Love at first sight: how my prince charming turned into my worst nightmare.

1989

The first time i met him was on our first date in a local and less populated coffee shop two blocks away from my workplace. i risked having trouble with my boss for extending my lunch break but he had just flew in from  and i couldn’t resist the urge to meet him. i was a little bit nervous which was totally normal. I wished for somewhere more open and lively. like a bar or a club since naturally, i am an introvert who rarely speak unless situation requires me to. I was to meet him on that day and for sure i felt nervous.

He was tall, well built with an athletic body that screamed sex and lots of romance. although he looked a little bit older than my 20 year old self, he was sexy in a dark and dangerous way. i couldn’t take my eyes of him as he took long strides towards me.” oh God, hes mine, mine!,” I thought to myself as he neared my table.” you must be Nyelethi,” he inquired from me while placing a light kiss with no sexual overtones on my tight lips. anyone observing us from a distance would have assumed it to be a normal way of showing affection between two couples who were so much in love only that:

• we were not in love (at least not yet)
• we were strangers
• he kissed me, on a first date!!

“yes,” i barely managed to whisper. we talked about everything and anything that came to our minds and before i knew it, i had consumed three cups of coffee, two plates of cake and had extended my lunch break with an hour.” Mr. Vashti is going to kill me,”I thought to myself as i hurried along corridors trying to come up with a lame excuse. we had agreed to meet later in the evening at a prestigious five star hotel in town. “girl, you just hit the lotto,” I told myself as i smiled, sheepishly looking at my computer. i snapped out of my short-lived daydream on feeling Mrs. Vashti shout at me, “get your ass back to reality woman!!” sigh. that’s how i survived everyday at VASHTI AND SONS co. a law firm.

Fast forward few weeks later, we were having sex at every given opportunity, in the car, in the bathroom, on our way to get some dinner, while watching a TV Channel, in his office, in the elevator, we just couldn’t stop! he was everything in ever needed in a man, the virility, the sexuality, his charisma, his charm. i was over the clouds for being able to get attention from him. he was mine and mine alone. i was convinced i was in love, after all, Drew was better than all of my exes.plus, he was one rich dude.

Two weeks after quitting my job and moving into his house, (he owned a multi-billion dollar company that was well know for producing the best films in the world, at least that is what he told me), i found a used condom in his bathroom.” you know how these white people are, never wanting to share the same room with their partners,” i tried to console myself but i was still hurting. i was broken.i was devastated. i couldn’t stop crying.

He dumped me the very evening i asked him about the condoms and threw me out of his house at 2 a.m. i couldn’t believe it. that very day, i had discovered i was pregnant and i was to surprise him with the news, and now i had lost it all. i was blind to all his faults and that had been my undoing. he was not only older than me but also a drug cartel. he disguised himself as a film maker, hiding from the authorities his real self, that he was a drug baron.

A week later, he was arrested. testimonies in court became part of me. a local TV station did an expose about his private life and i ended up being known to the whole world as his mistress and a gold digger. that fool had a wife with three kids, the first born being my age but had kept it a secret from me. that not only damaged my reputation but it also made my family disown me. i officially became the black sheep. most of my friend deserted me. on one fateful day, i lost my pregnancy after slipping on a slippery floor on my  way to church. that completely killed my hope. i was ready to die for i couldn’t bear being this miserable. i spent a week in hospital since i could not pay for my own bill until a former ex came to my rescue.

sounds like a love story gone sour but sadly, most of our ladies go through all this. he comes to you. hes the perfect . saying the right things. doing the right stuff and pushing all the correct buttons until the real him blows up.

years later, after getting my diploma and graduating, i met Clinton to whom i have been married to for the past 4 years. he taught me what real love was. he taught me how to love again, he gave me hope in life and we had two beautiful babies. occasionally, i still think about Drew and wonder where i went wrong.

it still remains a puzzle to me. i mean,i don’t mean to be cynical but does love at first sight actually exist? or was i just blinded by things money could buy?