INFATUATION

    

Love stories are meant to have happy endings, right? Cause love they say is a beautiful thing. Well, maybe they should have been more realistic with that. Because Halima, a beautiful, bright, young woman learned the hard way.

 She just turned 16. She was very enthusiastic about life and had beautiful dreams and plans for herself. So far, her life had been going quit well, with few struggles especially academics but she somehow had managed to overcome them all, though with the help of her parents whom she cherished very much. Then, all of a sudden with a single stare, her entire life was transformed forever. If only she never went to the store that faithful day.

It was his gaze that caught her off guard. Those beautiful puppy eyes could bring any girl to her knees. The structure of his face was just remarkable.  And those supple lips.  “Miss” Halima was jolted back to reality and that was when she realized that her mouth had been wide open all along. She could feel a little saliva at the corners of her lips. It was the most embarrassing moment of her life and she felt like disappearing and appearing right in the safety of her room.

“Miss, can you let me through you are in my way” the young man said. The voice sounded like that of the devil himself. “Hello, please you are in my way” the young man repeated. “Oh, I’m so sorry. She said as she gave way for him to walk through. All of a sudden there was a loud noise and all eyes in the store including that of the young man who literally took her breath away, fell on her. She had unconsciously knocked over a bottle of wine from the shelf. This was the height of the embarrassment she felt it was high time she left the store.

“Let me pay for that” he offered at the counter as Halima was about to pay for the bottle of the wine, she knocked off the shelf.” I’m Gerald” he said, and Halima could feel herself melting again at the sound of his voice. It was as though some mysterious power had taken over her body because she was doing things but could not explain how she was doing them. She lifted her hand to exchange handshake with him but could not utter a word in response to him. "I didn’t get your name” he said to her. I’m....I’m Ha... I’m Halima. She finally managed to say.” Guess I would be seeing you around” he said with a smile that kept her still for over ten minutes after he left. As he walked away, she kept staring at his physique till he disappeared out of sight. The sales girl over the counter noticed her and smiled. And this, begun the end of Halima’s beautiful life.

She had this unquenchable desire to see him once more. So, she intentionally went to the same store they had met the first time hoping to see him and she did. They got talking, exchanged phone numbers and became friends. Their friendship grew deeper and very quickly too. They spoke on the phone, and she began visiting him. For her being with him was like heaven on earth. She felt the path to her entire life had been perfectly orchestrated by the Almighty. She did not take notice of the fact that her grades in school had begun to drop and that she was losing her friends because she did not have time for them anymore. She would often skip school just to visit him and would spend the whole day with him.

Now, her parents were oblivious of these happenings, because they were often busy with work. Until, one day, one of her teachers decided to call one of her parents to complain about her constant absence in school and her dropping grades. Her parents called her into the sitting room to speak to her about it. They could not make much of the situation because she gave very little information about what was going on in her life. What marvelled her parents were the cheap lies she told to cover up her acts? 

“Let me have your phone” her mother said in a gentle tone. At this point she was trying to control her anger.  Halima was reluctant at first. But after she saw that she had no choice she handed the phone to her mother. She was asked to unlock it which she did. Her parents began to go through the phone and the things they saw sent shivers down their spine. They could not believe how far their dear, sweet daughter had gone with her life. The chats, the pictures and the videos in her phone made them freeze in shock. There was silence for over an hour as no one knew what to say or how to react to the whole situation.

Her parents were able to get the address of the young man from their chats in her phone. So, her parents drove over to the man’s place only to discover that he had moved out of the city. His Neighbours said that he was an intern who completed his internship 3 weeks ago and had moved out two days ago. Halima knew no more than his first name. She neither knew where he worked, nor any body related to him. So, tracing him was impossible.

“Madam, how old did you say she is again?” the doctor asked Halima’s mother as she sat discussing with him in his office. Halima had fallen ill, and she was brought to the hospital for treatment. “She’s 16” her mother replied. “Is there a problem?” the doctor stared at her with a worried expression on his face. “Madam, your daughter has an untreated pelvic infection. This left scar tissues in her fallopian tube. And this will cause her to be infertile for the rest of her life. Also, she is infected with HIV”.