Our relationship was only three weeks old when he bought me a perfume—J’adore. I love perfumes, but that was the first time I had seen such a perfume. I quickly did a Google search and saw the price. I screamed, “Wooow!” The price scared me, but it also made me feel loved because a man should love you enough to spend that much on a perfume for you.

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I knew if the perfume ran out, I wouldn’t have money to buy it again, so I used it sparingly and only wore it for occasions I deemed worthy. One day at his place, he asked why I didn’t wear the perfume he bought me. I said, “It’s my favourite, so I only use it for very important occasions.” He asked, “Isn’t coming to see me an important occasion?”

So I started using the perfume whenever I visited him. On the nights we spent together, he asked me to wear it before bed. Because of that, I carried the perfume with me everywhere. He said it made me edible, like a gourmet dish served for a king. You know, those alluring words.

I enjoyed his attention, the way he was all over me whenever we were together. I wasn’t the clingy type, but with him, I understood why others would be—when it’s something you love, you ought to cling to it.

One day, he gave me his laptop to work on a document for him while he used his phone. Every now and then, a message notification would pop up. I ignored them until I saw one that read: “She looks like a good girl, don’t do that to her.”

Oooh, I tapped on it. I tapped as fast as I could because I wanted to know which girl the conversation was about.

He was talking to his ex, who was abroad. The conversation was in real time, so I took my time and read through it. He said, “I even bought her your perfume, but it doesn’t feel the same.”* The lady replied with laughing emojis and said, “You don’t know how to let go, do you?”

They had broken up when she moved to London and cheated on him with a guy she met on campus. She was the one who confessed and suggested they end things because she was in love with the new guy. They had broken up but still talked occasionally. In the chat, she mentioned she was getting married to the guy, but my boyfriend insisted he hadn’t gotten over her and would still want to be with her even after marriage.

My heart was breaking, but I kept my composure—until I couldn’t anymore. I closed the laptop and told him I had to go home because of an emergency. He was worried and asked what kind of emergency. He drove me home and wished me goodnight.

All night, I thought about it and was hurt, but a voice in my head kept saying, “You don’t have to leave him because of this. He’s been a gentleman since you met. Keep him, but keep your eyes open.”

I listened to that voice and said nothing about what I’d read on his laptop.

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The lady isn’t in Ghana. Plus, she’s getting married, so there’s no way she’ll be a threat to my relationship. Besides, he hasn’t given me any reason to doubt his love for me. Maybe he was just lying to her. So I’m staying with him—but with my eyes wide open. If things get bad, trust me, I’ll leave. But for now, all is well.

—Frimpong

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