Treacherous Flame

That night, my classmate Kit stayed awake until 4 am working on his R package project, to analyze land use and cover changes in Makueni County. There’s something about passion and a man driven by vision and Kit, wears both with ease. He has zero training in programming, but has gradually hacked the world of programming to become a seasoned programmer. On completion, his project will come in handy for environmentalists who would like to reduce soil erosion and promote sustainable land management practices. In the 2 years, I have known him, I know better than to distract him with manly banter. His mind, soul and focus are always glued to his screen, battling with ideas and fixing new concepts to the model. Any interruption will be met with everlasting etiquette schooling and a handful of common sense reminders. It gets me wondering how different my academic prowess could be if I had such a rigid discipline. 8 hours straight on my project could definitely be something I would love to experience. “Chris, do you think there’s an algorithm to define what women want?” Kit suddenly asked. I didn’t know what to say to him. Looking at him now, Kit looked like a shell of his former self. The frown lines on his forehead were more pronounced now. As a matter of fact, he looked defeated and withered, certainly not the Colombian I met 2 years ago.

Kit was once a happy individual, with a rich sense of humour topped with bountiful hopes of what the future has in store. That’s until he met his now ex-girlfriend Xael. I watched Kit transform from the go getter, sometimes aggressive Yankees fan, to a shy young man 100% smitten with love in Xael’s company. He was always glowing and giving us stories about his angel each time we got together for the boys’ camp. Sometimes he could ditch us to spend some more time with his girl. For those of us who were yet to have our hearts knotted to the right heart, we were living the true love story experience courtesy of Kit. A number of times we teased Kit about his goofy smile when in the company of his woman but we knew he truly loved her with the depth of who he was. He had met this girl when he needed to date. They met in Malindi, Marine Park when Kit was on a holiday for his birthday. Theirs was love at first sight. I don’t know if you guys know the spark that hits you once you meet that one person who makes you crave them in the darkest wanton ways.

When Kit told me about Xael, we were seated waiting to watch Europa semifinals. The Blues were going against Eintracht Frankfurt. I wore my jersey as I needed to feel the loyalty of the game flow in my veins for those 90 minutes. He gave me a tale of a girl so curvy with milky skin, sparkly eyes and jet black hair. I knew he was smitten as he kept going on and on about the endless beauty of his lover. He didn’t even realize when the credits for the game flashed showing its start. He was just seated there intoxicated with love and a malicious expression I have only seen on my Brother Raj’s face when he was walking down the aisle. I have to admit I was happy for him, but sometimes I had to whip him back to context with a peal of sarcastic laughter just so he doesn’t turn me into a pink fluffy pie. Male talks lean more on politics, the latest technology and gadgets.

For a couple of months, Kit’s relationship was flying nice and high. He got scarce. At some point, the boys club started warming up to the idea of getting all the projects done without Kit. On one occasion, I questioned the line between married and single. I won’t mind understanding the context of new relationship status and cutting off old links. I have seen a couple of scenarios where a taken, booked or married fellow ghosts his friends immediately after ditching bachelorhood. I understand priorities change, but does it mean hanging out with your single friends could scar your marriage and drag you backwards?

After the honeymoon stage, Kit got back to establishing a balance between his flourishing love life and writing codes to crunch data. Simplicity is his style. On face value, he is a nerd wowed with data and running his models. However, at his age, he has made a kill from Bitcoin investment. For the forex market gurus, you can agree that Bitcoin trading is a bit technical. It requires an open, smart mind and tones of hard work to hack the wavy trends. I do admire his no clubbing or alcohol policy. It needs a rich sense of belief and personal inclination to lead a lifestyle contrasting from the ‘one bottle for the road’ kind of normal.

Have you ever noticed a big football match is always interesting when watched in an entertainment joint? There’s that real-time virtual reality presented that makes the game interesting in twofold than if it’s watched from home. This particular day, the boys and I guilt tripped Kit into coming with us for game night at a local joint. It was a nice, warm evening to be out and besides, we could have a discussion of our coming Celtec project over a plate of nyama choma afterwards. We were hunting for the perfect table when my vision line was blurred with a familiar face. I thought I was alone but looking back the boys were frozen, we were all watching a spicy scene at the corner bench. There at the center of the fondling scene, was Kit’s angelic girlfriend getting hot and nice.

For the ardent followers of the word, the Bible story on the walls of Jericho crumbling to nothingness is no doubt insightful to this date. You see the saucy scenes on movies of how friends watch another’s happily ever after dream fade to oblivion helplessly and think that it’s a poetic irony but I confirm the scenario is as real away from cameras. There are so many ways you can define heartbreak. There are horrendous heartaches that cut through your soul, some strip you of your self-esteem and some make you a dark empty void while some water your strength. I have watched a couple of movies like the recent hit fall from grace, but I still wonder the limit of nursing heartbreak, if truly a limit exists. Do you fine tune to hating that person you once loved or you love until eternity writes down your fate?

Featured image by: Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash