COACHILLA

It all started when I was recovering from a terrible accident that nearly paralyzed me. I met a guy while I was a level 200 student walking with a stick. I couldn’t sleep well at night because of the physical pain I was suffering and he was also nursing a broken heart so we bonded over that. We spent a lot of time chatting on the phone and delving into our past. He told me, “Despite all the sacrifices I made for my last girlfriend, she left me to marry another man.” I could tell from the way he spoke about the experience that he really loved the girl. I was touched by his pain and I am sure that it is the empath in me that connected with him. It wasn’t long before I started having affection toward him. I told myself, “He seems like a good man. And who doesn’t like a good man?” One day he asked me to visit him. I could walk then so I honoured his invitation. We talked about ourselves and the feelings we had for each other. By the time I left for my place, we had agreed to st...

My fiancé Abdul and I met in late 2018 in Libya. We are both foreigners in the land so it was easy to find comfort in each other’s friendship. He is originally from Burkina Faso but he grew up in Ghana, while I am a Nigerian who left my homeland in search of greener pastures. When we first met, Abdul was so calm and collected. He spoke like an intelligent and visionary guy and that was what drew me to him. In the course of our friendship, he started saying and acting in a manner that suggested he wanted to be more than friends. I had dreams to accomplish and I didn’t want to be distracted so I refused to acknowledge his advances. But no matter how indifferent I acted toward him, he was determined to win my heart. PayAngel One day I got overwhelmed by his efforts and asked him, “What do you want from me?” He smiled and teased me, “Finally, you ask. I thought you were going to act like an ice queen and continue to ignore me forever.” I rolled my eyes at him and repeated my qu...

King and I broke up about five years ago but I still can’t get over him. We dated for two years, and he was my first love. We met at the university in the same class. He used to help me with my assignments. He was a very good friend before he became a lover. I had most of my best moments with him. King was calm, handsome, caring, and very thoughtful. He pushed me to be the best version of myself. I could always count on him in every aspect of my life. Out of nowhere, everything changed overnight. Our bond started crumbling right before my eyes. I tried everything possible to save the relationship but all my efforts were futile. I think back on how hard I fought, begged, and waited for him to go back to the man I fell in love with. And the countless he dashed my hopes by gradually withdrawing from me. I remember how our relationship was hanging on the edge of a thread but I was pushing it to stay on course. Sadly, I was the only one hanging on to the relationship, but I neve...

I turn twenty-seven this September, and I have been married for almost a year now. Before we got married, my husband was quite the doting partner. He was always in my space and just couldn’t get enough of me. That was one thing I loved about him. It made me feel like he needed me to function properly. That’s the pace our relationship grew at, until we got married. A few days after we got married, I found out that he was cheating on me while we were dating. He had even cheated two weeks before our wedding. I confronted him about it and he admitted it. “Yes, I cheated before we got married and I’m sorry for that. But I want you to know that I respect our marriage vows so I will not repeat that mistake. It ended when we got married, trust me on that.” It was difficult but I forgave him and we moved past it. Apart from that cheating thing, the few months of our marriage were good. We were always hot for each other. I felt that was going to continue for a long time. And then I g...

One day I was at the office when my colleague’s phone rang. The caller ID read; “Ama Cousin”. I called out to my colleague, “Eii Kweku, now you are saving your girlfriends’ names as your cousins.” Kweku laughed, “You can pick up and talk to her if you think your theory is right.” So I accepted the challenge and answered the call. After bombarding her with questions, I confirmed that Ama is indeed my colleague’s cousin. I enjoyed talking to her so I asked, “Can I take your number from Kweku so we talk later?” She said yes and that made me happy. When our friendship began she was in her final year at the university. She is not a very social person so it was difficult to break down her walls and get close to her. She used to leave my WhatsApp messages on read, but I was patient with her. I didn’t push too hard. I just went along with her flow and allowed her to get close to me on her own terms. Four months into our friendship, it happened. She started confiding in me about per...

I got married earlier this year and per tradition, my father was supposed to receive the marriage items, especially the drinks and my dowry. This was a day I looked forward to with expectation and excitement. I was happy that my father would be honoured for all the efforts he put into raising me. But my mother’s family had other plans. According to their custom, my father lost his right to receive the marriage items of his daughters when he refused to perform my mother’s marriage rites.  I would say that I had an interesting childhood because of my dad’s devotion to our family. The fact that he didn’t marry my mother officially didn’t prevent him from taking care of her the way a husband would. He had older kids from his previous marriage and we all lived together under one roof. He did not discriminate among his children. He made sure we never lacked anything. He had a way of keeping our home light with humour. The man could draw laughter from grave situations effortle...

At first, it was nice. He was the kind of guy who said nice things to me. I would wake up with my hair messed up and my breath stinking. But this guy will reach for my head, kiss me and say, “You’re beautiful.” I’ll argue with him. “This is not me. You can’t call me beautiful when I look like this.” He would shoot back at me, “Beauty is just this…raw, unadulterated, simple and true. That’s what you look now.” I will believe him so when he’s not watching, I will take a look at myself in the mirror and confirm what he told me. The voice in my head will say something like, “You better not believe a guy in love. He would call you beautiful when you actually look like a neglected potato.” Another voice in my head, the positive one, the one that claims to be the voice of God said, “I created you in my own image. You are beautiful. He’s only confirming what I’d already placed in you..” PayAngel I will stare at myself for so long and smile girlishly, “This guy will be the death of ...

She was on the roadside waiting for a taxi. I was watching her. She couldn’t stand on her feet so every now and then, she’ll walk to sit on a rock under a tree, a little far from the road. She’ll hear the sound of an approaching car, she’ll get up and try to get to the road and stop it but by the time she gets there, the car might have passed. I watched her for several minutes, she missed a lot of taxis. I went to her and asked what was wrong with her, “I’m sick. I’m trying to get a taxi to the hospital but I can’t stand for long to get one.” She was almost in tears as she spoke. I stood in the sun, waited until a taxi came around and I stopped it for her.  PayAngel She was sick and in pain but that couldn’t suppress her beauty and innocent face. She sounded like a missing child when she spoke. I thought about her all day. We had a shop by that road, my mother’s shop. I hated sitting in the shop but because of this girl, that day, I was in the shop all day waiting for h...

When I started dating Alex, nothing showed that we were going to end up married. At some point I even pitied him. The odds were stacked against him no matter where you looked at it from. His friends told him, “It’s a bad idea to think of that girl as the woman you’ll marry. She has money, use it to your advantage and get married to someone else. You’ll never be happy when you marry her. Her parents will always manipulate you because they are rich. You can’t be your own man.” One of his friends even told him, “If she’s a good choice, you wouldn’t have been the one to marry her. Do you think you’re the only person who has noticed her? Men go and come because they realize too soon that they couldn’t withstand the pressure.” These people were talking about me but none of them knew me. They might have met me through Alex but that was it. None of them knew who my parents were or what they even do for a living but they drew the conclusion that I was a bad choice for Alex. Then cam...

The first time we fought, it was about a bottle of water. But before that, life was awesome between me and David. He’s the kind of guy who doesn’t speak a lot but when he does, his words are direct and straight to the point. I wished he could speak more because I love talking. I wanted us to have banter. I wanted us to be playful, the kind of play lovers usually do. I wanted us to stay awake and talk all night while I’m by his side but David isn’t that kind of guy. He’s his work and his work is him. I can be with him all day and the only time I would have his attention is when he wants to tell me something. “David, I come here because of you but you leave me all alone and do whatever you want to do. You don’t find me interesting? Or your idea of spending quality time together is me walking around here while you stay on your computer?” I complained. He would look at me and say, “Give me a little time and I will finish working. We can have the whole time to ourselves.” The sa...

had my first girlfriend when I was in SHS one, Annette. We were young and were trying to make meaning of our feelings for each other. We called it love but we didn’t know how to explore it or we didn’t have the space to explore it the way we wanted to. We were both in the boarding school where there was no hiding place for first-year students. It was hard for us to even stand next to each other without being questioned but we tried. He tried our best to make use of the space available to us. We would hold hands, we would send letters to each other in class, I will buy her chocolate and she’ll pretend it is the best gift she has ever received. Two terms later, a senior took her from me. But I learned. I learned how to deal with heartbreaks and I also learned how to go ahead and take another girlfriend when one is lost. I proposed to Lizzy when we were in the second year. By the time I was in the third year and about to complete school, I had dated about five girls in school....