As I reached into my bag to get the phone, I made an about-turn in uttermost excitement. I was excited that at least I had found something to focus on, hoping and praying that Mr Handsome would simply, if indeed he had to, gesture to me and proceed. Judging from the fact that when I had bumped onto him earlier on, he didn’t seem quite impressed by my conduct, I thought a simple nod would suffice. But, I had forgotten that when I shook his hand in apology, the guy had frozen for a bit. The kind of reaction you would expect from a guy who has been smitten by a girl’s smile!

Finding my phone did not seem to be much of a mission on this day unlike on other days when I actually miss some calls because I fail to reach for it in time. The unfortunate person whose calls I always miss is Raymond, who somewhat got my number from a friend of a friend. Whoever thought that linking up people is cool was mistaken because, for me, such relationships do not attract any of my respect. I try by any means possible to avoid getting attached, because the last time I did, the relationship did not end well. Not because there was anything super wrong with this guy. Fine, I did not like him for other things but I would like to believe that my anger emanated from the mere fact that we had been hooked up, in a somewhat funny manner. I also felt like the person who had hooked us up would always brag about the matchmaking success. The relationship just had to end!

My brother is one star I know at matchmaking, and he always brags about all the matches he has created. A case in point is his female best friend whom he hooked up with his high school mate. Every time he talks about her, Tj does not make the mistake of forgetting to mention that he has been hooking up Tinaye with three of her past boyfriends. The good thing is that with Tinaye’s current relationship, Tj seems to have aced it because we are waiting for nothing but wedding bells.

However, the funny thing is that Tj seems to have no idea on how to create his own match so he finds joy in other people’s happiness. I believe that it’s not like he can’t, he probably doesn’t have time for committed relationships. The only thing my brother can honestly and totally commit to is his alcohol.

Tj loves alcohol so much that he would do anything for it. At one time he ended up getting involved with a lady much older than him, simply because she could afford to buy him alcohol. Not only was Cleo older, but she was the ugliest woman I have ever seen – no offense. I had never been a person who believes that people can be categorised as ugly but when I met Cleo, I couldn’t agree more. The funny thing is that my brother was never ashamed of it as long as he was benefiting. Looking at how handsome Tj is, anyone would just laugh at this match.

I have to give credit to Cleo because she has a sense of style and is always smartly dressed and smelling good – topped up by her ultimate success in a man’s world. This made me realise that if you have money, you can possibly get anything you want. Or maybe not necessarily anything you want but getting a man could be simple despite the old adage that when you are old and supposedly ugly, no one will notice you. It’s not just ladies who like things, men can be bought too!!!

Now imagine this guy who had gotten my number from a friend of a friend had been trying to call me and get my attention and every time he did, I would miss his call. I’m sure he would be probably thinking that I would deliberately ignore him but that was not the case. While I may not have wanted to talk to him, I would also smile upon missing the call and spare myself the guilt of ignoring him intentionally.

I have seen Tj ignoring his phone several times. At first, I thought it was some deals he would be involved in, but it turned out that most of the time, it would be women he would be trying to avoid. I didn’t know that women can be chasy like that because there is one number that I ended up knowing by heart as she would always call Tj, at least three times a day. I suspected that this must be a nurse because she had her times all set, just like the nurses’ schedules to attend to their patients for medication. As for me, the situation was a different case on this day. Upon hearing the phone ring, I really had to get the call.