Taking her for granted has become my priority, as she was not ready to leave me alone. 

A woman who was so close to me happened to be someone I turned out to detest so much. Her husband has been a reputable man in the quarter and in the town where I lived. Everyone has respect for her husband as well as for herself. 


![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/abigail04/23wCLSm1HMRdShgsG7c9HP4RwZWTtqZfhwjimPo1dmwAN9NR28y41j9QEbGhuwpRFQXJV.png)
[Tim Douglas](https://www.pexels.com/photo/young-stylish-ladies-talking-on-street-6567349/)
As they say, the son of a lion is also a lion. They were both respected at the time I came to the street. After some time, she started buying things from my shop. I was happy that a respected human being like her would be coming to my shop to buy foodstuffs. It was a pride in my path and to those who see her coming to my shop. 

We started being friends and started gisting together. She would come to my shop, and sporadically, I would go to her house. Usually, she was always seen in my shop just because of the closeness we had. 

Some months, I started hearing some nonsense words and words that are not good for the hearing against her husband. I was unsure initially, but later heard the real gist from the horse's mouth. A customer who came to buy goods from my shop said, “this man is now known as a public dog. He can never see a woman passed by him without calling her". I was also not ready to take her words. To me, I thought she was just saying the untrue. 

Some days later, another little girl who came to buy items said the same thing and said he had asked her out. I opened my mouth widely as I was just confused. About seven women made that same statement, which made me know that everything must be true. 

I began to limit my play with him and just focused on his wife. I usually talk to him normally, but with what I heard, he began to irritate me. 

Anytime he's passing by, he does shout my name, and we use it to laugh. I also called him and made fun of him jokingly. This time, after seeing the wrong things he had done, I decided to give him a gap. Avoiding him was the best. He began to irritate me each time he passed by. 

His wife has been a good friend, but she did something that made me also try to avoid her. 

One of my customers came to buy something from me and was accusing another one of saying some sort of words that were not palatable to the ear. They began to quarrel among themselves. After separating the two. I asked the one who was accusing the other how she got to know about what the other had said. She bluntly told me what the respected woman told her. The one who was accused also said the respected woman told her things about the other one as well. 

After hearing this statement, I tried to settle the two and told them not to mention that to anyone. I also advised them to remain the way they were so that the respected woman will be put to shame. 

After that day, I started avoiding her. I never wanted to see her. Anytime I see her coming from a distance, I run from the shop to my house, leaving my daughter behind. I would tell my daughter to say to her that I was not around. 

One day, after constant avoidance, she asked me, “Are you avoiding me?” I didn't know what to say, but I didn't just want her around me because of her character. 

After a while, she decided to stay away from me. Presently, we are only great from a distance.