The series of questions that Brad had asked me seemed very weird. The tone of these questions was off. Though he liked asking questions when he wanted to know where I was as a form of concern as a boyfriend, this time round something was very off and I could not tell what.
“So you said you were at home, yet I can feel that you aren’t?” He had asked after several times of me telling him that I was at home.
“Yes, I said I was at home. Why do you keep on asking the same question over and over?” I was becoming irritated at this point.
He had called like five times. Each time he called, he asked the same question. He asked where I was. I replied. he sounded discontent with my answer and hung up. He’d take like five minutes before calling again.
I figured that maybe was not okay on his end because he rarely behaved in such a manner. Brad was a very mature person. He rarely got into petty fights, regardless of the issue at hand. Even when I fought, he maintained a stand that was firm and reasonable. This got me concerned.
After three weird calls, I decided to call because he was not responding to my texts not WhatsApp.
The phone rang twice and he hung up. The second time I called, he did not pick up. I decided to relax and wait maybe he’d come over or call yet again.
Betty, who lived directly above my house on the second floor, had invited Angel and me over we make banana bread. This had been a good way to pass the Saturday afternoon given that we were all around. There was a lot of catching up and of course, girls’ stories.
All this while when he called and hung up, I was on the balcony dealing with whatever Brad had decided to unleash on me. I had excused myself after the third call. I decided that I won’t pick up the next time he called because, clearly he was not ready we communicate.
I went back to the kitchen where the dough was almost ready to be put in the oven. We placed it in the oven and as we were catching up with glasses of wine, a call came through yet again.
You guessed right because it was Brad. He was calling for the fourth time. I decided to ignore it. After it stopped ringing, I heard a beep. A message had just been sent.
“You aren’t picking and you aren’t in the house. What’s up?” He texted.
“I am at the house,” I said.
He sounded annoyed. Like there was something he knew and needed to say but could not just say it. His insistence that I was not at my place was rooted in a certainty that he only knew.
“You are not. I know.” He said.
“How do you know?” I asked.
“I just know.”
“How?”
We went back and forth and he was not telling me anything concrete. Something that we could work on within a conversation that started weirdly.
It had not occurred to me that I needed to be specific. Anytime I am within the apartment complex, I would just say that I am around without getting into the details of where specifically.
But this got me thinking. How did he know that I wasn’t in my house? How could he tell that I wasn’t specifically in my house? He had insisted with so much confidence that I wasn’t there. He was not wrong because though I was around, I was not specifically inside my place.
I felt scared. Was he having me followed? And if so, who was doing the following as I did not see anyone around that looked suspicious? I tried looking around and I did not see anyone.
Angel and Betty were not the type of women who could do such a thing. At least, not from how I knew them.
“Wait, are you having me followed around?” I asked because I was shocked when this occurred to me. Because how else was his guess so accurate?
He became very defensive. “Wait, what now?”
“Do you have someone checking on my location now and then?”
Instead of answering my question, he asked another question.
“Why would you think that?”
“I don’t know how you’d guess so precisely like that. Unless there was something that I don’t know from your end?” I was shaking.
I had seen such things in movies. Today, it was a reality that is looking at me in the face. Brad, my boyfriend somehow had knowledge of where I was even when he was kilometres away. He was not guessing but speaking as if he knew for sure that I was not in my house at that specific time.
“Meaning you are not in the house and I have been right all through?” He arrogantly asked.
I replied with the same energy. “Oh yes. That’s right.”
“And you chose to lie about it?”
“You are damn right,” I responded without care of sounding like I did not care.
Apart from the fact that his guess was right, was the fact that I had a man who was not only having me stalked but did not care that I was concerned about such an act from his end. I was furious.
“Why would you lie about such a thing? You know I need to trust you if this has to work?” He had said, oblivious to what was going on.
This made me wonder if this was Brad speaking or someone who had a voice like his. He was usually very aware and sensitive when it came to conversations. I could confidently say that he had emotional intelligence. But this day, he was very different. He was saying things without thinking about the implications of what he was saying.
“You know you haven’t told me how you found out I wasn’t at my house.” I wanted to know how he knew.
“Neither have you told me where you are.” He did not sound apologetic at all about my suspicion that he was having me followed.
To avoid any more back and forth, I decided to answer him accurately, and without any sarcasm or rudeness. Whoever I was talking to, sounded very different from the Brad I knew. The Brad I was dating.
“I am in Betty’s place. The second-floor lady. I am sure you know her.”
“Yes, I know her. Why didn’t you just say that?” He asked.
“Betty’s place is within the apartment complex so basically I am at home. I haven’t left the estate,” I responded honestly.
“Really?”
“Yeah, really!” I said arrogantly.
He took a deep sigh. Then an uncomfortable silence followed. I knew it was my time to ask whatever I wanted to ask.
“So, tell me. How did you know?”
“I just did.” He said.
“How?” I insisted.
“There wasn’t background music when we talked. Your house usually has background music every other time.” He said.
This almost got me. I almost fell for this. But then even as I was standing on the balcony, I could hear Betty’s music playing softly. It had been playing ever since we arrived. The volume wasn’t very high so I wondered what made him know specifically that I was not in my house. But it was at a level where if somebody called, the person on the other end would hear. I figured out that he was lying. There was no need for a further conversation on this. But one thing became very clear, that he knew whenever I wasn’t at my place. How he did that, I did not know.
I went back into the house where the banana bread was ready and out of the oven. I had spent so much time outside speaking to Brad without even realizing it. On arrival, I tried as much as possible not to show the fears and irritation that I had. But Betty always knew when something was not ok with me.
“You are not okay girl. What’s up?” She asked.
“Nothing.” I lied. I didn’t want to discuss it.
She looked at me and then at Angel. “It’s the call you just made.”
Angel affirmed Betty’s speculations by nodding.
“It must be. You weren’t this way when you came.”
“Yeah. It is.” I confirmed her suspicion.
“What’s up?” Angel came and sat next to me looking concerned.
I didn’t know where to start so I took a deep breath and asked what was making me so jumpy. “Is it possible to know a person’s whereabouts even when their phone location isn’t on?”
“It depends. If that person is at a close distance and they see you, they’d of course know.” Betty joked.
“I am serious. Like now, someone knows that you aren’t in your place. But not knowing where exactly you are.” I clarified.
“Yeah, it’s very possible,” Betty confirmed.
“How,” I asked.
“If there are hidden cameras in your house, then yeah. Very possible. That’s how they can tell that you are not in your place, but they won’t be able to tell where exactly you are.” Angel said confidently.
I told them about my conversation with Brad and how he insisted I was not at home. They listened and we discussed whether my boyfriend could have a hidden camera in my house. We had heard of such situations but we had never imagined it could happen to one of us. After telling them about Brad’s suspicious behaviour and his insistence that I was not at home, they got even more convinced that there must be a hidden camera somewhere in my house.
We went into the house to check. I could not allow this camera to continue staying in my house for even one more minute if at all there was one. We entered the house and turned it upside down in search of this thing that we were only speculating about.
After half an hour of hard search, we found two of them. One was on the wall clock in the living room. So tiny at the heart of the clock, nobody would have been able to tell it was there. The other one was on the light fixture that was right above my bed.
It shook me so hard that I could not talk for some time. The man had been watching me without my knowledge. For how long this had been going on, I didn’t know.
How he could do such a thing was beyond my understanding. Was it trust issues, or he was just that way? I did not know. We removed the cameras and destroyed them.
After ten minutes, he called. I think that’s when he noticed they were missing. He asked if I was moving houses, and I couldn’t be sarcastic or beat around the bush, I just told him the plain truth.
“No, I found your hidden cameras and destroyed them. That’s why you aren’t seeing anything. It’s dark over there I am sure.” He stammered something then hung up.
One thing I was sure about, was that I never wanted to see him again. The knowledge that he had been secretly watching me without my knowledge was enough to turn me off. I felt hurt.
“I never want to see you again.” I texted him. I packed all his things, called a motorbike guy and sent them to him.
Check out
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She Found Out That Her Ex-Boyfriend Had Hacked Her Social Media Accounts
I Met A Guy At A Funeral Who Turned Out To Be A Stalker
I Went On A Date With My Instagram Stalker Without Knowing It
My Toxic Ex Harassed Me On Social Media Until I Had To Deactivate My Accounts
The Time Mr. Nice Guy Turned Into A Stalker
The Stranger Turned Stalker Who Terrorized Me
Photo by Tachina Lee on Unsplash
