He contacted me on my business page on Instagram. It was around 11pm when I was about to sleep. Normally, I would just ignore him and answer later in the morning but he was talking about business so I replied quickly.

He said, “I thought you’d be sleeping by now.” I answered, “Yeah, I was about to sleep and your message came.”

We chatted for a few minutes and he made some orders he wanted delivered the next day. And then he said, “I don’t know what I’ll do to get you to deliver them yourself so you tell me. You’re so nice I want to see the kind of person you are.”

The next day I was at the location he gave me. A shop in town. A gentleman who had a smile of a flower and a snowy set of teeth. He looked into my eyes and I looked back until he dropped his gaze. He signalled me to sit next to him in his car.

We talked. He asked me about business. He asked about the economy and how I was managing. He offered to buy me lunch and I accepted. By the time the food arrived, we had talked for over an hour.

A few days later, he called. He said, “I don’t have money to place an order but does it mean we can’t talk?”

We started a friendship which later led to “I love you” and “Give me some time to think about it.”

He was impatient. He wanted to see me every day. He wanted to talk to me every time. He was always scheduling a date I didn’t want to attend. One day he begged me to visit him and I did. He told me he was taking me home to see where he lived.

We got to a fuel station and he entered to buy fuel. He asked the attendant to fill his tank for him. He tried paying with MoMo but was facing issues. He turned and asked if I had money on me to pay so he could give it to me when we got home. The total amount was GHC765. I paid.

It was around 6pm when we got to his house. A very nice place where he said he had been living for just a week. Everything looked new. He cooked for me and served it with wine. While eating, he kept encouraging me to drink more of the wine. The wine was really sweet but alcoholic. I didn’t want to risk it. By 8pm, I told him I was leaving.

This guy said no I had to spend the night with him. He was literally on his knee begging me not to leave. He said, “Can’t you see this place is empty? I need a woman like you here. This loneliness is killing me. Please don’t leave.”

After I made him assure me that he wasn’t going to be naughty I accepted to sleep over. The next issue was how to get clothes and some toiletries. We drove out of the house to a shop nearby to get those things. By the time I realized, this guy had bought a cart full of things.

“I’m only spending a night with him so why all these groceries?” I asked myself. When we got to the POS he slapped his head and screamed, “F**K!” I asked why and he told me he forgot his walled at home. He asked if I could pay so he could pay later. Bells started ringing in my head but I was like, “He doesn’t need my money. See his car and house.”

Fortunately, the amount in my Momo was only GHC600 but the things he picked cost GHC1,200.

He asked, “Didn’t you bring your ATM? They accept debit cards.”

I shook my head. I wasn’t lying. We stood there while he was thinking about what next to do. I started feeling embarrassed so I told him to return the things. He made two calls asking them to send him money. The last one agreed to send him half of the amount so he asked me to also send the GHC600 I had in my wallet to him and I did.

We stood there for over fifteen minutes the guy who promised to send him the money didn’t send it. I angrily pushed the cart back and asked him to leave with me. He was reluctant but we walked out of the shop and drove back home without anything. Not even a toothbrush. He apologized for the embarrassment until we got home.

I bathed without a sponge, washed my panty and slept in my old dress. The next morning we cooked, ate and got ready to leave his place. I was waiting for him to give me my money. He told me he didn’t have physical cash but once he’s able to fix the issues with his Momo, he’ll refund and add extra to it for the embarrassment he caused me.

I had GHC50 in my purse. He added GHC50 to it. That’s what I used for transportation back home, and it was the last time I heard from this guy. He blocked me on Instagram and WhatsApp, too. His calls didn’t go through.

I wanted my money so one day I went with a macho friend to his house to give him a showdown. That was when we were given the breaking news. The house was Airbnb. Me and my friend stood there laughing. He said, “You’re lucky he didn’t sleep with you.” I responded, “I’m lucky I didn’t have so much to spend because obviously he needed money and not sex.”

This happened to me just last week. Guys, be careful out there. The street is slippery. You might slip and fall just when you think you’re cruising on a tarred road.

— Miriam

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