Mr. Excuses and The Rebound

A short story by Angie Tawfik

He found her so sweet, that he would talk to her four continuous hours over the phone, he even did most of the talk, he wanted her to fall for him. He kept the strong and massive communication for almost 10 days. Then he asked her if she had fell in love before or not, she didn't give him a definite answer but told him a short story about an early childhood romance. It was one-sided romance. In the same phone call he started bragging about the fact that he never fell in love before. He lied. He was too much in love with his ex that he denied his capability to love altogether. She couldn't buy it, but didn't raise anything about it.

Shortly after that call, she told him she didn't like being with her ex-fiance, and enlisted a few drawbacks about that relationship but she didn't make a big deal out of it nor did he.

Then slowly the fires of his so-called caring started to put down, instead of him calling, she became the one who usually calls.

At first, he started cancelling with the so-famous "I am in a meeting" message, then he would call back, but he never talked like before.

Then came another stage, he started delaying calling her back for more than a few hours, so she would sort of check upon him or talk to him in the chat, he wouldn't answer.

Prior to her vacation, she on purpose made a chat-fight with him. She told him that he was trying to control her for that he earlier wanted her to get rid of her shoes wardrobe and start getting footwear that matches his taste. She stretched him to the max and said that she was sort of feeling comfortable with him but their relationship is tiresome. He was too polite and seemed understanding then, he actually took it with a grain of salt but didn't show anything about it.

Afterwards she traveled on her vacation and he was like never calling unless she calls or comes in his way. He had a delayed re-action, most likely a synthetic reaction. In the mid of her vacation he sent her a song. The song says that he is the manly-man, he is the one to choose what would she wear and what would not, and if she doesn't like it, she should walk away.

She made it clear to him that she would keep him despite of the "go away if you don't like it" that's in the song. In her mind she tolerated him trying to make her look like a certain person or look in a certain way. She's kind and lied to herself convincing herself that his action is an action of love, he might be true and might be wanting her to look in the best possible way. She became his doormat then, and she sort of regreted it.

She came back from her vacation and he never did an effort to meet or call her. She started feeling depleted, and tried sometimes to remain away from him for a couple of days or so. Along the way, she kept her focus on her hobbies and learning a new language. At least she knew how to read faster than any one else, how to keep the joy of a new skill and how to learn a language in the most unusual ways that work.

At a later stage, he also traveled, but his travelling was for work. He became purposefully ignoring her. He would only write a few lines in the chat out of his striving for being perfect and hiding his mistakes. He would as if he is doing a favor to some one poor or write without bothering to look for something back from her, he would write to draw some sick satisfaction out of attempting being good to her.

Then he came back, and to him she became non-existent. He ignored her for three or four days in a row, and whenever she called, he would instantly come up with a bunch of excuses without her asking.. "I am sick", "I am tired", "I am not okay", "It is too cold to go out", "I have no idea why I eat and fall asleep right away till the next day!", "I am ..." you name it. In between, he would lie saying that he wanted to meet her but he implicitly made it clear to her that he preferred an outing with his work colleagues over seeing her. His actions spoke louder than his words, nay louder than his lies.

She waited for a few days, where he would contact her only twice per week. He either made it short and meaningless, or if longer than a few minutes he on purpose would bring up those topics that annoy her like "You must go to the doctor to check your allergy."

She started feeling that not only is he avoiding her, but he is also trying to push her away. He wanted to get rid of the relationship. So, she put him to a final test, so that she can make a good decision, after telling her he is sick she waited for one day and asked him in the chat:

"How do you feel today, better?"
"Or you are still not okay?"

For a bunch of twenty-hours he didn't bother to get back to her, not a call nor a single chat line. She eventually deleted his contact from her phones, and asked her dad to call him to end such a fake-let's-get-to-know-each-other-before-marriage. He was so glad her dad called, as if he was waiting for it for ages.

It was an end to short-term romance in her life, but she got all of her lessons learned. May be she might forget some of these lessons in some moments, but she is a good learner after all.

At least, she promised herself not to let low-quality boys in her life any more. Mr. Excuses was on a rebound and hurt her along the way. It is of no importance how her attitude towards men might have changed to the better but she got more self-confident and kept her morals the same.

Her dignity is above all.