I started this business all by myself. I bought one item, sold it and later bought two. I saw an opportunity there and started exploring. I invested heavily with my savings. When that wasn’t enough, I added my monthly salary. Every month I put my monthly salary in the business telling myself, “Five years from now, I’ll be my own boss.”

I was mainly advertising on social media. That was when Kobby came in. He was nice and had the growth of my business at heart, it seemed. He gave me social media tips and how to increase sales on social media. He designed fliers for me when I haven’t asked. He came home one day to teach me a thing or two about social media. I realized I fancied him in a special way. I prayed he did too. By the end of his visit, he made it clear he wanted to date me.

I spent two weeks pretending to be thinking about it when I already knew the answer. I said yes and we started.

Soon he came to live in my house because we always had something to do about my business. I opened up completely to him; how I shipped in and the companies I dealt with. The ones I had problems with and how much I spent on shipping. Everything concerning my business was made known to him because, in my mind, we were partners bound by love.

When I was too busy with my 8 to 5 job, Kobby handled the sales and accounted for them accordingly. Because he was truthful to me right from the start, I let my guard down and that was when he started his smooth operation.

He sold stock without accounting for them. Delivery guys gave him the money for things they delivered but that money didn’t reach my hand. He would take a loan and only tell me when I’d found out. He wouldn’t repay the loan anyway.

Just when I was about to resign from my 8 to 5 to concentrate on my side business, I was hit with a huge debt I didn’t know where it came from. Stocks were almost finished but there was no money to show for them. The dollar also went up astronomically in a month. I couldn’t keep up. After investigation and thorough audit, I realized Kobby has squandered over GHC50,000 of my invested capital. He said it was a loan he took without telling me. Others were money delivery guys gave to him and stock he sold without telling me.

I got deflated mid-flight and started coming down the way deflated balloons come down from mid-air. I reported him to the police and got him arrested before he confessed to stealing the money. In the end, I only was able to recoup just GHC8,400 from him. I let it go. Pursuing a case like this drains your energy and resources so I backed out and decided to build from scratch again.

I resigned from work so I could concentrate on my business. It turned out that starting all over again is not an easy thing and when you have to do it with a broken heart, it makes things thrice harder. I locked myself in. I blocked the outside noise and blocked the outside voices. I built a fence around my heart and hated men who made a move on me. You only had to smile in front of me and you chop block.

It took me a year of sleepless nights and pure hustle to put things back on track. When my business smiled at me, my heart thawed. When I saw the inflows and saw the balances, it softened my stance and broke down my defences.

Elijah came along. Though I agreed to give him a chance, I spread my wings over my business and blocked him from seeing what was going on.

Elijah wanted to be different but in my mind, he was working hard to better Kobby’s record. I saw it as fake or trying too hard. The more he tried, the more I covered up.

I would go to his place often but stop him from coming to mine. I felt he might see what he ought not to see, specifically about my business. He told me, “I’m not after what you have, but after what you can give. You’ve given me enough already; your heart, your commitment, your love. These are enough for me so simmer down. Allow me fully into your heart and all will be well.”

I prayed about him. I didn’t see any sign. I fasted about him but God’s voice was still. Guess what, I went to Atwea for him but didn’t get any sign about our relationship. Seven months later, I was about to call it quits because I’d concluded he wasn’t the one.

We had a youth program in church and for the first time, I opened up to our pastor about my relationship.

“I’ve prayed, I’ve fasted, I’ve gone a whole week on the mountain but I didn’t see a sign,” I told our pastor.

He responded, “Silence is also a sign. Maybe God doesn’t have anything bad to say about him that’s why he’s quiet. That’s why he’s still. Take a leap of faith and leave the rest to him.”

When I went home, I told Elijah, “Marry me. If you think I’m good enough for you, go ahead and marry me. That’s the only thing that will make sense to me.”

While I was busily talking he was watching me and smiling. He said, “Calm down. What’s pursuing you to marry? We are not going anywhere so calm down.”

We sat in silence for a while. He turned to me and asked, “So when should we come to see your parents?”

Four months later, we were married and living together in an apartment he rented with all he had because he wanted to make me happy.

It wasn’t easy but I slowly opened things up to him, watching him for signs that said he was a red flag. He didn’t do more than I asked him to do and yes, he knew I had money but he always gave me money and took care of the house the best way he could. When he needed my help, he came to me and opened up that he needed me to come in.

I Found Him In Church Cheating Instead Of Praying

He won me over with transparency so I opened up totally like the sunflower does to the sun. We are good. God’s silence means consent and I’m glad I took this leap of faith. He handles the heavy part of my business currently while I take care of the finances. We are growing from strength to strength. I’m only waiting for him to resign from work so we can build this together as partners bound by love.

— Nuna

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