In 2003 when I entered Apam secondary school, I entered with the hopes and dreams of a little boy who wanted to make his mark in the school and leave with better grades. My first day in school was a Friday. The next day was the school’s entertainment night. I was seated on a bench when this lady came to sit next to me. It was the perfume on her skin that drew my attention. I looked at her face. I looked at her skin. I looked at her legs. She was simply angelic. I’d wanted to talk to her but that little voice in my head said, “You little ‘homodwain.’ Is that your type of meat?”

So, I only sat and stare as some minutes later, she got up and left. For a very long time, I kept thinking about her. I kept looking around for her at every school gathering. I didn’t see her. I should have stopped thinking about her but I couldn’t. Weeks later, I’d been able to integrate myself into the school system and have made myself some friends. I never stopped talking about her to my friends.

One afternoon after lunch, I saw her coming out of the dining hall. I tapped my friend and said, “This is the girl.” He looked at me and asked, “Nancy? She’s The girl you’ve been talking about?” I said, “Yeah, you know her?” He said, “Keep dreaming, senior Marcus will get you.” I asked, “What’s senior Marcus gotten to do with it?” He answered, “Don’t you know she’s the girlfriend of senior Marcus?”

One evening, I was at prep when senior Marcus entered and started screaming my name; “Where’s that f**king Obeng boy? Homodwain like you, you want to go for the food meant for the gods.” My heart skipped a beat. Before I could hide, he came to grab me by the collar and pulled me out of the class. He screamed, “Kneel down!” I did.” He screamed, “No, no no, lie down instead.” I did. He stepped on my butt and said, “See this tiny waist you’re using to admire my girlfriend. Don’t you have girls in your class you can admire?” I said, “Please senior, I was only admiring her. I didn’t say I want her.”

This senior maltreated me all night and then said, “For your punishment, you’ll fetch water for me every morning. You’ll wash my clothes on weekends. You’ll dress my bed and sweep my corner, you hear?” I answered, “Yes senior.”

For the rest of the term, that was all I did for him. Washing, cleaning, fetching water, and ironing. One day at Entertainment, I saw them together. He called me. Immediately I got there, he asked me to kneel down. Nancy protested, “Why would you do that to him?” He said, “Can you imagine this Homodwain is crushing on you?” She laughed and said, “Young man, don’t mind him. Just go. Me too I’m crushing on you, ok?”

When their time was due, they left the school. When my time was due, I also left. I didn’t hear of Marcus again but somewhere in 2010, I was at lectures when I saw a lady walked by the lecture hall who looked like Nancy. I rushed out to have a good look at her. I wasn’t sure it was her. I said, “Nancy?” She looked at me. She said, “You look very familiar. Apam secondary school?” I said, “Yes, this is Obeng. The guy your Marcus punished because he was crushing on you, remember?” She burst out laughing. She said, “You’re quite a man now.” I said, “You too. I nearly didn’t recognize you.” We exchanged contacts and the very next day, I was at her hall of residence.

We talked about our time in school and the memories of yesteryears. I asked, “So where’s that guy who nearly killed me because of you?” She laughed. She said, “Marcus? I don’t even know where he is. After school, communication broke down between us. I guess he’s doing well.”

We became friends. She was at level three hundred just as I was. Soon we were inseparable. The stories of our days in secondary school brought us closer together. We had found ourselves in an environment where each of us could be of help to each other so we stayed close to each other. She was still beautiful and the crush continued. One day I asked her, “So, who’s in your life now?” She asked, “What do you need that information for?” I said, “Nothing, I just want to know.” She said, “I’m not sure you just want to know. There is a reason.” I told her, “Yeah there is a reason. If you were single, I would have asked you to be my girlfriend?”

I said, “The crush is still on. Marcus couldn’t kill it and time didn’t do anything to it. If you give me a chance, I will be very happy.” She said, “You never give up, do you?”

She never said anything concrete but I presumed she liked me too. I kept hanging around and kept reminding her about the proposal until one day she accepted.  It felt like a dream come through for me. It felt like an achievement. It felt like a confirmation of the saying, “If you can dream about it then you can achieve it.” I was so overjoyed I wished I could call that guy who reported me to Marcus and tell him what had happened.

A year later, we completed school and left campus. It was communication that separated Nancy and Marcus. I wasn’t ready to allow that to separate us. After school, I called her day and night and ensured I knew everything she was doing. When we started our national service in Accra, I tried to visit her every weekend. I took her out so I could strengthen what we both had for each other. That was the time I met her parents.

When two years later, we both had a job, marriage was the only thing on our mind because why not?

In 2017 when we got married, senior Marcus was there in the church. Immediately he saw me he screamed, “So it’s you?” I told him, “Yeah, you had what was mine and still had the courage to beat me on top. I should get you arrested!” We burst out laughing as though we’ve won some lottery. He said, “I’m happy how things turned out for you two.” Nancy said, “I’m grateful you could make the time to come.”

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We’ve lived together creating a lot of memories; how we met again at the university, the places we’ve traveled, and how I proposed to her. We’ve traveled together to beautiful places and had met beautiful people but anytime someone asks about the story of us, I always begin from the day she sat next to me on the bench in Apam secondary school. Her perfume. The way I looked at her. Her skin. Her grace. I asked her one day, “What were you doing sitting there that night?” She said, “I was waiting for Marcus so we go to the entertainment hall together but he never showed up.”

No matter how we spin our story, there would always be Marcus in there somewhere. There is always someone or something that brings lovers together. Ours is senior Marcus and I’m grateful to him, as funny as it sounds.

We have two kids and have had many ups and downs. We’ve gone low before. So low to the point that we didn’t talk to each other for close to a month though we were living under the same roof. When we settled our differences and she smiled again, I said to myself, “That’s the girl I crushed on. That’s the woman I’m still crushing on after all these years.” Most people don’t get the chance to say a word to their crush but I married mine. You can call me God’s favorite son.

–Maxwell Obeng 

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