Everything between Stan and Milly seemed fine, at least from the outside. From the inside too, things seemed fine. They appeared to be one happy couple. Millicent believed they were happy, and she thought they were on the same page with her man because her man also seemed happy with their relationship. Except that Stan was not. He was not okay with their relationship and if anyone asked him what was the issue, he could not put a finger on it. But to him, something did not add up about who Milly was. Sometimes, he felt that Milly portrayed a false image of herself.
Before becoming an item, they had known each other for a few months. Three months to be specific. Milly had been sent to the head office with regards to her bank account which had issues. On reaching there, Stan was the one that served her. Stan had liked her so much and he knew that if given a chance, he would not mind knowing her even more.
Against the bank policy, he took her phone number and started sending her WhatsApp messages. Things were at first interesting between them, then conversations turned steamy and within no time, the two were talking about dating.
Stan thought that they had hurried things, but again there was no formula on how long to wait before getting into a relationship. History had people who had waited for so long in the name of knowing each other, only for things not to work between them. History also had people who had barely known each other and had their happily ever after. Three months had been enough for him to know whether he wanted to date Milly or not. He ignored the little voice in his head, together with his cautious friends’ warnings and went ahead to start a thing with her.
Since they lived in different towns, time together had to be limited to the weekends because both had lives to lead. Milly had a grocery shop, while Stan had just started his new job. Weekdays were for hustle and weekends, like it sometimes is for some relationships where couples spend so much time together, every weekend had these two together.
During the three first weekends, Milly went to Stan’s place. The following weekend, Stan went and visited Milly. This particular weekend, when Stan went to Milly’s place was weird to Stan. He could not help but notice how expensive Milly’s lifestyle was.
This he notice right from the time he was entering the neighbourhood. Milly lived in a neighbourhood that seemed too expensive for someone who was just starting a grocery shop, and who did not come from a rich family.
First of all, it was a gated community with security. He wondered what he had missed inquiring about all that time they had been together. Or had she mentioned this and he did not register it?
He almost declined to enter, especially when he remembered stories of how men were hacked to death for invading another man’s territory. But then he remembered how sweet and honest Milly was, he figured out that whatever it was he had not gotten from their conversations, he would know more about it before the weekend ended.
On entering the house, he noticed the expensive furniture in the living room. The marble and mahogany pieces were too conspicuous not to notice. The home theatre and the very big TV screen on the wall made Stan unsure of whether he was in the right place or not.
“Wow! You have such a beautiful space,” Stan said after sipping some juice.
“Thank you.”
Stan did not want to say more, he wanted to see more and try to make sense of the whole ambiguous situation. When someone hosts you, the least you could do is be polite and stop being nosy, even if this person hosting you, is your favourite person. Stan thought to himself as he dismissed the urge to ask about her place.
While still seated, he noticed that the kitchen was an open plan one with a huge space that allowed for a dining table to be placed there. Milly had appliances that looked very expensive. When a 26-year-old lady who depended on a small 4-month grocery store to pay her bills had all Samsung kitchen appliances, not forgetting a double-doored fridge, there was something that he didn’t know.
Well, to say that he was astonished would be an understatement. He was beyond shocked to see how the fridge was full to the brim. Well, not that it was not a good thing to have enough, but the level of sufficiency that one has becomes questionable when it does not match their level of income.
Everything in Milly’s house was super expensive and this did not sit well with Stan. The impression that Milly had given Stan, was that of a young woman just out of campus trying to figure things out as they look for a job. That was the image he had all through.
Nothing about their conversation or Milly’s dress and demeanour had seemed off. Everything about how they interacted played along the script of the prior image that Stan had of her. Until this day where every detail pointed to a different profile.
Friday evening had been a good one, they stayed indoors, cuddled as they ordered food and enjoyed quality time together. Saturday was also a good one. Milly had suggested that they go out, staying in the house the whole day may be a good thing but not the best way to spend a weekend.
“So, how do you get to town from here? It seems very far.” Stan had asked as he offered to request an Uber.
“I just drive, it’s less than ten minutes”.
“What do you mean you drive?” Stan seemed shaken.
“I just drive. What’s up?”
“Oh. I didn’t know you had a car.” Stan revealed the reason behind his astonishment.
“We never talked about it. Also, I don’t like driving for long distances like even to your town that’s why I never came with it to your place.”
Stan wondered, was it possible that Milly had moments of surprise when finding more about him like it was in his case? He yet again wondered if it was something normal to have a different image of someone even after five months when they were the opposite of what you had envisioned.
He had dated before, but something like that had never happened. It was his first time feeling this way and it was off and weird. While they drove out to town, Stan could not help but speak to Milly about his concerns.
“I don’t know, but coming to your place has surprised me so much.”
“What has surprised you?” asked Milly.
“Everything.” Stan’s response was vague because how could he mention every specific thing that was making him uncomfortable.
“By everything you mean?” Milly wanted him to be specific.
This question made Stan question if Milly was serious. Stan wondered if she did not notice the shock on his face all the time he was in her house.
“Let me just say that I did not expect your place to be in such a neighbourhood, I did not expect you to be living that kind of lifestyle,” Stan said as he hoped he’d get more clarity from Milly.
“Ooooh. I see. Where did you expect my place to be located? Also what standards were you expecting?” Milly shot back. She sounded sarcastic. It’s like she did not expect this conversation, and she sounded uncomfortable too.
“Does this conversation make you uncomfortable? We can talk about something else.”
“Not really, but that’s how even my friends react when they find out about my place.”
“So, what else do you do for a living? Surely it can’t be that grocery shop alone that facilitates that lavish living.” Stan could not believe how straightforward he was being.
“You can’t believe how profitable a grocery shop is. I also do supplies to other shops within Nakuru. By 6:00 I have finished with the supplies.” Milly had said.
“Wow, maybe I should leave my bank job and become a grocery supplier because I won’t mind having all that.” Stan joked.
However, it was not funny to Milly who seemed to have taken the joke as sarcasm. They arrived at the hotel they were going to. The two hours out were tense, they swam and each took their favourite meal and drink, but at the same time, they had a chilled conversation. Each of them was very careful in what they said because it felt like they were walking on eggshells. One did not know what sentence would push the wrong button.
Saturday went just like that. Then Sunday came. This particular morning, Milly had woken up earlier than the previous two days when the two would spend time cuddling and telling jokes and tickling each other before going to the kitchen to prepare breakfast together. She had gone and started preparing without Stan even noticing.
He woke up to the aroma of pancakes and he could not wait to taste them. But as he was still laying in bed, and looking around the room trying to make sense of how a grocery shop would afford her girl such a life, he got attracted by a colourful thing in the open closet. He kept his eyes on this colourful thing and noticed that it was a wig, a pink one.
He had never known that Milly wore wigs. She had been an all-natural woman over the five months they had known each other, but from the realization of her lavish life which he had not expected, this ought not to be a surprise.
He decided to satisfy his curiosity. He got out of bed and walked to the closet. On opening it wide open, he became even more curious. In the closet, he saw several wigs with different shouting colours. Very colourful wigs and short dresses had been hung next to these wigs. There were also stockings and lingerie.
It was very weird because he had never seen Milly in wigs or dresses that short. Or maybe Milly lived with a friend. Stan wondered. Because no way was Milly wearing those clothes or wigs. On looking even more into the closet, Stan noticed a ring light, a realization that made everything even more interesting. What were all these for?
As he was still looking, a heavy sigh made him turn back. Only to see Milly standing with a breakfast tray. She looked very vexed.
She placed the tray on the bedside stool and walked towards the closet where Stan was standing.
She closed the closet and said, “Don’t you think you are intruding?”
“Really?” Stan said in disbelief.
“Yeah,” Milly said.
“We are dating, Milly.”
“Does that mean that you go through my things anyhow? Can’t I have some privacy?”
“You go through my things when you come to my place every other time.”
“Because you have no problem with me doing that.”
“Never mind, the closet was open. What are you doing with all these? You are a blogger and I don’t know. Milly? Why are you so mad that I saw those things?” Stan asked.
Milly kept quiet and ignored that question.
“Is there something that I should know? Everything seems off about your place and now this”.
“There’s nothing to know, Stan. These are just some things I keep around once in a while when I go out. Come we have breakfast it will get cold.” Milly said as she tried to get him to move away from the wardrobe.
“No Milly. Don’t do that. Tell me. Who are you? Why all the ambiguity? If you don’t speak I am walking out of this door right now.”
“Calm down. You don’t need to walk out on me.”
“Speak up then,” Stan said sternly.
“Okay, I vlog.”
“And you’ve never told me about this detail of your life. You vlog about what specifically? If I may ask?”.
“Because you’ll find out anyway, I do only fans,” Milly said bluntly. At this time, she was not looking at Stan in the eye but rather looking sideways.
“Wow.”
There was a very deep silence at this point.
“Then maybe the grocery story facilitating your lifestyle was just made up.”
“You were not supposed to find those things. I must have been careless.”
He looked at her and said something that Milly did not expect. “It’s a good thing I saw them. It’s made me know you more.”
That shook Milly a bit. This was a part of her that she was determined to hide from her man. She did not have a good feeling about what he had said, and but had to inquire about it but a subtle waytle.
“And what do you think?” Milly asked.
“I think we would need to take things slow. For some time ”
“What does that mean?” Millie knew what exactly he meant, she just wanted to hear him say it out loud.
“It means that we take things slow. That we get to know each other more and then we see how things will be.” He said in a way that convinced Milly to just take his sentiments literally.
She had a feeling that Stan had been repulsed about knowing about that part of her life. That he would not be able to continue loving her the way he once had and that trying to please or beg him won’t change a thing. So that was it. They then took their breakfast slowly and in silence. That morning became the most uncomfortable one they’d had, something that prompted Stan to leave earlier than planned.
After that weekend, things grew cold between Milly and Stan. Conversations became minimal and texts became one-sentence conversations. Eventually, they stopped communicating at all.
Here are more short stories to read
I Found Out My Girlfriend Had An Onlyfans Account And That Is How She Paid Her Bills
My Boyfriend Was Insecure Because I Worked At A Massage Parlour
He Made Me Miscarriage And Kept Secrets From Me Like The Fact That He Was Married
Martin’s Addiction To Social Media Pushed His Girlfriend Away
Caught Between Snitching On His Friends And Going To Jail, Remi Chose The Third Option
An Accidental Screenshot Breaks A 3 Year Friendship
Tisha’s Visit Involved Pressing All The Wrong Buttons With All The Insensitive Questions She Asked
