GETAWAY.

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"What do you think of the design?"

The architect who was showing me the building plan for a new project commissioned by my uncle who was outside the country asked.

"Seyi." He called me.

"I'm sorry, what were you saying?"

He repeated the question. I had zoned off immediately he started showing me the plan. My uncle had earlier called to tell me to view the building plan for the house he wanted to build in the country. He loved it and just wants me to go through it as a formality.

One look at the plan and I could think of only one word, ugly. I felt like tearing it up, it wasn't neatly done, and there were so many errors. It was structured like a kid's playhouse even though it was supposed to be a mansion.

"It's nice." I said letting the lie roll smoothly off my tongue.

You see, I used to be an advocate of truth till I learned the hard way. It went down a few years back.....

    **************

"It's your fault, you shouldn't have said anything." My friend Hannah said, scolding me on our lunch date at our favorite restaurant.

"She asked for my opinion, what else should I have said?" I replied nonchalantly.

"Maybe not say anything or say something positive? Not everyone likes to hear the truth. There's a reason people say it's bitter." She fired angrily at me.

"What's the big deal though? We all know Abba is as loose as a dog on heat. Vivian asked me a question, I told her the truth, what then did I do wrong?" I fired back, starting to lose my cool.

"Excuse you, she asked us both the question, and I chose to be positive. I say again, it would have been better if you didn't say anything. You might have just ruined her chances of a blissful marital life."

Why were we arguing? You would ask. It's funny how something so little could blow up and become a big deal. Basically, the gist is, we had a girl squad, myself, Hannah, and Vivian. We were as thick as thieves, trust me, you have never seen a tighter squad. We had the ride-or-die type of loyalty to each other before the whole saga occurred.

"If there's anyone that's to be blamed for that, it's Abba himself. Don't put this on me at all." I responded again, refusing to shoulder the blame.

Abba was Vivian's fiance as of this morning when he proposed to her. He was cute as sin, and he's the kind of guy that you know deep down, can never belong to one woman. He was always surrounded by women. It could have helped if he was disciplined, but no, he had to have them all. He had no morals whatsoever.

"It wasn't your place to tell her anything. Why won't you listen?" Hannah sighed in exasperation.

"Why is she my friend if I can't tell her the truth?" I retorted losing a grip on my temper.

Like I said, Abba has no morals, he chases everything in a skirt, and he once asked me out even though he knew I was Vivian's friend. I won't bore you with the details of that episode.

Okay, so moving on, he proposed marriage to Vivian this morning, and she accepted.

"What do you guys think? Abba wants us to get married as soon as possible." Vivian asked us, blushing hotly after the proposal.

"I think you should do what your heart says. You have agreed to marry him after all. Your happiness is all that matters. I think you made the right decision." Hannah said and I rolled my eyes in their sockets at the hypocrisy. Why won't she tell her the truth?

Before you blame Hannah, you have to understand that Vivian is well aware of Abba's loose ways, and she has caught him cheating many times, maybe even since they started dating. We tried to dissuade her from sticking with him, but she didn't listen. It had to be Abba or no one else. We already knew changing Vivian's mind would be as easy as climbing Mount Everest so, Hannah has given up on trying.

"You need to tone it down, Seyi. You don't always have to be blunt. It's okay to keep quiet if you have nothing positive to say at times. You won't die if you keep your opinion to yourself." Hannah hissed, folding her arms across her chest her face starting to turn red.

Okay, so, we advised her to leave him, but she refused even when she saw evidence that he asked me out. She always forgave him and it was appalling, so appalling I wanted to choke many times from disgust.

"What sort of friend will I be if I don't inform her of what she's getting into?" I shot out again at Hannah.

Hannah hissed again and regarded me angrily.

"Thanks so much, Hannah. I followed my heart already, and it says I should marry him. Today is the happiest day of my life." Vivian giggled hugging us one after the other.

"There's something you need to know," I told her when I couldn't hold it in anymore. I can't watch my best friend walk down the aisle with a clear conscience if I didn't tell her what I knew.

Hannah pleaded with me with her eyes, but nah, trust me to always tell it as I see it.

"What's that?" Vivian asked, her smile vanishing. It was almost like she had an inkling of what I was about to say.

"Before you decide if you want to spend the rest of your life with Abba, then you should know he has 3 children with 3 different mothers. In other words, he has three baby mamas all of whom he still sleeps with as far as I can tell"

"This must be a joke," Vivian says sitting on the nearest chair in her room where we were.

"Seeing is believing. I guess you need to see for yourself."

I took out my phone and showed her different pictures of Abba with each of his baby mamas on different occasions. You must be wondering how I had so much information. It's simple, in this century, you can get all the information you need as long you know where to look. If someone has a digital footprint then, nothing is private.

In a small voice, Vivian said, "He never told me. Maybe it's because he loves me and doesn't want to lose me. He probably thought I would be angry at him. There has to be an explanation for this." Vivian concluded obviously not even believing her own words.

"May I point out to you that he may have loved each of those women at some point? What makes you think you are different? What sort of man won't introduce his kids to the girlfriend he intends to marry since you have been dating? it's been over a year already." I asked, staring pointedly at her.

"Both of you, get out. I need to be alone." Vivian ordered us and stood to usher us out of her room.

The wedding never did take place, I'm sure you can guess why.

She stopped talking to me shortly after, and just like that, our friendship of many years ended.

"Why did you have to tell me? You could have at least waited till we got married. You had to ruin things for me. I would die a happy woman if I never hear again from you." Those were her parting words the day she called off our friendship.

She was supposed to be grateful to me but was angry instead. Grateful that I didn't let her end up in a sham of a marriage. It was painful, but I was glad they parted ways, and many years later, I still flashback and wonder if I was wrong.

Because I was brought up to speak the truth no matter how harsh it is, I have found another alternative, writing. I write all my thoughts in my diary, and it has produced a safe haven for me to run to whenever I want to burst from holding in my real thoughts. I keep a mobile diary, so when I'm asked for my opinion on matters, I just tell them what they like to hear and write down my real opinion. It provides a form of escape, and I won't have to carry the guilt of not telling the truth. At least my dairy won't keep malice or fight with me for writing down my unfiltered opinion.

It's a rare quality in people to speak the truth, and what's more? Hardly anyone likes to hear it. It's so difficult to be pristine in a world of faux.

Since I couldn't beat them, I had to join them. It's not my fault, I've lost something valuable to the truth.