After my conversation with Mr. Kamau, I got a taxi and went back to Vin’s place where I packed all my stuff. I took everything I had to my parents’ house and I told them and Matt about my move and he was disappointed.
“You won’t be coming here every weekend if you move there,” he said trying to hold back tears.
“No, but I’ll be coming back as often as I can and you’ll be coming to visit me every holiday and when you're older, you'll come stay with me,” I tried to convince him.
It was sad to leave him but I needed that job, not because of the salary and the extra privileges but to start a fresh. The things I had in my apartment were moved to my parents’ place too but most were sold. I travelled to Mombasa that Sunday night to get time to settle down.
I changed my number and gave the new one to my closest family and friends with one strict condition; not to give it to anyone without my authorisation. My excuse was that someone kept spamming and sending weird messages not including calls in the middle of the night.
It was on a Wednesday evening, that same week I'd gotten to Mombasa, my mother called me telling me that Mercy was looking for me so I called her.
I told her the decision I had made but not the reason behind it. I told her not to tell anyone where I was, not anyone from the office, not Vin and certainly not Mark. She was mad at me for not telling her but she promised not to tell anyone.
“Mel, I’m glad you went away,” she said almost a week later during one of our daily talks.”
“Why?”
“Because the drama you avoided would have tainted your reputation here,”
“What do you mean?”
“Yesterday Mark’s ex fiancé, yes, ex fiancé, came looking for you, you could see the flames shooting from her ears. She was so angry. She hurled insult after insult at an invisible you.
When Mark tried to cool her down, she turned to him and started hitting him, calling him all sorts of names. Security had to come take her away. They let her go in the evening after Mark pleaded with them not to get her arrested.”
“That was bad,”
“I’m not even done yet, today Vin, your Vin, came to the office and next thing we know, he and Mark were exchanging blows in his office. Security had to come separate them. Mark has a two week suspension from work with one more strike left,”
“Are you serious? But what did Mark’s girl want from me?”
“She kept yelling that you took her guy from her. That you were the reason they broke up and that you slept with him. Is that true?”
“No, it isn’t, why would she think that?” I said a bit too quickly.
She gave me some more gossip before we hang up but not before she promised to keep me updated.
Life in Mombasa was exactly how I wanted it. Full of serenity and peace and with a lot less gossip and no men to worry about.
Matt came to visit me during the December holidays and when we went back to Nairobi for the Christmas break, he kept saying how fun Mombasa was and how glad he was that I'd moved there.
January came and we got a memo that we in Mombasa would be hosting the Nairobi and Kisumu heads on the Valentine’s Day weekend for a company retreat. ‘Why is this happening to me?’ I almost screamed when I read that memo.
It had been six months free of any kind of drama and I was going to have to face Mark again.
Every day, I regretted what happened between Mark and me, not because it felt wrong, that one night with Mark felt more right than the entire relationship I had with Vin, but because I felt I had done two innocent people wrong.
