Playing hard to get

My secret life springs up many hurdles. You'll find many beautiful, young women here willing to play. The rumor-mill that is Nairobi will soon know about the man who turns down too many offers. I find myself navigating through this maze…

Take Sheila, my new colleague at work, for example. She is a stunning beauty in her late twenties with a very likeable cheeky personality. Like other career-women here in Nairobi she is a glutton for the company of young men. I suppose men do it all the time too, unfortunately for me only with women! (Not strictly true but that’s another story). From her first day at work she had me marked by the way was checking me out; I knew I was prey. I am a master of this code as I need it to survive in my secret world.

Last Friday I let myself get talked into going for after-work drinks alone with Sheila. We settled very nicely in the upstairs bar of that hotel famous for its acacia tree along Kimathi Street. I like being seen with women in public, it polishes the veneer that I must maintain.

As conversation flowed I was soon loosening my tie after necking my fourth tusker, a sign my date mistook for romantic interest. The flame in Sheila’s eye was now burning with the intensity of anticipation. Time to change tact….

Enter my imaginary fiancé studying abroad. Or cue the lines ‘I want to respect you more’ followed by ‘I don’t want this to be just about sex’. Intriguingly it doesn’t seem to put most of these women off; I guess something else has me labeled as unobtainable hence the attraction…