If you haven’t read the first part of this story, here’s the link. Kindly read it before starting this one.
My confidence was all-time low. Once it’s an accident. But when the same thing happens twice, it gives you a reason to be worried. I got back to Accra and decided not to pay attention to anything concerning love. My heart was close. It was under repairs until further notice. But he continued calling. Some part of me wanted to ignore the reasons e stood me up. A piece of me also wanted to know why so I could give myself the perfect closure. At first, he said, “I’m sorry, it wasn’t intentional. It was my phone that gave up on me.” I knew he was lying. I knew there was more to it than he was explaining to me.
So one day when he called, I said, “I deserve some respect after everything that has happened. I’m the girl who sat in a car for over five hours to come and see you. I’m the girl you left at the station without regard to my safety. I’m the one who’s hurt here. I don’t even know why I’m talking to you and don’t even know what you want from me. But whatever it is, please tell me the truth. I need it to close this chapter. Why did you leave me there?”
He still maintained that it was his phone that went off. I said, “You saw me on the roadside. You realized that I was walking with a limp. You didn’t expect to see me the way you did or you didn’t think you can go on with a girl who limps that’s why you left me there, right? Just say the truth.” He said, “It’s not hundred percent the case. Yeah, I saw you but something else happened that I don’t want to talk about it. That was the reason I couldn’t pick you up from the station.”
“Whatever happened, you need to tell me. I’m a grown-up woman and I can handle anything. Just tell me. I need the truth.”
He said something about his parents returning from a trip unexpectedly and he didn’t know what to do because he couldn’t take me to the house while his parents were there. I didn’t believe him but a part of me said I should forget and forgive so I did. After all, I wasn’t going to travel to Obuasi to see him again so what did I have to lose?
But he kept coming. He kept calling me. He could call twice in a day talking about nothing in particular. He would ask questions I don’t have answers for. He’ll text late in the night and wish me good night. At some point, I asked him, “What do you really want from me? I need to understand the reason why you’re in my life right now.” He said, “Ain’t we friends? Or you still hate me because of what happened?” I answered, “I don’t have hate. We were closer to something until you let me fall. All of a sudden, you’re here again so I need to understand what you’re here for.”
“You’re a good friend and I want us to maintain that.”
Months later he called to tell me that he was coming to Accra for a program. I asked what he wanted me to do for him and he said, “Now I’m the one coming. Am I not allowed to see you?”
Days later he was in Accra. He called and we arranged to meet in town. I was there before him. He walked to my table and later a gentleman followed. He introduced him as his friend, “The one I stay with whenever I come to Accra.” I shook hands with him and he mentioned his name as Jack. When we settled, I said, “Jack, listen to what this your friend did to me some months ago and be the ultimate judge of his character…” Before I could continue with the story he screamed, “It’s ok!… Must you tell everyone what happened between us?”
I laughed. He laughed. That laughter felt like ice had been poured into my heart. It went cold and all of a sudden I was happy to see him again. All of his sins were forgiven and forgotten. We had a long night talking about a lot of things. Jack sat quietly looking at the two of us. Once in a while, I will catch him looking at me and he’ll take his eyes away. He acted shy at first but as the night went on, he warmed up to the conversation. He would steal glances and I would ask myself why he was looking at me that way. “Or he had said something bad about me to him?”
The night came to an end and we said goodbye to each other. When I got up, he hugged me and said “I’m sorry. Truly I am.” Jack shook my hands and said good night.
When he went back to Obuasi, he called to ask me, “Did my friend call you?” I asked, “Jack?” He answered, “Yeah, he took your number from me. He said he was going to call you.” I told him, “No he hasn’t. Is there any reason he would like to call me?” He said, “I don’t know. Maybe he wants to be a friend. Whatever it is, be careful of him. He’s my friend so I know what I’m talking about.” I was confused. I asked him, “Can he harm me in any way?” He screamed, “Oh no. Not at all but the way he was talking about you when we were going, I suspect he has ill motives. I’m only telling you to be careful so he doesn’t waste your emotions.” I laughed. I said, “I’m not a small girl. I know how to take care of myself.”
Jack called one day and said, “You said you live around Tesano, right? Do you mind if we meet one of these days? That’s my route to work. If it’s ok with you, we can meet.” I asked, “Any special reason why we should?” He said, “Oh no reason at all. Just meet, talk and…and…” I cut him short, “I’m around. Whenever you’re ready let me know.” I called the Obuasi guy and told him what Jack said. He told me, “Don’t meet him. Why does he want to see you when I’m not there? What’s his interest?”
But I met Jack one evening after work and we laughed our heads off. Just when we were about to say goodbye he asked me, “Does he know we are meeting?” I said, “No. Why do you ask?” He answered, “Oh nothing, just asking.” I said, “Maybe when he calls this evening or tomorrow, I will tell him. That’s if you don’t mind.” “Oh no problem at all, you can tell him. I don’t think he would have an issue with that.” He told me.
I went home. He called but I didn’t tell him that I met his friend. I met Jack every now and then. He would call on weekends and ask what my plans were. I would tell him I don’t have plans and he would come up with plans which I will eventually say yes to. One evening, he asked me, “He tells me that you’re a friend he met online. I want to be sure if he proposed to you or something. Do you think he has any plan of dating you?” I said to myself, “Wow, so he didn’t tell him the full story.” I used the opportunity to tell him how I met his friend and how he stood me up in Obuasi. He said, “Tell me you’re lying.” I said, “Jack, what would I gain from telling a lie like this? He did it to me and you can confirm from him.” He said, “After all this and you still gave him the chance to see you when he came here?” I responded, “That’s the sickness with people like me who can’t hold grudges. He apologized and gave me some excuses but what will I gain if I hold it against him?”
He didn’t talk again. We walked quietly through the pavement that leads to my house. Just when we were about to get to my house he said, “I have a thing for you. I would have said it long ago but I wasn’t sure of the relationship between you two. Now that I know, I think I’m confident enough to tell you how I feel about you. If there’s no one in your life as we speak, could you give me the chance?” I froze. I looked everywhere but his face. I said, “Is that something you planned with him. Yes, I like you too but tell me why I should believe you.” He said, “You don’t have to believe me. Time will tell.”
Times have come and gone and we are still here. What did the time say when it finally spoke? That he was being truthful about his feelings. That I should open up completely and avail myself to love without restrictions. In 2020, when the pandemic was eating the world away, we were locked up together planning on how our wedding was going to be like when the world finally heals. He gave me a reason to believe and I held on to it.
At a point, he asked me, “Who is going to tell him what is happening between us?” I said, “He doesn’t need to know. I don’t owe him that much but if you think he has to know, I can pick up the phone right now and call him.” He said, “Do it.” I called him. I said, “Hey, there’s something I want to tell you. Jack proposed to me…” He screamed on the other side of the phone, “I knew it. I knew he had no good intentions toward you. He just wants to eat you, don’t mind him.” I looked at Jack’s face to make sure that he doesn’t hear what he was saying. Jack opened his palms to ask me what he was talking about. I shook my head. I told him on the phone, “I think he’s a good guy so I’ve accepted his proposal. It’s been four months already but he hasn’t mentioned sex. You still think that’s his reason for coming?”
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He spoke with a mellow voice, “You made a mistake. You should have asked me about him before accepting him. He’s my friend and I know him. I know what he can do. I know what he did to…” I said, “It’s ok, I will handle the rest from here. I have a visitor. Let me call you later.” I hang up. Jack asked me, “So what did he say?” I responded, “He thinks I should have told him earlier than I did. He knows now and that’s ok.”
Our wedding was in early January this year. He didn’t attend our wedding but that didn’t stop us from making our vows in front of the Lord. I don’t hate him. I never did. Even when he made me cry on the bus from Obuasi to Accra, I didn’t hate him. I only prayed to God for healing. Now that everything has unfolded right before my eyes, I’ve understood the reason he stood me up that day. He didn’t come because he wasn’t the one. I made the mistake of thinking he could be the one. He came to introduce my husband to me. That was his only duty and he discharged it flawlessly. I can only be grateful to him. So when I pray, I tell God, “For the disappointment I went through that day, for the tears I shed until I slept in the bus, thank you. In the end, the dot connected and it only connected backward.”
—Irene
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