The cloak of darkness

Wandering

“The manager wants you to go through this proposal again before he tenders it to the boss,” Susan said as she walked into Frank’s office with a file in her hand and she waited for him to look up at her before she dropped the file on his table.

“Ok dear,” Frank said and winked at Susan who hissed and tried to walk away but he stopped her.

“What is wrong with you, my sugar pie?” He asked with his eyeballs rolling intermittently and undergoing a marathon round her well-set figure.

Susan and Frank worked together in the same department and had had some flings that made Susan assume that they were dating and when she heard from her friend that Frank was beaten at a club because of a woman she was angry at his betrayal.

“I’m not your sugar pie. Go and meet the lady that you got beaten because of her and leave me alone,” Susan said in anger and yanked Frank’s hands off her body.

“What are you saying?” Frank asked as he was oblivious of what she was insinuating.”

“What I’m saying is that you are a bloody cheat,” Susan screamed in rage.

“Keep it down, woman and don’t you ever call me names,” Frank also was getting angry at her unwarranted outburst and name calling.

“I’m the one you can shout on but when you were being beaten on Friday because of a woman, you could not shout. Weakling!” She tried to walk away but Frank had had enough of her insult and he gave her a resounding slap across the face not minding the pain he was feeling in his arms. The slap sent her falling backwards into the chair and it took her some time to recover from the shock.

“I thought you loved me. I gave you everything I had but all you can do is to repay me by cheating on me and now you can slap me,” she said in tears holding her face.

“Ha! Ha! Ha!” Frank laughed to his heart’s content at the claims of Susan and she was slightly embarrassed since she didn’t know why he was laughing.

“What are you claiming to have done for me? We had times when we enjoyed ourselves and we both had fun, I paid your bills, so, what special thing have you done for me? Let me refresh your memory because it seems like you don’t remember many things. I don’t belong to you and you don’t belong to me as we are just friends with benefits,

Frank said sarcastically leaving Susan dumbfounded. She had thought he loved her and was always bragging to her friends that she had a man that would do anything for her and that he would even propose marriage to her soon but his words were like daggers to her heart.

“And for the love part, I don’t love you and you don’t love me. We only use ourselves to meet our needs and that is called a fair partnership,” he said and went over to his seat to sit.

“I’m done with you lowlife cheat,” Susan said, still in tears.

“That would be your loss, my dear because I wonder how you would pay your bills henceforth,” he said and laughed making Susan boil in fury and she wished she had a knife so she would stab him for hurting her so badly.

Frank laughed to himself as he reminisced on what Susan said and he wondered why women were so controlling and domineering. Just because they went out a few times and had fun she thought she had the right to dictate what he did with his life.

“I wonder if I put the ring on her finger then she would trail me everywhere and demand an explanation for all I do and where I go. Marriage is a scam and I have more reasons to stay unmarried and not get myself entangled with these wolves called women who are the real culprit but would act like the victim to receive sympathy from the world. Imagine how she was crying as if I ever asked her to be with me,” Frank thought to himself and hissed before focusing on the work he had to get done.

*****

Steve was so engrossed with work that he didn’t even hear his phone ring. It was at the second ring that he heard and took the phone to answer the call.

“Busy man, wassup,” Frank said to his buddy as he answered the call. “Yes o, it’s not easy,” Steve replied with a grin.

“It’s almost lunch hour, should I expect you?” Frank asked and Steve wondered why he wanted them to go to lunch together all of a sudden.

“What of your girlfriend?” Steve asked.

“She just dumped me,” Frank answered and feigned a cry making Steve giggle.

“Bad boy, she must have realized that you are a player,” Steve said and laughed.

“I’ll give you the full gist when we see,” Frank said and ended the call. He quickly became more serious with the files he was reviewing so he could submit it before lunch hour.

Lunch hour was the same time for Steve and Frank and they seldom ate together because most times Frank was with Susan. That day however was different and Frank sat in the restaurant with his friend to have lunch.

“Give me the full gist man,” Steve said impatiently.

“Calm down. Let’s order first,” Frank replied and called on the waitress to take their orders.

“I’m listening,” Steve said immediately the waitress left.

“You just like stories,” Frank replied.

“The babe heard about what happened to us at the club on Friday and confronted me about it. She got so angry and called me a cheat and made other derogatory statements about me which made me give her a slap and she called the relationship quit.

“You should have apologised to her to make her stay with you.”

“I can never beg a woman in this life of mine. If she wants to go then let her. Besides, what am I benefitting from the relationship?”

“She’s warming your bed and also covering for your inadequacies at work,” Steve said and smiled and that made Frank furious.

Their food was served and they started eating.

“I pay her bills and many more. So, I think I’m the one that has sacrificed more into the relationship and not her.”

“Well, she’s gone now and Rita too is gone. Which means you just lost two girls already,” Steve said again and let out a laugh.

“I’ll get five more this week,” Frank said assuredly.

“Really! Where would you go for the shopping?” Steve said and laughed but Frank didn’t find anything funny as he was not joking about his decision of replacing his lost girlfriends with five more that week.

“Anywhere I see women then I’m shopping for them,” he said and smiled at a direction and that made Steve turn to the direction to sight a beautiful young lady seated alone at a table towards the door.

“Don’t,” Steve cautioned.

“Watch me,” Frank said and stood up to approach the lady.

Steve watched his friend talk to the lady and he thought the lady would reject Frank and probably embarrass him but he just saw her giggling and then he knew that his friend had gotten another catch. He saw them exchanging contacts and after that Frank came back to the table.

“One down four to go,” he said as he approached the table and Steve could not just but admire his friend who was always on top of his game.

They were both Casanovas but Steve knew that he held no water where Frank was because Frank could even approach the First Lady and she would say yes to him.

Sometimes, he wondered what exactly the women saw in him to make them always agree to his proposal but he had not been able to crack the nut and was left to wonder.

“Bad boy!” Steve hailed him.