The heart wants what it wants, we tell ourselves, before succumbing to desires that invite us to swim with the sharks. Our ego blinds us from everything that isn’t the thrill we chase, and so we throw caution to the wind and go with the flow, only that the flow ends at a cliff, beyond which imminent uncertainties lay. But again, aren’t we built for the chase?

Think of it this way, you’ve just been appointed as a junior sales associate at a Real Estate company. You didn’t get this job because your uncle works here, no, you earned it. You studied hard, almost tarmacked like the rest of us, but your mother’s sleepless nights praying for you finally paid off. You can’t wait to see the man you’ll become. You’re here to prove that you too can bring something to the table, that they weren’t wrong to choose you from the horde of people that wanted the very job they gave you.

Days go by, and you’re still trying to find your footing within the company. You have interesting people for colleagues because they’re nothing close to what you had in mind. There’s your Boss, Mr Karimi, but people call him Sam. People he’s close to, not newbies like you. You hate it when he asks you to fix him a cup of coffee, so you fake sneeze every time you go make yourself one because who wants snort in their coffee? Not your boss at least. But there’s this other workmate. You’d make her coffee all year if she dared ask. But she never looks your way, let alone talk to you. She’s reserved for the high and mighty that walked that office before you joined them and spoilt the party. Anyway, you’re here to make that dough, not flimsy relations that end in tears.

But then she walks in on you one day warming your lunch at the office kitchen. You almost jump into the microwave. She flashes you a quick smile and stands there waiting, but for you, she could’ve as well just walked down the aisle at that very moment. It’s almost as if her beauty radiates off her, subduing anyone and everything in her presence. That night, she says ‘I DO’ in your dreams. But office romance is not a card you’re willing to play. Building your career and a life none of your parents could give you is why you two crossed paths. You’re here to break generational curses and bring light to your village, so your exaggerated dream might as well go to hell, or whatever place such angels come from.

The year has been amazing, you stuck to your guns, and brought the bacon home. At the End of Year Party, you get awarded for your good work. Most promising Junior Sales Associate, the base of your little trophy reads, and to be honest, you couldn’t agree more. Then she shows up. The slit on her purple dress is as generous as you’d have wished it to be. She looks excited for you, but maybe it’s the wine she’s holding. She says she thought you were special the moment she first saw you but now she knows that you are. She says you were built for sales and sales was built for you, and you can’t help but wish she thought the same about you two. The night gets older, and you, tipsier. She has laughed at 3 of your jokes in this one night and now you’re not sure what feels better between getting your award and her finding you funny. But it’s a beautiful night and you’re all for it.

You exchange contacts, and before you know it, you exchange hearts too. She makes you feel alive in ways you didn’t know exist. The best part is when you’re texting at the office and only you two are in on it. Or when you bump into each other in the elevator and giggle like kids all the way to the office. You now don’t mind making Sam his coffee anymore. You haven’t yet told her the extent to which she’s rocked your world though. Good things take time either way, so what’s the hurry for? You even go out for lunch together these days, stealing mini-dates when you can because, why not?

Then work starts to become a little too much. No more lunch dates. The fatigue starts to kick in, and so does her true colours. She no longer giggles at your texts like before, and even worse, she ghosts. You tried holding the elevator for her the other day but she said she had forgotten something, and left you to that empty box alone. It hurts to think that maybe you had read things wrong, that you were the only one that felt the butterflies crawling in your stomach. Then one evening, from the kitchen’s window, you see why. You see why she stopped finding you funny anymore, you see why she distanced herself. The guy’s car is parked right under the kitchen’s nose, and you watch her as she rushes in with that smile she had long robbed you, kisses the man that’s clearly not you, and they drive into the horizon, leaving you to the bitter coffee you’re trying to excite your evening with.

******

A big thank you to everyone that’s been on here, enjoy your holidays and be nice… See you next year!