Maybe Men Don't Cry, But Boys Do

I've had multiple encounter with stingy and greedy people, none of which was a good experience but one thing I always take away from our encounter is that I never ever want to be like them.

One particular experience that I don't think I will be forgetting anytime soon was something that happened to be about three years ago. You see, three years ago was when I was at my brokest. I had little to no money to spend. It was around my second year in school and every money I had back then was spent on books and fees. I was lucky enough to have little money for food but aside from feeding, there was no money to buy anything else for myself.

Back then, the clothes I had were the ones I had brought from home and they were beginning to look old but I had no money to get new ones so I managed. There was this neighbor of mine at my hostel who was done schooling and had told me that he had plans to move into a three bedroom flat in town. The dude happens to be someone who was very rich, so when he told me of his plans to move out, I had seized that opportunity to ask for help.

I didn't ask him for money, I had asked him to give me some of his old clothes that he was no longer wearing, so that I could add them to mine and he had agreed, but he said I had to wait until the day he was moving, so I waited.

It took months before he finally moved and on the day he was leaving, I had helped him to move his things downstairs, hoping that me doing all of that will soften his heart to maybe give me a lot of clothes.

But then I noticed that as we were packing his things, he was avoiding going to his wardrobe, almost like he was keeping it for last. And when we finally moved everything and it was just his clothes remaining, he had asked the driver to move, that he was going to pick his clothes some other time.

But the driver had told him that he won't be coming here for the second time, that it was best they moved everything now, seeing how there still was space in his vehicle.

My neighbor hesitated for a little bit before eventually agreeing to pack the clothes, so I followed him upstairs, hoping he would fulfill his promise even though I could tell that the only reason he was hesitating was because I was there.

We got to his room, just the two of us and he started to pack, so I decided it was the right time to remind him of the promise he made to me, which I did, only for him to tell me he had no clothes to give.

I was heartbroken.

I even pointed to the old ones I could see but he had refused. He eventually gave me a pair of his shoes, maybe as a consolation prize, before he went downstairs. I had collected the shoes and gone into my room, feeling sad and trying my best not to cry.

But just as I heard the bus driver ignite his vehicle, I heard someone running back upstairs, it was my neighbor. He had walked straight to my door, only to tell me that he needed his shoes back because he had someone else in mind he wanted to give them to.

I had given him his shoes and watched him leave. And up until this day, I pray to God never to make me feel the way I felt that day ever again.

_{Photo by Kat J}