with, and he offered me the emotional security I so deeply desired. So how could I refuse him?

***

Tell us: Do you think our main character should entertain Rashid’s arrival, or if she should just focus on her upcoming wedding with Malik?