Fatu A. Kamara

Happy birthday to me.

Your softness is not a liability and your light doesn’t need permission to shine.~Teyana Taylor

Patience and the Man Who Loved Cheating

Short Story

Patience was a quiet girl with a soft heart. She believed in love the way some people believe in miracles, fully, completely, and without question. So when she met Daniel, she thought she had finally found the man God sent for her.

Daniel was charming, funny, and sweet… at least in the beginning. But Daniel had a habit, a dangerous one. He loved cheating. He didn’t cheat because Patience did anything wrong. He didn’t cheat because he lacked love at home. He cheated simply because he wanted to. Because he could.

Every time Patience trusted him, Daniel found a new woman to talk to. Every time she forgave him, he created a new lie. It wasn’t that he was missing anything, he just wasn’t committed to anything.

One day, Patience asked him,
“Why do you keep doing this to me? What have I done to deserve it?”

Daniel struggled and said,
“I don’t know. That’s just how I am.”

That was the day Patience’s heart finally understood what her mind had been trying to tell her: some men cheat for no reason, not because their partner is lacking, but because they themselves are empty.

With quiet strength, she walked away. And for the first time in a long time, she felt peace. Patience realized she was never the problem, she was simply giving her loyalty to a man who didn’t know the value of it.