It was the very first week that Joyce and I found ourselves bonding as close friends online. The bond was born out of the many questions she brought to me to help her navigate some areas on the Hive Blockchain. I didn't feel tired helping out because I'm always available to assist people I don't know physically. The world is small, and the virtual world has become as real as the physical one.
"Kingsley, I just used your phone number to register on a site, please give me the OTP when it drops." Her message from WhatsApp popped up on my notification. I checked the time, and it was 10:45 pm. I didn't reply instantly; I took a pause from my multitasking on the four platforms I was working on and began to think.
She used my phone number to register on a site? What kind of site is that? I know it's not a scam site, but what if it's a loan site because I've heard about bad occurrences like that before?
I was still thinking when her message popped up again, this time she stretched my name, adding many 'y's, "Kingsleyyyyyyyyyyy, please have you seen it?" I smiled upon seeing her message and patiently waited for the OTP to drop to know what site it was. Before I knew it, my phone rang, and it was her call.
"Hello, I've seen your message, but I haven't seen any SMS containing OTP. Besides, what is it for? It would make sense if you tell me what the OTP is needed for because..."
"Oh sorry, no need. You think I want to scam you?" She interrupted and sounded pissed off and ended the call.
I removed the phone from my ear side and placed it on my face to see if she really hung up the call. I dialed the number; the phone rang for 10 seconds, and then the phone beeped angrily with a sharp different tone; she busied my call.
"Hello, is that how easily you pick anger? You haven't listened to what I had to say, and you ended the call. That's so bad!" Instead of chatting from the notification as usual, I entered her DM to drop that message which was delivered but didn't get the blue tick. It was obvious she's snubbing already.
By then, my mind had gone unsettled knowing fully well that a friend who has been nice suddenly became angry over what's not supposed to be. How do I explain to her that she's picking my intention from a wrong view?
This became a nagging thought for me as my heart is soft and gets shaken whenever I feel like I'm offending someone.
I waited for her to read the message, but she didn't. I checked the time; it was almost 12:00 am, and I was feeling dizzy already. I wasn't ready to go to bed with such a killing thought. I dialed her number again; the phone rang until the end, no answer.
"One more time," I decided to dial the line again, and if she doesn't pick, I would go to bed.
"Kingsleyy, I told you not to worry. I feel so bad knowing that you think I could scam you at this level of friendship." She finally responded, and I knew she's about to end the call as usual. I had to start begging her not to end the call, *"please don't end this call yet; hear me out first."" I checked the phone to see if the call was still intact because she was mute when I pleaded.
"Okay, I've been into the web world for ages, and I've seen where people were lured to use their numbers to collect loans from loan sites. Although I know you didn't have that intention, it would have made sense if you had attached an explanation of what you intended to use the number for. There are a lot of scenarios on this. Do you get my point now?"
"Hmmmm, anyways, you surprised me, but I understand better now. Thank you."
I had a deep sigh of relief. "So what was the OTP for?" I asked.
"It's not something serious; I was hunting for a referral on a newly launched app, and I didn't want to bug you with downloading the app on your phone. That's why I decided to register you here on my phone and use the OTP they'll send to you." She explained.
"Okay okay, I understand now, send the link on my DM. I will relieve the stress from you and do it myself here."
We ended the call around 12:36 am. My eyes were dimmed already; I just threw the phone at a corner and slept off with a worry-less mind.
