Florence was the one person who knew me. Emphasis on “was” because after what went down between us, she is the last person I want near me.

Let’s start from the beginning, Florence and I became friends in high school. We have always been close however, because of life changes we slowly became low-maintenance friends.

We would hang out every once in a while, and still communicate just not as often.   

I have always tried my best to avoid being involved in people’s business, especially when it comes to relationships.

A very important quality that I picked up from my parents and it has helped me to avoid drama. Whenever Florence got into a relationship, she formed a habit of always leaving meetups early on weekends. Which was why I was surprised the day she came over to my place and ended up staying until 8 pm.  

At first, I thought that maybe Kelvin had travelled but to be sure I just asked.  

“ Kwani Kelvin isn’t around?”   

“Why do you ask?”   

“You often leave my place early,”   

“Kelvin is in the house.”  

“Okay, and he won’t complain today if you get home late?”  

It may seem like I wanted to kick her out but that wasn’t the case. I just knew the dynamics of the relationship and for some reason I was curious.  

“We fought this morning and now I don’t feel like going home.”   

This didn’t seem like new information to me because Florence and Kelvin were almost always fighting. Therefore, the minute she told me that I knew that it was either about something she said or something he did.   

“What happened?” I asked and looking back I wished that I hadn’t.  

“Kelvin has been messing around with other women and when I found out and confronted him, he got physically abusive,” she confessed.

“Why don’t you just move out?”  I was not understanding why she didn’t just leave. 

“I don’t want to leave his place because I don’t have anywhere else to go and going back home isn’t an option,”  she said looking heartbroken.

“You can come stay with me for a while until you can move out and live on your own.”   

“Thank you so much, let me head home and tell Kelvin that I want to move out.”  

“Okay, you’ll let me know how it goes.”   

A couple of hours went by, and she hadn’t called to inform me of whether she got home or how things went with Kelvin. This got me worried and what made it worse was that she wasn’t picking up my calls as well. So, I decided to call Kelvin.  

“Hey Kelvin, I have tried to call Florence, but she isn’t picking up. Is she okay?”  

“Yes, she is currently showering, I’ll tell her to call you when she’s done.”   

A short while later, she called me back and informed me that she was okay and that she would carry her things and move in with me the next day. Knowing this, the following morning I left my spare key with one of my neighbour’s so that Florence could easily get it.   

Unfortunately, by the time I got home, she wasn’t there, which left me wondering if she had changed her mind. To be sure, I decided to call her, but she didn’t pick up twice.   

“Ahh, she’s probably going to call me back later,” I thought to myself and decided to let things be.  

At 7:30 pm I started to get worried since Florence told me that Kelvin tends towards being violent. I called her twice, but she didn’t pick up, so I decided to call Kelvin to find out what was happening. He picked up after the second ring.  

“Hey, I’m looking for Florence, but I can’t seem to reach her. Is there any chance that I can talk to her?” I asked.  

“Yes, she’s here but walai this friend of yours is getting on my nerves. She’s too much and I’m getting tired, yet I was even planning to do a ruracio with her soon.”  

“Okay, just calm down. Let me talk to her so I can find out what is happening.”  

In the background, I could hear Florence yelling and complaining. Kelvin hung up the call and five minutes later, Florence called me.  

“Hey Flo, what happened to our plans? Did Kelvin do or say anything to you?”  

She was crying so I gave her a moment to cool down.  

“Yesterday I got home to tell him that I’m leaving but he ended up apologizing and was so sweet to me. By the time we went to bed, he was even telling me how he plans to pay my dowry soon so we can do a ruracio.”   

At the back of my mind, all I was thinking about was how Kelvin was gaslighting her.  

“Okay if that is the case then why are you crying?”   

“There’s a woman that called him today morning and he went to pick up the call in secret so I suspect that he is still cheating. I want to leave but he doesn’t want me to leave because I am the only woman that he loves,”   

The moment she finished that sentence the call got disconnected so I decided to call her back.   

“Flo, I think that you need to consider leaving Kelvin. Judging by your story it seems to me that he is gaslighting you and you don’t deserve that. Even this story for doing a ruracio is just a scheme to get you to stay. He has been with you for five years and has never thought of making this official until he realized he was going to lose you. If it’s about where you will stay, I assure you that my place is available always,”  I told her.

The minute I finished talking I heard Kelvin hurling insults at me.   

“Flo, you had me on loudspeaker this whole time?” I asked in a shocked tone.   

Florence didn’t respond so I did the mature thing and apologized for everything I said and hung up the call. A few minutes later Flo tried to call me, but I declined and decided to block her. The whole time I thought it was me and her against Kelvin and his issues.

After the call, I realized that I was the enemy of their relationship. I didn’t imagine that Florence would do that to me but at least that incident taught me a valuable lesson about minding my own business.