After getting myself a little booze, I was ready to tell the story, hmm, let’s call him Z, as I have forgotten his real name, the last letter of all, the least important.
I met Z during the end of my African trip,I have already been to every interesting place I could possibly go within Kenya, and my six month internship is coming to an end. I had also at that time just broke up with my casual two-month boyfriend who got a car injury a month ago. After trying for a few while, I decided to call it a break. My life was getting bored, my only pleasure besides going to night clubs was going on the hiking trip organized by a friend L, every twice a week on the weekends.
And that is how I met Z, we were a hiking trip of 8, he was with his girlfriend, both were the same age with me. The difference was that, Z grew up in Africa. His parents moved to Nairobi when he was a teen to seek greater business opportunities and make money. The first time Z and I met, as now I have recalled, I pondered at the couple as they made me curious. Z looks much more matured than the regular 23 you’d find in China that were just freshly out of college. He was already managing his father’s business. And all the time while climbing, he was helping out the girlfriend as if she could not walk on the slope, or at least she made it seem that way.
During the first hike, Z and his girlfriend were always behind me. I should’ve known now, there was a pair of eye checking me out all the while.
The second time we climbed with Z, it was different, he did not bring the girlfriend. We had more time walking together and chatting. He talked about the business he was managing, the African staffs that worked for him, everything about another world that I was not aware of. At the end of the day, I found it was easy to talk to him. And then, we exchanged each other’s WeChat.
The next thing I know, he was initiating friendly but obviously trying-too-hard conversations with me on WeChat. “What was he doing?” I asked my friend. “He already had a girlfriend.” “Obviously he was trying to get your attention and woo you to bed at some point, I get messages from him also, but it was pointless and purely chatting, I had no time for that especially from cheater.”
Apparently I thought it was just “talking”as there weren’t any words that crossed the line. And I was bored and found his conversation actually bearable, sometimes witty as he would throw a few good laughs often filled with praises that sound just pleasing to the ear. Although the conversations were often, at the same time, flat and dull, without deeper contents. Until we both get used to the frequency to exchange text messages every single day, he has built an expectation in me for his daily greetings.
What the heck, I thought, I am leaving anyways in a month and this would never bother my emotions. And for him, this was just his norm and if not on me, these tricks would be played on another girl. I might as well just go with it as I also secretly enjoyed this wicked game.
