BENEATH THE SMILE

Scrolling through my TikTok FYP, this is the third time I have come across a lady twerking nearly naked.
Though it's pleasant, I am trying my best to stop these videos from gaining a stronghold on my social media algorithm.

What if my colleagues or my kid gets access to my phone while unlocked and sees things I won’t be able to explain?

I stare at the video and watch it to the end eventually. It is a Latina and she is shaking her ass like her rent money depended on it with the right amount of seduction and rhythm.

I notice it is a TikTok challenge so I go ahead to view the videos under it. It’s going to be one hell of a day for me.

My eyes can’t behold the shock as the number of women could boldly show their bodies online for views and not be worried about it.

But as long as it ain’t my sisters or wife, I ain’t got a problem. My TikTok session abruptly ended as a call entered my phone.


I would have ignored but it is an official call. Answering the phone, the receptionist said, “Sir, are you free for an appointment?”

I reply, “Uhmm, of course” I quickly take a pause as I have to ask a vital question, “Is it a lady?” And the receptionist answers, “No, It’s a young guy in his early 20s”

It’s lovely when the client ain’t a lady, their drama can take my entire day and I am not mentally ready to handle someone crying for hours either.


“Let him through” I answer her and then I hang up the call. I adjust my shirt and ensure my tie is properly aligned. I reposted the last video of the challenge so I can continue watching these baddies after this session.

Within some minutes, I hear a knock on the door and I tell the person to come in. I see the young guy and he instantly starts to smile as he asks, “Please is this the Therapist’s office?”


And I answer warmly, “Yes, and you’re in the right place” He walks right in and sits down facing me.
He was so happy I could feel it from across my table.

His smile was so wide it seemed it might rip through his face, and his fingernails clattered as they hit the table as though he was excited or nervous.

It’s unusual for my clients to be happy considering my type of job as a therapist. Everyone I welcome is usually gloomy, between tears, having a mental breakdown, or in silence.


This one is different. He notices I am lost in thought and greets me once again. I answer and stretch forth my hand for a handshake.

He shook me and even refused to let go. He says, “It is a pleasure to meet you Sir” I respond with, “The pleasure is all mine”
I guess this session will be a walkover, this is one happy client.

I go ahead to ask, “Why are you here, young man?” He casually answers, “Depression here and there” and he goes ahead to burst into laughter.

I ask him, “Did you fill out the form downstairs?” And he answers, “Yes, Sir !” with yet another wide smile on his face.

I am beginning to think this guy is here to play with me, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.
I ask him, “What are the problems you’re encountering?”

He looks me dead in the eyes and answers, “There is nothing I haven’t seen Sir, let’s see if life gives us more problems” and then he laughs again.

I am beginning to lose my patience as I know this guy is here to waste my time.
I should have been done watching that challenge by now but I’m stuck here with him.

The feeling of anger was present in my body and I have to suppress it. I just need a professional way to discard him.

“How can I help you?” I ask him and he replies, “I just needed someone to talk to in these times”
I ask, “What of friends and family?” And he answers, “They don’t get me, nobody does but you understand me, Sir?”

“Of course I understand you, you’re a special kid” He then smiles and tells me, “God bless you, Sir”
Now this is one client.

Before I can hit him with the next question, he raises his hand as he indicates that he needs to take a call.
I give him the go-ahead and he gets up and moves to the corner of my office.

Picking up my phone, I open my TikTok and resume from where I had started. I look at him as he makes the call and I notice he isn’t really talking much, but he is listening instead.

His phone speakers seemed to be pretty loud as I could hear some bits of dialogue from the person he was speaking to.

The person was screaming at him and he was smiling as he kept on responding, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Don’t worry, I’m sorry”

The call ended and I can deduce the person hung up on him. Yet he keeps the smile on and returns to the table to continue his session.

He is unaware I heard some bits of the phone call, but I can’t let this slide. I ask, “Is everything okay?”
He shrugs his shoulders and laughs out loud as he responds, “I’m fine Sir, it’s a minor inconvenience only”

I continue by asking him, “What do you do for a living?” and he responds with “Everything”
At this point, I knew he was joking with me and I am not ready for that.

I stretch my hand and pull my drawer as I take out my book to take points from him.
Before I can start writing, his phone rings again and he gets up to answer.

 

Photo Credit:  Abhijith P.

This time he doesn’t take permission. He waved to me and left through the door.

Maybe he’s going outside to take the call or perhaps he wants to use the toilet. So I sit back and wait for him to return.
He’s one crazy fellow. I continued scrolling through TikTok and the challenge kept me intrigued.


I wait and wait and he isn’t back. Where could he be? I quickly call the receptionist and ask about his whereabouts and she answered that he left a long time ago.
As long as he paid, I don’t have a problem.

How could he just leave?
That guy was certainly out of his mind. I look at my wrist and the time reads 4:22pm. It’s high time I begin to leave so I can buy some groceries before I get back home.

I assemble my stuff into my briefcase and begin to head downstairs. I lock my office door and take the key down to the receptionist.
As I dropped the key with her, the sudden urge to get the boy’s form came upon me.
I need to know more.

I get the form and insert it into my pockets and I head towards my car.
I text my wife and ask if I should still branch the store to get some groceries and she replies that she had already handled that.

Before I proceed to drive home, I was still troubled about the boy.
Though he smiled so much at me, his eyes felt lifeless and the call seemed to have scared him.

So I take his number out and dial him immediately, the phone rings and no answer.
So I try again. No answer. It’s definitely a dead end.

So I get my engine running and prepared to drive away until I noticed him call back. I quickly pick up the call and introduce myself.

He knew it was me and his response felt weird. I say, “I’m the therapist you met earlier, why’d you leave?”

Shockingly, he answers, “I’m sorry Sir, it won’t happen again” he laughs after his statement as usual but I can feel the pain in his voice.
I ask, “Can you come over for another session tomorrow? It’s going to be free”

He replies, “That won’t be a problem, Sir, I don’t need one”
I ask, “But, why?” He answered, “I found a way out Sir, I’m happy now”

I didn’t understand what he meant but as long as he claims he’s fine. I’m all right with the decision.
I continued, “This is my number, call me when you change your mind” and I ended the call.

I felt for him because he reminded me of my younger self. The type that will use humor to cover the sadness within.

As long as he came to me, I knew something is wrong but he would be fine.
I drive and head home. I need all the rest and food I can get.

I reach home and I drive my car towards the driveway to park but before I can do that I receive my normal warm welcome.

My daughter came running outside with her open arms as she screamed, “Dadii !”
I couldn’t even take my stuff out of the car, I ran to her, hugging her as I swept her off her feet.

I give her light pecks on the cheeks and she blushes without control. She is my walking ball of sunshine.
I ask, “Where is Mommy?” and she answers, “She’s in the kitchen”

I take out my briefcase and folded my suit after I had parked the car.
I pick my daughter, Stephanie, and placed her on my shoulders as we got into the house together.

I got into the house and dinner was prepared as usual. I peck my wife on the cheek and hug her.
This is my normal everyday routine and I can never get tired of it.

She asks how was work and I reply, “It was alright”
I am exhausted and I’m not ready for much dialogue after having four clients in one day.

I get dinner and she goes to put Steph to bed, we proceed to spend some time in the living room. We begin to discuss how we spent our days and I eventually tell her about the mystery boy.

She asked me for his name and I didn’t even remember due to my unprofessionalism of not asking in the first place.

I reply, “His name is on his form, so it’s no biggie” I explain further to her that my mind isn’t at rest.

My wife says, “He is just a young guy, and going through what young people go through, he will be fine”
Despite her assurance, I still felt the need to call him once again.

So I went to the shelf and picked up my phone as I call him once again. He picks the call almost immediately as though he was expecting my call.

“Hello,” I said and there was no reply. “Hello, anyone there?”
And a faint answer came through, “Yes, Sir” his voice shaking and unstable.

I ask, “Are you okay?” And he replies, “I’m more than okay Sir, I finally found a way”

I remember he said this on the last phone call but I couldn’t understand what he meant. I ask” What’s going on?”
Yet, no answer. Then I hear his voice, “Thank you Sir, for spending this moment with me, it would have been lonely”

I sheepishly reply, “It’s alright” and he says, “Goodnight” and I reply, “Goodnight”

My wife was staring at me throughout the phone call and she walked up to me and asks if it was the boy and I nod in affirmation.

She says, “If you’re really disturbed, then pay him a visit tomorrow” I love the idea so I quickly rush to check the form to see the address that he filled in.

Surprisingly, it’s a few blocks from my residence, a reasonable driving distance.
Part of me wanted to drive over there instantly but he ain’t paying me for this gesture.

I’ll be there in the morning.
Night comes, and I go to bed. It’s going to be a long day tomorrow.

——————————————————

I open my eyes and the rays of sunlight indicate it’s morning already. I stretch to check why my alarm had not woken me and I noticed I am up earlier than usual.

I tap my wife, Daniella to get up and prepare Steph for school. I needed to visit the mystery guy before I head to work so I’ll be leaving quite early.

I hop in the shower as I rush to meet up, I have no time to eat breakfast so Daniella packages it for me.
All dressed up, I hop into the car and grab his form so I can get a hold of his name and the exact address.

I wave to Daniella and Steph as I drive out quickly.
I begin to locate the address but it was tough as the area he wrote down had so many buildings situated there. I need to park and come down.

I notice a gathering with a lot of people so I ask if they knew Patrick and where he lives. The lady I asked looked at me in disgust and proceeded to push me away as she left.
Why would she behave this way?

I leave her and ask another person who is heading towards the gathering. An elderly man this time.
He stares at me as though he didn’t hear what I just asked. So I ask once again, “Morning, please where can I find Patrick?”
He started back in disbelief.

At this point, I was wasting my time. It’s obvious I had a wrong address or that wasn’t his name. I was ready to retreat to my car when the elderly man held my man and said in a calm tone, “Follow me”

I started walking alongside him as we proceeded deep into the gathering. I start to hear wailing and uncontrollable sobbing.
The elderly man pointed and I saw it.

I saw what I was looking for.
Patrick, the mystery boy.
Just not the state I wanted.

I saw Patrick dead and lifeless with people crying all over his body.
He took his life the night we spoke.

My knees got wobbly in an instant as I fell on my knees. If only I had come around last night.
If only I had given him a better audience.

The way out he found was suicide. He poisoned himself and died with a smile.
All the eulogies were about how good, kind, and cheerful he was.

He made everyone happy and his pains and struggles were always bottled inside.
To him, he found peace, but he brought pain to everyone.

No one saw this coming. And no one can bring him back.
The guilt in me was insane at this point. Tears rolling down my cheeks.

The happy and funny ones are the most depressed.