I was posted to Accra for the national service program. Getting accommodation was very tiring until I finally met Mr. Aboagye, a 56-year-old man who later became my landlord.
He made the rent terms flexible for me. He told me to make three months advance payments and afterward, make monthly payments.
Later, he went out of his way to help me bring my things to the room and ensured I was well settled in and fine. He then started making advances towards me.
Some nights he would come and knock and ask me to allow him in. He would come in and say nothing in particular except the “how are you?” “How was work?” “Are you feeling comfortable here?” etc. And then he upgraded to “You’re a nice girl,” “Your boyfriend is lucky” and what have you.
And later went straight for it, “Ever since you’ve been here, I’ve observed how good you are and how respectful and calm you are. I want you as my girlfriend blah blah blah.” I simply said, “I have a boyfriend and would be getting married after service so I can’t have another boyfriend.”
He came every day. He persisted, pleaded and came knocking at dawn to allow him into my room. I was insistent in my answer and even threatened to leave the house if he continued but he never stopped.
Just about four months into my tenancy, I noticed the presence of another gentleman in the house. I later got to know him as Akwasi, the eldest son of the landlord. We got introduced and he too started coming around to talk to me.
He kept coming and I began liking his visits the more as it kept the father away from me. He always had a funny story to share about his time in Europe and life in general. Something developed between us so when he proposed I said yes.
The father saw what was going on but could do very little about it. He started bad mouthing his son to me; “That boy has a lot of girlfriends in Ghana and UK, you better don’t allow him space in your life. He’ll mess you up as he did to Nancy.” One evening, he showed me a photo of a girl and said, “This is his girlfriend in the UK. They are getting married very soon so don’t let him fool you.”
Akwasi denied when I asked him and kept asking who had been feeding me with that information. Of course, I couldn’t say it was the father. When the father realized nothing was happening, he started making allegations against me to his son. He told him I had too many boyfriends and ever since I started living in the house, several guys had come around at awkward times and some even slept and left at dawn.
I had to defend myself but I couldn’t tell him the reason his father was doing that. And I couldn’t tell him his father had been telling me bad things about him too.
When my service was over, the company I was working with employed me permanently. Though I decided to leave the house, I didn’t have the financial power to rent new accommodation so I kept living in the house. Without any warning, Mr. Aboagye decided to triple my rent amount and also requested that I make two years advance payment.
“Where am I going to get that money from?” I screamed. He answered, “You either pay or leave. Better still, you know what to do.” I told Akwasi to intervene. That made matters worse. The next morning, he came to tell me he’s no more renting out the room so I should vacate in a month.
With the help of Akwasi, I got a new place and left the house. Akwasi left for Europe not too long after and I also buried myself in my work. We grew stronger in love and a year later, Akwasi decided we should get married.
I was so excited but not for too long. I told him, “Tell your father about it and let’s see his reaction before we start making plans.
Two days later I had a call from Mr. Aboagye. He simply said; “You can’t marry my son. It won’t happen unless I’m dead.” I pleaded with him to consider me as her daughter and treat me fairly. But that got him angrier.
Akwasi called and asked what I really did to his father to make him hate me that much. Akwasi was caught in the mix. His father had told him not to go ahead with plans to marry me because I was not worth it. To Akwasi, I’ve always been a good person so he didn’t understand his father’s point. I didn’t want to spill the beans and make the father look bad in front of his son, plus he was going to be my in-law so I owed him that much.
One night, Akwasi called to give me the news I’d always dreaded; “We can’t continue this relationship when you had already dated my father and didn’t tell me.”
“Me? Dated your father?”
“Yeah, he finally told me the truth and the reason behind his hatred for you.”
“And he said he dated me?”
“He dated you until he realized other men were coming in and leaving at odd hours so he decided to back out of the relationship?”
“He told you all that?”
I was so shocked I couldn’t even express myself in clearer language. I called Mr. Aboagye several times and he didn’t pick. So the next morning, I went to his house. I wanted to hear what he told Akwasi from his own mouth.
Immediately he saw me he started pouring out; “I told you you would marry Akwasi over my dead body.” I asked him why he was doing that to his own son and he responded; “Me and Akwasi who saw you first?”
I sat there and watched as he went blah blah blah. Before I left, I told him, “I’ve even lost the desire to marry Akwasi because I don’t want to have someone like you as a father in law and I don’t want my kids to have a grandfather like you.
He didn’t know I recorded our conversation. Later in the evening, I sent the audio to his son for him to also know the truth.
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Akwasi called a million times afterward but I had nothing to say to him. I only wanted him to know the truth and I had succeeded. His father also called severally but I didn’t want to hear his lying voice again.
Some people are not meant to become your families and you don’t have to force them to be. I left them and moved on but today, I’m thankful for the drama they brought into my life. I really learned a lot from it all.
—Maabena, Accra, Ghana
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