As I walked to the bus stop earlier today. A couple of things were on my mind. The fact that I woke up late and was obviously going to be late was really bothering me. I was just thinking of the traffic, how to quit it all.
I almost missed it but nope I’m too good. The girls walking ahead of me were teasing each other about a boy. All I could think was young love. It threw me back to those days ( I am young, move on). Anyway they were discussing how the boy sat next to one of them on the school bus and how cute they were. So there’s a school bus that carries all (or well almost all) of the kids that wake up early enough to catch it. The bus doesn’t just carry students from one school. So theirs was an inter-school love.
I thought it was beautiful and luckily or unluckily depending on how you look at it I was at the bus stop for a while. He brought flowers. Nothing too fancy but for their stage in life, it was everything! He came with his guys too. I was watching something out of a movie and I loved it.
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Imagine having a school bus with the same passengers everyday. Imagine being able to control who you meet and having a set course to follow. Imagine having a steady seat partner and falling in love with him.
Have you imagined? Wake up! It’s not going to happen because…. mindset.
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They called it young love. They said we didn’t know what we were doing. That we didn’t know what love was. It pained me that no one could see how real it was. He’d reassure me that when we got married they’ll see then. We’d win then. They’d learn.
I lived on a cloud. One with love and no connection to this wicked world. He was all I ever needed. I was enough too till he needed it and I couldn’t give him that or could I? Mummy always said it was for my husband. But he asked me to marry him already. My children were going to be his so did I have to wait?
He wasn’t happy and neither was I. “I’m your husband” he said. “I’ll be gentle” he insisted. He was the one, I was sure.
It wasn’t special. We were scared we’d get caught. It was his brother’s bed. I loved it like that. It was magical. I was happy and in love.
Stupid me. That was the beginning of the end. I heard about our exploits from someone else. It was too embarrassing. I couldn’t understand. Wasn’t I special? Wasn’t it our secret?
Then I heard. He wasn’t the bad boy for nothing. His reputation wasn’t earned overnight. I had been a conquest and an easy one at that.
I tried begging. He called me clingy. I couldn’t read. I couldn’t talk to anyone about it. Everyone mocked me. To make matters worse, there had been a bet. He won and took people out to celebrate. I wasn’t invited.
We were going to different schools and I had the next five years to reinvent myself. I found love in Law (the course I chose to study) and I found solace in helping people not make the same mistake I made.
I grew in faith and changed my life. I got over my mistake. I moved on. He was in another country, another land. I was in a better place.
I got called to bar. Picked up my robes and got my new title. Respect the Esq. Please! Standing with a bunch of roses and a couple of “You made it” balloons, there he stood. He had the good graces to look awkward and nervous. I was speechless and so was he. He looked good, very good. He had only gotten finer with time.
The feelings came rushing back. I had never gotten over him.
He smiled at me just like the first time.
