18/06/2024
A LIFE IN SHADOWS cont..
"My husband, Damian, and I met nine years ago. I had just turned twenty and was in my second year of teaching college, while he had been working as a project manager for a year at a private company. I met Damian through my male classmate, Steve, who was his distant cousin, when Damian came to visit him at school. He asked Steve if the two of us were dating, and we both replied with a strong no. We were working on an assignment together, which is how we ended up spending most of our time together. Steve was someone I looked at like a brother, even though he was two years older than me. The few minutes we spent talking to Damian made me uncomfortable, as he kept staring at me. He was twenty-six years old at the time and looked so mature. I decided to excuse myself and left Steve with Damian.
A few days later, I received a message on WhatsApp from a strange number. It was an informal greeting, and he asked me how school was going. I asked who was texting, and he told me it was Damian, Steve's cousin. I didn't ask him who gave him my number, as I already knew the answer to that question. He straight away asked me if he could take me out for lunch on Saturday. I resisted, not wanting to sound rude or desperate, so I gave an excuse that I would be visiting home.
I went to Steve and asked him why he never told me that he gave his cousin my phone number. Steve told me Damian liked me, hence he kept pestering him for my number. I told him about my WhatsApp conversation with Damian, and he was disappointed that I turned down the lunch date offer. He tried to convince me, but I told him I couldn't.
During the coming weeks, Damian started visiting our school frequently. He always came in the name of visiting Steve but never accepted to leave before he saw me. The first few times he asked to see me, I was always so uncomfortable and was not happy that he kept coming to visit. Later on, I started enjoying his visits. He had
