Lindy was abroad studying for her master’s. Our dream was to marry on her return to Ghana. I was working hard to save money for our marriage while she was out there in the cold learning and working at the same time. The time difference was wild. Seven hours. By the time I woke up, she was already in the evening but love knows no bounds so we made it work regardless of the huge time differences.

In the morning, I mean my morning, I would text her and say good morning. She would be in school or at work. I would wait for hours before her answers would come. We didn’t complain. We didn’t beat ourselves up because time won’t allow us to be lovers. On weekends when we could, we stayed on a video call all dawn, sacrificing our nights and our beautiful sleep to talk about sweet nothings.

I loved her very much and was waiting for the day she would complete her course and come back to Ghana but fate had another plan. Or let’s just say I allowed fate to twist the symphony of our love story. I allowed another woman into my life. Efe. She was closer. She was easy to access. She was easy to find. Just by the bend, you would see her walking. Just a phone call and she would run into my arms.

I didn’t mean to love Efe more than I did Lindy but as time went by, I saw myself swaying in Efe’s direction like the leaves do in the presence of the wind. It was just around that corner that I stopped trying. Lindy didn’t stop. She called at the usual times. Sometimes Efe would be around so I won’t pick up. In the morning—my morning, I would text her and say, “I was too tired so I slept.”

I didn’t understand the depth of my feelings towards Efe. Somedays I thought of her as a woman I was having fun with. “Once it’s about time for Lindy to come to Ghana, I will find a clever way to break up with her,” I said to myself. Somedays she became everything I needed in a woman. When she was around, I forgot about the existence of Lindy. Talk about the dilemma of the heart.

When Lindy called to tell me she would be coming in six months, I shivered. I’d come to love Efe so much I didn’t know how to begin breaking up with her. I thought I was going to do it slowly. “I will start by not picking up her calls. I will graduate from not seeing her often and later master the art of ignoring her completely. By six months, our love story would be nothing but dust.”

I could never ignore her calls. When I heard my phone ringing and it was coming from her, my heart danced to the tune of my ringtone. Instead of avoiding her, I drew her closer. I talked about the future with her as if it was possible for us to live in a parallel universe, me and her in one while Lindy and I would be in the other but never meeting.

Three months before she came to Ghana, Lindy called to ask about my suit size. I knew it but I told her to give me some time to verify. I didn’t talk about it again until she said, “Or you will love to buy it in Ghana?” I answered, “Yeah that will be better. I will have the opportunity to try it on before buying it.”

She bought her own stuff and showed it to me when we were on a video call. A wedding gown that flowed seamlessly down her feet. It came with a beautiful veil that covered her face and still left enough space to figure out what she actually looked like. “What do you think? Is it beautiful?” She would ask me. I would nod or simply give her a thumbs up. She couldn’t wait for the day of our wedding which I had wished never came.

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A month before she came back to Ghana, I gathered the courage and told her the truth, “She’s Efe. Don’t get me wrong. I love you too. I’ve always loved you.”

She buried her face in her palm. She didn’t want me to see it but she was crying. “Why are you telling me now? You said it has been a year so why didn’t you tell me all that while?” I couldn’t answer. We were both quiet—quiet enough to hear her sob while my phone got heated and burnt my ear.

I didn’t know what I was doing but somehow, I wanted her to tell me, “I will give you time. Break up with her before I come. I love you too much to let you go.” She didn’t say that. When she broke her silence, she breathed heavily and said, “It’s OK. You’ve made your choice. I wish you well.”

I couldn’t even respond. When she cut the line, I couldn’t bring my phone off my ears though it was burning me. I threw myself down in my bed, regretting what I’d done and hoping it didn’t come back to hunt me. You know how it goes in the movies, right? The people who hurt other people eventually receive their reward and the reward is always painful. I prayed I did the right thing and also prayed she found happiness.

She didn’t come to Ghana until a year later. By that time I was getting married to Efe. I prayed she wouldn’t know about it but she did. When I posted our save the date on Facebook, a lot of people reacted to it but it was hers that stood out. “Lindy and 720 others liked your photo.”

Months after my wedding, I walked into her when I attended a friend’s wedding. She was entering the church with a man by her side while I was also going out of the church. Immediately I saw her I quivered, like a sinner whose sins have been found out. She just smiled at me, held the guy’s hand as they walked into the church building.

For the rest of the day, I did everything not to bump into her again but we met at the reception. The guy was sitting next to her. She saw me and waved. I waved back. When we got a minute, we talked. She asked about my wife and life in general. How I wished we could talk about what happened and apologize again in person but she stayed clear of it.

Not too long afterwards, I saw her wedding invitation flying around. She was getting married to the same guy I saw her with in church. I’d always thought I was free until that day. It felt like a burden had fallen off my shoulder. Knowing she was also going to have her happy ending brought this sweet release into my spirit. I hurt her but she found someone else to make things right for her. She gave love another chance and was getting married to a better man.

I went to her wedding. I buried my face in the sea of friends who attended the wedding. They were shocked to see me. I told them we were not enemies. I witnessed the smile on her face as she walked the aisle. The contentment behind the veil when her hand was given to her husband-to-be. When they were exchanging vows, I joined the congregation to scream, “Dondooo!!” It felt good because it came from a good place. A place where all I wanted was her happiness.

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When the service was over and I was leaving the church, I felt my sins had been forgiven but most importantly, I wondered how everything, though complicated, eventually worked out for the good of both of us. We were both looking for a happy ending together but in the end, we found it not together but with different people.

Whoever wrote this script got it twisted in the middle but the end brought smiles to the faces of the characters involved. “All is well that ends well.”   

—Parker

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