We were both working while schooling at the same time. That’s how I met her, in school. We did not become close until we got to level 300. I knew her to be a brilliant student. She even offered to help me with my studies when we started spending time together. I didn’t have a problem studying. In fact, I was a straight A’s student. But I wanted to get close to her so I submitted myself under her tutelage.

The more she tutored me, the more time we spent together. Our proximity was what made us closer. Before long, we were in love. I was so happy when we started dating officially. You would think I had won the lottery.

When the semester’s exam results were out, she failed two courses. This did not shock her as my own results did. She got offended. “You lied to me. I can’t believe I was making a fool of myself tutoring you when you knew very well that I was the one you should be tutoring instead. How could you do this to me?” I understood her anger. To make up for it I told her, “I am sorry. I just wanted to spend more time with you and you were doing a good job. Let me make it up to you. I will help you study and rewrite the papers you failed.” She agreed and we got to work.

I registered the courses for her and helped her to study till she wrote her resit and passed. After we worked on her grades, we worked on her job. She was the breadwinner of her family but she did not earn enough from her job to support herself and everyone else depending on her. So I secured a job for her at my place of work. The salary was better but the work was more demanding.

I asked her, “Are you sure you can blend a demanding job with UCC? You will need to work harder to get good grades all the time.” She assured me that she could handle it. I knew her to be smart so I believed she could handle it. I didn’t have any problems working with her, seeing as we were not in the same department. I only saw her at the close of work when I would pick her up and drop her off at home.

After a while, I noticed that her social life was getting in the way of school. She would go out with her friends and party till late in the night. Combining a job like ours, with school, and a life of partying was something only a robot could pull off efficiently. I tried to reason with her but the money she was earning from the job got to her head. She started to look down on academic work.

One day she said, “If my job is paying me well and I am the best at it, then why should I stress myself with school?” To my horror, she failed her exams miserably that semester. I registered for her to rewrite the courses but she refused. To drive her point home, she quit school. She said, “UCC is stressful so I will apply to another school next year.” I couldn’t have forced her so I respected her decision.

I went with my brother to see her family and declared my intention to marry her. They welcomed us warmly and endorsed our relationship. When I got to my final year, Tina demanded that we get married. Nonetheless, I asked her to patiently wait for me to complete school first before we start the marriage preparations.

I understood that she was the breadwinner of her family, so I supported her financially. There were certain responsibilities I shouldn’t take on as a boyfriend, but I took them on. I only sought to lighten her burden.

I thought we were on the same page until she suddenly changed. She started making excuses not to go home with me after work. She was running a side business by then so she would tell me, “I have to go and do deliveries so go, I will make my way home when I am done.” Sometimes, I wouldn’t hear from her again until the next day. Other times too, she would return my calls late in the night and tell me she was tired from all the deliveries. She barely replied to my messages. It was only when she needed lunch that she called me.

One fateful Saturday morning, Tina called and asked me to meet her for a lunch date. I went for lectures but when it was 2 pm, I left for the place she had arranged for us to meet. She ordered drinks but her behavior was weird so I didn’t touch anything. I just wanted her to get to the point.

When she finally settled she started, “You know my dad isn’t well and my eldest brother is not working. So I’m the one taking care of the family.” I nodded in agreement. She continued, “I have realized that getting married early will help ease my family’s burden, and you are ready to marry me now, so… so I have decided to move on with someone else.”

It was like a bad dream. The kind that you feel relief when you wake up and face reality. Except this one was my reality. When I found my voice I asked her, “Is this a prank? If this is a joke, it’s not funny. You can see that I am not laughing.” She looked at me with a straight face and said, “It’s my life. It’s my choice.” I couldn’t take it anymore. So I got up and left without uttering another word to her.

For days, I couldn’t stomach food. However, I refused to let the heartbreak affect my academic work and my job. I tried to forge ahead but seeing her at work messed with my heart so I resigned three months after she dumped me.

Six months later, she sent me her wedding invite via WhatsApp. I congratulated her and stopped replying to any other messages she sent me after that. Even after she got married, she tried several times to talk to me but I didn’t allow it.

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When we were growing in our love, we had big dreams. One of them was to start a business together. Although she is no longer a part of my life, I went ahead and made that dream a reality. I’m currently a young CEO of a fast-growing business.

Last month marked two years of the brouhaha between us. Only for me to receive a phone call from my former colleague this month that Tina is in police custody. She embezzled the company’s money and has been prepared for court. The money is so huge that, when she works her job and earns her usual GHC4,600.00 for ten years, she wouldn’t be able to pay back the company’s money.

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Also, she had her second child and it resulted in health complications for her. The disheartening part of all this is that the guy she married is jobless. She knew he was unemployed when she married him. He claimed to be part of an NGO that solicits donations for orphans.

Tina is the one who has been looking after this guy all this while, and now she is in the biggest mess of her life. So she left me to go and marry because she expected marriage to ease her family’s burden, but it only added to her burdens. Well, it’s her life. It’s her choice. As for me, I’m married to my company for now. I’m nurturing it the way I would have taken care of Tina.

—Lilal

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