As soon as I put a “For Rent” sign on my father’s house, people flooded in to inspect it. The house was in good condition and it was positioned at a convenient location. So it wasn’t surprising that it got so much attention. The unfortunate thing was that everyone who came in said, “Your house is nice but the price is too high. Why don’t you reduce it?” And they would mention a low amount and ask me to accept it. The response I gave them was “I’m sorry but my price is nonnegotiable.”
People filed into the house with hope in their eyes but left with disappointment written across their faces. It got to a point I started wondering if indeed my price was too high. Shortly after, a group of gentlemen also came to inspect the house. They said, “We are looking for a two-bedroom house just like this to use as an office space.” It seemed like a better option so I agreed to rent it out to them. They took me to meet their CEO for further negotiations.
I liked their CEO immediately after I saw him. He had an air of confidence about him, which made me willing to negotiate my initial price. The price he offered me was within the range of the ones I had turned down. But my heart softened towards him and I accepted his offer. After negotiations, he brought out physical cash to pay me. I declined, “I can’t carry all that money on me. I prefer a bank transfer.” Mr CEO switched from being nice to rude at once, “We are taking the money to the bank on your request. If any part of it gets missing, it’s on you. Do you understand?”
“Wow. He is not as nice as he appears.” I thought. In the days that followed, we did all the necessary documentation to cover the lease of the house and renovated it to suit them. After that, I went back to my life. Somehow I couldn’t get the CEO out of my mind. He had made an impression on me and I wanted to get to know him on a personal level. Even though I couldn’t stop thinking about him, I kept my distance from him. We only talked if it concerned the house, which was only once in a while. So imagine my surprise when one day he texted me.
The text implied he was trying to get to know me on a personal level. It felt like an answered prayer because I had carried thoughts of him in my heart for months. I replied to the text and our friendship started from there. He was away on a business trip but not a day went by without him chatting with me or calling me via video call. During one of our calls, he told me he had feelings for me. I was overjoyed at his confession. It felt like a dream come true.
As much as I liked him, I was worried that it would be inappropriate to date him. I asked, “I am your landlady. Is it appropriate for us to get involved?” He replied, “Why not? We are both consenting adults. Besides I’m not coming to waste your time. I want us to build a serious relationship leading to marriage.” He went on to profess his undying love for me and talked about how he had been battling with himself as to whether to approach me or not. He sounded sincere. I thought about everything and decided to give him a shot. We met when he returned from his trip.
I found what I was looking for. My boyfriend was living with his fiancée. They had been together for eight years and they have a child together.
My heart was shattered into a million pieces. I felt like a fool for ignoring all the red flags. I confronted him in anger. He cried and begged me not to leave him. He got his mother to beg me on his behalf. His mother’s pleas touched my heart and I forgave him. He promised, “Give me some time to end things with my baby mama. We live together but there’s nothing between us. All we do is fight. Our relationship was over before I met you. I just need to make that official.” That is one of the oldest tricks in the books, and I stupidly fell for it.
I continued to stay with him hoping he would end things with the mother of his child. All this while too he had been taking money from me. His business was at the edge of bankruptcy. And he asked me to help him out. It was my money that he was using to keep the business afloat and also run his home. He did things in such a way that made me feel special. He consulted me about all his financial decisions. I felt like I was the centre of his world. He gave me a title in his company, Director of Corporate Affairs. This increased my love for him and made me willing to give him more money.
The day his baby mama left his house, a lot more light was thrown on the nature of their relationship. My man was heartbroken. He couldn’t eat. He couldn’t sleep. He was a miserable sight to behold. I asked myself, “If he hated this woman as much as he claimed, then why this dramatic display of emotions?” Did I leave him? No, I stayed. And I kept financing his business and personal life. Soon the money in my account got finished, and I borrowed from my family and close friends. One day I came across some documents that showed his baby mama co-founded his business. When I asked him about it, he lied to my face.
That was the day I realized I had made a colossal mistake of trusting him with my money. I couldn’t leave him then too. I felt I had invested so much of my life and money into him. I just hoped that the business would pick up so I can start reaping my benefits. Along the line, he asked me to move in with him. I refused. He tried to involve my mother but she also so objected to it. He persuaded me, “I need you by my side at all times. I want to wake up next to you every morning. You know if I had the money I would have married you by now. Please move in with me.”
I agreed to move in with him.
The day I moved in with him was the day my real nightmare began. He was filthy, lacked manners, and didn’t practice good personal hygiene. On top of that, he didn’t know how to treat a woman. He wouldn’t lift a finger to help me with chores. When I complained, he said, “Love and affection is a mirage that exists in the minds of women.” I couldn’t breathe in the relationship. He was only nice and friendly when he wanted shuperu. Even with that, he just pounces on me and humps away till he finishes.
As time went on his attitude kept getting worse. He has rented a house for his baby mama and their son near his own house. That’s where he spends most of his time. When his business started picking up, he hid it from me. When I found out he said, “I am hiding things from you because you are the reason my business collapsed in the first place. You have bad luck and there is an evil spirit in your father’s house.”
He never loved me, I knew it but I thought he would try to hide it. The whole reason why he came for me was money. I found out that he had made a bad business decision which cost him greatly. He was looking for money, and that’s why he reached out to me.
Our whole relationship was a pretence. He never broke up with his baby mama. His family was all in on the hypocrisy. They deceived me because their son needed my help. He wasn’t even thirty-eight years old. He was forty-five. His endgame was to get me to sign over the documents to my father’s house to him. As I write this, I have hundreds of thousands of cedis locked up with him.
I don’t have any choice but to wait patiently until I can get my money back. When that is done, I will quietly walk out of the relationship. I’ve learned my lessons. I tried to help a man who was in need but all along he was playing me for a fool.
