One Sunday afternoon, I decided to take a stroll at the beach. The weekend had been stressful so I decided to walk the beach to calm my nerves. I got to the beach and saw so many people there. It felt like some kind of festival or something celebratory. I didn’t want the noise. All I wanted was to sit and listen to the music from the waves. I went far from the masses and sat on a rock that overlooked the sea.

I was there when the sun was setting. I stayed a little bit longer after the sunset. It was around 6:30pm when I decided to walk back home. The beach was calm. All you could see were footprints from those who came to have fun. Along the way, I saw a light flicker from the ground. It looked like a phone so I walked in that direction to check what it was. It was a phone. An iPhone. I didn’t know so much about the iPhone models. It was later I learned that it was an iPhone X.

I picked it up and looked around to check if I could see the owner. The beach was empty. I said, “Maybe the owner will remember and later come and look for it so let me stay for a while.” I stayed for over an hour, nobody came around and nobody made a call to the phone. Every now and then, it will vibrate and a notification would pop up. They were all messages. I said, “People don’t make calls again these days? How could I hold a phone for all this while and not a single call had come through?”

I checked the wallpaper. It was a lady—very beautiful. “Ok, so the phone is for this lady?” Later I said, “Naa, It could also be for a guy who is using his girlfriend or wife as his wallpaper.” Nobody called and nobody came around claiming ownership of the phone so I took it home. It was around 10pm when I heard the phone ringing. I picked it up. The voice was a male. He said, “Sandra.” I said, “Please this is not Sandra. She left her phone at the beach and I found it.” He screamed, “Wow, then this girl will break down.” I said, “Don’t worry about it. If you have another way to reach her, kindly let her know that her phone is with me. I will show her my direction and she may come for it.”

Another call came through. It was a girl but it wasn’t Sandra. Another person called, it wasn’t her. I started wondering, “Ahh, so that girl hasn’t still realized that her phone is missing?” Around 11pm I saw another number calling. When I picked she said, “Please my name is Sandra and that is my phone. I might have left it at the beach. Please tell me you’ll give it back to me. I will reward you handsomely. Please tell me where you are and I will come for it.” She sounded worried. She felt I was going to keep her phone or something. I said, “Just calm down, I won’t keep it. Yes, I found it at the beach. I stood there waiting for the owner but nobody came, that’s why I brought it home. I live in Dansoman. We can arrange and send it to you tomorrow, or you’ll come for it yourself.”

She asked, “Can’t it be tonight? Because I’ll be going back to Tarkwa early dawn. I need to be at work so I have to leave very early. I said, “No problem. As I said, I’m in Dansoman. We can arrange so you meet me somewhere and collect it.” She said, “Let me call you back in ten minutes’ time.”

She later called. She said, “It’s late. It’s not safe out there so I will let someone come for it tomorrow morning and send to me by bus.” I said, “That’s also very fine.” But she didn’t sound happy about the arrangement judging from the way she was talking. I asked, “You said Tarkwa right?” She said, “Yes.” I asked, “Where would you pick a bus?” She said, “Kaneshie.” I asked, “What time would you be at the station?” She said, “Latest by 4am I should be there.” I said, “Don’t worry. I will meet you there.” She said, “Seriously?” I said, “You need your phone, right?”

I was at the station before she arrived. She called. She said, “Oh I can see you.” She came and I gave her phone back to her. She said, “I didn’t even ask your name. What’s your name?”  “I’m Eric,” I said. She said, “Eric you’ve been too kind it surprises me. Take this for your fare. I will find another way to reward you.” I said, “No, you don’t have to give me anything. Someday when someone finds my phone on the floor, I will like him/her to look for me and give it back to me and it’s exactly what I’ve done. You don’t need to reward me for that.” She stood there for a while. She asked, “Can I have your number?’ I gave it to her. She called my phone. She said, “That’s my number, please save it. We’ll talk. I still will pay for this kindness.”

When she got to Tarkwa she called me. “I’m home. Thanks so much for the kindness. You surprised me.” She called that same day in the evening. Again, she was grateful for the kindness. Days later, she sent a text asking me how I am. I said, “Work has been stressful but I’m great.” That day, we talked about work. She was working in the mines in Tarkwa. She said she was a Safety engineer. We talked about how is it like to work in the mines. She asked, “You’ve not been in the mines before? Don’t worry, whenever you’re in Tarkwa, let me know. I will give you an excursion.”

Another day we talked. She told me how she came to lose her phone at the beach. She said, “I had too much to drink so I didn’t know I’d left my phone. It was later in the night when my friend asked about my phone to make a call that we realized that it wasn’t with me.” Again, she said she was grateful.

In December that year, she traveled to the UK. She asked me, “What should I get you when I’m coming back?” I said, “Get me an Arsenal jersey.” She screamed, “Ahh, just that? A jersey of a team that won’t win anything?” We talked about football. One Saturday, she sent me a photo of her in a stadium. She said, “Because of you, I came to watch Arsenal play.” I asked her to send me more photos and she did.

When she returned, she asked me to come for my things. I asked, “Come to Tarkwa?” She said, “Why are you sounding like you need to travel for weeks before you get to Tarkwa?” Two weekends later, I was there. She brought the jerseys—three of them. She added an Arsenal mug and caps. She said, “Sorry I didn’t get Arsenal boxers, I would have bought a set for you.” We laughed. She looked at me differently. I looked at her the way I will look at a lover. I asked her, “Do you have a boyfriend?” She asked, “What kind of question is that?” I said, “I’m in your house. I have to know so I can prepare for battle.” She said, “Then wear iron armor because he’s on the way coming.”

That evening, I proposed. She said, “I’m sorry. I have a boyfriend.” I was like, “What sort of distin is that? So why didn’t you tell me?” She said, “I said I have a boyfriend. I didn’t say you can’t take me away from my boyfriend, so relax.” Somehow, I felt like she was playing with me but the way she said it felt like she was serious about it. I said, “Stop playing games with me. You have a boyfriend or you don’t?” She laughed. She asked, “Are you scared?” Then she told me, “I have a boyfriend. I got him today, just a moment ago, you should understand it.”

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I spent the weekend with her and somehow, it felt like home. I didn’t want to leave. The place was so calm I felt like I was being stewed in Accra. The Sunday when I was leaving, I told her, “I will be back very soon.” Oh, the following weekend I was there again. I went again the next weekend. She begged me to stay in Accra so she can also come and chill. One day she came to Accra. I sent her to meet my mom and dad.

In May 2021, I met her in Kumasi, in her childhood church. She wore a white gown and I wore my black suit. We exchanged our vows and became a husband and a wife. At our wedding reception, the MC asked me, “So you’ll tell us how you met, how you proposed to her, and how you got here.” I said, “I found her phone and later found her heart, and then bam… here we are. Isn’t he a miracle-working God?”

Those who knew our story understood it, regardless of its brevity. Those who didn’t know took it as a joke and laughed but I’m glad our life together hasn’t been a joke. We have a baby on the way coming. Obviously, we haven’t been joking at all.

–Eric

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