My first love letter was addressed to Bernice. We were in JHS then. I put the letter in my English exercise book and forgot to remove it before submitting the book. Unfortunately, the letter found its way into our English teacher’s hands. And he lashed me in front of the whole school. I was tagged as a bad boy because I dared fall in love at such a young age. What this teacher didn’t know was that you cannot easily kill young love. Shakespeare demonstrated that in the classic Romeo and Juliet. And just like Romeo, I was not deterred.

I still went ahead to profess my love for Bernice. This time I used my mouth. I asked her to be my girlfriend and she said yes. However, we didn’t want to get into trouble so we kept the relationship a secret. We did our best to act casually around each other in public, but her father saw through our act. One day he invited me to their house. When I got there he was with his wife. He told me, “Young man, I know what you’ve been up to with my daughter. I know you are a good boy but hey, you are all students now. I can’t stop you from loving Bernice but just make sure that nothing happens to her or else I will send you to jail.” That was all.

Immediately I got home, I went straight to my mum. “Mama, I have a girlfriend. Her father said if something happens to her, I will be sent to jail.” After I said this, my mother went to see Bernice’s dad. She took responsibility for our relationship and promised that she would make sure nothing happens. Her father was a teacher in my school, my French teacher, but he was cool. Our relationship became official. We did everything together except sex. What we shared was pure and untainted by carnal desires. It was beautiful. We grew up together, with the intention that we would get married someday.

She became my best friend. I couldn’t stay a day without seeing her. She was always at my house, even in my absence. She would help my mother with house chores and go back home. Sometimes too, she would bring me food from her mother. When we got to SHS, we went to different schools. That was the first time we stayed for months without seeing each other. It was hard but we pulled through. When we both finished our last exams in WASSCE, we had our first shuperu. It was in celebration of finally completing high school.

When the results came out, she passed all her papers while I failed one of mine. It was a core subject so I had to rewrite it if I want a chance at higher education. So while she enrolled in tertiary school, I went back to the final year of high school so I could rewrite my exams.

This time around I passed my exams. I gained a partial scholarship to KNUST but I still couldn’t afford to pay the fees. So I had to let go of the opportunity and get a job. My qualification allowed me to get a job in a private security company. My salary was GHC500. Living off that money in Accra is nearly impossible but it was better than nothing so I took it like that. The company deployed me to work with an international company. While I was working, Bernice was in college.

The differences between us never caused problems for us. This assured me that she would be a good wife to me when things get better and we get married. Although I was not earning much, I supported her whenever I could. As time passed, my love for her deepened. The fact that she stuck with me while I worked as a security man meant the world to me. I met women here and there but none of them appealed to me. So I was certain that Bernice wouldn’t have eyes for any of her tertiary school boys either.

However, it got to a point where things began to change. I would call her and she would be on another call. She would call back after a few minutes and apologize, “Sorry, I was talking to my pastor.” Sometimes she would say she was talking to her step-brother or her parents. I trusted her so I never thought anything else was going on. One evening, I was there when a number called me. The caller was a man. While he was talking to me, there was another voice in the background shouting, “Stop it. Stop what you are doing.” The voice was Bernice’s voice. Before I could say anything, he hung up. I looked at the number closely and realised that it was the same number she said belonged to her step-brother. I met everyone in her family except her brother, so I believed her.

One week after that confusing incident, the same number called me again. This time he spoke, “Stay away from my girlfriend.” After that, he hung up. I was confused. So I called Bernice to ask her what was going on, but she wouldn’t talk. The next day the same guy called me again. When I answered he said, “It’s me, Nkrumah. I am Bernice’s boyfriend. We have been together for one year now. She told me that you broke up with her long ago but now you are trying to get her back. I want you to know that she has moved on. So you too move on.”

“I broke up with her?” That was the only thing I could say. He went ahead to say that he was with Bernice. He handed the phone to her. I hoped he was mistaken and that his Bernice girlfriend wasn’t the same as mine, but it was her voice I heard saying hello to me. I asked her if everything the Nkrumah guy said was true. She said yes. She wanted to say something else but I hung up. I had heard enough.

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I started crying and couldn’t stop. My work colleagues saw me crying but I couldn’t hold myself together. The pain I felt stabbing my heart was just too much. The next day she called me but I couldn’t pick up. I got almost fifty missed calls from her. She then called me with a different number. I didn’t know it was her so I answered it. Come and see a thousand lies and explanations. She tried to convince me that everything the guy said was a lie but her words weren’t sweet enough to convince me.

After talking to her, I called my mum and narrated everything to her amidst tears. She consoled me and asked me to stop crying. I wrote a long letter and gave it to my mum to deliver to Bernice’s parents. They couldn’t believe it. They asked her to come home. Her parents asked her what was going on, and she couldn’t lie. I loved her so much so everything she did broke me completely.  She wanted us to work things out but I didn’t agree. A pastor advised me to take her back but I said no. It isn’t that I couldn’t forgive her. Oh, I could. It’s just that, I realized that she deserved better than I could give her. So I decided to set her free so she would go on and have all the best things in life without me getting in her way.

I worked with the company for two years and then came the pandemic. It came with an opportunity that I was selected to be a part of. While some of my colleagues were asked to work from home, I was part of the essential workers. My salary was increased by GHC900 because of this. It is still not good money but it is a lot better than I started with. I had access to free food and accommodation. I don’t even pay utility bills. All I do is wake up and go to work.

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Gradually, the sharp pain I felt at the memory of Bernice became a dull ache. I moved on and she also did. I have never wished her any evil, so when the heat died down we became friends again. The only agreement was that we would never see each other. She is still with the Nkrumah guy and I am still single. She graduated from college while I am here trying to gain admission to school. She has currently moved with her boyfriend to another region. I am happy she is doing well, and I hope that things will get better for me too.

–Abednego

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