I used to admire him. He went to the gym regularly, looked handsome and had a nice car. He dressed decently.
One day, I bumped into his girlfriend, seated at the entrance of his apartment. He was away, and she was waiting for him. She was very beautiful. Fair. Slim.
I always wondered when I would be like him, living comfortably, living as I pleased.
Wasn’t in communication with him. Hi and Hellos were the only things between us.
Then one day, his little brother and another girl I assumed was a relative visited. They were both teenagers. That was when he asked me to teach them English. And that was how come I had his number, and got to know his fiancée better.
I didn’t know what job he did. But I suspected that he either had a promotion at work, or bumped into some fortune. Because a few months later, he relocated. Same neighborhood, but a bigger, nicer place. And his woman was now heavily pregnant for him.
I saw the new place. He asked me to resume classes with Mina and Josh after they returned from the village for the long vacation.
It was fun teaching the teenagers. They loved the subject, and in a French country, it seemed a big deal being able to express oneself in English.
Teenagers talk. And they told me many things. Things that happened in their home when I was away.
But the most insightful pieces of information came from the maid. She didn’t tell them directly, but if you paid attention to her complaints, you can easily sniff out and piece together what was boiling in that home. She was most vocal when her master and mistress were not around. And they were often absent whenever I went there to teach.
I started paying attention when one day, the maid said , “What Master is doing is not good!”
She added other words, and I deduced that someone comes around when her mistress was away and her master was home alone. During that time, his pregnant fiancee was schooling and was mostly away.
I frankly didn’t understand why he would do such things, that is, if they were true. His wife was pretty, and looked well brought up to me. What was he seeking again ? Adventure? I assumed that was how he met her, through his adventures. Probably finding it hard to hang his boots and call the rest of the matches off.
They were on the last floor, and whenever Mina and Josh were busy copying notes from the whiteboard, I stood on the balcony, looking down at the tiny beings below, gulping in the fresh air rushing at the building. Below was a popular food joint in the area, beside the house was a catholic clinic, and not too far from the house were stretches of virgin lands, as their house was on the outskirts of the community.
Such a beautiful home. Such a lovely family. The kids, the man, his fiancée and even his mother that had come to visit a few days ago.
But all that beauty sits on a highly flammable liquid: the man’s secret life which had started to seep out bit by bit.
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