I’ll never forget the day I walked into the house I rented for my boyfriend only to meet another woman. For years, James had been begging me to move in with him but I lived in a nicer apartment which I didn’t want to give up for his tiny, 1-bedroom. So, for the most part of our relationship, we lived in separate houses. Everything was going perfectly and the relationship seemed to be working. I was quite excited since I hadn’t had a good man in my life for a while.
It didn’t bother me that I earned more money or had a nicer house than him and neither did it bother him. He felt quite comfortable really fast and I’d even find his friends hanging out at my house when I came back from work. For me, this simply meant that James liked me and wanted his friends to see what kind of a girlfriend I was.
“Babe, can Sammie spend the night here? It’s a bit late for him to drive back.” He asked and I agreed.
It started with his male friends spending the night then his friends would invite their girlfriends and they’d all sleep in my house. My generosity was reaching its peak until James hinted he wanted to move somewhere closer to my place so that we could still spend time together and his friends could sleep at his place at the end of the night. This sounded great but I had one concern.
“How are you going to pay for the house, babe?” I asked
I knew James’ financial situation and he could barely pay the rent at his old place. How was he going to afford a house in that area?
“Don’t worry, babe. I could even move you in with me.”
Little did I know I was the one who was going to move him in and pay his rent for 6 months.
We spent the next month house hunting around the area. Whenever we got a house that we both liked, he’d wait too long to pay the deposit that someone else ended up paying for it. Eventually, he admitted that he was struggling financially since he had bought new furniture for the new place.
“Babe, could you pay the deposit on my behalf? I promise I’ll pay you by the end of the month.”
I saw it coming and to be honest, I was ready to help him pay the rent if it meant I didn’t have to host his loud friends ever again. I paid his deposit and two months’ rent as was required by the administration. On the moving day, James’ phone went silent and I had to learn from the caretaker that the house was occupied. My attempts at visiting him that whole week were futile since every time, there was nobody home.
It was very unlike him not to be at home or have a friend stay at his place when he was not around. I barely paid it any mind since things were getting hectic at work. Besides, James would never betray me especially after I had paid his rent for two months. He wasn’t even the unfaithful type.
After my futile attempts to reach him for another week, I decided to wait for him at his place. I had his spare key so I went over and let myself in. The house looked like a mess. He still had his old, rugged furniture and there were dirty dishes everywhere on the floor. It took me a minute to make my way inside and figure out how anybody could live like that.
As I looked at how the stunning apartment had been reduced to a dirt-infested place, I noticed a pair of crusty heels by the entrance. I knew for a fact they didn’t belong to me since I’ve never be caught dead wearing those kinds of shoes. This only meant that there was another woman at James’ house which wasn’t a surprise. His friends brought girls over all the time so I didn’t see any cause for alarm.
Like a good girlfriend, I cleaned up his place, washed the dishes, changed his sheets, and cooked him dinner as I waited for him to get back. I figured he must have been struggling to keep the house clean because work was taking up a lot of his time.
At around 8 pm, the door swung open and two people walked in hand in hand, giggling at each other. It took them a minute to realize I was seated right in front of them but James finally saw me.
“Babe!” he said pushing the other woman aside.
There was a moment of silence before all hell broke loose. I went on a rampage, breaking anything I could get my hands on. The other woman seemed just as confused as I was which meant she didn’t know that James had a girlfriend.
“What’s going on? What’s going on?” she repeated.
“First of all, woman, how do you live like this? Clean up the house even if you don’t own it.”
She went quiet.
“FYI I’m the owner. I’ve paid this man’s rent for two months then he has the audacity to bring another woman to this house barely two weeks after he’s moved in.”
James had never seen me that angry and he simply stood in a corner and tried to defend himself.
“It’s not what it looks like.” He mumbled.
“Oh yeah, what’s going on then? I’ve tried to reach you for two weeks, then I come and find the house looking like a pigsty and you walk in with another woman.”
“I…I’m sorry.”
“You know what, get out of my house. You’ll find your things outside tomorrow.”
James tried to come back into my life a week later claiming he had a moment of weakness and that it wasn’t like him to act the way he did. However, I later found out that he was a swindler and he used young, career women to pay his rent and fund his lifestyle. I may have paid his rent for two months but it could have been worse.
