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I Was Scared To Death But I Had To Save Myself: I Did Not Let Him Take Advantage Of Me

( words)
*For representational purpose only.

I’ve stayed away from home for a long time, almost 10 years, as I started working early. But it’s not easy for a girl to stay alone.

I don’t know why people assume that if a girl is alone, she is available.

I am sharing an incident that happened to me. I’d just got my first job and I was happy and nervous at the same time. I was also excited to learn new things and meet new people.

I belong to a small town and moving out of my small shell into the big ocean was an amazing feeling.

I made friends at my workplace and I was enjoying my life. After a few months, I received a phone call. The guy on the other end knew my name and he wanted me to go out for a movie with him. I didn’t even know the guy! When I kept asking about his identity, he started giving me clues.

I realized that he worked in the same office but I had no idea who he was.

Ultimately, I disconnected the phone. The next day, I told my friends about the call and they asked me to ignore it. A few days later, he called again and asked me to go out with him. I blocked his number immediately. Then he started calling me from different numbers and this happened quite a few times.

Ultimately, I got angry and threatened to inform the police.

The calls stopped and I felt relieved. After a month or so, one of my colleagues told me that he knew who was making the calls. He told me the name of the person but the guy had already left the organization, so I didn’t pay attention to him.

However, fate had other plans for me. Almost 8-9 months later, I switched jobs. My new manager was a cool man, the trainer was good and everything seemed perfect. My manager informed me that the team also had a guy from my old organization. He wanted me to meet the team and my old colleague but the guy was on his lunch break.

One day, after about 3 weeks of joining, I was climbing the stairs when I bumped into someone. I was about to fall but he held me. I instantly recognized the guy, his name was Samuel and he was the same person who made those phone calls to me!

I was stunned and he was embarrassed.

He said hello and I managed to respond back. When my training got over, the trainer assigned me a mentor who would help me understand the process. It turned out to be the same guy. My trainer thought that I’d be comfortable to sit with someone whom I have worked with before.

I was not comfortable at all but I stayed silent.

Samuel started my training but he would never answer any of my questions properly nor would he pay attention to my suggestions. His behaviour was killing me because a week had passed and I hadn’t learned anything. I decided to talk to him and ask him if something was wrong.

I told him that I was there to learn but I wasn’t learning because it appeared that he didn’t want to explain anything.

I told him that if he wanted, I could ask my trainer to change my mentor. He apologized and confessed that he was very uncomfortable because he knew that I was aware of who made those phone calls. He said that he liked me back then but now, he had no such feelings. I told him that I was fine since he realized his mistake but I didn’t want to compromise on my work.

He asked if we could be friends and I agreed.

Things were normal for a while. A couple of months later, our entire team decided to go out for dinner to a popular restaurant. All of us were on two-wheelers and I got a lift from one of my colleagues. While coming back, my colleague had to go to her friend’s place so she asked another colleague to drop me. Samuel also offered to drop me but I refused because I knew that he stayed pretty far from my place. However, he said that he had some work in the office, which was close to my house.

I said yes because he was a friend and everyone else had already left.

When we reached halfway, he said that he needed to pick up a document from his house to give it to someone in the office. He asked if we could take a quick stopover at his place. I was not comfortable so I requested him to give the document the next day but he pleaded that it was urgent. I gave in.

We reached his place and I asked him to get the document while I waited downstairs. But he asked me to accompany him since it was not safe for me to stand alone at night. I went upstairs but stood outside his flat. Someone was peeping from the window of the adjacent flat, so Samuel asked me to come inside.

I was not very convinced but I went inside and kept my purse and phone on the table.

It was a one-bedroom flat. He offered me water but I said no, as I was feeling very edgy. I asked him to hurry up. He started looking for the document in the room and I was staring out of the window when I got the biggest shock of my life.

He grasped me from behind and started kissing my neck.

I was extremely frightened. I felt numb; I was unable to move. Suddenly, I came back to my senses and realized what was happening. I pushed him away. As soon as I pushed him, he retorted, pushed me hard and I fell on the bed.

I was hurt but I scrambled to get up. That is when I saw an iron rod.

I picked it up, ran inside the washroom and locked the door. He kept asking me to come out. When I did not respond, he started banging on the door. I felt extremely thankful that the door lock didn’t give up on me. He continued screaming, “Come out right now, don’t you understand I love you”.

He stopped after a while but I was scared to death. Suddenly, he started begging me to come out. He promised that he would never do it again. I calmed myself and focused on getting out of there. I told him that I was really upset and wanted to go home.

I said that I would come out on the condition that he'd let me go.

I felt very helpless because my phone was outside. He agreed but I couldn’t trust him. However, I knew that staying there was not the solution so I gathered my courage, picked up the iron rod and decided to step out.

I knew that I would not hesitate to hit him if he tried anything.

I unlocked the door while he stood near the window. I grabbed my wallet and phone and rushed outside. He followed me but thankfully, he was not in his crazy mode. He offered to drop me but I didn’t want to take any more chances so I hired an auto.

He followed me to my PG and when I got down from the auto, he started begging for my forgiveness again. I didn’t reply and entered the building. Thankfully, boys were not allowed on the premises. As soon as he was out of sight, I felt a deep sense of relief. I can never forget that day.

Though it was a scary experience, I feel content that I did not let him take advantage of me.

Later, when I thought about the entire incident, I felt different; I felt strong and happy. Stepping out of that washroom was the best decision I took that day and thankfully, the iron rod was not put to use.

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