The Warning

Raj leaned back; cigarette still unlit as he fumbled in his pockets for a lighter. The room had fallen into a heavy silence, his friends watching him closely, eager for the next part of the story.

Gugu, irritated by the pause, sighed loudly. “Man, I’ll get you two more packs of smokes later. Just carry on already!”

Robert nodded in agreement, exhaling as if the tension was weighing on him. “Honestly, Raj, it’s getting intense in here. I could use a cigarette too.”

Raj finally found his lighter, lighting up and taking a slow drag before continuing. “So, everything was going fine. Sofia and I were meeting each other regularly. She was happy, and from what I could tell, Billy seemed fine with his life too. But then… one day, I got a call.”

He paused again, enjoying the dramatic effect. “It was Billy. He wanted to meet.”

Oluwale, always quick with a joke, piped up. “Hold on, hold on. Billy wanted to meet you… in a park? Ayo, is Billy gay or somethin’? Why the park?”

Raj chuckled, shaking his head. “Nah, man. That was my idea. Billy wanted to meet in a restaurant, but I didn’t want it to be all formal. Whatever, we met in the park, and honestly, I had no clue what to expect. Part of me thought maybe he’d beg me to leave Sofia.”

Oluwale laughed, still amused by the idea. “Begging you in a park? This is wild, bruv.”

Raj ignored the comment and continued. “Anyway, when we met, I didn’t know how to start. But Billy jumped right in, asking how things were going for us. I told him everything was fine, and I thanked him for not being difficult about the whole thing.”

Raj leaned forward, his voice growing more serious. “That’s when Billy looked me dead in the eyes and said, ‘I wanted to meet you today to warn you. Don’t rush into this. A life partner can either make or break your life. You need to make sure you’re choosing someone who’s really right for you, someone who matches your lifestyle.’”

Gugu’s eyes widened. “You see, this Billy guy talks too deep, man. He knows how to hit right in the heart. What happened next?”

Raj took another drag, blowing smoke into the night air. “I told Billy I knew exactly what I was doing. I knew Sofia was the right one for me, and I was sure of it. I told him, ‘When you find the right person, you just know. You can feel it in your heart.’”

Oluwale groaned, shaking his head. “Ayo, man, that’s some Bollywood dialogue right there. Come on, Raj.”

Raj gave him a brief, annoyed glance but continued. “But Billy wasn’t done. He looked at me and said, ‘You haven’t lived with her long enough to really know. How can you be so sure?’”

Raj’s jaw clenched as he recalled the conversation. “I felt like he was trying to poison things between Sofia and me. So I cut him off. I told him I didn’t like where he was going with this, and if he had nothing positive to say, he should keep it to himself.”

Raj paused, flicking the ash off his cigarette. “But Billy kept going. He told me, ‘One day, Sofia will be the reason your life is ruined.’”

The room went quiet, the weight of Billy’s words hanging in the air. Even Billy, tied up in the corner, listened intently.

Raj shook his head, his face dark with frustration. “I told him, ‘You let me worry about that,’ and I left the park.”

Robert leaned forward, confusion all over his face. “Now I’m even more lost. How is Billy the reason your life is ruined? He just gave you some advice.”

Raj’s eyes narrowed. “Billy didn’t stop there. He tried to contact me again and again, and not just me. He told my family about Sofia. Of course, my family wasn’t happy about it. You know how Indian families are, right? They didn’t like the idea of me marrying a British girl, and especially not one who was previously married. To them, it was a scandal.”

Oluwale frowned, shaking his head. “Man, families can be brutal sometimes.”

Raj continued, his tone growing more bitter. “To them, married women are more ‘dangerous.’ They think once a woman’s been married, she’s got no shame left. And Hollywood movies didn’t help, either—they think all British girls are wild and flirty, jumping from man to man.”

Gugu, trying to follow, asked, “So your family didn’t like Sofia because of that?”

Raj nodded. “Exactly. And Billy… Billy told them everything. That’s when my family turned against me. They were convinced that Sofia was going to ruin my life, and they refused to accept her.”

Robert raised an eyebrow. “But how do you know Billy was behind all this? Maybe your family just didn’t like Sofia from the start.”

Raj’s expression hardened. “It was obvious. Billy was trying to sabotage us. Sofia even said it herself. She told me she thought Billy still loved her, and that’s why he let her go so easily. It was suspicious.”

Oluwale nodded, slowly processing. “So, you’re saying Billy was behind your family turning against you.”

Raj took one last drag from his cigarette and crushed it under his foot. “We fought hard to get through that. Sofia and I ended up getting married, but the damage had already been done.”

Oluwale, still sceptical, leaned forward. “But you still haven’t explained how Billy ruined your life. You got the girl, you got married. What’s the problem?”

Raj’s face darkened further. “I’m getting to that. You’ll understand soon enough.”

© Nil | 2024