I got home and freshened up. I lay on my bed and stare blankly at the ceiling. The event of the day flashed through my mind and my mood suddenly changed. I felt bad that I couldn’t answer a question confidently in class. Even when joy approached me nicely, I couldn’t even say a word to her. Why am I always like this? Will I ever be confident enough to speak with a lady without feeling nervous? when will I stop behaving this way? Am I the only one in this world with this kind of personality? what did I do wrong to be born with this kind of trait? Am I cursed or something?

 It seems like I’m the only one in the world with this trait. I have never come across any shy guy all
my life. Where did I get this kind of trait from?

I was lost in thought. The vibration of my phone brought me back to reality. I stretched my hand to my table to get my phone. I stared into the screen and saw that it was an unknown number. My heart missed a beat when I realized I gave Joy my number.

I sat up immediately still staring at my phone. I quickly rehearsed a few words I would say to her when I pick the call. I took a deep breath and placed my hand close to the green button. While I was still contemplating on whether to pick the call, it suddenly stopped ringing. It started ringing almost immediately.

My phone suddenly became too heavy for me to hold. I needed to pick the call. I won’t
allow my personality to drive away someone who seems to care about me. I summoned all the courage in me to pick the call. I placed the phone on my ear and said “hi” in the nicest way I could.

“Guy you didn’t try at all. you have forgotten about me. You can’t even call me” the voice at
the other end said. it wasn’t actually a lady’s voice. it was a guy’s voice. I felt relieved when I heard the voice. “please who am I speaking with?” I asked “so you don’t recognize my voice?”

The voice rang a well. I knew I have heard that voice before. I thought for a while. “Daniel” I called
“yes it’s Daniel. I thought you won’t recognize my voice.” he said “wow! so it’s you Daniel. Long
time” I said happily “yeah, long time” he responded.

“How are you?” I asked
“I’m fine and you”
“I’m fine too” I responded
“so how is school?” he asked
“school is fine”
“I hope those girls in school are not giving you problem”
“not at all” I responded
“is this your number”
“yes this is my new number. I said.

 “I should call you, since you don’t want to call me”
“Daniel you know that’s not true. If I had your number, I would have called you” I said
“okay o, I just said I should hear from you”
“you did very well. I’m very grateful. I will save your number.”
“okay then, we will talk later.” Daniel said
“okay, thanks for the call”

I ended the call and stared at my phone screen with smiles on my face. It was good to hear from Daniel. Daniel is my childhood friend and a very good adviser. I placed my phone on the table and lay on my bed. Just immediately I placed the phone on the table, it started vibrating again. I took the phone from the table and picked the call without looking at the caller. “hello Daniel” I said into the phone “Christian” the caller called. I froze when I heard a lady’s voice. I slowly removed the phone from my ear and stared into the screen. The number was different from Daniel’s number. I slowly placed the phone back on my ear. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest.

“hello” I said calmly
“Christian how are you? This is Joy”
“Joy. how……. how are you?” I stammered
“Christian you don’t sound too well. Should I come over to your place?”
“No, no” I cut in immediately “I’m not at home”
“where did you go to?” she asked
“I’m in the hospital”
“hospital!” she exclaimed “is it that serious?”

What did I just say? I couldn’t believe I just told her I was in the hospital. I quickly took
back those words

“no Joy, I mean I went to get some drugs from a pharmacy.”
“okay, how is your body” she asked
“I’m fine now. I will call you back. I’m on a busy road right now” I said
“okay” she responded

I ended the call and took a deep breath. I lay on my bed and didn’t know when I slept.

…to be continued