Micheal Emmanuel's eyes could not contain the disbelief he felt as he stood in front of the opened door of the hotel room he came to deliver condoms to.
"You can drop it over there and leave" the lady who had opened the door said so casually to him as she pointed over to a side of the bed.
"Babe, did you ask Lacasa Riders to deliver the package? I thought you called Diva Dispatch Company to?" He heard her asking an unseen man as he went to drop off the boxed packets like she had directed.
Of a truth, he wasn't supposed to be here and at such an auspicious time of the day.
His shift ended hours ago but when his friend that was supposed to deliver the package suddenly had stomach aches, he had to deliver it in his place.
And here he was.
"Aren't you going to leave?" The lady asked while staring at him standing.
He touched his palm before her to signify the payment she hadn't made.
"Wait outside for me. I'll bring your payment to you there" she commanded and walked him to the door before banging it behind him.
Micheal waited a few minutes at the door before she came. Trying his best to control both the anger and impatience that was growing within him.
" How much is the payment?" The lady asked as she came out of the door...
"15" he meekly said and watched as she took out a 100$ bill and handed to him.
"You can keep the change for yourself That's the severance fee I'm paying you. Afterall, you've never spent that much on me anyways" she said and turned to leave before Micheal stopped her with his hand.
" I was supposed to propose to you today, Veronica Hugoo"
She turned and stood still looking at him for a few minutes.
" Excuse me? What did you just say?"
"I was prepared to propose to you. I thought I finally found a wife to take home in you. I even...." He wanted to say but his words stopped immediately Veronica's palm landed on his left cheek.
"You wanted to propose to me?" She repeated and looked him from head to toe and then bursted our laughing.
Micheal stood heartbroken at the revelation he was getting to know of the woman he wanted to make his forever, the woman he had thought he found a wife in. The woman he had wanted proposing to this night if only she hadn't called to say she'd be absent for work.
"Is this the work you told me you were going to Nica? Is this what you threw the three years we were together away for?" He asked pained at her betrayal.
" Just hear yourself speak Micheal. I thank the heavens I took that leave because imagine. You wanted to propose to me? Oh my fucking Goddd! You wanted to propose to me? You that is a dispatch rider? Don't fucking mutter those disgusting words to me ever again! You're so poor. You have no investments nor even little things like a company share. How about a house? Everything about you is so wretched!!!" She wanted to scream but controlled her tone, fearing the man inside would hear her.
" Who is he? Is he better than me? Do you love him more that you do to me? Why didn't the universe wait till after I married you to expose this to me? Why couldn't you wait. Just what is it? What was it I was lacking?"
He hated the way he was sounding. Foolish he just say but he couldn't control the way he did. For he loved her perhaps too much and now she was just going to throw everything away because of someone she felt as better than him.
" Everything. You were lacking in everything Micheal. You have no money. You can't afford to give me the kind of life that I want. You're not even that handsome. You're poor to cap it all yet you thought you were not lacking anywhere?"
" But you never told me I was lacking. You always praised me and told me I was everything you wanted In a man. You never told me this part you hated about me"
" Blame it on my blindness then. I might have felt there was no one else in the world that would have a ten inched dick as you have but we'll, the universe proved me wrong and that was when I discovered my love for you were all shams"
" Because I am poor?"
" Because you are poor!!! You committed a sin by being poor!! Everything about you reeks of it and irks me to my bone marrows!!"
" Nica..... "
" Stop calling me that!!!" She couldn't help but scream at him and this called the attention of the other man who came out of the room.
" Is everything alright baby?" He asked while running his hand down Veronica's waists and raising it to her chest to caress her breasts that were all perky in the robe she was on.
"Yes my love. The dispatch rider is begging me for some cash and I've been trying to tell him off since. Poor people nowadays do have the nerves"
" Just give him the money he asked for and let him be off. I can't afford him wasting our time any more" he said in a corky and impatient voice.
Veronica dipped her hand into the wallet she was with and brought out a few wands of dollars and threw at him.
" That should be enough to tell you off shouldn't it?" She said and turned to leave with her lover that was already pulling her inside the hotel room.
Micheal didn't flinch even an inch in that brief moment they went in as he stood trying to replay what just happened in his head.
The more he tried convincing himself to believe it was real was how much more he wanted it all to be a lie.
Fed up with the kissing sound he heard from inside the door, he turned to leave. Not even sparing a stare for the 100$ bills that were littered over the floor.
Women.
He muttered inside his heart and bowed to hate them all.
They were sneaky creatures who were always selfish and impatient without waiting to see the horizon.
He has been with Veronica Hugoo for three fucking years ! Three long fucking years and in those years he never met this vile and conniving side of her, this was among the reasons he had wanted to wife her up and take home but now this? Now this betrayal on her part?
What happened to all her talks about keeping her lips and body virgin for marriage? Wasn't she the one being kissed by the strange man because he was rich? Wasn't she the one the packets of condom he came to deliver would be used on?
She had created rules for him only because he was poor and couldn't afford the lifestyle she so ever wanted. Now that she met a better candidate for her body , she sold her love outrightly to him without any atom of remorse in her!!
The heavy downpour of rain that continued to hit his back made him recollect from his thoughts.
He couldn't drive through like he had thought he would and had to take shelter somewhere as the rain was becoming a bit too much.
He looked at the corners of the road as he drove by in his dispatch scooter and luckily for him, he found a second class hotel by the road and immediately went in to take shelter for the night.
Michael sat in the dimly lit hotel lobby still soaked from the rain. His clothes clung to his body but the cold from the rain was nothing compared to the icy feeling in his chest. His mind raced, replaying Veronica's words over and over.
"You committed a sin by being poor..."
"You're not even that handsome..."
"Ten inches can't buy you love..."
He felt foolish for ever believing her. He thought she loved him—three years, countless sacrifices, and still, it wasn't enough. It was never enough.
"Women."
The word escaped his lips again, this time with a bitterness he hadn't known he was capable of. He had no one to talk to, no way to express the whirlwind of anger and pain gnawing at him from the inside.
Why did he even want to marry her? Because she said all the right things, made him feel like he was worth something, even when deep down he doubted it. Veronica had given him hope—hope that even someone as average as him could find love.
But it was a lie.
"Are you staying the night, sir?"
He looked up, dazed. The young receptionist stared at him, waiting for an answer.
He hesitated, not sure if he wanted to speak.
"How much for a room?" "Fifty for the night, fifty extra if you need a heater and dry clothes." She didn't even flinch at the absurd price for such a second class hotel.
"Just the room and more than ten Air Jordy wine bottles"
The receptionist raised an eyebrow looking at him uncomfortably and if he would be able to pay for even a bottle of the alcohol he had ordered but said nothing.
She handed him a key and pointed to the stairs.
"Second floor, room 218. Your wine would be brought soon"
Michael nodded and headed up without a word, not even pausing to answer the caller that made his phone buzz incessantly.