The next morning arrived, with rain accompanying it in torrents.

In his apartment, Joojo stirred, then opened his eyes fully. Looking around, he realized he had fallen asleep on the couch. After the problematic ending to last night’s date, he had not bothered to even head to his room, but simply crashed into the couch.

Groaning to himself as he noted how late it was, looking at the clock on the wall above the simple digital TV in the living room, he lifted himself up from the couch and rubbed his face. “Crap! I’m gonna have to rush through his morning. How come I didn’t hear the phone alarm?”

Groggily reaching for his phone to check on his alarms, he noted his WhatsApp notifications and opened it. His heart began beating furiously as he saw a notification from Abena.

A voice note. And a pretty long one at that.

It was rare for her to send voice notes. Whatever she had to say in it was intense and important. He felt slightly nervous to hit that play button, especially after how icy she went on him. She virtually ignored him from the moment their argument ended, not even saying goodbye to him when he dropped her off at home.

Nonetheless, he had to hear what she had to say.

Pressing play, he listened as her stern voice filled the room.

“Joojo. I need to talk to you about last night. I don’t know what the hell made you think that was acceptable, but it was not. Your sudden insecurity and lack of trust in me was absolutely unacceptable. I don’t appreciate being treated like I’m incapable of handling myself or making my own decisions.”

Joojo felt a pang of guilt wash over him as he listened to her words.

“And honestly, I don’t understand where all this is coming from. Joojo, how many times have I made it clear that I’m in love with you and I have eyes for only you? Babe, let me be honest. There are numerous times I’ve considered letting my guard down and letting you break my virginity. I want you even more than you want me. I just don’t give in, because chale, it’s a personal vow between me and God. But I love you! And the fact that you respect that vow makes me love you even more. There is no other man I have eyes for, and no other man I’ll ever have eyes for. That’s the truth, and nothing but the truth.

“This is how I feel, Joojo, this is how I feel. But seriously, if these acts of insecurity persist, it’s gonna become a problem between us. Trust is the foundation of any relationship, and I won’t be tolerating this kind of behaviour. I haven’t done anything to warrant this, so I won’t stand for it. If you love me, you need to trust me, boy. You can’t keep saying and doing things that suggest I might be unfaithful. It’s insulting and it’s hurtful, and you need to dead it quickly, Joojo. Dead that behaviour. I love you and you alone. Whatever is making you think there’s something to worry about is coming straight from the depths of hell. Dead it. Fast.”

The voice note ended.

Joojo sat in silence, the weight of Abena’s words sinking in. Clearly she had sent that note still in a bad mood, because she still sounded peeved.

After a few minutes, he let out a big sigh.

At this stage, it was no secret that his insecurities had been noticed, and were not taken very well by Abena. He knew this was definitely going to cause problems for them if they weren’t reeled in quickly.

Rubbing his face, he moaned out loud to himself. “Ughh, why can’t I just shake off this feeling? Why? It’s not like she’s done anything suspicious for me to start suspecting her. Why is this happening to me?”

As if on cue, that voice returned.

Because you need to be careful, Joojo. You need to be careful! You can’t put your trust in women just like that! Especially women like Abena who will have the likes of politicians and ogas scrambling for her number. You think she’s trustworthy and all now, but people can switch up on you before you know it! You have to be wise!

That sounded so true. Whether he liked it or not, people could change allegiances at the drop of a hat, and a person you deemed precious and indispensable could just walk away from you.

But would Abena really do that? Really?

Joojo sighed and placed his head in his hands. He hated this state of mind. He really did.

***

At his workplace, the events of last evening and that morning still weighed heavily on his mind. As he worked busily at his desk, he couldn’t shake off the lingering memories. The happy vibes they had been enjoying. The taking of phots. Those fans coming over to say hi. His rude and crude interruption. Their heated exchange. Abena’s stern message.

They continued to reverberate around his brain. But they didn’t stop him from hearing the chatter of his colleagues, PY and Frank, who were engaged in their usual conversation across the workspace, their voices hushed as they discussed one of the latest happenings on social media.

Namely, the video of a young lady apparently ditching her boyfriend at a concert to engage in an especially steamy dance with the musician headlining the concert.

PY shook his head, his expression serious. “Just imagine ooo. You then your man go concert, see this nonsense you dey do. She really no dey respect her body.”

Frank nodded in agreement, his tone grave. “Yeah, ibi sad. That be why I say women diɛɛ, them never be trustworthy. You dey trust am at your own peril. Like she be correct aa, like she never go go. See how she dey wind for ein top sef. Aaahh!”

Joojo listened in silence, his thoughts a jumble of confusion and self-doubt. He hadn’t seen the video yet, but he had seen a few tweets talking about it, and it sounded like it was as bad as these two proclaimed it to be. He took up his phone, ready to open X and find out how bad it was.

While he did, PY continued, his voice filled with conviction. “Ibi so them dey ooo. I’ve seen it happen too many times, man. Women, eh, they have a way of breaking your heart and leaving you high and dry. Ibi crazy.”

“Very true, chale. Them go dey do like them dey like you, them dey care about you… bro, all be lie! Inobi your interest them dey watch ooo, ibi dema own. Bro, women… them no dey give a f**k about you like that ooo…”

Their voices remained hushed, presumably to exclude Joojo from hearing, as they now knew he wouldn’t appreciate hearing them. However, he could hear every single word.

And as he opened his X app, the first tweet he saw was one pretty much reiterating what they were saying, in the context of the saga under discussion.

“So, a woman can be with you today because you’re her best option, and then leave you tomorrow when she sees a man she perceives is better than you. At that point, she wouldn’t care about all your past sacrifices, she’d throw you under the bus without thinking twice and you’d lose…

Seeing this obviously did Joojo no favours as he continued to wrestle with his internal turmoil.

Scrolling up, he saw yet another tweet of note.

It was a news article about a man who had told the story of how his ex-lover jilted him after three years together, during which he helped to pay her law school fees.

Reading the article, which revealed how she cruelly claimed he was not on her level and didn’t deserve to have her in his life, Joojo found himself increasingly swayed by the whole ‘fear women’ agenda, the weight of his own insecurities magnified by the words on the screen. It was chilling, eerie and an uncomfortable confirmation of that inner voice’s claims.

In that moment, the trust he had in Abena felt fragile. After all, if a lady could callously ditch her boyfriend who had gone the extra mile to help her through school, then surely it wasn’t an impossibility that this solid foundation of a relationship he had could easily go crumbling once she got popular.

It can happen, chale. It can happen…

***

Two weeks had passed since the incident at the restaurant, and as he took a walk around his neighbourhood, Joojo still found himself grappling with his insecurity. The weight of his doubts seemed to grow heavier with each passing day, casting a shadow over his relationship with Abena. Things had become slightly dry between them since, and even though they still spoke and spent time together, it was obvious his attitude had dimmed the spark between them somewhat.

As he walked on, he continued to fight through the complexities of his mental state. On one hand, he felt bad that his insecurity had manifested itself so glaringly. The question concerning the comments had been a bit of a wrong move, but dragging her away from those fans was even worse. Now he could feel that she was feeling the need to prove her faithfulness to him, and he knew how stressful that could be.

On the other hand, though, he was now quite convinced that the voices had a clear point. Indeed, as much as Abena constantly reiterated her desire to be with him, there was a great chance that that sentiment could change. After all, it had happened to the best of men. What made him so unique from the others?

Continuing to stew on his thoughts, his phone rang, interrupting his reverie. Seeing Abena’s name on the caller ID, he sighed as he answered.

“Hey, babe.”

“Hey, Joojo,” Abena greeted, her tone slightly less bubbly than usual. “What’s up?”

“Oh, nothing much. Just… taking a bit of a walk around my area. Just wanna enjoy the breeze and all.”

“Oh okay, nice, nice. Ummm, so, I wanted to inform you about my father’s birthday coming up. So he’s having a party on Saturday, and… I’d really like for you to come with me.”

Joojo’s heart skipped a beat at the invitation, excited at the opportunity to spend time with Abena and her family. “Of course, babe. You know I’d love to come. Just let me know the time, and I’ll get ready for it.”

“Sure, definitely. I’ll confirm that with my mum and let you know, okay?”

“No problem, no problem.”

“Great, I’ll get back to you, then. Bye.”

“Bye.”

As Joojo hung up, he sighed again, a knot formed in his stomach at the hurried and slightly formal nature of the call. “She didn’t even call me babe,” he murmured to himself.

The voice of insecurity, ever present in the back of his mind, seized the opportunity to amplify its negativity once again.

She’s not as excited as she used to be. Your actions have damaged your relationship with her, and now she’s just being polite by inviting you to the party. She never really wanted to invite you; it’s just out of sheer courtesy and pity.

Shaking his head violently, Joojo tried to push away those intrusive thoughts, but they clung tightly to his brain like a dark cloud, casting more doubts on his worthiness and the strength of his relationship with Abena.

Shaking his head, Joojo forged on, determined not to let this new mental assault send him into another low funk. He had experienced too many of those in the past fortnight, and they sucked to the extreme.

“I will not let this pull me into another whirlwind of insanity. Let me just… see how this goes. We don’t know what’s gonna come up. Things could go well, they could also… hmmm, let’s just see what happens…”

Hmmm, we can only hope nothing crazy happens…