“But Damien, are you sure about this? It feels someway bi…”

“Lily babe, trust me. This will be sweet. Just take your blouse off.”

“Mmmmmm. I’m shy ooo. I’ve never been naked before any guy in my life.”

“And that’s why you’re starting with me, honey. You should only be naked before someone you love and trust with all your heart. You love me, don’t you?”

“Yes, Damien. I really do.”

“Good, and I love you too. So much…”

“Oh God! Ei, I didn’t know it felt so good to be touched like this.”

“Hehe, now you know. Now come here and let me show you some more sweetness…”

It was 4 am, and Lily was seated on her bed, sobbing bitterly as she remembered the events of that fateful day. The day she slept with Damien for the first time.

The memories were as fresh as could be. The enticing and enchanting words of Damien, the way he gently undressed her, fondled her skepticism away with his sweet, electric touch, convinced her to get onto the bed, sparked a fire in her with that damn electric touch…

Sadly, she now saw all his sweet talk for what it really was.

Nothing but lies.

He never loved her; all he wanted was to have the pleasure of enjoying her body. And he had succeeded.

It hurt so much, because she really felt that she was in love with him. She dropped her defenses totally and let him in because she wanted him just as much, having been convinced that he was a different kind of guy.

Living with the reality that he was the extreme opposite was a real blow to the chest. Now she knew better than to trust any guy that came her way with colourful words and glorious declarations of love.

Wiping her tears away, she murmured, “You Damien eh, you’ll pay. You’ll surely pay for this. You’ll never get away with what you’ve done to me. By all means, you’ll pay for this.”

***

“So yeah, I’ve got you two new customers. They said they’ll call you soon. I think the Keziah girl said she loves the red dress paaa. The one with the low cut.”

“Awwww, wonderful! Thank you, Damien! You’re such a supportive boyfriend!”

Damien grinned as she hugged him quickly before rising to check out the message her beeping phone was informing her of. He looked at her and took in a deep breath.

It’s time to let her know.

About three weeks since they had made it official, and aside the strange phenomenon of random motorcyclists heckling him, the other major concern of his remained: Vivica didn’t seem to be interested in getting intimate. They hadn’t really discussed it, strangely enough, but Damien was obviously of the opinion that they needed to get sexually intimate straight away.

Yet, in the three weeks of being his girl, the most Vivica allowed was a kiss on the cheek. They hadn’t even shared a first kiss, and now Damien wanted to settle that issue. There was no way he could continue this chaste life; he didn’t ditch the Donkorkrom stopgap just to ‘preserve himself until marriage’. Especially when Vivica had such alluring breasts that were begging to be in his mouth.

Maybe she was waiting for him to make the move before she’d start letting him in to that sweet spot. Whatever the case, though, that issue had to be settled that very moment.

“So, babe…”

Vivica looked in his direction from her phone. “Yeah, Damien?”

He cleared his throat. “So, uh, I was thinking… now that we’re officially dating, I was thinking we can… you know, get things off the road…”

He trailed off as he noted the quizzical look on Vivica’s face.

“Ummm, get things off the road how?” she asked suspiciously. “Haven’t we already done that? Aren’t we now boyfriend and girlfriend?”

He smirked and nodded a little nervously. “Yeah, yeah, we are. But… I was thinking we don’t need to waste time getting down to… you know… that thing that lovers do.”

He observed as Vivica’s face slowly darkened. He shook his head and grinned to himself. She probably wasn’t down with the childish way he was talking.

Good God, what am I, seven years old? Say the thing make we move!

“You know what, sorry, Vi, I’m acting a little too evasive and silly. What I mean is I think we should-“

“I know what you’re talking about, Damien McCarthy, and honestly, you must be joking if you think I’m going to agree to that. There’s no way I’m doing it with you.”

Damien’s eyes grew wide. He was not expecting such a fiery response, along with such a displeased look on her face. “Oh! But-but, babe, it’s only natural to-“

“Hey, hey, hey, hey! Listen, Mister Man, I don’t do that! Don’t come and tell me it’s only natural to do whatever whatever! I don’t do those sex before marriage things. I respect myself, okay, I respect myself. You boys of today, all you know is how to go around and be having sex with girls just like that. Well, I’m sorry, but I’m not one of those girls that will open up their legs for you. If you’re not my husband, forget it!”

Damien’s face had astonishment written all over it. He raised his hands. “But… but… babe, that old-fashioned mindset-“

“That old fashioned mindset is the best, Mister Man. I repeat, I respect myself, and until you are my husband, I am not getting into bed with you! Ah, why do you guys of today like that? Every time, you want to have sex. What kind of life is that? Why are you people so obsessed with sex? Ah, there’s more to life than that!”

Damien was starting to fume up as Vivica ranted on. He had not come here for this. Not at all.

“Ah! But, but what is the use of a relationship if sex no dey inside?” he argued. “Ah, isn’t there the need for us to get familiar with each other before marriage come inside?”

Vivica looked at him incredulously. “Ah, are you serious? So wait oo, if a relationship doesn’t have sex in it, it’s not a relationship to you?”

Damien gestured furiously. “Is it? You say you are in love with the other person, but you won’t sleep with the person. Is that a relationship? Is that love?”

Vivica’s incredulous look increased in intensity. “Ei, Damien! Really?”

“Ei Damien sɛ sen? Ah, what is relationship without sex? That 1920s lifestyle no dey apply to now ooo!”

Vivica looked speechless for a second or two, then clapped her hands in disgust and looked up to the skies. “Father, thank You. The way You’ve answered this my prayer, I didn’t expect it, but dear God, I’ve heard You loud and clear. Thank You.”

Before Damien could enquire what that was about, she faced him. “See, I’ve been praying about this relationship for a while now, and I kept asking God to reveal the kind of man I’m dating so I know if I’m in the right hands or not. Clearly, He has answered my prayer. Coz now I see the boy I’m dating. So sex is why you came after me, eh? Because you’ve seen that my breasts are big, you decided to come and deceive me with love things so that I’ll let you come and play with them, eh? Then you’ll be having sex with me, and when you are finished, you’ll throw me somewhere and find another girl. Play dey your eye top papa!”

“Please, since that is what you are here for, then I’m sorry. We can’t continue with this relationship any more. Since you diɛɛ, you need sex in your relationship, I’m the wrong girl you picked. There are many other girls who will open up their legs for you. I’m not part of them. So please, the door is there. You can find your way out. Thank you.”

She curtly turned her back on him.

A little bit of resistance, yeah, he was expecting that. A straight up agreement to getting into bed with him, he was hoping for that. But a full blown rant and a break-up speech? He was not expecting that at all.

“Vivi, Vivi, okay, okay, listen, I’m sorry,” he started. “I didn’t know this would go the wrong way with you. Maybe I spoke out of emotion or someth-“

“Please, please, please, please!” Vivica immediately snapped at him. “Don’t come and use emotional whatever to deny what you just owned with your chest! Massa, you just said you can’t do relationship without sex. Me too, I’m not ready for that. Don’t come and pretend like you didn’t mean what you said. You meant what you said and you said what you meant. And me too, I said that please, I can’t do this relationship with you. I’ve said it with my chest, and I mean it. Now please, get out of my house!”

Damien inhaled and exhaled as calmly as he could. She was wearing his nerve with all this talk. “Vivica-“

“Out, Damien, out! Leave! Go!”

That did it for Damien. “Mtchewww!”

He sprung up from the chair, shoved it aside, and stormed out of the dining room.

“Break it if you like! Nonsense! All you boys know is sex! Nothing better. Shameless!” Vivica sneered.

“Commot for there! Foolish girl!” he snapped as he stomped through the living room.

The front door of the standard bungalow slammed shut as Damien made his way out onto the compound, heading straight for the gate.

Nonsense! Make I chop aaa, you dey there dey do your body ‘I respect myself’. Rubbish! Stupid girl!, he thought to himself furiously as he slammed the gate door as hard as he could.

***

Walking by the roadside, Damien growled the nastiest of insults under his breath as he moved along. “Kwasia girl! See the bulls**t she dey tell me. I respect myself, I respect myself. Respect your morda! Aboa like that! Me she dey sack from the house like that? F**k her kraaa! I sure sey ein p***y sef no dey bee. Sankwas p***y. idiot! Ah, this girl really fool…”

His expletive-laden rant ended as the sound of a motorcycle hit his ears.

Suddenly, rage turned into fear, and the urge to rain more insults on Vivica turned into an urge to protect himself.

The sound growing closer, he could tell the rider was a short distance behind him.

I’m not giving them another chance to do something silly to me. Pre-emptive strike!

He immediately turned and swung his fist in the direction of the rider, channeling all the rage in him into that attempted strike. “F**k you!” he cried out.

The rider swerved to the side and moved a few metres before stopping.

As he stopped, Damien’s jaw dropped.

This was not one of those hooligan guys, this was a Glovo rider. The bag at the back of the motorcycle was too conspicuous to be ignored.

“Ah, boss, but you, wassup?”

As expected, the rider was very displeased.

“Boss, I’m sorry, I beg. I didn’t mean it,” Damien pleaded, going down on his knees. How embarrassed he was!

“Ah, I dey go deliver something, you dey diss me come hit me for no reason. Which kind life be that? Ah!”

The rider was super incensed and wasn’t gonna let Damien off the hook that easily.

“Boss, I beg you. I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. I no know why I do that, but I beg you. I’m really sorry,” Damien begged.

The rider looked him up and down, shook his head and continued his journey, muttering angrily to himself.

Damien rose to his feet, feeling super humiliated. These little attacks were really starting to affect his psyche. Now the mere sound of a revved motorcycle was enough to send him into a state of paranoia. Whoever was behind this was messing him up mentally, and he still could not understand why.

“Jesus, that was embarrassing,” he moaned to himself. “Now these assholes are making me take out my anger on poor Glovo riders just doing their job. Ahhh, chale-“

“ABOA!”

Before Damien’s ears heard the end of that word, an uncomfortable impact took him by surprise.

Two sachets of water struck him and burst on impact, soaking him on the spot.

He looked on in horror as two motorcyclists rode on the other side of the road, with one making offensive hand signs at him.

“ONYƐ GBEMIIIIII!” they both bellowed gleefully as they rode away.

Wet and humiliated, Damien descended into a full-blown tantrum, kicking about and screaming angrily. A few people were looking at him in bewilderment, but he did not care. He was too furious to care.

“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! WHY THE F**K ARE THEY DOING THIS TO ME? WHAT HAVE I DONE? WHY, WHY, WHYYYYYYYY?”

Yep, it’s getting crazy for Damien, isn’t it? And yeah, good on Vivica for letting him have it!