When we first met, he told me his story of abandonment and heartbreak from the woman he loved. In his story, he was the good guy who gave everything to his women, but in the end, they all left him. He begged me not to do the same to him. I said, “If all is well and we are happy, how will I leave you? For what?”

FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP CHANNEL TO RECEIVE ALL STORIES IN YOUR INBOX

This guy was too good. I asked myself why other women had left him. When my phone’s screen broke and I was going to fix it, he held my hand, took me to a phone shop, and got me a new one. No man had ever bought me a phone. I met them with my phone, and I left with the same phone I met them with.

He didn’t buy just a phone. He was always present. Call him at night and tell him you miss him—he would be in your room the next moment. He would send me data when I hadn’t asked. He would send me MoMo just because it was the weekend and I needed to fix my hair and look beautiful. He showed me off. He called me his wife in front of everyone. A few months into our relationship, he wanted to meet my parents.

Things were moving so fast in a sweet direction. I liked that and told him how much I adored him and how much I couldn’t wait to take him home. My mom knew everything about him, but she hadn’t met him.

But all the time I was loving him, I was missing the little things that should have put me on red alert. I thought it was love when he came to my place unannounced, sometimes very late at night, and sneaked into my bed. He said, “I love to surprise you like this because of the face you show me when you see me.”

It was love expressed in a fashionable way—until one evening he came to meet my absence. We were chatting, and I had told him I was home. I was at my mom’s place. In my mind, that was also home. He came to my place like he usually did, and I wasn’t there.

All the while we were chatting, ooo. I got home around 9 p.m. and saw him seated at my doorway, waiting for me. I was laughing when I saw him because I thought this time I had swerved him. He got up and asked under his breath, “Where are you coming from at this time of the night?”

Before I could answer, he snatched my phone from me—the same phone he had bought for me. He screamed, “What’s the password? I want to know the man whose house you’re coming from.”

Before I could process what was going on, he smashed the phone on the hard tiles and screamed, “If you don’t talk, you will be the next thing smashed on the floor.”

I was shaking. One co-tenant pulled her curtains aside and looked through the window to see what was happening. Another did the same, and a man came out of his room to check. He went mute and calm while I was quivering. The man asked what was happening. I couldn’t even say a word. My boyfriend smiled as if he hadn’t been the one shouting a few minutes earlier. He said, “Oh, nothing. Small misunderstanding, but we are fine.”

We went inside, and he was silent for several minutes. Then he said sorry and knelt down, asking me to forgive him because he didn’t know what came over him. “You were out for so long, and I was worried. You said you were home, so when I came and you were not, I felt scared that something might be happening to you.”

I acted calm but in fear. I played along until he left. Currently, I live in my mother’s house. I’ve told him it’s over, and out of fear, I’ve abandoned my place until I’m sure that guy is completely out of my life.

He’s still begging. He has gotten me a new iPhone and is asking me to come for it. I like my old phone just the way it was.

Dating A Narcissist: Lessons From Heartbreak And Abuse

If I allow what happened that night to happen again, I might pass out before it’s over. What if the neighbors weren’t nosy? What would have happened to me? He’s begging. I’ve blocked him twice on different numbers, but he still gets another number to call and text me. If this is the only fight I will fight to prevent what happened that day from happening again, then I will fight with all my might because it was scary. I didn’t even know I was capable of quivering without cold, but I did—all because I loved a man. Sunesune!

—Lucy

This story you just read was sent to us by someone just like you. We know you have a story too. Email it to us at [email protected]. You can also drop your number and we will call you so you tell us your story.

******