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I felt I had no choice but to have reported the incident however, because it was not his first attempt. At the age of 12 that family member, Kevin, told me that he was taking me to get ice-cream. I was so excited and anxiously awaited his arrival at our house. He never showed up until it was dark, around 7 pm, and instead of going to Devon’s House or some other ice-cream spot, we went to Burger King. I was quite puzzled as to why we were getting burgers instead of ice-cream, so since my taste buds still craved ice-cream I went with milk-shake as the beverage when requested, then we took the burgers to go.

My next puzzled moment was when he stopped at a very large gate on a dark, quiet and narrow road, got out of the car and spoke with someone by the gate then re-entered the car and drove in as soon as this big red gate opened up. He then left me in the car and said he would be right back. As I looked around I noticed several white doors, like some kind of apartment complex and I thought that maybe he was stopping by to visit a friend.

When he returned to the car he told me to go with him and we went into one of the rooms. I now realized that this was nowhere that someone could live because it was simply a bedroom with a bathroom, no living area, no kitchen, nothing. As I sat on the bed, ate my fries, and drank my milk shake, he went into the bathroom and to my surprise, came out with only his brief and his jewelry on his skin! He then tried to lift my feet from off the ground but I resisted and kept them firmly planted there. So then he asked me to lie down, but I became boisterous, sprang to

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Well the time of that telling came sooner than expected. I had certainly made a mistake to have told him that “it’s ok. You don’t have to explain. We’ll just put it behind us.” It was after I told him that on the phone that I really stopped to think about the whole situation carefully. I realized that I just couldn’t put it behind me. How was I going to put something like that behind me, without getting even some form of explanation or apology? She had been there with him from the night when he was admitted, yet he had told me not to visit. She had taken clothes and tissue for him as well. All that I could bear, but my heart ripped when I saw her put clothes on his naked body, first his underwear then his shirt and his jeans. Why wouldn’t he have stopped her if she was only a friend? Why wouldn’t he have allowed me? It was clear to me then, I was the girl on the side, and she was the “wife’ in his life.

Despite how hurt I felt, I wanted to be there for him. I sympathized with his being in that hospital bed connected to a drip. So we both stayed there by his side. I found it interesting that he was allowed to leave the hospital at 2:30 pm. That was the very time the first nurse had given me to return to visit him. She had told me to leave when I arrived at 11 am, but it was fated that I should have found out the truth. When he was discharged at 2:30 I realized that the nurse had known of her but not of me, and knew that had I left and returned at 2:30 he would have already been gone.

I felt so hurt and embarrassed because the picture painted was as if I was the woman on the side who had no problem serving in that role. I also felt embarrassed for having been in a relationship with someone like that, but I know better now not to blame myself for his deceit.