Storytime: how I got played by a male Congolese gospel singer.

(God forgive me for this)

It all started (mid March last year) when I got a follow request from this guy on my Instagram. We’ll call him Panda Me being nice I accepted his follow request and went about my day

He then popped up to me in my DMs and we had a small conversation and whatnot. And that’s when he told me he was 24. I can’t lie we started off well. He told me that he’s living in Dublin, which was a bit of a turn off at first

After a few chats on Instagram, we started speaking to eachother on Snapchat and sending eachother corny snaps. I even opened up to him about my bad breakups, toxic relationships etc

Then we moved to WhatsApp. We did a long 2 hour call (last time I remember), and he told me that he was interested in me, he was even telling me about his faith as well, how he was a singer in his church and all that (he even did his own concert too)

I can’t lie that actually surprised me so I was very interested in getting to know him more and we would talk more often. I remember him getting upset at me one time for not popping up to see how he was doing lmao but we got off to a good start

He even told me that he was in London to do a video shoot. He was also in a Congolese gospel group with members from both Ireland and the UK, I know some of you will know what group I’m on about

Fast forward after a few video chats and text messages, he told me that he was coming over to London to perform with his group (this was during the Easter holiday last year. That’s when he took it upon himself to ask me out on a date. And of course I agreed

So we went out on a date to Westfield Stratford. I was even shocked that this guy knew his way around London but at the same time he did tell me that he would travel to London frequently to see his relatives and for his group stuff

We went to a few shops in Westfield and out of nowhere he started singing one of Ferre Gola’s songs and then proceeded to ask if I listen to Ferre and what my favourite song from him was. He really started singing my favourite song after I told him

Then we went to the VUE cinema, I already knew what movie I wanted to watch before going so we both went to watch the movie ‘Us’. This guy proceeded to make out with me while we were in the room (thank God the room was dark)

He then got a phone call asking where he was, because he had to practice for his performance the next day. I was rattled but he stayed for the duration of the movie. We said our goodbyes once our date had finished

When I got home, I told my mum how the date went and I showed her a picture of him. I also showed my sister a picture of him, she started dying of laughter (because he’s very short) and she said that he looked like a BTEC (knock off) version of Fally Ipupa

Anyway fast forward to the night before the second time we met. He was coming over to perform with his group; they were opening for Amanda Malela’s show in London. Imagine I really paid for this man’s flight ticket to London like an absolute idiotic fool

I even forgot to tell you guys that some of our conversations were 18+ which was the very last thing I expected at all. He tried to justify himself by saying that he was a human

So he made it up to me by inviting me over to his hotel room and I don’t even need to say what happened afterwards. But this man was so skinny, he had the physique of a 12 year old. I honestly felt fat around him and I’m not even fat.

Ngl he was so good that I started walking like a hobo afterwards so hats off to him. But I got home and acted normal. He even called to see if I got home safe which was very nice of him.

We were still going at it with our ‘ting’ and we spent days talking to each other. I saw a snap of him giving his ‘mum’ a cheek kiss and he put her as his WhatsApp picture.

He kept telling me that she was his mum so I brushed it off, besides she has the exact same mouth wrinkles as him so I kind of thought they were related (with my dumb self)

Then all of a sudden he started ignoring my messages and taking days to reply. I didn’t think too much of it until one day he called me after one of my work shifts. I picked up and as we were talking, I heard one random woman shout “CHÉRIE BABO” ...I’m sorry, chérie who?????

I was rattttledddd (people also call him Babo btw). He started stuttering telling me that it was his mum/aunty calling him, then the woman heard him and asked him ‘who’s your mum?’ looool I didn’t know what to believe

He told me he had to go and hung up. I barely even heard from him since. I remember telling my cousins and family friends about him and they were all suspicious. One of my family friends even told me that he tried to move to her

And I remember another time one of my cousins was telling me that he’s a big man, as in a GROWN MAN. I wasn’t too sure so another one of my cousins told me that she would do an investigation on him and get back to me anytime soon. The way I was desperate to know what was up omds

I waited and waited. In that same week I was shopping with my younger sister and I got a video call from him, he checked up on me and all. A few minutes later me and my sister hopped on the train and were planning to go to Westfield Stratford

While we were on the train I got an Instagram DM from my cousin (who did all the investigation). We started off with a light conversation and then she hit me with that ‘Abi I have to tell you something...’ at that point my heart was RACING

My sister saw me looking scared and asked me what was up, I told her that my cousin did the investigation on Panda. I gave my sister my phone to read the messages for me because I didn’t want to have a panic attack on the train

So as my sister was reading the messages she did a loud gasp. That’s I knew I was in for some bad news lmao. She told me from the messages that he’s actually 29 and not 24. I was like ‘what the hell????’

She then shouted in disbelief on the train after reading another message from my cousin. Turns out that Panda had a girlfriend this whole time, and SHE WAS THERE AT HIS GROUP’S CONCERT. The concert after our first date.

I. Was. So. Livid.
My sister was angry as well, she started cussing him from head to toe, calling him a stupid man etc. I didn’t even want to go to Westfield anymore after that so we took the train back home.

When we got off at a train station I called him and asked him if he has a girlfriend, this man tried to avoid the question by asking me questions. He told me to cool off and call him when I got home.

So I called him when I got home and he wasn’t picking up. I called a few more times and he picked up. He was doing the same thing, asking me some meaningless questions. He told me that he was speaking to his mum and had to call me back later. This man never called me again

I hopped on his Instagram live a few minutes later and this man was in someone’s car doing a long sermon about Jesus. For real? I thought he was talking to his ‘mum’

And like an idiot I waited days for him to call me back or even text me but I never heard a word from him again So I blocked him on all socials and moved on like a real bad b. The end.