There’s an Update to this story. If you want to read what happened after this, Kindly follow this link

She came to do her national service at where I used to work. That was where I found her. She became a friend because I was working closely with her. I saw her each day, had lunch sometimes, and started going home together. One afternoon at lunch, I asked if I could visit her in the house.” She said, “I live with my family. It’s a large family. You can come if only you’ll be comfortable.” I said, “It will even be my pleasure to meet your family,”

So that Saturday morning, I dressed up and went to her house to visit her. The first person I met was her dad. After exchanging greetings, he said, “My daughter spoke about your visit. She said you’re her boss so kindly employ her after her service. She needs a job quickly.” I only laughed and gave fake assurance that I will try my best. Her family was indeed large but everyone around did their best to make me feel comfortable. Her mom tried to cook for me. Her senior sister came to tell us to use her room if we were feeling uncomfortable outside. Everyone around was trying to do something for me. 

After I left her place, I told her, “You must be a lucky girl to have had such a beautiful family.” She said, “Don’t mind them. They were doing all that because I told them you were my boss. George comes here often and no one treats him like they did for you.” 

So we started talking about George. 

“Who is George,” I asked. She answered, “My boyfriend. We’ve dated for about four years now and everyone in my family knows him because he’s always here with me.” If I was nursing a dream of a relationship with her, she was in a way telling me to stop watering the seedlings because they won’t sprout. I said, “Dating for four years? Then you should be getting married very soon?” She laughed and said something like, “It’s our dream. He needs a better job and I need to get a job too. Marriage would be the next step.”

After she told me the story of their relationship, I stepped back a little. I didn’t want to be that guy who came between a four-year relationship. I loved her, yes. I wanted her to be my girlfriend, yes. But was I ready to snatch her from a fellow man? No.  We remained friends until she completed her national service and left the establishment. We kept in touch and once in a while talked to each other. When she was struggling to get a job, she told me about her struggles. When she finally landed a job, she shared the happy news with me. When she broke up with George…well, she didn’t tell me until one day I asked about their relationship.

She said, “Oh, we are no longer together ooo. Unfortunately, it had to end.” I was shocked a little. I asked, “What happened. You guys had a dream so what killed your dreams?” She said, “Some things work out in the end regardless of the troubles but other things die out without any trouble. That guy is too comfortable in the way he is now. He’s not trying to be better. I’ve known him for so long and nothing had changed in his life. I talk about it and he’s angry. He’s not someone I can build a future with. His dreams are so small.” I said, “You broke up with him because of that?” She said, “There are other things I can’t tell you but that’s the major thing.”

Our friendship took a different turn knowing George was no longer around. One day I proposed and she said yes to me. We started a relationship that was beautiful in every aspect of the word. She was supportive of my dreams and she was always there to help. She wasn’t a woman who will ask for the eye of the tiger. She was just happy talking about the future so all our conversations were geared towards the future. Three years later, we got married. A year later, we had our first son and two years later, we had our second child—a girl. We’ve been married for five years now.

It hasn’t been all smooth but we haven’t been through any unexpected challenges. We are stable, comfortable I will say. Our kids are well catered for and we’ve never starved. We pay our bills on time and we always have food in the house. Every year, we celebrate our wedding anniversary in style. We’ve even made plans to renew our vows on our tenth anniversary. She said, “We can have the wedding we couldn’t afford on our tenth anniversary because by that time we would be doing better than we are now.”

We’ve been happy in the little garden God has given to us to till. Roses don’t always grow but trust me, we’ve seen a lot of beautiful things in our dear Lord’s garden. A week ago, I was trying to log into Facebook on my laptop when I realized my wife’s account is already logged into. Her messenger notifications caught my attention. I said to myself, “Eiii people still send her messages and she doesn’t respond?” I went into it and realized the first message was from her ex. She had responded to that one not long ago. I was curious. “What could they be talking about?”

I started reading until I got to the point where George said, “You should have exercised a little bit of patience with me. You destroyed us.” My wife responded, “I’m sorry about that. I don’t know how to make you see how sorry I am but, trust me, I am. I know my sorry won’t change anything but I have to say it.” George asked, “So how’s married life?” She responded, “It would have been better with you but I’m managing it like that.” He asked, “You sound not happy.” She said, “Truth be told, I regret my marriage. I regret that I didn’t end up with you. How can I be happy?”

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I put my head on my laptop with shock running through my veins. “She regrets marrying me? And she didn’t get anyone to complain to but her ex?” What did I do wrong? What right did I turn wrong? What did I say wrong for her to regret our marriage?” So many questions than answers. “Or her ex is now doing better in life than I’m doing?” So I went into his profile to read what he had been up to. I didn’t see anything that suggests he was doing better in life than I was doing. It broke me to pieces to know the thoughts in her head.

I’ve been thinking about it since then. I haven’t asked her anything. I don’t want to have a half conversation on it. I want to gather my thoughts together and know where to hit when I begin a conversation with her. I’ve been moody. She keeps asking me what the problem is. I keep telling her everything is alright. I look at my kids and I’m happy. I look at her and all I can think of is resentment and anger. The day I talk about it, I want to have my facts right. I want to know what to do after the conversation. I want to leave and never come back. I want to go back in time and erase our wedding, especially the vows. I want to go back in time and unmeet her. I’m angry and deeply hurt. I will do anything, anything at all to have my wife not tell her ex that she regrets marrying me when everything I had done is to be a better husband and a father. 

–Akoto

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