Breaking Off Friendship For Unintentional Errors?

 

"Friends Stay together till the end".

Do they? Really? 

I thought to myself. Thinking out loud to know where it all went wrong.

"Ninaaaa. Jesus! What on earth are you thinking about? Joke asked?

Breaking out of my thoughts, I faced her with a frown.

"You know, you can actually call my name without screaming it out and I would hear you".

"I did just that and you didn't break out of your funk. So screaming was the best way out. Is anything the matter? Did something happen?" She asked 

"Well, I wouldn't say it's serious but it got me all confused".

"Wanna share?" Joke asked with curiosity.

*sigh*

It wouldn't hurt to share though. I might as well hear her opinion on the matter. 

"Remember Fatima? The girl I told you about last month?"

"The one that just came back from abroad?"

"Yes," I nodded.

"What about her?"

"During the End SARS era, we had this issue..."

"omo! That time ehn. I don't want to relive that era. Do you know Chioma lost her cousin?" Joke interjected.

"Chioma? Which Chioma?

"Chioma now. The one that likes to form like she owns the world"

"Ah"

"my dear, I heard it was a stray bullet"

"My goodness. I didn't know o"

"I actually met her at Wuse market"

"Eyah. my condolences to her and her family o. This life sha. Anyways, Fatima and I were speaking during that protest era, when Lagos was on lockdown for a week. We were just talking generally about how messed up the country was and how scary it was then. She said a Lil prayer and I responded with a resounding Amen. That was it o. We continued gisting after that.

The next day, at noon, she sent me a message saying she prayed for our families and I didn't return the courtesy".

"Ahn Ahn"

"See! She now said, Nina, that's not how life is o and she just wanted to let me know..."

"I don't understand". Joke said in confusion.

"Neither did I o. I replied to her that it wasn't intentional and I apologized.

"Why are you apologizing?" she asked, "are you okay?"

"I felt it was the right thing to do then, to let things go. I even told her that I did include her in my prayers, which I truly did..."

"all that your shalaye no necessary at all"

"well, I did. I was dazed by it o. Do you know Fatima blocked me on WhatsApp after that?"

"Ehn?"

"yup. she blocked my ass. I was sending normal messages and found out I was blocked and couldn't even see her story/status".

"Wahala" Joke laughed out loud

"I had even forgotten the issue sef. I was on Instagram yesterday and I saw her story. I commented on the product because I liked it. I said hello and even sneaked in an apology..."

"are you a mumu?"

"huh?"

"I am asking if you are an idiot".

"Why are you talking like this now?"

"How should I talk? You are making her feel important for something that wasn't even a fault at all. who is she? she prayed for both families and you responded with an Amen which we all know seals everything. What else did she want? A response that wasn't in your mind? If you had responded immediately, no fault in that. Even if you didn't, nothing wrong. It doesn't make you a bad person. is she expecting you to be all perfect even in response? That's bullshit". Joke said in annoyance.

"my sister, if I tell you I wasn't confused by it all, I would be lying. Guess what? she soft-blocked me on Instagram too".

"I hope you returned the favor?"

"Nah. I just deleted her numbers from my phones. it might have been a childish approach but it was the best thing to do".

"it's the absolute thing to do, Nina. I am appalled by the nonsense. So you just block someone/cut them out of your life because you didn't return a prayer? That's absurd. I even thought it was something severe you were worried about. Mscheew.  Abeg. Friends come and go. Life is like that. Move on". Joke said.

"I have o"

"Good". She murmured and she went on reading her novel while I took in the beauty of the park we were in, basking in my thoughts.

Fatima and I didn't talk all the time, just when we pop into our heads and that can be days or weeks. So why the sudden break?

Chasing friends who act like that, even though what you did shouldn't warrant that kind of annoyance, should be let go. I feel, if you seek/chase friendship after an act like that, it is an act of self-disrespect.

Despite my introspection, I still found nothing wrong. Instead, I remembered friends who had issues with her cutting them off unnecessarily as well.

Better to disassociate the friendship to avoid negativity. Right?