Judy watched in sadness and regret as her mates graduated but it didn’t last because Ahmed proposed to her on the night of his graduation. If she did not have any reasons to believe that she made the right decision, this was the right indicator. He left me for younger woman.
He left me for a younger woman; an unlikely kind of love
Judy tried to pack her books with her little hands but they kept falling off. Who the hell told her to come to school with such an amount of books? She sighed again at her stupidity, if she had known, she would have just left the damned books at home. She just had to bring them to school so she could study.
Judy is highly introverted and the most intelligent girl in her class. Most of her classmates were home already and here she was, still in school, trying to pack her damned books. After a few tries, she managed to heap the books into her bag and slung her heavy bag across her shoulder. The bag proved quite heavy as the Judy bent slightly due to the weight of the bag.
She noticed someone trying to take off her bag, she resisted and turned around, it was Ahmed. She was shocked, what was he trying to do?
“Judy, be still. I want to help you carry your bag. It looks like you can’t bear the weight of the bag.”
“No, thank you, I can carry it myself.”
“Don’t be stubborn”, Ahmed riposted authoritatively as he collected the bag from her and Judy was shocked enough not to resist him.
The most popular boy in school was helping her with her bag, Judy wished the earth would open and swallow her.
She wondered why he was doing what he was doing.
With silence between them, they trudged under the warm evening sun. It was good her house was within walking distance of the school. He handed her the bag as soon as they got to her house. She thanked him and hurriedly went inside.
The next day at school, she accosted him and appreciated him again for carrying her bag. It was embarrassing for Judy but she could not help it, her parents had taught her to be appreciative of people’s help.
He left me for a younger woman; Intentionally cannot be helped.
Judy was not comfortable when Ahmed began carrying her bags each time she went home. She knew it was not a coincidence, it was intentional; He didn’t go home with his friends and often waited behind for her to finish reading. She found it unsettling at first but when it had begun to look like a norm, she got used to it.
During the period they walked home, they exchanged small talks, shared long silences and laughed conspiratorially. Her guards were being let down around him. She began to look forward to his company each evening. She liked his silence and the way his brows furrowed whenever he was staring into the ground.
The oil of their friendship that seemed to burn whenever they walked home together spilled into their daily school activities. Much to the surprise of the class, Judy and Ahmed became close. They were always found in each other’s company. Ahmed had made himself the protector of Judy who looked up to him.
Their friendship blossomed into sheer love, by the time they graduated from high school, they were in love and dating. Thus, contributing to their unanimous decision to go to the same school and study the same course.
It rained, then poured
Tragedy came knocking when Ahmed’s father died. Ahmed’s father was the sole provider of his home, and Ahmed’s mother was a housewife. The death of Ahmed’s father took its toll on the family especially when Ahmed’s relatives came and carted away most of Ahmed’s father’s properties leaving behind only the house to them. Ahmed had to start working to make ends meet.
Ahmed and Judy had often shared their dreams and whispered voiceless promises to be each other’s backup when the going gets tough. It was much to the displeasure of Judy when she found out Ahmed would not be taking up the admission. He would have to continue working or learn a trade so he could support his mother. Judy could not imagine life without Ahmed in the university, she felt the zest for school leave her once she realized she would have to walk the street of their dream university without him.
He left me for a younger woman… Sacrifice
Judy had to take a drastic step since she and Ahmed had promised marriage to each other; she was going to give up her education for him. He would have to go to school in her place while she waited for him to graduate and take care of them when he got a job. Ahmed refused at first but on Judy’s insistence, he accepted the offer amidst deep “thank you’s” that probably led to them offering up their bodies to each other for the first time to seal a bond designed forever.
Judy would sometimes think about the soundness of her decisions but she had no one to talk to because she was afraid of what people might say. She moved to school and got her parents to pay for the apartment she would live in with Ahmed. During matriculation, as a guise to deceive her parents, she took a friend’s gown and took pictures with it. Living four years as an intentional lie was not easy but she pulled it off; attending classes, writing tests and sitting for exams. Her classmates knew her but did not know she was not a student. They equally knew she was Ahmed’s girlfriend but did not know she was not a student.
Whatever Ahmed needed, all he had to do was to tell her and she would relay it to her parents as her own needs. The guilt of deceiving her parents washed away each time Ahmed cast his gaze on her. He was worth it, she often told herself. He could do no wrong because he loved her and she loved him and that was all that mattered.
It was worth it.
Judy watched in sadness and regret as her mates graduated but it didn’t last because Ahmed proposed to her on the night of his graduation. If she did not have any reasons to believe that she made the right decision, this was the right indicator.
Ahmed, brainy and smart got a job with an international company. Judy indicated her interest in going back to school and he convinced her to forget about schooling, he was already earning enough for both of them. It caused a bit of conflict but Judy worshipped Ahmed, she would do anything to please him, thus making her acquiesce to his demands. From his salary, Ahmed sponsored himself for his postgraduate degree with the encouragement of his fiancee, Judy. On the completion of his post-graduate degree, he got a better-paying job. Judy was ecstatic when Ahmed began marriage plans in the earnest.
Ahmed’s family was against his marriage to Judy because she was not a Muslim. Judy knew how much Ahmed loved her with the way he fought for her. They got married much to the displeasure of his family members.
What it feels like to be left for a younger woman
Ahmed got a piece of land in a nice area of town and made Judy oversee the building of their house. After a few years, they moved in with their two kids.
Years had passed and Judy was already in her forties, Ahmed her husband was also in his forties. Ahmed had gone on to make a name for himself in the engineering world, having worked on many contracts. Judy remained the dutiful housewife who took care of her husband and took care of their children and the home. Her children were growing delightfully and were in their teens about to head for the university.
A few months to their 18th anniversary, Judy noticed the changed attitude in her husband. He was no more the loving man that stole her heart; he was demeaning, increasingly demanding so bad that their two kids noticed and asked what was wrong. Judy could not lay her finger on what was going on until her husband started keeping late nights. He would take off for days without informing her and come back home with the smell of another woman’s perfume on him. Judy felt betrayed, a man she had dedicated her whole life to chose to pay her back in this way.
My husband left me for a woman twenty years younger.
For the first time in her 17 years of marriage, she confronted him boldly and he told her he was tired of their marriage. It seemed like the earth had stopped rotating on its axis. She was mad, she lunged at him in anger and it looked like a dream when he angrily threw her off and threw her things out of the house in the presence of their neighbours, domestic workers and the children.
In her presence, he called someone to come over, Judy realized the situation she was in and had to beg Ahmed. She had nothing to her name, worst she had nowhere to sleep for the night. She could not handle the pain of being separated from him. Judy was nothing without him, she had built her life around him. Where was she going to start from? she was in her forties. She kept crying and begging and holding on to his trousers while he looked on determinedly. Her children were begging with her.
Judy bent down in tears and wailed.
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