My senior brother came to Ghana to engage his long-time girlfriend. They started dating when they were at university. After university, my brother travelled to Estonia to pursue further education. They never had an issue. According to my brother, they spoke every day and every night before they went to bed, they had a video call before sleeping. Estonia is two hours ahead of Ghana but my brother waited until it was very late so he could have the last video call with her before sleeping. 

When he came to Ghana, his girlfriend didn’t know. It was meant to be a surprise and I was the mediator between them to ensure nothing was suspected. One afternoon my brother told me, “I don’t want to go and see her just like that. I want to go with a ring and propose to her. I might even marry her before I leave.” I walked with him to a jewellery shop to shop for a ring. There was a guy there who welcomed us and introduced himself to us as Alfred. He took us around showing us rings, their qualities and prices. Out of curiosity, I would put some of the rings on and this guy would tell me, “This really fits your finger. You don’t have to take it off.” In his mind, he thought I was a couple with my brother so I had to clarify that.

I told him, “I’m not the one going to wear the ring. We are buying it for his girlfriend. I’m using my finger because I and the girl are of the same size.” He looked at me amazed. He said, “Wow, everyone will think you are a couple. You look good together.” We both laughed. We continued shopping until we settled on one. I thought it was too expensive but my brother thought otherwise. He asked me, “Don’t you think she deserves to wear something expensive?” I answered, “I’m sorry ooo. Why am I even having an opinion on this?”

We got the ring and left the shop. 

The day my brother was going to see his girlfriend, I didn’t go with him. It was supposed to be private. I made the calls to ensure the lady was home and my brother went alone. He was supposed to send me videos of how the whole thing went but the videos never came. For two days I didn’t hear from my brother. I went home to see him and they told me he left home that day and hadn’t come back. I called his girlfriend, “Please won’t you release my brother to come home again? You’ve chopped enough love, please release him to us.” She responded, “You didn’t do well at all. Why didn’t you tell me your brother was in?” Her voice was low like there was some sadness in her voice. I asked what the issue was and she said, “He’s not here with me. He left that very day and he doesn’t pick up my calls again.”

I texted my brother and he texted back. According to him, He got to his girlfriend’s house and met another guy in there. He was trying hard to ignore the presence of the guy but the guy kept asking what was going on and his girlfriend responded, “He’s a friend. We used to be in school together. He came from abroad and decided to surprise me.” And then she turned to my brother and said, “I’m sorry, but there’s someone else. You didn’t tell me you were going to come back anytime soon. I thought you were not coming so I settled with someone else.”

My brother walked out quietly without creating footprints where he walked. Out of disappointment, he disappeared for a while. When I finally saw him, he threw the ring at me, “Do whatever you want to do with it. I just don’t want to think about the whole thing again.” He left Ghana a week later though he planned to stay for two months.

Anytime I remembered the price of the ring, I felt like I could make something out of it if I sold it. So one afternoon, I walked to the jewellery shop and met Alfred. He recognized my face immediately after he saw me. He said, “You are here again? Are you coming to buy more rings?” I said, “No, I’m here to return the one we bought. Unfortunately, we don’t need it. If you can sell it for us, I’ll leave it here and come once it’s sold.” I told him the whole story and he was shattered. He said, “Tell me it’s a lie!” I answered, “It sounds like a movie but it happened to my brother.” 

He took the ring and asked me to come back a week later. He told me about their commission policy and asked me to bring in customers and earn 10% anytime they buy. Before the week would end, I sent a friend there. She was getting married soon so I went to show her the place so I could earn something on her purchase. When we were leaving, he called me on the side and said, “We don’t do this but I will do it for you. Here, this is the refund. I like it that you’ve started bringing your friends here.” I took the money and said thank you. My friend finally went there with her husband-to-be and they bought from them. He called and asked me to come for my commission. 

When I got there, he handed me an envelope, spoke for a while and I left.” I got home, opened the envelope and there was a ring in it. One of the rings I tried on while there with my brother. I called him, “Alfred, there’s a ring in the envelope. Was it a mistake?” He answered, “It looked perfect on your finger so I thought you should have it. Use it to pull customers for me. Show it to your friends to convince them about the quality we have here. I’m only trying to make your job easy.” It sounded fishy but I gave myself permission to trust his intentions. 

He never called me until I called. The commission was good so I started posting on my status that I was the latest jewellery plug in town. Every once in a while I will make such posts on my status. One day he commented, “I wish you good market returns today.” I sent laughing emojis and that plunged us into a conversation that never stopped until we had our first date. I was not wearing the ring so he asked me, “Where’s the ring I gave you?” I answered, “I didn’t come here to do marketing so there was no need to wear it.” He found it funny but I explained further, “Honestly, I don’t want to give the wrong impression to people that I’m engaged or promised or anything. You know guys these days, they see a ring on your finger and they shy away.”

He said, “Then put it on from now onwards. You’ve been promised.” 

“Is that how you propose?”

“Is there any way I could have done it any better?”

“Well, that’s not how proposals are done. You say you love the girl and she gives you her opinion. This one feels like an ambush.”

“I’m glad you saw it exactly how I wanted it to be. It’s an ambush because I didn’t want you to escape.”

The colour of the night faded and our moods shifted from gay to sombre. “Well, I like him too. Why don’t I give him a try?” I said yes and he responded, “That’s how ambush works.”

The first person I spoke with about my relationship was my brother. He knew Alfred and I thought it was easy to have a conversation about it with him. He told me, “You saw what happened to me. Love is a field of broken dreams but I won’t tell you to close your heart to him. Open your heart but guard it so you’re not ambushed.” 

That word again. ‘Ambush.’ 

I told him, “I’m in love with him but I went with my head. Let’s see how it goes.” He wished me well and still sounded a caution to me as if I was entering a battlefield. 

Alfred’s Jewelry business became my business too. I told everyone in my office about it and even showed them pictures of what we had in store. Two people bought from us when they were getting married. My friends in church started buying from us too. Anytime someone made a wedding announcement, I approached them and pitched it to them. If they hadn’t purchased rings already, they bought from us. For over a year, Alfred was always owing me commissions. He stopped paying me. He said, “Think about it this way. Instead of collecting percentages, I’m saving them to buy shares here for you. How about that?”

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There was nothing he didn’t provide. Whenever he travelled outside, the shop was left in my care. The level of trust he gave me was a shock to me. I wouldn’t trust myself the way Alfred trusted me. At one point I asked him, “What have you seen in me that you’ll leave your life’s investment in my care? You don’t even know me that much.” He answered, “If I didn’t trust you, I wouldn’t have proposed to you in the first place. You’ve always delivered on my trust which is the reason I keep giving you more and more.”

That day, I knew I was in safe hands. We dated for one and a half years and got married. We are in our third year now. He has never stopped trusting me. I resigned from work to manage his shop so he could open another branch. Currently, we have five branches. Three branches in Ghana and two outside Ghana. We have one kid he’s spoiling with love and care. Sometimes, I feel the child has come between us a little but I can’t complain. One day, the children will grow old and leave home and I will have my husband all to myself. 

My brother can’t believe I found love where he lost his. He calls to tell me I owe him, “You need to pay me for taking you to that place.” We would laugh about it and in the end, he would say, “At least, something good came out of the disappointment. If I have to suffer the same fate again for you to be this happy, I will do it again and again.” He’s married to a white lady and they are also having the time of their lives. What else can we ask from love and life again? I think we are in a place where we can be nothing but grateful.  

—Akuaba

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