One day, I was in class seated beside the window, reading a book, when suddenly someone appeared behind the window.

“Patrick! Patrick !” a voice whispered, slipping a little paper into my hand as I turned. It was a boy.

Before I could open the paper to read its contents, he vanished.

A love letter. From a girl who couldn’t bring it herself. She was in love but she didn’t know how to say it.

I pondered over the message, revisiting the image of the girl in my mind in a new light. I knew who it was.

She was not alone. Of late, a number of girls in the class have expressed their interests in diverse ways. Some would subtly pull back their uniforms slightly, exposing their thighs and rubbing them against mine, as if by accident, maintaining a straight innocent face. Some even appeared in my dreams to press their case.

Back then, I saw no girl except books, books and books. My definition of the perfect Sunday school kid that I was brought up to be.

Looking back, I realized the many missed opportunities to develop relationships and friendships with girls. Nobody told me one could be close friends with a girl without engaging in anything immoral.

Today, many of those girls have outgrown their childishness and silliness and have become important people in society. Only if I had the wisdom back then to cultivate good relationships with them, I certainly wouldn’t be where I am today. Certicates and degrees do open doors, but relationships open bigger doors.

My foolishness and ignorance warded off one lover after another till a point where when I needed one, they had all flown away like birds, leaving me to wallow in loneliness and regrets…