The Weekend Excuse

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That evening, I stood by the window after the day's hectic pace and was sure there was nothing else to keep me busy with. I watched the outside view as the sky began to darken and darkness crept in slowly. I stood there, lost in thought as the sounds of the city faded into night. My mind wandered off, carried away by the quiet.

After soliloquizing for a while, I turned back to sit on my blue chair with my notebook facing me. I opened my WhatsApp to reply some unread messages and while scrolling through statuses and being entertained by some funny ones, I bumped into his status, I noticed he had been posting nonstop for some days, and that got me worried. "Why hasn't he reached out? Is he okay?" I wondered curiously while I tried to think of some possible reasons that might be.

The last time we chatted was eight days ago when he'd informed me of returning back from his trip to the East for a job he was tasked to do at a wedding event.

Tunde is a photographer and videographer. He travels around whenever there is an event and for the first few weeks we'd known each other, he was always informing me about his movement. It got to a point where I was kind of puzzled how he was this open to me without any attachment.

Truth is, I really appreciated his openness and the fact that we only saw each other once made me like him. I knew him through a friend of my sister who recommended him to me as an agent when I was searching for an apartment four months ago, and ever since then, he didn't see himself as just an agent whom he could just talk about business with but as a friend.

It went on from him asking about my day and we'd even talk about random stuff till past 10 pm every night when I'd bade him good night when I felt sleepy till the next day when we would continue.

It got to a point where I thought Tunde was trying to shoot his shot when he would ask romantic questions, plus his constant attachment, and knowing I wasn't feeling anything for him, especially when I'd seen him for the first time and he's older than me, I went with the flow. He is such a cool guy but I guess first impressions sometimes could be deceiving.

Four days later, I commented on his funny status, thinking he might check on me, but as I waited for his reply, nothing happened. I completely forgot about it and minded my business. "I am not someone to force myself into another for a conversation," I said to myself as I walked into the kitchen to fix something for lunch.

But my mind was always going to him, and the urge to text first always came on, but I would resist it, saying he would get back to me, especially since there were messages that were left for him and hadn't answered.

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I woke up the next morning, and the first thought that came to me was to chat him up to find out what was wrong with him. I had no other intention other than that. Besides it's necessary to check up on someone after a while of hearing from them. My aim was to find out what was going on and not just keep assuming some random reasons. "There is no harm in it anyway," I encouraged myself.

No, this isn't love because the feeling never crossed my mind even for a second. I might be single but it doesn't mean I should be desperate for a relationship with someone whom I have come to appreciate and get to know for a while now. That's just the limit I want it to be and not crossing over the other side of what I would call "being romantically into someone."

"He would have texted me already," I thought to myself, and by this time, I was much worried, and a series of assumptions kept flooding my mind.

"Could it be that he doesn't want to talk to me?" "Is there something about me he had seen?" When questions kept coming over again, making me not focus on other things I wanted to do, I quickly stood up from the bed and went into the bathroom to brush my teeth and did a slight scrubbing. I needed something to distract me, reminding myself to text him later in the day.

I actually did. I texted him. "Hello bro. How are you doing?" Oh, what! Did I add "bro?" That should clear your mind that nothing was going on. Lol

My mind was silently racing, and I saw myself constantly checking and swiping my phone's screen, waiting for his reply. It took him a few minutes to do so, and his response was, "Good evening, my sister. I'm doing great. How has your day been? Sorry, I was busy throughout the weekend."

Notice he used "sister" too? 😀

"Oh wow," I said. "Could that be him giving me a weak excuse? Oh, common bro, I haven't asked why you didn't text me since and that's not a good reason," I fussed.

I guess he felt guilty for not checking up on me all these while.

I didn't think twice, I quickly typed again, "When I didn't hear from you, I thought to check up on you."

Well, he felt good about it, and I, on the other side, didn't give him room to start thinking why I'd texted again.

"Would someone be busy throughout the weekend and still be able to post on their status every day?" I asked myself waiting for an invisible answer. But I shook it off my shoulder and didn't let it stay too long on my mind. After all, we aren't dating; he's just a friend, and that's it.