My friend and I are having relationship problems. No, I am not dating my friend. Therefore he is not the one I am having the problems with. By some meddling hand of fate, we happen to be having problems in our respective relationships at the same time. It first started with my friend’s. He is called Akwasi, and I am also Akwasi. Coincidence. It’s not as if I went around with a name tag looking for another Akwasi to be friends with. However, the moment we both realised we had the same name, it was easier for us to like each other.

If you think us having the same name, is a crazy coincidence then wait till you read this. The girl Akwasi is having relationship problems with is my sister. I know people often make jokes that men don’t like it when their friends date their sisters. Well, in our case it’s different. My girlfriend is Akwasi’s big sister and he doesn’t mind. Just as I don’t mind him dating my sister as well.

It was Akwasi and my sister who started having problems first. I don’t know what started their petty fights but it escalated as time passed. Before we knew it, my sister left town. She didn’t tell me where she was going but I checked up on her and knew she was fine.

Two weeks after she left, Akwasi called me saying he couldn’t hear from my sister. “Since when?” I asked him. “It’s been two weeks now,” he responded, “Her number is active but when I call she doesn’t pick up. My WhatsApp messages go unanswered. Have you heard from her?” I had heard from her within that period so I asked if they were having problems. That was when he admitted that they had been fighting.

I called my sister to find out what was going on. She told me, “I am no longer interested in dating your friend. He is abusive. When he told you I have been ignoring him, did he tell you what he did?” I said I knew they had been fighting. “Fighting?” She shrieked. When she calmed down enough to talk, she explained that it was no fair fight. My friend had been beating her.

Considering that I don’t hit women, most especially the women I date, I was not happy to hear what Akwasi was doing to my own sister. My sister explained that she did not want the issue to drag on. They were living together before she ran off to God knows where. According to my sister, Akwasi became abusive when he lost his job.

He was always giving her a lot of money. They bought so many items together. My sister said she didn’t want any of those things anymore. “Tell your friend to sell everything he ever bought for me, and keep his money. I don’t want anything from him anymore,” my sister said as she decided to be done with the relationship for good.

While I was going back and forth between the two of them trying to facilitate a less dramatic breakup, my own girlfriend started giving me attitude. I don’t know what I did to her but she wouldn’t pick up my calls. When it first started, I was worried. I tried everything possible to get her attention but it only earned me insults. We were together happily and peacefully so where from all this anger?

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Unlike Akwasi and my sister’s relationship, his sister and I do not live together. We have been together for two years but I have never spent money on her either. I opened an account. And every time I wanted to give her money, I put it in the account instead. And knowing the woman I am dating, her decision to ghost me only means she did something bad. That’s what happens. Whenever she does something that would upset me, she would be the one to get angry and give me attitude. That way I would end up apologizing to her instead of receiving an apology from her.

This is why I don’t invest anything in her financially. I just want to be sure about her intentions for me first. So far I haven’t seen anything to convince me that she truly loves me. Especially now that she has started giving me the silent treatment again. I am even leaving the country next month. I was going to tell her as a surprise but with the way she is behaving, I might not tell her.

Akwasi needs advice on how to persuade my sister to forgive him for hitting her. He says it won’t happen again. I also need advice on how to handle things with Akwasi’s sister. Should I tell her I am traveling? Or I should allow our ongoing fight to be the end of us so I start my life afresh in this new country I am moving to?

—Akwasi

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