She Threw My Love Away But Wants To Keep The Gold I Gave Her

We met at a moment when everything was wrong with the world. We woke up every day counting dead people and how many new people had contracted the deadly virus. It was the pandemic, Covid was king. She was wearing a nose mask but her beauty couldn’t be masked. I said I wanted to be a friend and she laughed subtly. I asked, “Or someone like me can’t be your friend?” She retorted, “Oh far from it. What’s wrong with you that you can’t be friends with me? We can be friends.” Sadly, we couldn’t shake hands or hug to initiate ourselves into the new friendship we’d found. She said, “Good to know you, new friend.” I responded, “Good to have you as a friend.” 

A week later, we went into a lockdown. It was a difficult time for us but I should think it was also one thing that brought us together. We could stay on the phone all day. Night and day had no differences for us. Nothing happened during the day so we didn’t bother to sleep at night. She was doing a lot of videos because she was bored. I was always on her status to comment on what she posted. The lockdown wasn’t over when I sneaked to visit her one evening. We laughed all evening. She told me, “You made my night. Can you come again tomorrow?” I was there. I was there every night for four consecutive days. On the sixth day, she came to visit me. I proposed. Her answer was, “I saw this coming.” I asked, “Is it a bad thing?” She answered, “You’re not good at hiding your feelings. It was written all over your being.”

She accepted my proposal because she loved me but she wanted assurances. “Many have come and gone without delivering on their promises. They said they loved me but before the cock crowed for the third time, they were no longer in my life. What’s the assurance that you’ll be there for me to the end?” I told her, “I didn’t come this far only to leave you somewhere. Trust me. I’m different. I’ll be a better man in your life and you’ll have no problem being with me to the end.” 

She was in my room when I tried to kiss her. At first, she said Covid. “Ain’t you afraid? What if I have it?” I answered, if you have it then I have it too because we’ve been this close for a very long time.” She said it wasn’t the right time to do that and immediately we do it, it will lead to places that will complicate our love story. It was that day she told me no sex until we get married. Something died in me. A spark. Some vim. It wasn’t a rule I anticipated in our relationship plus it wasn’t going to be easy looking at the features of this lady. I asked, “Why? Do you think I’ll leave you after that? That’s what happened with your ex? I’ve told you I’m different. I’ve told you nothing can take me away from you. Let me tell you this, it’s the sex that’s going to consolidate the foundation of our love. Once it happens, I have nowhere to go.”

She didn’t agree with me. She insisted that we don’t do anything and I grudgingly accepted. We did a year together and we were still happy. She’s a JW. She wanted me to attend her church. It wasn’t something she forced on me. It was an invitation she extended. “I’ll be happy if you come around. I want you to witness what the purity of service to God looks like. Come when you can and we will welcome you wholeheartedly. I started visiting whenever I could. I love the aura there. There were nice people all around me. Everyone smiled. They made me look like the most important person on earth. I loved it and promise to visit often. It was just a visit for the sake of love. I had no intention of staying there forever. 

When we celebrated our first year anniversary, she asked about my future plan and I told her I was going to be there for her. She still had doubts. I asked her, “What can I do to let you know that I’ll be here?” She said she needed a promise ring. I made jokes out of it, “Is it part of your church rules? That you get a ring?” She laughed and said, “If a followed all the rules, we wouldn’t be here in the first place.” 

I didn’t want to get her just any other ring or a ring that would shine today and rust tomorrow. When you love someone, you buy them good things to prove how expensive they are to you. So I got her a tiny gold ring. It cost me a lot but I didn’t care as far as it was going to be on the finger of the woman I love. I remember the day I gave her the ring and how happy she was. She said, “I said it but I didn’t think you were going to get it for me. Thank you so much.” I got a hug and a peck on the chin. It was an improvement from the handshakes I was getting over the months. 

April 2022 was our two years of being together. It wasn’t easy. We faced a lot of opposition from her parents and even from her friends. I didn’t see it. She told me what others were saying about us. That They felt I didn’t belong to her church so there was no future for us. We agreed she’ll attend her church and I’ll attend mine but she told me her parents kept pressuring her to walk out of the relationship. She didn’t listen. She said she didn’t see herself loving anyone else but me and I believed her. 

She stopped wearing my ring. She stopped coming to visit often. It was even hard for me to get her on the phone on the first call. “Babe, what’s happening? Are we good? We are losing colour and it’s scaring me. What have I done wrong? Are you finally carving in to the pressure from your parents?” She told me everything was fine and I believed her.

I woke up one day to a long message from her’ the bottom line was that she couldn’t go on with the relationship because the pressure coming her way was too much. “I can ignore them but we won’t be happy. But what’s love without happiness?” It wasn’t easy for me that morning. I called her severally and she didn’t pick up. I sent her a message pleading with her to at least hear me out. It took me a week to get to talk to her. She said she couldn’t change her mind because it took her a lot of thought and consideration to reach that conclusion. I accepted my loss and asked, “So can’t we be friends?” She answered, “I don’t want to complicate what’s already complicated.” 

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That was August this year. A few weeks later I found out that she was dating another man who wasn’t a JW. I was surprised so I started asking questions. I spoke to her junior brother who told me he thought we were still together and that their parents didn’t oppose our relationship. They were rather looking forward to the day I’ll finally become a JW because they were impressed by the steps I was taking.

She lied to me. When I called her she told me, “It doesn’t matter anymore. We are no longer together so I won’t explain anything.” I told her, “I need my ring back since nothing matters now. When can I have it?” She told me point blank that I gave it to her as a gift and there was no way she would give it back to me. 

It’s a promise I made. The promise is no longer valid because she curtailed it. Is it not right for me to get my ring back? The last time I contacted her she told me she has sold it so I should do my worse. I’m getting ready to do my worse but I want to know if I have the right to get my ring back. Is a promise ring a gift we can’t get back when the relationship dies? I’m lacing my booth for war but I need to know if I have a case before I proceed. It’s a gold ring we are talking about here. The economy is hard now. If I sell it, it can take care of a lot of things. Please tell me something.