THE CONSEQUENCES of his actions could only be summed up as his emotions acting without the benefit of his intellect. It was the only explanation; the only absolution that did some justice as he BURNED on the pyre of anger, fuelled by the only friends he kept and had ever known: Deceit and rancour.

Three years ago…
At the still vibrant age of 33, Brian Anthony was anything but impervious to his surroundings, and his mannerisms bore an affinity of sorts to charm. It made him easy to like at first. There was something amiss about him, and yet that trait proved more of an attraction.
Brian’s usual economy of words, an occupational hazard thanks to his ties with the National Broadcasting Network, won him the admiration of women wherever he went, and it compensated for what he lacked in looks.
Tall, dark and a bit pudgy at the waist was not the combination that the ‘hunk’ in him believed would exact the ‘wonder’ of the opposite sex.
Possessed of an uncanny levity and a smug look on his face, no one noticed his hands fidgeting with his pockets as he walked into the hotel’s lobby and was led to the suite where the British High Commission’s office was hosting its annual yearend reception.
December 22, 2006: A date that meant a lot of change for him. It was the day he met her.
Strappy black high heels with laces that gathered around her ankles, smooth brown skin exposed midway of her thighs. From there, a black off-the-shoulder dress exposed each curve of her voluptuous body — the rounded curve of her buttocks, the small of her stomach, and the heave of her breasts. A simple gold chain decorated her neck, a body part that seemed temptingly inviting. A pair of gold teardrop earrings completed the ensemble.
Brian’s eyes followed her every move, and noticed the gold bracelet that circled her wrist as he toyed with her dark, shoulder-length tresses; dark tresses that framed her face; a face that held still more enticing features — large brown eyes and voluminous lips, from which escaped an endearing smile.
She turned just then, seemingly feeling his stares, and sent him a look that upended his world. She smiled.
Just then, Phil Collins’ ‘One More night’ started to play and their gazes, still locked, broke as several couples took to the dance floor.
Brian exhaled then, realising that this stranger had taken his breath away, quite literally. The surge in his heartbeat spoke of pure animal attraction – lust, quite simply.
“I just found me the perfect stranger and wouldn’t mind promising her the moon,” he said to his friend, Henry Goersammy whom he met at the reception and was talking to before ‘the  stranger’ caught his attention.
“Brian? You aren’t going to change, right?”
“Not right now, Henry old boy. I have to get me this girl.”
But he could not go as yet. In deference to decency, Brian chatted with Henry and the group of broadcasting folk that joined them for a few more minutes. Agitated, he left soon after in search of his stranger.
He soon found her and saw for the first time the tattoo of a butterfly on the left side of her back.
Brian breathed deeply and started in her direction, only to stop short. Capturing her arm and her lips in one swift motion was another man. Tall, dark and handsome did not begin to describe the man’s presence.
“I missed you. Where did you run off to, darling,” Brian heard him say.
“I was talking to Julie from the Network. She has interesting stories to tell,” came the stranger’s sweet voice. “She was asking me to come back to broadcasting. I told her no.”
Her voice, and that little bit of information at the end, was all Brian needed.
He smiled. “Too good to be true!” he thought.
Slipping his hand back into is pocket, Brian toyed with the wedding ring he’d taken off before coming in, but, seeing the flash of a short blue dress, he thought better of putting it back on.
“I guess I found me another stranger; for tonight, at least.”
In the next few weeks, Brian sought out Julie; Julie Israel, one of the oldest broadcasters at NBN.
He soon found out that ‘his stranger’ was Karen Eliza, and that same week, he called her with a job offer. He had the authority, and made damn sure it served his purpose as well as it did his company’s.
“What do you think about working for us? We need someone like you. Would you consider coming on board?”
Karen did join NBN in June the following year and adjusted very well. Being something of a socialite provided her with all the right connections, and so, the features for the weekly radio programme, ‘Remember’, she was working on left her in a euphoric state of sorts.
She and Brian became fast friends, too, and at times when she was unnerved, he proved a source of comfort.
“I am glad I came here,” Karen said six months later as just sat around the office late one evening.
“So am I…You are kind of my prodigy, you know,” Brian laughed.
Karen smiled.
It was an ideal moment, Brian thought, and he leaned in to kiss her.
Karen kissed him right back, but seemed reluctant to go any further.
“No! We can’t do this, Brian,” she said.
With that, she ran out of the room.
The next day, she could not face him and made it a point of avoiding him. After three days, Brian cornered her in her office just as she was leaving for the day.
“Karen, it’s me. What happened was bound to happen, and the way you responded said you wanted it as much as I did.”
“You are married with three children, and I am engaged to be married. I can’t do this. The only relationship I want with you is a professional one. I cannot deal with anything more.”
With that, Karen left the office.
Turning to look at him, she said: “You are married, and you can’t want to promise me the moon or expect anything from me. If you did, it would be lies. All lies.”
Karen was missing from the office for the next two weeks; sick leave, Brian had heard.
Henry, his old friend, noticed something was up, and tried to talk to him.
“The entire office thinks something’s up with you two. I know better, because I know Karen. Look Brian! Karen’s fiancé is a good friend of mine, and I don’t want you messing things up for them!”
“Hey! She came on to me; not the other way round! She wants me!” Brian said.
Henry stared disbelievingly at him.
“You’d better be careful, or you’ll start believing your own lies, Brian.”
“What lies? Man, you don’t think I want her, do you? I would refuse her in a second; She is not my type.”
Henry looked at him and said simply: “If you say so, friend.”
When Karen returned to work, things went back to normal. Well, somewhat normal.
“Karen! A minute please!”
“Yes, Brian?”
“I have been noticing that you’ve been coming in late. Yesterday you did not come in till 9:30, and today you came at 10:00. The other day, too, I got complaints from one of the supervisors that you came in late, and you do not let people know what is happening.”
“That is not true, and you know it. I always call in when I am running late. You know… Never mind. I am sorry, Brian, and it won’t happen again.”
The tiffs continued like that for about a month.
“Henry, I can’t stand this. He is so petty now, that it is really upsetting. I don’t know how much more I can handle.”
“It will be okay, Karen. Just hang in there.”
Karen sighed in frustration.
A week later, she confronted Brian.
“Can I talk to you?”
“Sure, sure. I am your friend; you know that.”
Karen sighed.
“Brian, I am going to be as straight as I can, okay. You think you have a pocketful of
gold, and can say anything to get anyone. But you can’t want what belongs to someone else. The pleasure will never be worth the trouble that comes with it.”
“What are we talking about here?”
“You know very well what we are talking about.”
“No, I don’t! Explain!”
“I am taking about us, Brian.”
“Us? There is no us, and if you are referring to that kiss, that was just… whatever. Don’t make a big deal about such a little thing. You are being very petty.”
“ME! Petty! How dare…You know what, forget you! By the way… here! My fiancé and I are moving, and I got an offer at a small firm close to our new home. I need a change, so I’m leaving.”
Karen handed him a white envelope, sealed and addressed in neat script to him.
Leaving his office, she turned to look at him. “It’s a tangled web you are weaving when your practice is deceit… Don’t get caught, Brian.”
That was the end of that chapter in his life, but a vestige of failure stayed with him…
Three years later, Brian found himself in the same situation.
“For another man’s treasure, you’d say anything, wouldn’t you,” a harsh voice said to him. “Was that one night of pleasure worth the trouble that came with it?”
Brian sat unmoving in a corner of the room, and the only image in his head was that of Karen and the last words she said.
“Don’t get caught…”
The wraiths of his past had ghosted their way toward him, and now he’d ended up on the wrong side of a gun.
“I am going to make you pay. I know guys like you. You come in with your money and position, and you think you can get anything you want. Well, you did wrong and messed with my life, so now you are going to pay.”
“Please! Don’t do something you’re going to regret… Man, you don’t have to this!” Brian pleaded.
“People like you ain’t got no conscience to tell you when yuh doin’ something wrong. When you preying on a vulnerable woman. Yes, me and she had a problem, but I loved the woman.”
Shaking the gun, he barely finished speaking when the door of the small apartment opened and a petite girl rushed in.
“Charlie! Don’t!”
There was a mad scramble, and before you knew it, two shots rang out. The lifeless body of the girl, Maria, fell and Charlie screamed in pain, holding his leg.
For Brian, the rest was a blur.
Maria Paul, the girl Brian was having an affair with, was buried on a rainy day after a small ceremony.
Her husband, Charlie, was remanded for manslaughter, with the possibility of parole.
Brian’s divorce is being processed, and he was given a severance package by his workplace owing to his “misconduct that reflected bad on the Network.”
Nowadays, he sits around drinking to silence a conscience that plagues him every waking hour.
The consequences of his actions could only be summed up as his emotions acting without the benefit of his intellect. It was the only explanation; the only absolution that did some justice as he burned on the pyre of anger, fuelled by the only friends he kept and had ever known: Deceit and rancour.
His emotions acting without the benefit of his intellect: It was the only absolution! Yes! The only absolution!