My cousin Fridah and I developed a close relationship during our teenage years. She had been with me throughout all my bad relationships and so when I met Owen through her I didn’t suspect him to be anything but a nice guy. He seemed like a fun, good-looking guy who was genuinely interested in me.
During our first interaction, he saved my number and said he would get in touch to see when I would be available to hang out. In my head, I knew that meant taking me on a date. Two weeks passed by, and he called me on a Tuesday night to ask If I would be down for a road trip. The next day was a public holiday and so I agreed. It wasn’t my ideal idea for a date, but I was dying to spend time with him. He refused to tell me where we were going until the next day. He had planned for us to spend the day in Nakuru. That morning I packed a few essentials, and he picked me up at 10 am.
The first hour of the trip everything was going great. He was flirting with me while giving me the chance to know a little bit about him. As we approached Naivasha he stopped the car by the roadside, got out, opened the bonnet and started looking around. From his facial expression, I could tell there was a problem. A few minutes later he came back and informed me that we needed to go to the petrol station.
During the ride, he received a phone call. Owen picked up and started talking in his mother tongue so I couldn’t pick up what he was talking about. However, I assumed it was either about business or money. Once the call ended, he turned to me and asked If I could send 2,000 Kshs to his friend and then he would pay me back. I informed him that I only had 1,000 Kshs and he asked me to send then he would cover the difference.
I agreed and sent the money without bothering to ask who I was sending the money to. Since he was my cousin’s friend, I didn’t have any reason not to trust his word. When we got to the petrol station a mechanic approached the car to check what was wrong. The whole time I was focused on my phone until Owen asked me to step outside so we could talk.
“So, the mechanic needs 4,000 Kshs and I only have 3,000 Kshs. Please could you send me 1,000 Kshs then I will refund once we get to Nairobi,” He said.
I felt a little annoyed since I had just told him a short while ago that I only had the 1,000 Kshs I had sent earlier.
“No, I sent you the only money I had,” I replied.
“Okay let me see who I can borrow the money from,” He replied.
We stayed at the petrol station for one hour. The way he paced around, I knew he somehow hoped I would borrow money to top up the amount he had. When he realized, I wasn’t attempting to do anything, he eventually paid and we left.
To avoid saying something bad, I put on my earphones for the rest of the ride. At some point, I felt the car stop.
“Why have we stopped?” I asked while removing my earphones.
“We are low on gas,” He replied.
I tried to remain calm but deep down I wanted to scream.
“We were at a petrol station, why didn’t you fuel the car?” I asked.
“Is there anyone you can borrow 1,500 Kshs from then I’ll send it together with the initial money you sent?” He asked, completely ignoring my question.
By this time, I was already tired of the trip and heading to Nakuru didn’t make sense anymore. So, I called my sister and asked if she could lend me money. She asked me why I couldn’t just use the money as fare to go back to Nairobi. It felt wrong leaving him there then also he still owed me money. I explained the situation and she sent the money immediately. Luckily there was a petrol station nearby and we managed to get there. I intended to pay directly but somehow Owen managed to convince me to send him the money. Something about if he pays from his line, he will get points. I was so frustrated that I didn’t even bother to check how much he had used for fuel.
Once the process was done, I asked him to take me back to Nairobi. He tried to talk me into still going to Nakuru but I was so done with the trip, so he agreed to go back. We didn’t talk during the ride back. When we arrived, he took me to his place. My thought was he was going to pay me back my money so I could take a matatu back home. He welcomed me into his apartment, and I found a woman watching a movie. I greeted her and waited for Owen to give me my money. He went into a room and came back with his wallet and then turned me around so we could leave.
“Are you dropping me home?” I asked.
“No, I need to withdraw cash so I can give you the money,” He replied.
We went to an ATM and after a short while, he came back and told me that there was an issue with the machine. Then proceeded to ask if he could send me the money the next day. I was a bit sceptical about that plan and informed him that I needed fare to go home. He removed 500 Kshs from his wallet and handed it to me.
“This won’t be enough to get me home,” I lied.
“Okay can we go back to my place you spend the night then tomorrow I’ll give you the cash?” He said.
“I can’t spend the night in a house where you live with your girlfriend,” I replied.
“The lady you met is my cousin,” He said casually.
I agreed to spend the night at his place but shared a room with his cousin. The next day, I woke up only to find that he had left early in the morning. His cousin informed me that he had a meeting with his friends and would be back soon. I attempted to call him, but he kept on declining, so I ended up staying there the whole day.
At 4 pm, my dad called me asking where I was and so I decided to leave and call him later in the night. That night he kept on ignoring my calls which made me frustrated. I decided to call Fridah and explain what had happened. During our conversation, I mentioned his cousin and she told me that in all the years they had known each other she had never heard of the cousin. Which meant that the lady was his girlfriend. I didn’t even care about the lie, all that I cared about was the 2,500 Kshs he owed me. After days of trying to get the money from him, Fridah decided to send me the money to save our bond. That was the first and last time I decided to travel with or send money to a man I barely knew out of blind faith.
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